dsmWeekly - June 19, 2024

Milk from happy goats is the key ingredient to a good cheese, according to Diana Smith (human) and Berneice (goat). (Photo: Mathany Ahmed)

FOOD & DINING

These cheesemakers aren’t kidding around

By Mathany Ahmed

Jethro, a baby goat born at Simple Life Farms in March, had a rough morning today. Last night’s storms created an inconvenient puddle, blocking his path out of the barn to the prairie where the rest of his herd could be found.

Instead of hopping over the puddle, he bleats, begging for Diana or Eric Smith, the attentive owners of the farm, to save him from his misery. Eric heads to the barn to help him out.

The goats at Simple Life, especially the kids, may be a little spoiled. The extra effort is worth it, though. “Happier goats make better milk,” Diana explains.

The Smiths and their flock of 130 goats, including 80 kids like Jethro, have been making cheese at the 60-acre farm in Winterset for the past 5 years.

The milk Diana will collect from the flock today will be pasteurized, cooled, seasoned and set before it becomes one of the flavors of the week, to be sold by the couple and their adult children at this weekend’s farmers markets in Des Moines and Ames.

“Every one of our cheeses is only four ingredients – milk, culture, rennet and salt,” Eric said. From there, “it’s all a matter of how you treat it, cook it or cool it.”

The aged cheddars, curds and soft cheese they produce from goat’s milk are creamy and flavorful, but without the sharp tanginess that goat cheeses are known for. The high quality of the milk lends itself to a sweeter flavor, as does a particular process they developed for removing their whey earlier in the cheese cycle.

The cheese curds have been especially popular this summer, as have the different chevres, spiced with jalapeno or a light lavender-lemon combination.

“I’m a really good cook,” Diana, who creates the flavors each week, said. “I raised four children and kept a strict food budget, so I know how to get creative.”

In a few weeks, the cheeses will be submitted to the Iowa State Fair, where they’ve earned recognition each year since 2021. Last year, Simple Life Farms bagged the coveted purple ribbon: the Best in Show in the dairy category.

Diana names each of the aged cheddars for the goat whose personality the flavor reminds her of. The ribbon-winning Matilda is a layered manchego-cheddar hybrid, named for the spunky goat who leads the herd.

“I almost didn’t enter,” Diana said. “I’d never won anything in my life.”

The farmers markets the family does each weekend have kept them too busy to start the Saturday open houses they usually host in the summers, but they’re looking forward to inviting guests back to the farm soon. They’ve scheduled three farm-to-table dinners with chef Aaron Holt from Doolittle Farm, beginning on July 14.

In the meantime, visitors can set an appointment for a private visit to the farm at www.simplelifefarms.com.

Deidre DeJear will join Pyramid Theatre Co. for the production of "The Black Feminist Guide to the Human Body" June 22-July 7 at the Des Moines Civic Center's Stoner Theater. (Photo: Pyramid Theatre Co.)

BEST BET

Deidre DeJear takes on role with Pyramid Theatre Co.

By Michael Morain

On Father’s Day, Deidre DeJear and her father launched a new podcast called “His Daughter, Her Dad.” In each episode, they chat about his various roles as a son, a husband, a widower, a Christian, a voter and, of course, a supportive dad. He reassures her whenever she needs a boost.

“I’m more nervous for this than running for governor,” she said. “It’s so vulnerable.”

The podcast is just one of several creative projects the 2022 gubernatorial candidate has jumped into over the last year and a half. On Saturday, she’ll step into a starring role in Pyramid Theatre Co.’s production of “The Black Feminist Guide to the Human Body.” It runs through July 7 at the Des Moines Civic Center’s Stoner Theater.

In the play, by Lisa B. Thompson, three actresses portray the mind, body and soul of a middle-aged Black woman who is learning to embrace a “soft life” through radical self-acceptance and self-compassion.

DeJear rattled off a few statistics, noting that Black women face disparities in health care and are more likely than other groups to die from various diseases. Those studies track with DeJear’s own observations among her family and friends. “We take on a lot of stress,” she said. “We condition ourselves to be strong, unyielding, unrelenting. … Sometimes we don’t even feel like we’re allowed to get sick.”

So the play, she said, “forces us to look at our lives and what we go through every day, and to realize we don’t have to settle.”

Beyond that, she added, “it’s a love letter to Black women.” She called it a reminder “to love on yourself, all parts of yourself — the good, the bad and the meh — because those other parts need real love, too.”

Those themes ring especially true for DeJear herself, who’s been working with a handful of nonprofits and “reconfiguring” since the 2022 election, embracing the parts of herself she set aside to run for office. As she put it, “I’m leaning in to my authenticity.”

DeJear participated in speech and debate in high school, in Oklahoma, and performed a monologue that helped her win the Miss Black Iowa crown while she was a student at Drake University, majoring in broadcast journalism. Her next steps on stage are out of her comfort zone, but she jumped in soon as she read the script.

“I knew I wanted to experience this,” she said. “Every part of my being experiences aspects of this play every single day.”

The Week Ahead

Stomp, (7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday): The innovative percussion-dance group returns to make some noise at the Des Moines Civic Center. Donate virtual items to the Food Bank of Iowa as part of the joint STOMP Out Hunger campaign and receive $15 off opening night tickets.

Des Moines Gamer Symphony Orchestra, (4 p.m. Sunday): Power up! The local ensemble plays some of the best music from video games in a free concert at Urbandale High School.

The Pixies and Modest Mouse, (6:30 p.m. Sunday): Both alt-rock bands with roots in the ’90s team up for a show at the Vibrant Music Hall in Waukee. Doors open at 5:15 p.m. Tickets are still available through Live Nation.

ARTS & CULTURE
Album anniversary: Heads up, June 25 marks the 40th anniversary of Prince’s “Purple Rain” album release. Hardcore fans may know the iconic album’s cover art was designed by none other than Jay Vigon, a graphic designer who lives right here in Des Moines. Vigon currently works out of studio 467 at Mainframe, making fine art prints and collaborating with his equally talented wife, Margo Nahas. dsm profiled the artsy power couple back in 2017.

“Mama’s Boys” (cropped, 2024, acrylic, acrylic wash, watercolor on Belgian Linen) painted by b. Robert Moore will be on view at the Des Moines Art Center during the "Iowa Artists 2024: b. Robert Moore: In Loving Memory" exhibition.

ARTS & CULTURE

Robert Moore explores Black identity through art

This Friday, the Des Moines Art Center is hosting an opening ceremony for the “Iowa Artists 2024: b. Robert Moore: In Loving Memory” exhibit from 5-7 p.m. The exhibit showcases the work of Iowa-born artist b. Robert Moore, known for his striking work that confronts issues of social justice and Black identity through a biographical lens.

As Moore said in this dsm feature from 2020, “I’m learning every time I paint a new painting … But I don’t want to be boxed in. I’m almost a habitual line-toer in a sense. I am almost resistant to traditional confines or restrictions. … I want to contrast what is normal and what is my experience, in a very vulnerable tone — to heal.”

This will be his first solo exhibition at a museum. The free opening celebration will feature desserts from Tangerine Food Co., and coffee selections by BLK & Bold Specialty Beverages.

MORE ON MOORE: Learn about the inspirations and motivations of the self-taught artist and entrepreneur in our dsm story online.