'The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are'

Nomadic cheesemaker, world wanderer and fermentation educator, Trevor Warmedahl, shares his day well spent

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Hi! This is Leyla from A Day Well Spent, a newsletter seeking pathways to more purposeful living.

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I am delighted to bring to you the next interview on A Day Well Spent where every few weeks, I ask someone who inspires me, interests me and embodies the ethos of this newsletter, 15 quickfire questions.  

I first stumbled across

Trevor Warmedahl

and his life’s work through his Instagram account @milk_trekker a few years ago. I remember seeing a grid full of images of him surrounded by various milking animals in what seemed to be different countries, all over the world.

Who is this guy? What is he doing? Is this his job? (sounds super cool, how do I apply?)

It was only when Trevor started his own Substack,

Milk Trekker

, that I fully understood the quest he was on. And it kind of blew me away.

Trevor is a nomadic cheesemaker and fermentation educator. And he has spent the last five years travelling the world on a shoestring budget — with little more than his rucksack and a sleeping bag — to document the global traditions of cheese, dairying and pastoralism.

No one has asked him to do this and he is not being paid for it. He is simply answering a calling. It is this, amongst other things, that I particularly appreciate about Trevor’s chosen life path.

His journey so far has taken him to several of the great dairying cultures of the world, including much of Europe from Macedonia to Bulgaria, Norway to Georgia, France to Serbia. He’s travelled through India, across North America, into Mexico, and many more countries.

Trevor volunteers with groups, families and businesses, from nomadic camel herders in Rajasthan to innovative Italian cheesemakers.

He immerses himself in the lives of people involved in raising dairy animals and fermenting milk, capturing photos and videos and writing about the relationships between milk microbes, livestock, landscapes and human cultures.

He also teaches. Sour Milk School is his mobile educational endeavour to spread information about natural cheesemaking and the philosophy of reclaiming our role as cultivators and stewards of life.

Traditionally made cheese is a deeply nourishing food, for both body and soul, yet so many of us consume it with little thought.

The profundity of the craft, its far reaching roots into antiquity and culture, and the intricate and meaningful web of relationships between pastoralists, their animals and the landscape, is a beautiful story that needs to be told.

Trevor is the one doing this. Thank you Trevor for your important work and for answering these questions!

I love his responses and his clear connection to and appreciation of the non-human world. Please enjoy.

Interviews here will always be free to read.

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1. What makes up a day well spent for you? 

There are few days more fulfilling than those I spend walking, from sunrise to sunset, with spontaneous breaks for napping or eating in the shade of a rock or tree.

To have no plan other than to walk, spending hours listening and feeling, smelling the air, tasting the water. My mind has space to roam, and I can build inspiration or work out difficulties.

The act of letting myself move like this for extended periods seems to unlock things I can’t consciously access. 

2. What compliment have you received in recent times that's stuck in your memory?

A participant at one of my workshops told me that my teachings flow organically, and are not rushed or overwhelming. The praise I receive from teaching is so enriching, and encourages me to keep following this path. 

3. What quotes or mantras do you try to live by?

“The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.”

Joseph Campbell is at the foundation of my life philosophy, and this reminder is tremendously empowering. 

4. What practical skill do you have that you value the most? 

I’d have to say my craft of turning milk into cheese is the skill I value most. By embedding philosophy and beauty into a food that nourishes, and reminds us of our origins, is the highest gift I can offer the world.

I learned it by traveling and watching people do it, tasting the milk foods of many places, spending time on the ground with the plants, animals, and people who are woven together in this ultimate food.

5. What do you know today that you wish you'd known five years ago?

I wish I had understood the value of allowing myself to become emotionally vulnerable.

I wish I had realized that I don’t need to force myself to try to change or resist what I thought of as negative habits. That all my so called problems and difficulties are actually gifts that have allowed me to learn and grow.

These scars on my heart are blessings.

6. What character or personality trait about yourself do you value the most?

I think the double-edged sword of being independent and comfortable being by myself, or in unfamiliar situations, has served me well.

It is also a challenge, as I learn of the necessity of letting go of this in order to belong to a place, and be a member of a community. 

7. What does 'eating well' mean to you and how do you manage it?

Eating well means giving my body the nourishment that it craves. This goes beyond the food I swallow, to encompass who I eat it with, and where I am.

I often eat by myself, but prefer to do so outside, barefoot, in the company of birds, insects, plants, and stones. I’m never really alone, and all beings are preoccupied with feeding and eating.

For me, realizing this is crucial to eating well. If my mind is a tumult and I’m staring at a screen inside an artificially lit box, it probably doesn’t matter how wholesome the food is. 

8. What is your ultimate dream?

A cherished vision I have is to walk with a small herd of goats on multiday backcountry trips, along with other humans. To see how goats move and what plants they choose, then milk them and make cheese in a copper pot  over a fire.

This is what I’m slowly working towards, combining backpacking with cheesemaking. 

9. What's your most loved skincare / beauty product or secret?

I’m very into soaps that contain beneficial bacteria, often obtained from fermented dairy or probiotic preparations for natural farming.

These help to maintain healthy skin microbiomes, by introducing and feeding the various microbial communities that should be thriving on our bodies. This relates to the traditional wisdom that the whey remaining from cheesemaking is good for our skin and hair. 

10. How do you counter the fast-paced and immediate nature of today's world?

By reminding myself that I have the freedom to choose my level of participation.

By having focused time to do the screen work, then stepping aside to hit refresh by going swimming, listening to a comforting voice, or doing monotonous hand work.

Perhaps most importantly, by choosing to not live in a fixed location, and spending as much of my life outdoors as possible.

11. What are your hobbies and interests? What do you like to do in your free time?

I enjoy tasks that take me away from my work with words. 

Processing and felting wool, stretching, foraging, dancing, drawing. These tasks allow me to slow down and be present, and I feel also stimulate and feed the more overtly “productive” times of writing, reading, and researching. 

12. What's the latest thing that you have learnt? 

Just this morning I learned that wolves in the wild don’t live in packs with alphas, but as families with parents as leaders. Our whole view of dog behavior is shaped by observing wolves in captivity.

This makes we wonder if  many of our views of human nature are similarly misguided. 

13. Tell us about something you tried or did for the very first time recently

I recently spent ten days doing a silent meditation retreat. To consciously not speak for so long was profound, and gave me a new appreciation for other forms of  communication, and for my own use of words.

I thought it would be very difficult, but like a swim in cool water the  apprehension of jumping in washed away and overall I felt invigorated and refreshed by the experience. 

14. What book should everyone read and why?

Anything by Martín Prechtel, because we can all work on becoming whole humans again, composting the grief and tragedy of centuries of living alienated from the world that is our home. The Unlikely Peace at Cuchumaquic is a great place to start. 

15. What are you working on that we should know about?

I am continuing to spread practical techniques of making cheese without using commercial starter cultures via Sour Milk School.

These workshops pop up on farms where animals are milked, where small groups of students and myself spend 5 days making and learning about milk microbes, rennet, and the web of connections that can underlie cheese.

I am slowly beginning to offer these in various countries, and will eventually put together online content. Also, a book rooted in my travels is on the way!

If you enjoyed this piece, you might like to check out the other interviews on A Day Well Spent. As well as How to make kefir, the easiest of the ferments.