As you drive on the rocky and uneven road down to the Goat with the Wind (Halav im HaRuach) organic dairy, a solar-powered goat farm near the village of Yodfat in the Galilee region, you are taken back in time. I felt like I was in Biblical times, a shepherdess walking to visit my friends up the hill who sell amazing cheeses. The air was clean and fresh, and the view was breathtakingly beautiful which made me forget about all the stresses and normal day-to-day life.
Amnon and Dalia, who studied cheesemaking in Italy, have made everything beautiful: the stone buildings, the restaurant kitchen, the treehouse-like dining rooms; even the barn for the goats has beautiful hand-painted doors that I wanted to take off their hinges and take home with me.
The goats look so happy and are so well taken care of that it makes you want to try the goat’s milk, cheeses and yogurt even more.
Mr BT and our friends Cassia and Massimo stopped here for their dairy lunch. As we entered the restaurant, we were seated in our own little balcony that overlooked the area.
The table was decorated with Indian fabrics and we sat on small wicker stools. I loved the wooden plates and decorative place settings with the fragrant lavender.
They bring out a selection of all of their cheeses which are all delicious, but the real stars of the show are their ricotta, which is some of the best I have ever had in Israel, their labane, and their yogurt.
And we all loved their salads, which were perfectly seasoned and showcased our fantastic vegetables here in Israel. The thing I loved was that not all of the salads had tomatoes in them because I am allergic to raw tomato. The lunch is all you can eat, so you can stuff yourself silly.
The meal closed with this adorable presentation of a chocolate brownie and a nut tart.
I highly recommend a visit to the farm, and if you want to take some ricotta back home with you, make sure you pre-order it when you book a table. The farm welcomes volunteers to work on the farm who will perform tasks such as cleaning, gardening, feeding the animals, milking the goats, decorating or carpentry work.
Oh, and if you happen to need to use the loo, then don’t worry. It is in an outhouse, but with a real toilet and a sink to wash up. In fact, it is a rather beautiful outhouse.
By the way, Halav im HaRuach is pun on the Hebrew translation of the film title “Gone with the Wind”: Halaf im HaRuach.
Hi Michelle, What a wonderful newsletter. Marvelous photos. I used to live in Israel and my good friend, Judy Goldman, is a top guide who has visited (and loved) your place. On my next visit, Judy and I plan to zoom right up to meet you. Good wishes.
Janet Rodgers
Hi Janet,
Thank you. I do not own the farm. I am a food blogger who visited the farm and wrote about it.
My partner and I went to goat with the wind back in 2013 and the experience was simply phenominal! It was hard to find even with Israel’s Waze (before it got sold to google) but we eventually made it with a steep and rocky hill down to the farm. Its completely sustainable with cows and goats all over the place so be careful where you walk. We were there for about 3-4 hours ,we didn’t want to leave it was such a special place and can’t wait to go back next time. From the amazing food in our own private casita to the volunteers who are so dedicated and proud to be there, everything was a real treat. We got to meet the owner (forgot her name sorry) and she was precious yet so humble she had no idea how we found her farm and when we disclosed that we simply found her by coming across a lovely article in Saveur magazine, she had no idea she was featured in a magazine! Simply a person who is loving life on her farm tending to her farm proudly and treating people to an experience like no other, I envyed her so much! I highly recommend this journey which was only 30-40 minutes from my parents house in Netanya.