Fact: Vermont has more cheesemakers per capita than any other state.

Fact: When I am not tour guiding or working in the Admissions office, I am a cheesemonger.

What is that, you ask? At home, I work at a cheese shop, and as a result have more knowledge about cheeses than I know what to do with. With this cheese shop, last summer I came to experience the annual Vermont Cheesemakers Festival for the first time, and came back for round two yesterday. On the gorgeous and expansive grounds of Shelburne Farms in Shelburne, VT, tents and tables abound with all the cheese samples you could ever dream of eating. For real. It’s all-you-can-eat, with much more than just cheese: artisan crackers, jams, bakeries, wineries and breweries, chocolatiers, charcuterie…all in one place. At the farm, I got to pet baby goats and sheep, watch a cow being milked, and see the cheddaring process for making cheese. Some personal favorite cheeses include: *drumroll*

• Cilantro and garlic chevre
• Sage Farm Goat Dairy’s wildflower chevre (Stowe, VT)
• Cheddar curds
• Vermont Creamery’s Cremont (Websterville, VT)

My 3 month old calf friend Betty

I also got to do a maple syrup tasting, and compare different syrups as they change over the course of the sugaring season. (I learned that I prefer the darker syrup that is produced later in the season.) Only in VT, am I right? I wish I could go back today and taste everything all over again.