Arriving in Fontanals de Cerdanya put an end to the long climb, but it didn’t mean the work was over. Quite the opposite. After weeks of walking with the herd, it was time to adapt to a new reality: that of life in the summer pastures, with fewer kilometers on their legs but with the same commitment every day.
Here the pace is different. There are no longer stages, no paths to prepare, no need to pack up camp every morning. Now we have the river right next to us, plenty of space for the herd and a generous nature that gives us many resources. It is, in a way, a more sedentary life, but with the spirit of transhumance still very much present. The goats continue to go out to graze every day and we continue to keep an eye on them, the territory and everything that happens around us.
With the herd already established and the goats in full production, we have started milking them by hand. Every day we are getting around 64 liters of milk, an amount that allows us to start a new adventure: making cheese directly in the pastures.
After so many days talking with shepherds, farmers and producers, sharing cheeses and discovering different ways of working the territory, now it’s our turn to get down to business. The milk from our own herd is transformed right here, in the place where the goats graze. It’s a very direct way to understand what it means to work with the territory and take advantage of the resources it offers us.
And that’s precisely what we like about transhumance. The journey doesn’t end when we stop walking. What we’ve learned along the way stays with us. The conversations with other shepherds, the shared experiences, the cheeses tasted, the landscapes crossed and all the people who have opened their doors to us are part of this new stage.
Now we have time to do things differently. To observe the herd calmly, to milk, to experiment with cheeses and to discover what we can do with milk that comes directly from the goats that have accompanied us along the way.
We also want to share it. When the time comes to prepare a new batch of cheeses, we want to show you how the whole process went and give you a little bit of this life in the pastures. Because if there’s one thing we’ve learned during this transhumance, it’s that food tells stories. And this cheese will tell the story of a herd that has walked from Priorat to Cerdanya, of shepherds who keep a trade alive and of a territory that continues to offer resources when we know how to listen to it and work with respect.
So the transhumance continues. Now without kilometers, but with a lot of work to do. And while the goats graze by the river, we milk them, make cheeses and prepare this new stage of Vins de Pastura while enjoying a glass of Castell de Siurana wine.
