Local Goat Cheese

Last weekend my husband and I made a visit to the Side Hill Acres Dairy Goat Farm in Candor, NY over in Tioga County. For those who are geographically challenged, Tioga County is adjacent to Cortland to the southwest. Side Hill Acres raises goats and chickens and sell goat cheese, goat fudge, goat yogurt, goat milk, and goat milk lotions and soaps in their farm store. All of these products are made from the milk they get from their goat herd. Upon entering the store, we were greeted by the owner Rita Kellogg. She was extremely friendly and pulled out some goat cheese for us to try. Each was delicious, but I our favorite was the rosemary garlic. We purchased some of their reasonably priced cheese, fudge and soap to sample. 

As we were leaving, her granddaughter called out to us. She had just finished helping in the birth of twin baby goats (does) and asked if we’d like to see them. And so we went in to a small, warm utility room and there we saw two, surprisingly large, baby goats still wet from their birthing experience. Together she and her grandmother continued to dry them off and stimulate their blood circulation. Then she offered to show us the rest of the goats so we headed to the barn to be greeted by several very gentle goats. The young girl shared with us information about the herd and what she does around the farm. It was obvious that she enjoyed the farm and seemed, at age 11, to have already decided that she was going to be a goat farmer herself in a few years. This is great news for us to have such a bright, young person interested in being a farmer. 

I recommend that you give Side Hill goat cheese a try. In addition, the fudge is also highly recommended:)  You can go to the website to get directions and visit for yourself. To pick up some cheese a little closer to Cortland, you can find it at Ludgate Farms on the east side of Ithaca, and for those in southern Cortland County, you can find it at Giant in Binghamton.