#bellechevre

[chardonnica]

A very coffee breakfast ☕️😊 Enjoying this Belle Chevre Coffee Breakfast Cheese with toast, pecans, and baby arugula 😋I remember going to visit Belle Chevre years ago and having a really delicious cheese board! They actually have a Groupon right now for Creamery tours that come with a tub of this cheese spread (other flavors too; fig, honey, cinnamon, pimento) #goatcheese #belle #bellechevre #coffee #coffeetime #blackcoffee #wholefoods #wholefoodies #fortlauderdale #recycledworldvintage #happyfriday #goodmorning #goodmorningpost #coffeelover #coffeegram #coffeeholic #arugula #pecans #goats #artesanal #wakeup #riseandshine #alabama #elkmont #handmade #friday #countrygoodness #country #southern #southernbell #southernfood

[oliviacornett]

Alabama was fun! Car ride was horrible, but the end result was great! Still mad my parents never sent me to space camp!! #alabama #spaceandrocketcenter #orangebeach #whydidntigotospacecamp #bellechevre #bellechevrecreamery #nasa🚀 #damnnatureyouscary

[maryalicek]

Now we’re at the best part of the tour: the tasting!!!! #goatcheese #cheese @bellechevre (at Belle Chevre)

[randolphschool-blog1]

Mrs. Cox’s 3rd grade class took a field trip to Belle Chèvre Artisan Creamery in Elkmont, Ala., to learn about making cheese from goats’ milk. They were also challenged to think of creative chèvre recipes.

http://www.bellechevre.com/

[adecablog]

Cream of the crop goat-cheese business in Elkmont serves as launching point for Bon Appétit Appalachia

Valerie Payne serves samples at the Belle Chevre creamery in Elkmont.  

As delighted as Jim Byard Jr. was with the operation and success of Belle Chevre creamery in Elkmont, the ADECA director was almost equally delighted with the goings-on of a few empty store fronts just beyond the former cotton gin turned goat-cheese production facility.

Hammers and saws indicated the buildings, adjoining Belle Chevre’s Cheese Shop and Tasting Room, won’t be empty long.

“These businesses are filling up and employing Alabamians,” Byard said. “Once you provide someone a job, you change a family. All of that is important especially in rural parts of our state.”

Byard and Earl Gohl, federal co-chairman of the Appalachian Regional Commission, and others were in Elkmont recently to launch Bon Appétite Appalachia, an initiative to showcase food destinations and promote tourism in the 13 states that make up the commission’s territory.

The promotion, which includes an online magazine and a visitor map, highlights homegrown produce and farmers markets, farm tours, food festivals, local eateries and wineries and other food-related venues, including 64 in Alabama’s ARC region. ADECA coordinates the ARC in Alabama. 

However, Byard said the significance of the program extends beyond good eating.

“This is not just about food,” Byard said. “It’s about teaching entrepreneurs, especially those in rural areas in Appalachia Alabama, how to promote themselves with new marketing strategies.”

Belle Chevre owner Tasia Malakasis discusses her business with (from left) ADECA Director Jim Byard Jr., Elkmont resident Richard Martin and ARC Co-Chair Earl Gohl.

In that case, Belle Chevre was both the perfect setting and example for the promotion.

Tasia Malakasis was working as a marketing executive in New York City when encountered the cheese at a shop in Manhattan. The Huntsville native was so pleased with the taste that she began a six-year effort to buy the business. She finally quit her job and worked at the creamery pro bono for six months to convince the owner that she was capable of operating the business. 

In addition to successfully marketing the cheese and acquiring awards for the creamery, Malakasis has opened a cheese shop in Huntsville and plans to expand to other areas.   

Gohl, who calls the Appalachian region the “next great investment opportunity in America,” loves to hear those stories.

“We have entrepreneurs in all our counties who are very focused on their mission and their work and their dreams,” Gohl said. “When communities organize themselves and work to build the ecosystems to support those entrepreneurs, those communities grow.”

Cases in point are the new shops filling the vacant buildings in Elkmont. Those shops are expected to include an art gallery and an outdoor shop.

“The creamery is helping to bring that in,” said Richard Martin, an Elkmont resident and unofficial head cheerleader for Limestone County. “(Malakasis) is bringing people in by the busloads with her business. She knows how to market. I’m just real impressed and we’re all proud of what is happening.”

The outdoor shop is also feeding off recreational opportunities at the nearby Elk River and a 10-mile trail that runs from the Tennessee state line to just north of Athens and adjoins the creamery. 

The Belle Chevre cheese shop and tasting room will have company soon with the opening of several new businesses along a main street in Elkmont. 

[madelineadamsartist]

@bellechevre #bellesbigadventure #bellechevre goat cheese adventures!

[kimjameson]

Milk tour continues. I'll spare you the empty inside of my fig goat cheese ice cream bowl. #goatcheese #alabama #roadtrip #countrydip #bellechevre (at Belle Chevre Cheese Shop)

[maryalicek]

Packing bowls with honey goat cheese. #cheese #goatcheese @bellechevre (at Belle Chevre)

[maryalicek]

One week old kids!! #goats @bellechevre (at Belle Chevre)

[kimjameson]

Strawberry goat cheese ice cream cone for breakfast. #bellechevre #elkmont #alabama #goatcheese #icecream #lactosetolerant (at Belle Chevre Cheese Shop)