{"id":3697,"date":"2010-06-03T13:35:31","date_gmt":"2010-06-03T17:35:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/?p=3697"},"modified":"2016-06-10T10:28:29","modified_gmt":"2016-06-10T14:28:29","slug":"higher-purpose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/higher-purpose\/","title":{"rendered":"Higher Purpose"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"A<\/a>

A flock of tarasconnais ewes start the climb to their summer pastures above the Vicdessos valley in the french Pyr\u00e9n\u00e9es.<\/p><\/div>\n

Back in the 1990s I moved to the French Pyr\u00e9n\u00e9es from the United Kingdom, where I had studied photojournalism. And there I found these mountains, rising as high as 10,000 feet, full of stories just waiting to be told.<\/p>\n

\"During<\/a>

During the autumn transhumance in the Haut Salat, southern France<\/p><\/div>\n

For centuries, farmers herded their animals up and down the mountains to different pastures each spring and fall, a journey they call the transhumance<\/i>. After the Second World War, trucks gradually replaced the traditional ways of moving livestock, and young people left the mountain valleys for jobs in towns. The countryside was becoming a museum.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

But about 20 years ago, local people revived the twice-yearly practice of transhumance as a way of breathing life back into the mountains. Since then, they have opened these marathon hikes to all comers, attracting visitors from near and far. They pack the caf\u00e9s, stay in the guesthouses, and relish the local cheeses. The welcome is genuine.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The flock crosess the River Soulcem to reach the open mountainside which will be their home from June to October.<\/p><\/div>\n

To join a transhumance is to be part of this revitalizing expedition. A typical transhumance may cover 40 miles or so, spread over three days, and climb to 6,000 or 7,000 feet. There\u2019s a strong feeling of solidarity. Each farmer is helped by his friends and family. In due course, he will return the favor.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

At midday there\u2019s a stop to rest the animals, and the humans share a mass picnic. Cheese and p\u00e2t\u00e9 never taste so good as when thrust into my hand by a shepherd and accompanied by a crunchy chunk of baguette. As there\u2019s still an afternoon climb to come, I always politely try to refuse the wine\u2026 but somehow a brimming tumbler finds its way to my hand anyway, with the words, \u201cYou\u2019ll need some fuel for the afternoon.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve made friends on the way. When I\u2019m standing with my back to the edge of a gorge, trying to get a shot, there\u2019s always someone who jokes, \u201cToo close, too close, move back a little\u2026\u201d Another will prod me with his staff as I\u2019m about to press the shutter.<\/p>\n

\"Free<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

At the end of the day, there\u2019s a village party with enough food to feed a small regiment\u2014everything locally produced, of course.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve come to be part of mountain society, living here rather than just observing from afar. I want to record this life in case it ever disappears, and, without the least desire to be pretentious, I like to think that I can help these people tell their story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A photojournalist captures mountain-bound sheep and their community escort<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":3698,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[106],"coauthors":[366],"class_list":["post-3697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-photo-essay","tag-sheep"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHigher Purpose - culture: the word on cheese<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/higher-purpose\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Higher Purpose\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A photojournalist captures mountain-bound sheep and their community escort\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/higher-purpose\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"culture: the word on cheese\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/grantgbradley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-06-03T17:35:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-06-10T14:28:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/higherpurpose_featured.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"505\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Martin Castellan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Martin Castellan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/higher-purpose\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/higher-purpose\/\",\"name\":\"Higher Purpose - culture: the word on cheese\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/higher-purpose\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/higher-purpose\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/higherpurpose_featured.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-06-03T17:35:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-06-10T14:28:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#\/schema\/person\/29ccb80baa3c8b55dd1267fe06357064\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/higher-purpose\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/higher-purpose\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/higher-purpose\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/higherpurpose_featured.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/higherpurpose_featured.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":505,\"caption\":\"A herd of sheep moves into a cobblestoned tunnel\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/higher-purpose\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Photo Essay\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/category\/photo-essay\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Higher Purpose\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/\",\"name\":\"culture: the word on cheese\",\"description\":\"Culture, America's magazine for cheese lovers, delivers stories about cheeses, cheesemakers, travel to gorgeous cheese regions, and practical tips on buying, presenting, and cooking with cheese.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#\/schema\/person\/29ccb80baa3c8b55dd1267fe06357064\",\"name\":\"Grant Bradley\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/f6d2b1081ae59e4d02381dde1b6f7680\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Grant-Bradley-Headshot-500x500-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Grant-Bradley-Headshot-500x500-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Grant Bradley\"},\"description\":\"Grant Bradley is culture's former web editor and never ceases to thank his nameless human ancestor who figured that leaving some milk around for a while and then eating it was probably a great idea. Raised on California\u2019s Central Coast, educated in the Pacific Northwest, and transplanted to New England, Grant likes to write, edit, and code things.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/grantgbradley\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/author\/grant-bradley\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Higher Purpose - culture: the word on cheese","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/higher-purpose\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Higher Purpose","og_description":"A photojournalist captures mountain-bound sheep and their community escort","og_url":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/higher-purpose\/","og_site_name":"culture: the word on cheese","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/grantgbradley","article_published_time":"2010-06-03T17:35:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-06-10T14:28:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":505,"url":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/higherpurpose_featured.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Martin Castellan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Martin Castellan","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/higher-purpose\/","url":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/higher-purpose\/","name":"Higher Purpose - culture: the word on cheese","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/higher-purpose\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/higher-purpose\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/higherpurpose_featured.jpg","datePublished":"2010-06-03T17:35:31+00:00","dateModified":"2016-06-10T14:28:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#\/schema\/person\/29ccb80baa3c8b55dd1267fe06357064"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/higher-purpose\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/higher-purpose\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/higher-purpose\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/higherpurpose_featured.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/higherpurpose_featured.jpg","width":800,"height":505,"caption":"A herd of sheep moves into a cobblestoned tunnel"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/higher-purpose\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Photo Essay","item":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/category\/photo-essay\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Higher Purpose"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#website","url":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/","name":"culture: the word on cheese","description":"Culture, America's magazine for cheese lovers, delivers stories about cheeses, cheesemakers, travel to gorgeous cheese regions, and practical tips on buying, presenting, and cooking with cheese.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#\/schema\/person\/29ccb80baa3c8b55dd1267fe06357064","name":"Grant Bradley","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/f6d2b1081ae59e4d02381dde1b6f7680","url":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Grant-Bradley-Headshot-500x500-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Grant-Bradley-Headshot-500x500-96x96.jpg","caption":"Grant Bradley"},"description":"Grant Bradley is culture's former web editor and never ceases to thank his nameless human ancestor who figured that leaving some milk around for a while and then eating it was probably a great idea. Raised on California\u2019s Central Coast, educated in the Pacific Northwest, and transplanted to New England, Grant likes to write, edit, and code things.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/grantgbradley"],"url":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/author\/grant-bradley\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3697"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=3697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}