Our friends at the Moscow Food Coop in Moscow, Idaho invited us to participate in their 2nd annual cheese festival. It worked out perfect for us as it was scheduled for the Saturday after all three of our farmers markets were done—yes, all three ended on October 17.
We arranged for Rhett to milk on that Friday for us. And Shayne was already scheduled to milk that Saturday and Sunday morning, so we packed up and took off.
Now for those of you who don’t know, there is no easy way to get to Moscow from here. It is about 300 miles north of Boise, on the border with Washington. And the road from Boise through McCall, though quite spectacular, more resembles an amusement park ride than a highway. It took us 11 1/2 hours to travel the 650 miles … and to think that we only live six miles from the Idaho border!
We had some time to wander around Moscow on Saturday morning, before the festival began. It’s a beautiful little city, a bit on the windy side, but none the less, very nice. We visited their farmers market, walked the downtown area and then drove around the outskirts for a bit. The Palouse country is really something to see. We both wished we had had more time to explore.
The festival started at 1 pm but we arrived at noon and soon hundreds of folks were lining up to taste the cheeses brought by a total of 13 cheese makers.
We had come the farthest, but there were several cheese makers from the west coast also. I won’t even try to guess how many folks came through, but by the middle of the afternoon, the wait was up to two hours for folks to get to the tasting area.
We had a great time meeting the wonderful customers and staff of the Coop—now in it’s 35th year! Thanks for inviting us.—PS
