Whenever I get distracted from my goal - that of making available to 'my community' the best cheeses I have access to but within my budget; whenever I begin looking out of my store, at other people's businesses, and allowing their success (whether that means more traffic, more product lines, or more frequent sales, or whatever), I begin to doubt myself. I think I need to add new products (things that may not make sense when pairing with cheese), and I end up spending money on inventory that I'm probably not going to sell, because - well, because I'm really not that interested in it... Let's just say things begin to get complicated.
After reading an excerpt from Ken Segall's book, Insanely Simple, it makes perfect sense. If you truly want to follow your passion, anything coming from the outside could be construed as 'noise'. You have to re-focus your attention to your own inner story. Mine is all wrapped up in farms, outdoors, and ruminents that give milk. It's a strange love affair I can tell you. And yet, every time we get a new shipment and take out the wheels, and make the first cut, I get the feeling I used to get as a child on Christmas morning.
We recently cut into a wheel of Midnight Moon, (a beautiful goat milk Gouda made by Cypress Grove Chevre) and planed off that first slice and I was momentarily stunned into silence. The taste was so deep, and nutty - and it dissolved into those crunchy crystals on my tongue. MMMmmm. Wait for it - AHA! There it is - the goat is buried deep in that cheese - and I can just remember when we had milking goats - all in that moment. It's now part of my DNA, and I will always be in their debt. Keep on cheese-in' on!
ljw
