Exactly 100 years before The Cabot co-op was founded, Washington Irving wrote a story about Rip Van Winkle, published in 1819 The story goes that many years earlier Rip Van Winkle had to get away from his wifes constant nagging about his lazy attitude regarding her "Honey Dew List", so he headed to the hills to relax and join in with his new found buddies for some drinking and lawn bowling.
However after imbibing a big growler of their strange liquor he passed out, and woke up 20 years later, quite a nap huh ? and it caused quite a stir.

While he was gone lots of things changed, his beloved wife had passed away, and in 1775 the shot heard round the world started our "Battle for Independence"
We defeated the British in 1783 resulting in the creation of our Wonderful Democratic Republic that we Lovingly Named "The United States of America"
So after that we were not only making our own "Whey" in the world, we were also making our own Beer, Wine & Cheese.

So moving onward and upward to the present day we are still making Beer, Wine and Cheese in the USA but here in the Cheese Business Cabot is knocking the ball out of the park.
Amanda Freund one of Our Cabot Farmers from East Canaan CT and I are here today to promote Cheese, and not just any cheese either but
"The Worlds Best Cheddar'
So lets do this.

~0~

Me and my co-pilot heading to the Catskills @ 4:00 AM and 25° 

Sunrise near Randolph on I-89

Rolling past Manchester on Rt 7. get'n cloudy

Bennington Monument
Remembering the Remarks of General Stark as he headed off to fight, the Battle of Bennington.
"I will come back victorious or Mrs Stark will sleep a widow tonight" Strong words but thankfully for all concerned he succeeded !

Welcome to New York getting close to destination, correct state anyway. 

"Big Moose Country Store" Hoosick New York

Got to Catskill about 9:15 and started getting setup.

Unloaded the heifer and gave her some hay so she smiled..

Before I was even set up one of the local Cabot Fans that I have met here before stopped by to say hi proving that not only does Cabot make the "Worlds best Cheddar" it also creates some of the 

"Worlds Best Friendships", and "Most Loyal Fans" as well.

Everything just about ready to go just waiting on the horn to blow

Amanda Working the table and doing a great job.

To the left of our table was a Local Vodka Producer, 1857 Vodka hosted by Emily Barber using locally grown Potatoes so we had a perfect spot, all local goods PLUS 3 important parts of the food pyramid in one spot, Dairy, Veggies, and alcohol..  :-)



Had a steady stream of people the whole day but it was raining outside
And it looked bad at the very beginning but livened up quickly and held on until just before the closing bell.

Rained or drizzled steady all day long and a bit on the chilly side

We could barely see the Rip Van Winkle Bridge

Typical Crowd for the day.

Had lots of different opinions about the flavors we sampled, the Cracker Cuts

and the new Shreds garnered lots attention.
And we rarely had anyone that did not fall in love with the Alpine Cheddar.
We asked one lady if she minded if we videoed her first taste of Alpine and she graciously agreed and it was a typical response.

So all in all it was a very good day and we had a blast.
I had never met or worked with Amanda before but we hit it off from the start.
And it turned into a very productive day.

As the Event was approaching closing time, things started to wind down but it was still productive right up to the end.

 Amanda's Sister and her father showed up to help us close and reload my van to get back up to Verde Mont, so Thank You I appreciate it.

Sun setting as I was getting close to home heading North on I-89 felt good getting near the ranch, pulled into my door yard about 10:15, and headed almost directly to my crib.

Had a fun successful day and I was happy to be a part of it.
~0~
Video Compilation if you want to watch it.
I promised Amanda I would not sing this song live since it does not fit my vocal chords so I'll let "Boston" do it for her.
Amanda you can thank me later  :-)

~0~
Ok

Jim Ovr'n Out