Newbury, MA
As Erin Bligh of Dancing Goats Dairy says, every thrilling and wild adventure has its humble beginnings. Her story certainly does.
Erin’s passion for good food and cheese was cultured into existence during four months in Rennes, France as a college student living with a host mother with a serious obsession with cheese. She says, “I remember having the cheese plate handed to me at the end of my first meal and being offered up a sizable hunk of Roquefort. My fear and trepidation were unwarranted… it was glorious! From that moment on I was in love with all things cheese.”
After graduating from college and bouncing around, Erin saw that the herd managers of Consider Bardwell Farm in West Pawlet, Vermont (Margot Brooks and Alex Eaton, who now begin their own venture at the Adirondack paradise of Sugar House Creamery) were looking for a kidding intern, and her fate was sealed. She spent about a year at Consider Bardwell, first as a kidding intern, learning to birth goats, milk and make a farm run, then another several months in the cheese room as an apprentice, learning the delicate art of turning that toiled for milk into a culinary masterpiece.
Erin returned home to Massachusetts, and with help from friends at Tendercrop Farm, began her own cheesemaking venture. Dancing Goats produces the following cheeses: