Makes you want to get a couple of goats

Goat Song: a Seasonal Life, A Short History of Herding, and the Art of Making Cheese

by Brad Kessler

I don't know why it didn't click. Liked it but didn't love it.  That's still a recommendation, because it is a lovely book.

And not preachy--well, not very much.  He got a little pointed in the last few chapters, describing how pasteurization became a cheap and easy substitute for cleanliness, careful handling, and proper storage. And for--most importantly--local sources. Without a local farmer you trust, you have no other choice than to choose pasteurized milk. But I don't understand the cheese issue.  The U.S. government forbids the sale of cheese made from unpasteurized milk. Didn't the idiots realize that that's the whole point of making cheese--to convert milk into something that can be stored without refrigeration?  Some of the hard cheeses can be stored for years.

My own personal failure to love may have something to do with his way of telling the story--linear and matter-of-fact with an occasional jump into other times and other places. (I liked those parts.)  What I missed was the decision-making.  Why were things done the way they were?  Was there never any discussion that things might be otherwise?

Why were the kids weaned at birth instead of after a few weeks?  Did he ever consider getting a large dog of a breed used to protecting goats? Why did he make mostly Chevre cheese and occasionally mozarella?  Maybe they were simply favorites. Why did he not try a few of the simpler hard cheeses--from other reading I've done, I know they're not as complicated as the one he chose to learn.  Why, why?  Man, I'm nosy!

Lovely book and I'm not going to hoard it for myself by putting it on the bookshelf.  I'll give it to the library for someone else to enjoy.