Published: Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Lake Stevens Girl Scouts watch cheese making from udder to plate
Lake Stevens Girl Scouts learn to make goat cheese
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Dan Bates / The Herald
Lake Stevens Girl Scout, Alyssa Sims, 12, gently butts heads with a young kid Monday at My-Enchanted-Acres Goat Farm, owned by Kim and Tony Puzio. Alyssa and others from Girl Scout Troop 42458 in Lake Stevens were treated to a lesson in goat farming, milking and cheesemaking.
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Dan Bates / The Herald
Lake Stevens Girl Scouts Emma Sorbo (left), 12, Kyarra Keele, 11, and Sydney McDermott, 12, taste the goat cheese they helped make Monday.
LAKE STEVENS -- Twelve-year-old Sydney McDermott held the makings of her very first batch of cheese in her hands, amazed that it actually tasted, well, like cheese.
"Mozzarella is my favorite," Sydney said.
She was one of eight Girl Scouts on Monday morning who took turns stirring, mixing, stretching and twisting the fresh cheese, part of a summer activity for their troop.
The class was intended to teach the girls how to make their own food and show where some of their food comes from, teacher Cyndi Ball said.
"That way they will have more control over the ingredients," Ball, 49, said.
Ball, who manages a 7-acre farm in Statham, Ga., teaches gardening, beekeeping and more to help people learn how to grow their own food. She calls herself a homesteader, which she defines as someone wanting to become more independent from grocery stores and living a sustainable life.
It's like "The Little House on the Prairie," she said. "It's getting back to basics.''
Sydney's mom, Michelle McDermott, asked Ball to teach the girls how to make cheese, hoping they would learn something different and learn a little about organic food.
She met Ball through a common friend and started reading her blog. They talked in January and decided to have the class Monday because Ball was in Seattle for a convention.
The girls met at McDermott's house. In the afternoon, they got to try their hand at milking goats at My-Enchanted-Acres goat dairy farm in Snohomish.
McDermott kept the cheese and plans to use it in a salad of mozzarella, tomatoes and basil. She said she wanted the girls to try something adventurous.
And while they were making the cheese, the girls did start humming the theme song to "Indiana Jones."
While that has little to do with cheesemaking, it has everything to do with 12-year-old girls on an adventure.
Alejandro Dominguez: 425-339-3422, adominguez@heraldnet.com.
"Mozzarella is my favorite," Sydney said.
She was one of eight Girl Scouts on Monday morning who took turns stirring, mixing, stretching and twisting the fresh cheese, part of a summer activity for their troop.
The class was intended to teach the girls how to make their own food and show where some of their food comes from, teacher Cyndi Ball said.
"That way they will have more control over the ingredients," Ball, 49, said.
Ball, who manages a 7-acre farm in Statham, Ga., teaches gardening, beekeeping and more to help people learn how to grow their own food. She calls herself a homesteader, which she defines as someone wanting to become more independent from grocery stores and living a sustainable life.
It's like "The Little House on the Prairie," she said. "It's getting back to basics.''
Sydney's mom, Michelle McDermott, asked Ball to teach the girls how to make cheese, hoping they would learn something different and learn a little about organic food.
She met Ball through a common friend and started reading her blog. They talked in January and decided to have the class Monday because Ball was in Seattle for a convention.
The girls met at McDermott's house. In the afternoon, they got to try their hand at milking goats at My-Enchanted-Acres goat dairy farm in Snohomish.
McDermott kept the cheese and plans to use it in a salad of mozzarella, tomatoes and basil. She said she wanted the girls to try something adventurous.
And while they were making the cheese, the girls did start humming the theme song to "Indiana Jones."
While that has little to do with cheesemaking, it has everything to do with 12-year-old girls on an adventure.
Alejandro Dominguez: 425-339-3422, adominguez@heraldnet.com.
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