The "Bleating Heart" Name
What's with the name? Well....cows moo, goats and sheep bleat. From the Merriam-Webster dictionary:
bleat : to make the natural cry of a sheep or goat
Also, it is a play on the term "bleeding heart" which is defined as "a person who shows extravagant sympathy especially for an object of alleged persecution." I certainly have extravagant sympathy for American food artisans, with a special soft spot for cheesemakers and brewers.
The story on the logo
This logo was designed by the firm of me, myself & I.....no money for a graphic designer, and plus I knew I could do a reasonable job on my own using photoshop and the vision in my head. In keeping with the hand crafted and whimsical nature of my cheese, I opted for a font that looks handwritten. I wanted to get as far away from elegant and fancy as possible! The heart is obvious - my name is Bleating Heart.
Now as for the sheep that is in the logo, I met her in France. That's right, this is an actual real life sheep who came up to me while I was visiting a cheesemaker in the French Pyrenees. This particular ewe was quite curious about me and my friend Minan who was traveling with me at the time. This sheep approached me to say hello and then turned to my friend and heartily bleated at her just as the photo was being taken - a mid-bleat shot. Here is the original sequence as it happened in the barn in France:
   
 Why sheep?
The answer is simple.....sheep milk cheeses are my favorite. It would have been a helluva lot easier to become a maker of cow or goat milk cheese, because there is way more milk available. There are very limited amounts of dairy sheep in the United States, yet quite common in other countries. Some of the most famous cheeses in the world are made with sheep milk: Roquefort, Feta, Manchego, Pecorino Romano just to name a few. They have thousands upon thousands of sheep in countries such as France, Italy, Spain, etc. I live in California though, and there are only 4 licensed sheep dairies in the entire state. That's right, just FOUR. Initially, I was able to buy milk from one of those four dairies, and there were only 30 milking sheep in that flock. The other 3 dairies in CA couldn't spare a drop since they use all of their milk for their own cheese production. After my first season, my milk source became unavailable as she will be using all of her milk to make her cheese going forward. So.... if anyone out there wants to start a sheep dairy, please contact me because I need more milk!
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