In 2000, Artigues, 43, and his former wife moved from Durham, where his porch was a pitiful 4-by-4 feet, to an old farmhouse in Rougement in northern Durham County. There, the wraparound porch, with its sea green floorboards and sky blue ceiling, invites visitors to sink into one of its white rocking chairs.

Goats were an afterthought for the former Duke University clinical counselor turned stay-at-home dad.

Artigues' first plan was to buy expensive show goats, which he now foolishly admits he did. Plan No. 2 was to breed those fancy goats and sell the offspring's meat to the area's thriving ethnic community. Plan No. 3 was to make goat cheese.

He bought goats from a dairy farmer, along with her equipment and a book on the subject. He called the book's author and persuaded her to coach him through the cheese-making process.

That was the birth of Elodie Farms. Today, one can hardly believe this former Citadel graduate didn't always work on a farm. He merely calls out, "Heeeerrrre goat," and 32 milking goats gallop across a field toward him.

He and his sole employee milk the goats each day and make the cheese: chèvre, feta, Camembert, Gruyere, Stilton, Parmesan, Gouda, Montasio and Manchegoat, a play on Manchego, a sheep's milk cheese.

"You can never leave the farm; you are tied to the cycle," he says. "So you really have to love what you do."

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