...Exotic Cheeses!
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And, just like all the rest of us, before succeeding, the exotic cheesemaker had to fail.
Complete story follows - but first, think about failing.
How many times have you fallen down?
Actually, it doesn't matter.
What counts is - How Many Times Did You Get Up?
As long as you got up the same number of times as you fell, you are OK.
BUT, once you no longer get up, your body is on the way to the cemetery. (It may be a slow or fast trip, but the end is sure.)
There has never been a person who did not fall at all. We start falling as babies trying to walk.
The difference between a baby and an adult is simple. After a tumble, the baby laughs and then tries again.
When we get knocked down as adults, we moan and grown about our troubles. "Poor little me." Etc.
True whether the fall was physical, emotional, financial, or any other.
Both the small and great fall. Every person in the Bible failed somewhere along the way.
Every President of the United States has had his failures - from George Washington to Donald Trump.
Every king, soldier, politician, doctor, lawyer, merchant, wife, husband. We have all failed - most of us many times.
But Angel King did NOT let a little thing like failure discourage her!
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Jim and Angel King
Angel said, "My husband Jim milked cows for 30 years. When we got married, we had a LOT of milk at our fingertips.
"I love food and I love interesting flavors. We had an old antique cheese press in our family. I came across a book on home cheesemaking, so I decided to try my hand at making fresh mozzarella.
"It was terrible! I'm not sure what went wrong, but it was a big failure."
Angel comes from a family of entrepreneurs - and rather stubborn ones - so she was not about to let her first attempt define her.
"Failure is nothing to be ashamed of," she said. "Give me a barrier, and I'll find a way through it."
So after awhile, she tried again.
And again.
Gradually she got better - a lot better.
"And I started really enjoying it," she said.
Eventually she and her husband determined that they had an opportunity "to create something really special," she said.
In 2007 they decided to launch a commercial, artisan cheesemaking business.
Thus the co-founder and co-owner (along with her husband, Jim) of Blue Jacket Dairy in Bellefontaine, Ohio, had a rocky start as an artisan cheesemaker.
Just like the rest of us.
But she did NOT quit. (Not quitting is the number one key to success in my opinion.)
She started thinking and studying. (Two other important ingredients to success.)
Angel attended a class on cheesemaking in Vermont and started going to conferences held by the American Cheese Society. She also started reading voraciously about the history and production of cheese.
The couple started building their production facility next door to their farmhouse in the fall of 2007, and opened Blue Jacket Dairy in 2008.
Upside
After they got underway growth was steady and swift. (But remember, the growth came AFTER the failures.)
In 2010, the Kings sold their dairy herd to focus on their cheese venture. They now have several dairy farmers from throughout the region who supply the milk for Blue Jacket's cheeses.
"They're excited to see something so unique created out of the milk they produce," Angel said.
By literally marrying their backgrounds, Jim's love of farming with Angel's culinary skills, the Kings are continuing to build on the foundation laid for them by past generations. And by extending their family farm operation to include cheese production in 2008, they took a major step toward sustaining Ohio's agricultural economy and promoting farming as a way of life for future generations.
Blue Jacket Dairy, named after nearby Blue Jacket Creek. west of Bellefontaine, Ohio. Bellefontaine is in ski-country near the site of Campbell Hill the highest elevation in Ohio. In Logan County, the air is fresh and clean, the people are friendly and it is a great place to farm and to raise a family.
Trivia for history fans like me - Did you know that Blue Jacket was the war chief of the Shawnee Indians? On behalf of the Indians, Blue Jacket signed the Treaty of Greenville which ended the Indian Wars in Ohio and opened up the Northwest Territory for settlement. Ohio was the first state carved out of the Northwest Territory. Became a state in 1803.
Jim King, a fourth generation dairy farmer, was raised on a dairy farm in rural Logan County.
Twenty-nine years of continuous dairy production on a family farm demonstrates a long-standing commitment to producing a quality product for consumers as well as a solid base of understanding of the dairy industry.
Jim has the expertise that comes from successfully managing a herd of Holstein cows and farming 192 acres of corn, 153 acres soybean, and 105 acres of hay for over a quarter of a century.
By extending the family farm operation to include cheese production, the Kings took a major step toward sustaining Ohio's agricultural economy and promoting farming as a way of life for future generations.
Jim can now be found hard at work in the "make room" - the place where Grade A milk is transformed into Blue Jacket's great-tasting high-quality cheese. Blue Jacket produces fresh curds, chevre, quark, feta, aged cheeses, and their signature cheese, the halloumi style Gretna Grilling cheese.
After falling down comes success - if you get up.
After failure comes success - if you refuse to quit.
If you refuse to quit, you don't need any excuse!
If you keep on keepin' on in spite of all obstacles and roadblocks, you don't need to explain.
Your final results will do the explaining.
Comments?
Please call or write.
Your "good life" awaits.
James
James Sloan