Cheesemaking 101

Making Cheese, with the freshest of milk

 The rounds, before aging

Cutting the curd

Beautiful, cooked curd

After pressing, the curds knit together

                                                 

Making ricotta cheese with the whey

                                                                         

                                                           WAXING THE CHEESE

This cheddered variety will now age for months.

The cow whisperer figures prominently in my new book, A Cultivated Life

Upstate New York's

Melanie J -- the cow whisperer par excellence in Schuyler County, milking 800 cows, and handmilking a trio that's all her own -- she does it all. Each and every cow responds to her (and only her).

A summer of teaching (2012) ENVS 410

A short intensive, but very well received.Here we are at BelleWood Acres, planting trees and enhancing salmon habitat.

August at Cornell, with Professor George Conneman and all that made Ithaca famous

 Professor George Conneman, my Farm Business Management professor in the 1970s, at Cornell

 My name appears in his roll books -- he keeps track of every student he has had, for decades

Moosewood Restaurant, started just before I arrived at Cornell -- an icon.

A Good-Food Evening

HI everyone,

I'll be reading from the new book on Monday. Limited edition hard cider (BelleWood Acres and Honeymoom) available. Best, Gigi 

See http://www.communityfood.coop/product/slow-food-and-nourishing-traditions-with-gigi-berardi-phd/

Slow Food and Nourishing Traditions at the downtown Community Food Co-op

with Gigi Berardi, Monday March 11 6:30-8:30

 Florence class 2013

.

Florence class 2012

We're at the Bellingham Food Co-op on March 11!

Join us for local real food and beverage -- Book Fare Cafe and Bellewood Acre's finest! See
http://www.communityfood.coop/product/slow-food-and-nourishing-traditions-with-gigi-berardi-phd/
...and also: it's time to think about summer in Italy!

Welcome to our first 12 students! Six places remaining for Italy!

Italian language classes

Cooking intensives, before

departure

Florence's best pizza, Fiesole

(near the Etruscan ruins)

We are off to Italy!

This food course begins with a culinary intensive in Bellingham, also available online, then moves to Florence, Italy, where students study Italian and food culture of Italy. Students also study at the University of Florence sensory taste sciences department. Study is with Italian faculty as well as with Western professor, Gigi Berardi.

Enrollment is limited to 18. 

Program highlights:

• Experience Italian farmhouse cooking in a hands-on culinary intensive.

• Study food aesthetics and sensory taste science in the home of "Slow Food" in northern and central Italy.

• Participate in carbon-offsetting at "Inspiration Farm" in Whatcom County (optional).

Information session is Thursday, Feb. 7 at 3:00 in College Hall 137 on the WWU campus (for directions and information, see http://www.acadweb.wwu.edu/eesp/template/calendar_travel.shtml, or contact Gigi at gberardi@wwu.edu.

Optional excursion: Biodynamic and Anthroposophical study in Switzerland and Italy June 20-June23

Dornach, Switzerland excursion --  three-day study tour on biodynamic agriculture, Goethean art and science, and biodynamic foods. Tour of Ita Wegman Klinik and the Goetheanum. Lectures by molecular geneticist and anthroposophical beekeeper Johannes Wirtz (see: http://www.queenofthesun.com/2010/11/johannes-wirz-molecular-biologist-goetheanum/). Excursion serves an as introduction to Slow Food study and cooking in Italy.  See: http://www.acadweb.wwu.edu/eesp/template/studyabroad/home_florence.shtml. 

Section visits and farm work at the Goetheanum (Dornach, Switzerland)

Includes accommodation at Haus Friedwart or Begegnungszentrum in Dornach with biodynamic foods.Optional Switzerland Excursion includes:

• Lectures at the Glass Haus (Goetheanum) with Johannes Wirz

• Tour of the Goetheanum and grounds

• Visit to the Ita Wegman Klinik (Arlesheim, Switzerland)

• Hillside hikes

• Accomodations for three nights at Begegnungszentrum (Dornach, Switzerland)

• Group cooking and dining at self-catering facilities in Begegnungszentrum  (food costs, extra)