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Subtitle: I went on tour of a few local cheese places as part of the &quot;Finger Lakes Cheese Trail&quot;  Really, we only saw a few places as there are a ton of them in the area.  But that was OK.  <br><br> The trail went cold at the first place where we stopped; I guess that dairy was getting out of the cheese business.  But then we picked up the trail and visited 3 other places.  The best was the Lively Run Dairly, where we got a full tour.  They make all forms of goat cheese, blue cheese, and blue goat cheese, none of which I like in any way, but it was a cool place and I feel like I should like their products, since they're definitely into cheese and goats.
DSC_1394: The first stop (that was open) was Keeley's Cheese Company.
DSC_1395: They had samples of Across the Pond...
DSC_1396: ...and a reserve versino of Across the Pond.  Both were good.
DSC_1397: And here's a bucket for the used toothpicks.
DSC_1399: Chickens in the yard.
DSC_1400: A 3 day old cow (OK, a calf, whatever).  The bit of straw on the bottom is the umbilical cord and not a bit of straw.
DSC_1401: The calf was in a very flimsy cage, but it wasn't interested in going anywhere.
DSC_1402: Another close up of the calf.
DSC_1403: Then we stopped at the Ithaca Farmer's Market for lunch.
DSC_1404: After that we went to the Livey Run Dairy and got a full tour.
DSC_1405: First off were the kids.
DSC_1406: It turns out the goats enjoy supplementing their diet with bucket handles (and more or less anything else around including the wooden planks in their pens).
DSC_1408: A goat.
DSC_1409: And another goat.  They're all hand-raised, so they're very socialized and friendly to people.  They still do enjoy a bit of shirt for a quick snack.
DSC_1410: The farm has one buck (male).  Every two years, they sell the buck to another farm and buy another buck to prevent inbreeding.
DSC_1412: Our tour guide, Pete, talks about goats.  The expression on his face was because he was answering some question of &quot;well...yes, but...&quot;  He gave us a very thorough tour of the facilities and was happy to answer all of our questions.  He is a true &quot;curd nerd.&quot;
DSC_1422: Then we got to see how the cheese is made.  First off was the feta.
DSC_1424: A loaf (cube? block?) of what will eventually be goat feta.
DSC_1426: Then some wheels of blue cheese.  This was actually cow-milk-based, made from milk from another local cow dairy farm.
DSC_1428: Another view of the cow-milk blue cheese wheels.
DSC_1431: Goat-milk blue cheese wheels.  The blue from the mold can be seen on the bottom of the wheels.
DSC_1434: More blue cheese wheels.
DSC_1435: Then to the aging room where the cheeses spend a couple months ripening.  
DSC_1436: More cheese ripening in the aging room
DSC_1437: More aging room.
DSC_1439: The aging room was filled with cheese, in racks and on shelves all along the walls.
DSC_1440: Another view of the shelves along the walls of the aging room milking_station_Panorama: The miling station.  Originally designed for cows (when this was a cow farm), it's been retrofitted for goats.  I only had my zoom lens, so this is actually a panoramic composite of a bunch of pictures.
milking_station_Panorama: The milking area was originally made for cows, as it used to be a cow farm originally.  I did not have a wide-angle lens, so I just took a bunch of pictures (hand-held) and then stitched them together.  The result is suprisingly reasonable and coherent.