Sweet Grass Dairy Part 2

Well, it is cold yet again this morning. Frost, cold wind, and no sign of a warm up for several days. I think this is what we Southerners call Dogwood Winter. The dogwood trees are showing buds, hence the name.
The pastured chickens slept with a brood light the last two nights and my yard has extension cords strung across the grass as proof that spring is not quite ready to stay just yet.

In the meantime, I wanted to share the rest of my short vacation to Sweet Grass Dairy, specifically on the town of Thomasville, GA.

When we decided to take the artisan cheese class I spent several hours online looking for a nice place to stay. We don't have a ton of cash to spend on accommodations, but we could splurge a little.

We decided to stay at the Paxton House Inn. Not only was it close to the downtown area, it was absolutely beautiful! It is a historical landmark as well.
It was built in 1884 as a winter cottage for Colonel J. W. Paxton of Wheeling, West Virginia and his family. The owner was very nice and the food was delicious. It is also up for sale, so if you think you might want to get into the B&B business in a warm part of the US, go for it! The owner is ready for retirement, and this place would be well worth the investment.

The downtown area of Thomasville is made up of old buildings renovated to accommodate shops and restaurants. Sadly, we did not get any window shopping or browsing in, as the shops close rather early and the entire town shuts down on Sunday, typical of the deep South.

We did find the Sweet Grass Dairy Shop though and it was packed!

We sat at the bar and ordered a platter that consisted of several cheeses, meats and fruits. The cheese shop also offers a wide selection of beer and wine. I also bought myself a ball cap with the dairy logo on it, which Devin might soon regret getting me. It seems that cap has been my great excuse to not fix my hair ever again.

There are several plantations to visit in Thomasville, but again we got out of cheese class to late to take a tour. We did, however, visit another huge landmark in the downtown area.

The Big Oak.
This tree was planted in the 1600's. It is also 27 1/2 feet circumference. It is so stinkin' huge!

The limbs span way, way out and are supported by steel rods now. This live oak is also covered in  resurrection fern. This fern appears dead until it rains, when it then greens up and looks alive again.

The locals were very nice and would stop and offer to snap photos for us. In fact the people were as you would expect in any good Georgia town, super nice!

I will say that the restaurants were all a little pricey. They were also very loud! I assume it is the nature of old buildings with poor acoustics, but every place we ate was loud with people chattering. It was difficult to hear a conversation and by the end of each evening my head was pounding. The food was always fantastic!....it was just not relaxing and very pricey.
The down town area is growing and new places to eat and shop are moving in all of the time In fact, Sweet Grass Dairy recently opened a restaurant Blue Coop. We didn't get a chance to eat there but heard fabulous reviews of the food.

It was a nice drive to Thomasville and, with the exception of Atlanta traffic, and easy drive home.
We would love to visit again sometime, although that is difficult to plan with a farm to care for too.

Speaking of farm and cheese, I crafted a 4 pound wheel of cheese just a few days ago and placed it in my basement for aging. Devin is drawing up ideas to build me a cheese cave down there...in all of his spare time.
We are building a chicken plucker this year, instead of borrowing one. Those parts just arrived so that is next on our "to do" list.

This weekend is also the homeschool prom in Huntsville, AL. My two oldest attended last year and we will go again this year. We have close friends who help organize the event and we are looking forward to visiting them!

Off to finish farm chores now!
Happy Monday!!!