A Tour of Rainbeau Ridge
UPDATE: Color Lovers Unite! Please check out Kevin Sharkey's blog today, amazing cake!
Some of you may have watched my television show when my friend and neighbor, Lisa Schwartz was featured. Lisa and her husband, Mark, are the proud owners of Rainbeau Ridge, a dairy and produce farm, well known for its delicious goat cheese. Established in 2002, Rainbeau Ridge has been committed to sharing with the public how a farm can be an important part of the social, cultural, educational, and commercial entities that hold a community together. Beginning with just two goats, Rainbeau Ridge has grown tremendously and offers a Community Agricultural Partnership - CAP - where members may purchase the farm's weekly produce of fruit, vegetables, cheese, and eggs, as well as from other vendors vetted by Rainbeau Ridge. It also has become a learning environment, where many classes and workshops are offered to adults and children, as well. Lisa is very concerned that the public should have the knowledge of where their food comes from. Please enjoy this little tour and also, please explore Rainbeau Ridge's Web site.
1 This is Lisa Schwartz holding one of her newborn kid goats.
2 The Rainbeau Ridge Logo
3 Chickens roam free range style at Rainbeau Ridge.
4 This hen is keeping cool in the hole she dug.
5 Lulu is a six-month-old llama who likes to go for walks around the farm.
6 All leashed and ready to go - Lulu is so soft and so sweet.
7 One of the other llamas on the farm. Llamas are very protective of the sheep and goats.
8 This goat is Rihanna and she was expecting at any minute.
9 Faith is a new mother of this adorable 1-day-old kid. Notice her heavy milk sack? And notice the missing bark on the tree? - Goats love eating it.
10 Carrie has long horns - their sharp points are protected with layers of hockey tape.
11 More pregnant females waiting to give birth
12 These Alpine goats are so friendly and curious about everything going on around them.
13 An adorable baby
14 This goat is finding relief from the sun inside the barn.
15 This is a buck who has just one horn. He wasn't properly disbudded, a procedure for preventing the growth of horns.
16 Lisa feeds her goats a diet of grain and hay.
17 The Alpine breed has a very wide color range - this goat has beautiful markings.
18 The goats are also very communal.
19 This is a Bourbon Red turkey displaying his plumage.
20 Lisa just received a delivery of poults. These turkey babies are all heritage breeds, including Bourbon Red, Narragansett, and Royal Palm.
21 This is a Cotswold sheep, a rare breed from England. Although they are not milked for cheese production, their fleece is sheared and spun into wool for fiber arts. Shearing is scheduled for April 25th.
22 A brand new sweet little lamb.
23 A very regal llama - llama's fleece is also used for fiber.
24 This charming house is where Lisa makes her amazing cheese.
25 Because of sanitary restrictions, the cheese facility is not open to the public. This photo, shot through the glass door, shows 5-gallon buckets of that morning's milk waiting to be turned into cheese.
26 And here are some of Lisa's superb goat cheeses, freshly made and draining in their molds.
27 An important part of farming is composting. Lisa explained that this area will soon be transformed into a modern and efficient composting yard.
28 Beautiful produce is grown in these two hoop houses.
29 The fertile raised beds are in various stages of development.
30 Tender and tasty leaf lettuces
31 A bed of artichokes
32 Amazingly beautiful!
33 The garden beyond the hoop houses - The head gardener at Rainbeau Ridge is Isaac Jahns.
34 Isaac and Sara, a garden intern, are picking carrots planted last autumn.
35 A gorgeous array of colors.
36 Lisa loves these long French radishes - D'Avignon. They have a really pleasant flavor - not at all bold and spicy.
37 A spring crop of Johnny-jump-ups - organically grown and great in salads or as a garnish.
38 This is a rather new greenhouse. Many seeds are germinated here.
39 A healthy crop of tomato plants
40 Rainbeau Ridge offers fascinating and educational workshops and cooking demonstrations.
41 Over the Rainbeau is an inspirational memoir, complete with recipes, how-tos, and lovely photographs.
42 Lisa shared some of those French radishes and her special lemon-chive dressing.
43 The recipe for the dressing is in her book.
44 Sara, the garden intern, also happens to be the proud new mother of Edith (Piaf). She was born 3 weeks prematurely and was celebrating her 0 birthday on this visit. Sara can look forward to many, many days of bottle feeding Edith.
I think everyone should have an appreciation of just how much work is done in farming today! There are so many farms in the area that I call home. These people strive to make our earth a safer and healthier place to live everyday. Beautiful things are happening at our local farms. I encourage your fans to visit and donate,purchase and thank thier local farmers!
http://www.meandmartha.net
Dan Viger
Hollis center, Maine
Posted by: Daniel Viger | April 14th, 2010 at 12:09 am
The baby goats are adorable!! And the picture of the baby lamb so cute. Made me feel really bad because I had wonderful lamb chops last night
Just read your Twitter remarks from the game I feel another Yankee - Phillies repeat only this time the Phillies WILL WIN!!!!
Posted by: Ann | April 14th, 2010 at 5:55 am
My family & I are HUGE fans of Rainbeau Ridge!! There are fabulous children's activities, cooking classes for adults and the most AMAZING goat cheese, lettuce & other veggies. It is such a special place!!! Nice to see Rainbeau on the blog!!
Posted by: Jennifer | April 14th, 2010 at 7:44 am
Oh yes, reminds me of the story of one of my many boyfriends. This one named John who became the proud owner of one goat last year. There is a book that need to be written about it. Amazing that spring is already there and we have not even been able to plant, yet. Fall planted carrots sounds interesting.
Posted by: ann | April 14th, 2010 at 8:18 am
Hi Martha~
I became a huge fan of Lisa's when you had her on your cheese show. I ordered the book, and use it all of the time!
Thank you so much for sharing the photos with us!
Robyn
Posted by: Robyn | April 14th, 2010 at 10:55 am
Hi Martha,
I loved watching that Cheese Show which aired December 30, 2009 btw. I just watched part of the Lisa Schwartz segment again because I remember being so impressed with how she came about developing her sustainable farm. She even holds classes for children so they can see how cheese is made. It would be great to have someone with a farm like hers 5 minutes away and you’re 5 minutes away from her so you're both lucky. Thanks for this blog; I think I’ll go watch the entire show again and also check out Kevin’s blog. Trish
Posted by: Trish | April 14th, 2010 at 11:07 am
It is so encouraging to know that there are still beautiful places like this which exist on the planet and that there are people who want to work for this and to live like this.
It is like a little piece of heaven.
Posted by: Susie | April 14th, 2010 at 11:08 am
That baby goat is adorable! I need to take my little guy to the local historical farm again soon!
Posted by: Michelle | April 14th, 2010 at 12:55 pm
I love this gem! We are all about local business and love fresh local products. What a great place!
Posted by: Michelle B | April 14th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
Simply beautiful. Everyone needs to have a little bit of their own Rainbeau Ridge...it inspires to grow things and eat well!
Posted by: sherey | April 14th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Martha if you ever want the challenge of teaching someone how to garden that has NO experience please teach me! Growing some of my own food would be amazing, but I don't seem to have any natural gift for it. I'm always so inspired by seeing you do it. Maybe you could transform me?!
Posted by: Wendy | April 14th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
A very interesting walk through the Rainbeau Ridge farm, a very unusual place. By the way I love goat cheese. The baby goats and the lamb are precious. Everything there looks so healthy, the animals and the greenhouse's produce and all. A great farm, wish I lived close.
Posted by: Libbygirl | April 14th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
That llama is gorgeous. Do they make yarn from her wool?
Posted by: Hadda | April 14th, 2010 at 5:33 pm
Love it! Especially the baby llama.
Posted by: Annmarie Kostyk | April 14th, 2010 at 5:34 pm
My favorites are the turkeys! I love turkeys and that tom is a beauty!
Posted by: Jenna Z | April 14th, 2010 at 5:59 pm
What beautiful photos! I wish I had the space and the ability to raise animals and have a garden! These pictures make me want to move out to the country and purchase a farm. Thank you for sharing Rainbeau Ridge with us.
Posted by: bunkycooks | April 14th, 2010 at 6:22 pm
Beautiful place! Thank you for sharing your photos.
Alba H. Rodriguez
Posted by: Ingredients of a Woman | April 14th, 2010 at 6:29 pm
I like goat cheese but it's not very easy to find here in the central part of the US. Could you recommend one or two places where I could get good goat cheese? Thank you.
Posted by: Anne | April 14th, 2010 at 6:40 pm
Hi Martha, What a wonderful blog about the Rainbeau Ridge. I love all of the photos about the darling animals and the great looking hoop houses and farm land for growing veggies. How special that that farm is only 5 minutes away from yours. I can see why you like to visit it. Do you ever think you will get goats or llamas on your farm? How about the sheep? Missed you on the Today Show this morning. Sure hope you will blog about it. Listened to Ask Martha on Sirius Radio 112 again and it was super as usual! Kevin's blog about the colorful cake was outstanding! Love seeing his tweets on twitter. Love, Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | April 14th, 2010 at 10:55 pm
i so enjoyed the visit to the farm. i come from a long line of farming folk (in downunder and the UK)love goats and fat red hens. my cousin (god rest her soul) named her female goats after all the old aunties. worst goat was the one called Ivy named for my grandmother - she (the goat!) caused more trouble than any person or animal i have ever met. continued good luck to you. Kate
Posted by: katherine abukoff | April 14th, 2010 at 11:23 pm
Hi Martha,
Have you ever visited Coombs Market on Vancouver Island, British Columbia? There is a place where goats live on a roof. It is quite the attraction. I couldn't believe it when I saw it. Like something out of a fairytale.
Posted by: http://twitter.com/Geotravel | April 16th, 2010 at 1:15 am
Hi Martha,
I really like the white clapboard house in which she makes cheese. So whimsical. Thanks! May
Posted by: http://twitter.com/Geotravel | April 16th, 2010 at 1:36 am