Goat meat continues to become more mainstream and can now be found on the menus of Northern California restaurants. Similar to lamb, yet with a deeper, more earthy richness, goat meat is lower in fat than chicken and higher in protein than beef. Goats also have a rather light ecological footprint, especially when pastured beside cattle who will refuse to eat the common thistles and other plants that goats find quite tasty. 

Goats are obviously not picky eaters and the flavor of both their meat and  milk will be a clear reflection of their diet. Jim and Donna Pacheco of Achadinha Cheese Company in Petaluma, whose 900 goats supply the milk for their popular Capricious cheese, thrive on a grass-pastured diet supplemented by spent brewer’s grain from local breweries. This gives both a unique depth of flavor to their cheese ...and a nice little buzz to the goats.

Achadinha Cheese 

Dee Harley began realizing her dream of blending family, local farming and gourmet food when she started Harley Farms fourteen years ago with just six goats. She transformed a turn of the century dairy farm in Pescadero into a home for 220 American Alpine goats who now produce over 500 kids each spring.

From their milk, Harley Farms sells a wide variety of extraordinary goat cheeses ranging from delicate citrusy ricotta and feta to herbed spreads and cranberry-walnut-laden rounds decorated with edible flowers. Strict attention to the goat’s diet and disposition results in cheese of great delicacy.