Off the Grid Experience

In the area of lower galilee lie the remains of the ancient town Yodfat.
This is an area of outstanding natural beauty – it is green and fertile and
as beloved by goats as by humans (more on that below).
Today we visited Yodfat and a totally ‘off the grid’ goat cheese farm and
restaurant and enjoyed a delicious meal in an atmosphere of total
tranquility.

However as an aside it’s worth mentioning that Ancient Yodfat was anything
but tranquil – the Jewish settlement was the site of one of the bloodiest
battles against the Romans in the war of 67AD. The Roman forces were led by
Vespasian and his son Titus, both future Emperors of Rome. The battle was
the bloodiest of any of the Jewish battles against Rome except for that for
Jerusalem, and ended in the killing or enslaving of the entire settlement.

Back to the present day and the area is a veritable rural delight. We
eventually found the Goat in the Wind restaurant (a 4×4 is recommended – it
is literally off the grid as well as metaphorically), and were sat around
two low tables on a stone balcony overlooking fields and trees and
mountains. All of the food is grown or made from the farm and it was all
seriously delicious: creamy labane (middle eastern cream cheese), a huge
platter of goat cheeses, divinely cooked chilli haloumi, tomato salad, fresh
olives, delicious eggplant, fresh bread, and home made red wine which was
surprisingly good.

The ‘restaurant’ is literally set in nature so it’s a wonder for children
and our kids soon disappeared to play hide and seek and similar.

At the end of the meal we went to visit the goats, turning up just in time
for milking – we were welcomed to join the experience and everyone had a go
from our four year old upwards! They milk 120 goats twice a day so the
farmers and volunteers were happy for an extra couple of hands. We collected
buckets of fresh, warm frothy goat cheese and of course had every confidence
that its fate would lie in being turned into only the very finest cheese.