Cheese By Hand

October 2006Name: Cato Corner FarmOwners: Elizabeth McAllister and Mark Gillman Location: Colchester, CTAnimals: Milking 18-25 Jersey cowsCheeses/Products: Dutch Farmstead, Hooligan, Brigid’s Abbey, Black Ledge Blue, Bloomsday, Vivace, Vivace Bambino, Womanchego. These are their most regularly produced cheeses- to see the list of seasonal or less frequently made cheeses check their website.Elizabeth began farming in the late ’70s when she bought the land that Cato Corner Farm stands on today. She started out raising sheep and goats for meat. This was a largely seasonal business cycle- the animals were born, raised, and then slaughtered in the spring and summer. Seasonal is not ideal economically and unfortunately, it doesn’t mean that once your season is over you get to take the rest of the year off as there are always things to be done on the farm and the ewes, does, rams and bucks have to be fed throughout the winter. So after a decade of producing meat, Elizabeth began thinking about other ways of farming. In the early days, she was working with 150 sheep and 40 some odd goats who produced lamb and kids each year. She talked to us about her meat farming days while she was waiting for their vet to show up to do some routine checks on their herd. A neighbor who has goats pulled into the drive to wait for the vet as well and Elizabeth couldn’t resist asking them to tell Mark (who was at the hardware store when everyone arrived) that these were goats that Elizabeth had bought for them to begin milking. None of us could hold a straight face longer than about 20 seconds when Mark showed up and barely refrained from freaking out about the goat kids in their driveway.After this introduction, Mark took us on a tour of all the cheese areas. It is very common on our visits for us to go through all the cheese areas before taking a step out into the field with the animals- simply for sanitation reasons. Mark started us out in the cheesemaking room- a space that seemed small when I thought about the volumes of cheese Cato sells at NYC Greenmarkets and various regional retailers. But clearly it is getting the job done. Mark and his cheese crew are making cheese four days a week now (up from 3) and batches are typically around 1250 lbs of milk. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > It’s not that the cheesemaking and maturing rooms are shiny and new but they are satisfyingly clean and organized. Maybe I was preparing myself for the return to New York sized spaces but there was a certain efficiency to both the make and maturing rooms. The cellar was fascinating to me because it is one large room that holds all of the styles they produce from rough-edged tommes to washed rinds and blues. There is enough space to separate cheese types "geographically" if you will but they are still all sharing the same air. You can imagine that with the range of cheeses the aroma in the cellar is complex- the heavy air reminds you of milk and a damp basement at the same time.Although Mark grew up on this farm, he wasn’t here for the evolution from meat to cheesemaking. Elizabeth was manning the meat production when she found out about a value-add incentive program being offered by the state of Connecticut and she sought more information. Interested by what she had heard, began the transition from meat to milk producer in the mid-’90s. She sold her livestock, purchased cows, and invested some capital to add on a cheesemaking room, an aging and cold storage area, and an updated milk parlor. Her cheesemaking officially began in 1997. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > The switch to cows was both for personal taste reasons (she isn’t wild about some varieties of goat cheeses) and for the versatility of cow milk. The decision to make raw milk cheeses was an easy one for Elizabeth because she grew up eating fine cheeses- her father was a food enthusiast with a passion for cheese- many of them raw. You can see the influence of her cheese-infused childhood in the variety she chose to produce. The in-ground cellar that we toured with Mark was an expansion they did a few years ago as their production and variety increased beyond what they could do in the small space allocated for maturing upstairs. The former "cave" upstairs now serves as greenmarket cold storage- it is lined with the standard, gigantic coolers that many producers to haul their goods to market.Elizabeth basically ran the farm on her own for a few years; she moved the cows around in their 40 acres of pasture, milked, made and aged the cheeses. Meanwhile, Mark was working as a schoolteacher across the country. He found that his interest in farming was increasing and that although he enjoyed teaching he was feeling a pull to return home and reacquaint himself with the land he knew as a boy. It was 1999 when Mark came home and partnered with Elizabeth in her ambitious operation. Through a series of events, Mark and Elizabeth’s roles on the farm became more defined. Mark had a natural interest in the cheesemaking and gradually began spending more of his time on that than out with the animals. Elizabeth focused her energy on the herd. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of hearing Elizabeth speak at an event in New York and the one thing I distinctly remember her saying was, "we make the cheese because it allows us to keep the cows." I know for a fact that, although she is a big fan of her cows, she also enjoys making and eating Cato Corner cheeses. Their operation illustrates the miracle of cheesemaking- through the same basic process milk can be transformed into so many different tastes and textures. Beyond their cheeses, something I appreciated about Mark and Elizabeth was the bold moves they each made to get to their current positions. Elizabeth took her farm in a totally new and yet sustainable direction and Mark allowed himself to follow his gut which was pulling him back to the farm. Their farm feels like family- the good part of a family that is close enough to make you feel comfortable and still loose enough to give you room to grow.

September 2006Name: 3 Corner Field Farm [Update-As of August 2020, it appears the farm is temporarily closed.]Owners: Karen Weinberg and Paul Borghard Location: Shushan, NYAnimals: Milking 120 ewes and raising hundreds of lambs each year for meat and some for replacement milkers. Cheeses/Products: Brebis Blanc, Shushan Snow, Feta, Ricotta, milk, yogurt, grass-fed lamb meat, sheepskinsKaren Weinberg has always known that she wanted to be a farmer. She didn’t grow up on a farm, she didn’t spend time working on a farm- yet somehow she just knew that farming was in the cards for her. Being the ambitious woman that she is she lobbied hard for her dream with her husband Paul and yet she was humble enough to take his coaching. He explained to her that in order to be a successful farmer she needed to have capital and an education. Once she had her Ph.D., her first baby, and the couple owned a small apartment in Brooklyn they began looking for farmland in New York state.They settled on the farm they own now after renovating and selling another property in Washington County. Shortly after purchasing their farm, Paul took advantage of an offer to work in Paris and they moved to France with their two young daughters. During their years in France, Karen fell in love with cheese and began to dream about making cheese herself someday. When they returned to New York she hit the ground running to transform their property into a sheep dairy; renovating existing farm structures and evaluating the pastures. Their initial plan was to milk sheep and sell all of the milk wholesale, they had an outlet for this nearby- Old Chatham Sheepherding Company. This plan got them started milking sheep and eventually they transitioned to making yogurt and cheese on their own. In recent years they expanded their offering by raising their annual crop of lambs on pasture to add meat to their list of products. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > 3 Corner Field Farm is approximately 100 acres with about 40 acres of grazable pasture. Karen has worked with neighbors over the past 5 years to expand their grazing land to 120 acres through leases. Many people in their community were doubtful when they began, they said that running sheep on the land would destroy the pastures (this is the reputation of sheep). 3 Corner’s pastures are luscious, verdant- teeming with variety and life. Karen explained that after a couple of seasons neighbors noticed the transformation in the pastures that had been grazed by the sheep and began to approach her to offer up their fields for grazing.As we strolled around the farm before dinner, Karen talked about the meat side of her operation. All 3 Corner lambs get milk from their mothers for a few weeks and then they are transitioned carefully onto pasture. Lambing is the only part of the year when the animals (ewes and lambs) spend time in the barn. Male and female lambs are separated and rotated through different pastures- each of these paddocks is protected by a guard dog. Beginning in September, groups of lambs are selected (by size) every few weeks to go to slaughter. Either Karen or Paul drives the lambs to the meat processor (who has been carefully selected)- they do this in large part because they are committed to knowing that their animals are handled well throughout their entire lives, right through to the end. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > The sheep at 3 Corner Field Farm are out on pasture their entire lives except when they are first born and then when they give birth. During the winter months, their long coats protect them from the cold and the frozen ground provides them with a dry and solid surface which is good for their hooves. Bales of feed are strewn about in different sections of the pastures so that the sheep’s manure is spread across the land and not overly concentrated in one area. The pastures are hayed periodically throughout the growing season, in between the times they are grazed by the ewes. There is a great, detailed explanation of the cyclical/seasonal progression of the ewes and the farm on the 3 Corner website.The next morning we headed out to the milking parlor. Paul is the designated milker and is enjoying the arrival of fall because it means they have recently dropped to one milking per day. When the sheep come through the parlor they get a bit of grain to supplement the forage which makes up most of their diet. We were visiting the farm during a damp weather spell so while Paul milked he was also closely examining the ewes’ feet for soft spots. This is something that happens to their hooves when they don’t dry out completely- spots of irritation crop up in the crevices of their hooves. It is something he can treat quite easily when the ewes are all in the stanchion. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > After milking the ewes are walked out to pasture; they are put on a new section every day. We followed them with Karen and their trusty sheepdog Sweep. The pasture was amazing- the alfalfa was at least knee-high and there were numerous other species growing up around it. While we watched the sheep wade into the green that touched their bellies Karen debunked myths about sheep destroying pasture. She explained that sheep love the most tender parts of the plants they eat evidenced by the previous day’s pasture where we could see that all that remained were stalky, woody shoots of grasses and legumes. Sheep who are turned out on meager pastures will get close down to the earth and nip at the tender, fresh beginnings of grass thus their reputation for ruining pasture. Like any other ruminant sheep will overgraze an area if they are not managed properly and given enough pasture to eat.In the afternoon we made Feta. Karen takes immense pleasure in the cheesemaking part of her day. Often she makes on her own although these days she gets some help from her eldest daughter Emily. Her vat is small and she does everything completely by hand including cutting the curd with a knife and stirring it for about 20 minutes with her hands and arms. She likes the direct, tactile interaction with the curd and feels it has helped her learn more quickly because she is working with all of her senses. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > 3 Corner Field Farm is made up of four small businesses: a sheep dairy (not to mention a haying operation they put up a lot of their own feed for winter), a creamery, pastured-lamb production, and also sheepskin processing. The latter two bring in additional income and they honor the tradition of respecting the animals in that the farm provides them with the best life possible and then does not waste any parts of the animals once they are slaughtered.During our trip, I’ve thought a great deal about the lack of connection in the way that we think about dairy products and the animals it takes to produce them. There is not much to remind us of that connection in our day to day lives and at 3 Corner Field Farm, the connection is completely visible. This farm reminded me to be thankful to the sheep for providing us with food and also to be thankful that people like Karen Weinberg and her family become farmers.

August 2006Name: Rivers Edge ChevreOwner: Pat MorfordLocation: Logsden, ORAnimals: 38 milking goats, largely Alpines. The goal is to grow to 60 milkers.Cheeses/Products: Chevre (flavored and marinated), Humbug, Full Moon, aged goat tommeThe drive out to Pat Morford’s farm was gorgeous and also in line with our goal to get away from the 112-degree heat of Oregon’s sweltering I-5 corridor. Rivers Edge Chevre is about 10-15 miles inland from the town of Newport on the Oregon coast. We headed out of Portland the Sunday following the American Cheese Society conference and made it to Pat’s in time for a brief introduction, a quick tour, and a few minutes to set up the schedule for the following day.Pat’s farm is exactly as she has drawn it on her label- drooping Sitka Spruce and Douglas Firs along the edge of the open pasture, goats, and a handful of sheep frolicking up into the forest a bit or retreating from the sun in the loafing shed. She has had goats since she was a small girl and remembers clearly the names of the first three her father purchased. Stripes was traded, Jack and Pinky stuck around long enough to provide some good meat for tamales. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > She has lived all around the northern end of the Oregon coast, first on a boat with her partner George for a few years. They knew about this beautiful river valley and began to think about land-living so they started knocking on some doors in Logsden. The first man they asked said he wasn’t selling but then promptly died shortly thereafter so they purchased the 7 acres he had and bought 5 more adjoining acres the following year when they came up for sale giving them the 12 acres they have today.They started with five dairy goats as a milk source for their family but also as a potential business concept to produce goat milk to sell to cow dairies as replacement milk for calves. George went full boar and purchased 27 goats which Pat, knowing genetics for milk production (having had dairy goats her whole life for personal milk consumption), narrowed down to 3 worthwhile producers and sold off the other 24. She began to build the herd in 1990, buying a buck from Mary Keehn (Cypress Grove) and soon she was placing in the top ten for dairy goats in competitions. They tried selling goat milk to a cheesemaker who moved to their area but that didn’t last so long and all the while, the local fishing economy- George’s profession- was in serious decline. So they decided in 1993 that they wanted to do something "real" and began collecting cheesemaking equipment, as Pat understood that the only way you make money from milk is to add value to it. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > At this stage they found out how difficult it was to get a loan to go into the goat dairy/cheesemaking business. Pat went out and got a full time job at a local market to help them get approved for the loan required for them to construct the dairy. I made note of the fact that Pat mentioned that she and George had never carried debt in her life until she got into dairy. That said- they did some amazing things with their loan... The ground floor of the building they constructed houses the milking parlor, the milk room (read bulk tank), cheesemaking, maturing and cold storage while the upstairs contains the living space for Pat and her family.When we came back the following morning both of Pat’s daughters were busy in the cheese room. Astraea was packing chevre in glass jars with beautiful herbs- most of them coming directly from their garden. Her older daughter, Spring, was busy washing molds because the pasteurizer was running - meaning that they would ladel curd into the molds that afternoon. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > Pat has devoted incredible focus to her cheesemaking. It had been almost one year since I had tasted her bloomy rind cheeses as samples at Murray’s in New York and the change in them is incredible, a beautiful expression of the carefully produced milk on their farm. I know that creating this dairy has required considerable sacrifice for Pat and her family and I am so hopeful that the business will begin to pay them back steadily.

August 2006Name: Beecher’s Handmade CheeseOwner: Kurt DammeierLocation: Seattle, WAAnimals: Purchases milk from two cow dairies nearby downtown Seattle. One dairy has 120 cows and the other has 80. The breed breaks down to 80 % Jersey and 20 % Holstein between the two dairies.Cheeses/Products: Flagship, Just Jack, Marco Polo, No Woman, Cheese curds (plain and flavored), Blank Slate (plain and flavored), Cultured Butter, some prepared foods too including Mac n’ Cheese made with their own Flagship cheese.Kurt Dammeier is the first to admit that he kind of backed into the cheese business... he found the perfect location for cheesemaking, signed a lease, and went in search of milk, a cheesemaker, and a recipe after setting up his cheesemaking room. Milk turned out to be surprisingly tough to find in the quantity and, more importantly, of the quality he needed. There were a couple of dairies interested in working with him- largely because of recent changes in the local milk coop structure.Beecher’s works with two dairies today, one has 120 cows and the other has 80. The mix has a Jersey majority with Holsteins making up the difference. This was done intentionally to get the right components for the cheese Beecher’s wanted to make. One of the farms that Beecher’s works with didn’t have the capital to invest in additional Jersey cows so Kurt purchased the cows to help them grow the herd. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > We met Kurt in his office across the street from Pike Place Market. He talked us through his various businesses and partnerships and we began to understand that Kurt entered the cheese business with a different kind of thinking than most of the people we’ve visited. Knowing that he had capital to invest up front he decided to fill some holes he saw in the market. For example, he went with cows because most smaller farms opt to work with goats or sheep (they are easier to manage physically, require less land mass and are cheaper to purchase), and he created a cheese that ages for a year so as not to compete with others who might be operating on a tighter cash flow turn around than he needed to do. Basically he looked at the artisan cheese industry as a whole to understand where he could add value given that he had a certain amount of capital to invest and that his goal in this venture was to educate people about where their food comes from and how it is made. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > We took a tour of his shop in the market which is also where his two large cheddar vats are (10,000 pounds/1,000 gallons of milk each)- a corner location with huge windows designed to achieve Kurt’s primary goal for Beecher’s: education. Around lunchtime the crowds swarm around the windows to watch cheesemakers working on the signature cheese called Flagship- a cross between cheddar and gruyere. They can stroll into the shop and taste fresh cheese curds and sample other Beecher’s cheeses. Outside of cheeses made by Beecher’s , the shop is focused on local, whole foods (no additives, preservatives, trans-fats, etc.). Other non-Beecher’s cheeses come from surrounding states- Montana, Oregon, California and of course other Washington state producers.Kurt drove us out to one of the dairies they work with about 35 minutes outside of Seattle’s city center. As we drove Kurt explained the Beecher’s internal review of each batch of cheese. A select group of employees tastes every batch and determines whether it will go to the cheese counter to be sold as a table cheese, into the Beecher’s food products (i.e. mac and cheese), or gets held back to be submitted to upcoming competitions. Kurt shared some of his thoughts on the surge of cheesemakers entering the market. He said that, "...rising tide floats all boats," sounding like the entrepreneur he is. He feels confident that quality always pulls through and that competition pushes all in the industry to do better. Part of this confidence most likely comes from his experience as an investor in Pyramid Brewery and weathering the sea change in the micro-brew business.The farm he took us to is called Cherry Valley Farm and has been a cow dairy since the turn of the century. The gentleman who runs it today is the third owner since the homestead and when he purchased it in 2002 it was not in operation. Slowly he is making structural improvements to the facility. We checked in on the calves and wandered out to the free stall barn where the ladies were milling about awaiting their next feeding. The farmer puts the cows out on grass as much as he can but rain prohibits him from relying on grass for a steady percentage of feed thus the cows are fed a total mixed ration (silage, grain and hay). The farm is working towards growing 100 acres of corn so they can produce their own silage. While we talked to the farmer we enjoyed watching the Holsteins and Jerseys quite a size difference between them- feed side by side. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > Given that Beecher’s Handmade Cheese only began in 2002, it is awesome to see what a fixture it has become in the Pike Place Market. We were intrigued, but not particularly surprised, to hear that Kurt is tinkering with the idea expanding to have a farm of his own someday... knowing Kurt someday could be next week.

August 2006Name: Rogue CreameryOwners: Carey Bryant and David GremmelsLocation: Central Point, ORAnimals: Rogue gets all of its cows’ milk from one dairy along the Rogue River. The dairy milks 200 cows and has a herd of Holsteins with a few Brown Swiss.Cheese/Products: Crater Lake Blue, Smokey Blue, Oregon Blue Vein, Oregonzola, Rogue River Blue, Cheddar (regular and flavored), Cheese CurdsThe first order of business when we arrived at Rogue was an in-depth tour with David. Before he caught wind of our presence we perused the creamery’s retail store where they have a combination of local and Italian cheeses, wines, and food stores. The Italian bit catches you off guard until you hear about the history of this place and the celebration of Italian heritage that has been part of the creamery since 1935.David and Carey tell the history on their website, but for our purposes, it is important that you understand that Tom Vella started the place back in 1935, handed it over to his son Ignacio Vella who sold it to David and Carey four years ago with the stipulation that they would continue to make the creamery’s signature cheeses according to tradition. Another part of this agreement is that Ig spends a week out of each month at the creamery observing and providing guidance and expertise to their cheesemakers.All of the offices are in the old house where the Vellas lived, there is another building across the road that serves as housing for the production manager and as a place to stay for Ig when he visits the creamery. David took us over to the blue cheese making room which is in a separate building from the cheddar making and retail shop. There were four guys working on pulling curd from the vat- timing is critical as the curd continues to acidify when it sits in the whey. Eight forms are set on a metal shelf that straddles the vat, the curd is scooped up and spread amongst these forms until they are full and then the cheesemaker slides a metal disc under each form one by one so they can be moved onto the large retail racks for draining. The racks are all at a slant to promote draining- this also means the cheeses must be flipped at regular intervals for the first 24 hours to level out the wheels (otherwise they would be slanted on one side). <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > We walked into the blue cheese cave which was absolutely teeming with racks of blue wheels- some pierced, some coated in melting salt crystals- and the aroma was to die for...sweet cream with a hint of blue mold. All wheels are dry salted for the first 7 days after they are made. On day eight the wheels are perforated to activate the aerobic blue molds that require oxygen to bloom (they actually test each batch to ensure it is ready for piercing). We got to see Poasa (who is also training to make cheese) doing perforations and waxing. From this point on, the wheels are all set on their sides and turned one quarter turn each day. The salting of newer batches and rotating of aging batches is no small task- even though you are in a delicious smelling room. After (60-75) days the wheels are waxed and moved to cold storage for long term aging. Although it took some convincing, David got us out of the cave and into the packaging room to meet Anna- the team leader- and see the immense amount of work that goes into packaging each wheel- all by hand of course. The wax is broken off and any stray bits of wax that crept into the perforations are plucked out before the wheels are wrapped in foil and sealed in plastic. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > The following morning we watched the earlier stages of cheesemaking- Rogue has the oldest pasteurizer in the western U.S. which was designed by Tom Vella and although they do not pasteurize the milk they use for their blue cheese making they do use this piece of equipment to get the milk up to cheesemaking temperature. We got to see their new cheese harps in action before we took a break to interview David (Carey was at Oregon State working with a graduate student to define their raw and pasteurized milk study). It is clear that at Rogue there are three main priorities: preserving tradition, creating an excellent working environment (they have a better benefits package than many larger companies), and providing high quality cheese. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > A number of the employees at Rogue are lifelong residents of Central Point who remember coming to the creamery as kids for curds and they have re-discovered it as a place to learn new ways to apply their expertise from previous careers. A couple examples of this are Craig and Mike- two of their cheesemakers. Craig came to Rogue with decades of experience in military management and has taken on some production manager responsibilities while learning to make cheese. When Mike started at the creamery his expertise in refrigeration came in handy and over time, he has discovered that he is very interested in the science of cheese and Carey is now training him to take over their internal lab work.When we left the creamery we drove over to the Rogue River to meet Delmar at Rogueview Dairy- the source for the milk used for their cheeses. He has 70 acres with 1/4 mile frontage on the river- a beautiful piece of property in a valley that used to be loaded with small dairies of 15-20 cows. Delmer started with 90 cows and has grown to 200 where he has held for the past 15 years. The milkers go out on pasture daily when weather permits (which is from March-October) but are not exclusively grass-fed, they also get hay and grain. The dairy is now surrounded by homes, the same suburban encroachment that we’ve seen across the country- and although he hasn’t had many complaints from neighbors, those homes are a constant reminder of the value he could get for his land should he decide to sell it for development. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > Our visit with Delmar is a reminder of the tenuous nature of relationships between dairies and creameries all over the U.S. as the temptation to sell out and stop working so hard is great for dairy farmers. Given the current situation we are particularly thankful for creameries like Rogue who are committed to sourcing locally and working with dairies like Rogueview to restore the economic viability of dairy farming. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " >

August 2006Name: Cypress Grove ChevreOwner: Mary KeehnLocation: Arcata, CAAnimals: Purchases goat milk from multiple dairies locally- occasionally reaches farther than local for milk when needed.Cheese/Products: Chevre, Chevre Logs, Fromage Blanc, Humboldt Fog, Fog Lights, Pee Wee Pyramids, Bermuda Triangle, Mad River Roll, Goats Milk Cheddar, Mt. McKinley. They also have three products that are part of their Creamline selection- Midnight Moon, Lamb Chopper and Ewe-F-O. We had one of those is-this-really-our-life mornings the day we went to see Mary Keehn. Up at 6 AM in our tent deep in Humboldt Redwoods State Park. We had some charred toast and cantaloupe with our friends Rose and Dave before winding our way out of the Redwoods to Highway 1. Of course, all of that took a lot more time than we anticipated so we arrived at Cypress Grove at 9:30 instead of 8:30. Mary held no grudge- major props to her as it wasn’t just any Monday morning, it was July 3rd.All of you Humboldt Fog fanatics must be dying to know about the origin of your favorite food... I will begin by saying that the name represents the locale quite well- dense fog hangs on everything in Arcata. The interior of the creamery is a fantastic contrast to what is outside: the walls are painted bright yellow and red. Mary took us on a tour of the receiving, pasteurizing, cheesemaking, aging, and packaging areas. One of Mary’s most endearing qualities is her genuine surprise at the incredible growth and success of Cypress Grove. She decided to get licensed as a cheesemaker (over 20 years ago) because one restauranteur in town wanted to buy cheese from her. Because she had an ever-expanding herd of award-winning goats and needed an outlet for the milk, she did it. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > The creamery recently acquired a used 2000 gallon pasteurizer and it is obvious when Mary laughs wholeheartedly about the contrast between this tank and where she started years ago that she is the ideal person to be at the helm of this chevre ship. Over the years she has been willing to suspend her disbelief and grow the business yet she has held tightly to the importance of certain cheese-related tasks being done exactly as they always have been. In addition to staying true to the fundamental points in their cheesemaking process, Mary has also created an environment, both in spirit and economics, where people in her community want to work. This was something Michael and I thought about a lot after leaving Cypress Grove- we realized that within the growth of the company Mary saw that while it was different than what she had originally envisioned, it allowed her to create the kind of workplace she believed in.Early on in the development of the cheesemaking, Mary realized that she couldn’t manage a herd of goats, make the cheese, and run the business. Artisan cheese did not exactly used to sell itself so she spent a considerable amount of time driving to the two major metropolitan areas "nearby"- San Francisco (6-7 hours), and Portland (8-9 hours). She decided to sell her herd and found an opportunity to sell the entire group in-tact, the only way she wanted it, to someone she was confident could care for them well. This was not an easy decision and even through it was the best&nbsp;situation she could have hoped for, she still couldn’t bring herself to walk into the barn for at least a year after the goats were gone. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > The shift away from their own milk did mean that they could support other farmers in their own community. Currently they do their best to fulfill their milk needs locally. Because they’ve grown so much and high quality milk is the foundation of their business, they now have staff devoted to working with local farmers on streamlining their business expenses. For example, local farms might be able to save money if they pool together to collectively purchase feed. Cypress Grove is also looking at possibilities to streamline their own business by partnering with the students in environmental engineering at Humboldt State to implement energy saving technology and look at innovative things to do with whey- which is considered toxic waste because of its pH level.So I won’t make you wait any longer... when I asked Mary where she got the idea for Humboldt Fog she said it came to her in a dream. This seems oddly appropriate considering the white exterior and fluffy texture. What stuck with me after our time with Mary was one thing she said during our interview, "People say you can’t change the world but I figure I can make change happen in my own little community here." She figured absolutely right.

July 2006Name: Fiscalini FarmOwners: John FiscaliniLocation: Modesto, CAAnimals: Milking 1500 Holsteins and bringing up an equal number of replacements for 3000 total animals on the property. Closed herd.Cheeses/Products: Bandaged Wrapped Cheddar (various ages), San Joaquin Gold, Flavored Cheddars, Horse Feathers, ParmeseanFiscalini Farm was our first visit to a cow dairy with more than 150 animals and the first cow dairy that is a confinement operation (we have seen some quite large goat dairies that are confinement based). I wasn’t sure how I would feel about a confinement operation- along with many others in food I read Fast Food Nation and I’ve been delving into the Omnivore’s Dilemma and had formed a somewhat negative opinion of the concept. Mostly I was curious because the Fiscalinis are much much smaller than other confinement operations in California- case in point the "farm" we drove by on our way up I-5 that is home to at least 10,000 cows (more on that in a later post). Fiscalini is milking 1500 Holsteins which means that the total number of animals on their land is 3000; they are using free stall barns and feeding the cows a total mixed ration (TMR) of various grains and hay rather than grazing them on grass. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > When we got out of the car we were not overwhelmed with flies or manure smells which is what one might expect when you are standing within 100 yards of 3000 cows. We met John who was incredibly flexible and gracious considering that I had given him the wrong dates for our visit and he had expected us to be there the previous day! He wrapped up what he was working on and gave us a tour of the dairy. Cows are put into different areas according to their age, health (there is a small hospital ward with its own milking parlor), and milking status. Calves are managed closely; for the first 60 days they are kept in individual stalls to avoid them attempting to nurse from one another and doing damage to their teets. Gradually they are put with groups of animals their age until the total number of that group is about 25 and eventually they go in with the yearlings to learn the ropes of being part of a larger herd.All the animals are kept in free stall barns which are open air and, on this farm, designed for optimal cross-breezes and they also have communal areas for cows to roam around some. The floor in each of the barns is concrete and many of them are covered with cushioning mats and then a special mixture of dirt and dried manure. When John told us that they were recycling manure for the stall beds I assumed that this was because it was a financial savingsnope. Actually it requires an incredible amount of effort to spread the manure solids out to dry and then mix them with other materials to make an appropriate bedding for the cows. Sounds dirty right but actually the animals have been cleaner since the beds were converted. The cleanliness can be attributed to more than just recycled manure though, at Fiscalini the stalls are all raked over twice daily (once on Sundays) and fully changed out frequently which breaks the cycle of the fly larvae and also works as preventative maintenance- the cleaner the stalls are the less time spent cleaning the cows when they come through the milking parlor.The parlor is state of the art with 54 total capacity (27 on each side)- milking takes 7 hours leaving one hour to flush the pipes and clean the parlor before starting up again (they are milking 3 times a day). A handful of things stand out in my mind about the parlor. First off it was clean and there were three guys working the shift- John commented on both of these things. The cows are not fed during milking because if you feed them they have a tendency to poop making mess on the equipment and the milkers. John said you can get by with two guys on a shift but three means that they can pay closer attention to what they are doing. They use a fresh towel to clean the teets on each cow (two teets with one, flip the towel and clean the other two)- do the math and it comes out to about 4500 towels each day. There are a number of safeguards built into the parlor to help the herdsman keep tabs on the health of the milkers. For example the milking units monitor salt content which is an early indicator of mastitis and also each milker has a pedometer which is read electronically in the parlor because a decrease in the number of steps taken in the course of a day can be a tip off that something is not quite right with a cow.The following morning we came back to the farm early to meet Mariano Gonzales the cheesemaker. What an opportunity! <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > Mariano is revered in the U.S. as one of the most talented and knowledgeable cheesemakers- the perfect cheesemaker to teach us about bandaged cheddar (we had never seen cheddar made before). Making traditional cheddar is the ultimate example of what happens in cheesemaking- short stints of seriously physical work with lots of breaks in between- I like to think the breaks are not only for the cheese but also the cheesemaker to prepare for the next stage. It is important to understand that Fiscalini is not making cheese with all the milk from 1500 Holsteins- that would mean they were a large scale producer. They are using around 1000 gallons of milk each time they make cheese (5 days a week) which is only a fraction of what they produce in milk daily. The milk for cheesemaking goes into its own bulk tank. While we waited for the milk in the vat to warm up, we watched the staff pop the previous day’s San Joaquin Golds out of their molds and seal up cheddar made earlier in the week with lard before putting them in the aging rooms.The "breaks" during cheddar making are normally used to care for the aging cheeses, clean, and finish all the other chores at the dairy but while we were there the breaks were used to straighten out all of our questions about cheddar making- the traditional way. The big distinction in cheddar making is well, cheddaring... which is where the cut and heated curd is lumped together in even blocks and then flipped and stacked and re-flipped and re-stacked at measured intervals. As Mariano explained this step contributes largely to the texture of traditional cheddar; I recommend you do a compare of block, cryovac cheddar and clothbound sometime- the textures are completely different not to mention the flavors. Mariano allowed me to participate in every step of the process- he is a seasoned instructor and has trained a number of other cheesemakers in his time at Fiscalini including Chris who was working in tandem with Mariano the day we were there. <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > With the passing of each step, my respect for the makers of this labor-intensive cheese increased tenfold. And all of these steps are only the beginning in the production of traditional cheddar. Once the cheese is made, unlike the block variety, a natural rind is allowed to form, and given the long aging period, a coating of lard, oil, or butter is smeared on followed by a protective cloth. The redwoods of cheese, as I like to refer to them, cheddars take months to develop the full depth of flavor locked up in the curds that form them. Their cloth binding allows them to continue to breathe as they age and also protects them from losing too much moisture and cracking.Fiscalini Farm represents a phenomenal partnership of years of dairying and cheesemaking knowledge- John andMariano clearly enjoy working together and share a mutual respect. Although my personal inclination is always to want a cow to feed on pasture, I do understand that the current market- meaning milk prices, land prices, labor costs- don’t always support that. Our time at Fiscalini made it abundantly clear to me that if we are going to have confinement dairies I want all of them to be run like John Fiscalini’s. In our interview with John and his wife Heather we touched on so many features of the dairy that illustrate their commitment to animal comfort, milk quality and safety, not to mention the well-being of their employees. I encourage anyone with doubts to open their mind and pay a visit to the Fiscalinis. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " >

June 2006Name: Mozzarella CompanyOwner: Paula Lambert Location: Dallas, TexasAnimals: Mozzarella Company gets both their cow and goat milk from a number of small dairies around the Dallas area. Cheeses/Products: MOZZARELLA(goat and cow), Queso Oaxaca, Ricotta (goat and cow), Feta (goat and cow), Queso Fresco (traditional and flavored), Queso Blanco, Creme Fraiche, Mozzarella Roll, Hoja Santa, Caciotta (traditional and flavored, cow and goat), Mascarpone, Mascarpone Tortas, Smoked Scamorza, Crescenza, Blanca Bianca, Montasio, Montasio Festivo, Herbed Goat Logs, Fresh Texas Goat Cheese (traditional and flavored), Deep Ellum Blue, MascarponeI called Paula from the road when we were nearing Dallas and asked her if she was still at the photoshoot she had been part of over the last few days (she is one of the busiest people I know)...she assured me that she was doing nothing at that moment except waiting for Michael and me to arrive and tell her all about our travels. So when we arrived we gave Paula and her husband Jim a bit of an update over dinner, at a restaurant called Ciudad, which included some fantastic upscale tex-mex food (her cheese was indeed on the menu).In the morning we sipped cappuccinos before making the 7-minute drive to the Mozzarella Company. Almost 25 years ago Paula decided that she could not live without the fresh mozzarella she had known during her time in Italy and that she was the ideal person to bring that delectable cheese to Dallas. She figured out the zoning requirements for a small factory and came across a spot in the Deep Ellum neighborhood in Dallas. As we drove she explained that the neighborhood earned a reputation during the 1920s when a group of blues musicians began creating new kinds of music that eventually became known as the Deep Ellem Blues. We spent the day with her two head cheesemakers, Carmen and Octavia, who have been with the company for 19 and 21 years respectively, and their crew in the cheese room. The crew is made up entirely of women who were so generous with their time and kind enough to not laugh too hard at our attempt to form balls of mozzarella. Within the seven hours, we spent at the cheese factory the women made eight varieties of cheese- all with attention and care. AS you can imagine this means there is some hustle happening and also that they arrived at the factory well before we did to begin pasteurization of the two vats of milk (one cow and one goat). The pasteurizers were emptied and re-filled multiple times that day in order to produce the cheese needed for upcoming orders. Carmen arrived early that morning (before 5 AM) to get things started and then passed the baton to Octavia that afternoon who continued with cheesemaking until 7:30 PM.There are two large pasteurizers that double as vats. The trick to making so many styles of cheese in one day is the overall schedule for production and having the right kind of equipment and layout as the Mozzarella Company does. There are at least 10 large rectangular plastic tubs that sit on frames with wheels attached- this means that the room can be reconfigured at a moment’s notice. After the milk is pasteurized it is poured into these tubs which are basically smaller vats to allow for staggered cheesemaking of a variety of cheeses. For example, when we were there two or three of the vats were used to make mozzarella; the whey from each of these vats was poured off into another movable container, wheeled to the back of the plant and transferred into a small vat that is used to make ricotta and queso fresco. Meanwhile, a few other small vats were filled with goat or cow milk for making caciotta. Having multiple vats of caciotta allows them to make some traditional (plain) and other small quantities of ancho chile and other herbed varieties. The entire setup is simple, low-tech, and enables the women to make large quantities of cheeses all by hand.When the mozzarella curd was ready, it was chopped up into strips and then smaller bits with a knife and submerged in hot water. One person worked the curd with a long paddle, gently stretching it and folding it in on itself. Once it was sufficiently stretched, the other women stopped what they were doing and gathered around one end of the table to begin pulling off pieces of the flexible curd and forming them into various shapes for bocconcini, half a pound, and one pound balls. Such a beautiful thing to watch and it was only one of the cheeses we saw them make. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > I returned the following morning because the ladies were making one of my favorite Mozzarella Company cheeses,Hoja Santa. They were just beginning to blanch the leaves when I arrived. Hoja Santa leaves are HUGE. Each leaf is pulled out of the boiling water and put into an ice bath before being stretched out on a plastic mat. Small rounds of goat cheese that were made the week prior were pulled from the cold storage to be wrapped. I always assumed that each piece of cheese was wrapped in one entire leaf and watching Octavia I saw that each piece of cheese was wrapped with about one third to one half of a leaf and that wrapping each one was like completing a puzzle. It looked so complicated that I opted out of leaf wrapping and instead followed Octavia’s wrapping with the string of rafia that winds around each piece and is finished with a small bow. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > That evening we went to dinner with Paula, her husband, and two of her friends. We went to Hector’s Restaurant which was excellent. The chef started our meal off with a cheese platter for the table and declared that Paula is the "Grand Dame of all things cheese." We could not agree more. She is a savvy business woman (which the cheese world needs) who is turning out a robust line of cheeses that are truly made by hand. We never thought we’d say this but we kind of can’t wait to get back to Dallas, Texas....

June 2006Name: Pure Luck DairyOwners: The entire family- Denny Bolton, Amelia Sweethardt, Gitana Sweethardt, and Claire &amp; Hope Bolton Location: Dripping Springs, TexasAnimals: Approximately 110 Nubian and American Alpines (milking around 65)Cheeses/Products: Chevre (plain and flavored), Basket Molded Chevre, Feta, Del Cielo, Hopelessly Blue, Sainte Maure, Claire de LunePure Luck Dairy straddles Twin Oaks Trail, we learned this by barging in on Denny Bolton in the Pure Luck Office who kindly directed us to the dairy where we found someone who could find Amelia for us. Many of you who are familiar with Pure Luck know that the farm is going through a large transition with the loss of its founder Sara Bolton last November. Amelia Sweethardt is her daughter and also has been a cheesemaker at the dairy since 1997. She has taken over the cheesemaking reigns. In addition to Amelia, two of Sara’s other daughters Claire and Hope also assisting with multiple aspects of the dairy, not to mention Denny Bolton (Sara’s husband and partner in the business) and Gitana Sweethardt who also helps run Pure Luck. All four of Sara’s girls grew up milking goats and drinking fresh milk from their own farm so they understand the value of what they do let alone the work required to run the dairy.Of course the day we scheduled for our visit was Amelia’s day off- if there is such a thing on a dairy farm. While we waited for her near the dairy, we were entertained by a sound sampling of farm animals...goats, of course, a couple of dogs and a shameless attention seeking cat. I always see it as a good sign when all animals on a farm are friendly.Amelia bounded out of the trees- her home is just a short walk from the cheese room- to welcome us. We had arrived on a cheese nurturing rather than cheesemaking day meaning that cheeses made earlier that week were being salted and turned. Pure Luck sells most if not all of their cheese in Texas- the majority goes to markets in Austin, San Antonio and Dallas. In the cheese room we met Juana who might as well be family- there is no one new at Pure Luck because everyone is either blood related or has been around for years. The entire staff is bilingual including the new Pyrenees puppy who goes by Lucy or Lucia. <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > We watched as Amelia flipped the Sainte Maure and Juana salted the chevre in a large mixer. Amelia explained their plans for an expansion of the make room space. Currently all of the cheeses are aged in a cooler on the other side of Twin Oaks Trail, the expansion would bring all aspects of cheesemaking to one place. Of course as soon as I found out that they would have more space I asked the logical question: does that mean you will make more cheese? Amelia was careful to note that they will focus on getting their expansion built before they plan on increasing their output. This is precisely what I would expect from any farmstead cheesemaker because many of them agree that slow, steady expansions are the only way to go and patience is essential.In my notes from that day I found something about the milking parlor: "maybe the cleanest milking parlor I’ve seen yet". As we walked through the parlor, Amelia showed us where the goats wait their turn to be milked and then the area where they can snack on some alfalfa on their way back out to the pasture. She explained that the kids are still nursing from their mothers once during the day (after the does go through the parlor in the morning and have spent a bit of time on pasture) and then separated from them in the evenings- it is something they are experimenting with. In the past they noticed that the kids that nursed longer became stronger does so they are considering this in their herd management evaluation. While maintaining the principles her mother set in place for the farm, Amelia is also considering new ways of doing things. For example she is looking at their options for producing some of their own feed and she is also investigating outlets beyond auctions for the kids they do not keep. We finished up our tour of the cheese plant by walking through the bulk tank room- never the most exciting but always an important part of the dairy. They are making cheese 3 times each week which creates a sound workflow given the variety of cheeses they produce and the handling they requires in the days immediately after they are made. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > Pure Luck is a stellar example of a small, farmstead dairy that has developed an operation that is sustainable given the land they have and their staff. Amelia said something that struck me as a unique perspective in the world of farming (and she said it matter-of-factly too), "If you need someone to work for you in the high season you have to figure out how to employ them in the low season too". One example of this is the decision she and her mother made to develop cheesemaking seminars during their off season to keep cash flowing through the dairy. They also have the added benefit of sharing some employees between the dairy and their organic herb, vegetable and flower farm business across the road.Walking around with Amelia it is abundantly clear that her mother’s vision for the farm runs strong throughout the entire place and for good reason; everything is clean and simple and everyone is on the same page- healthy and well-managed animals produce great milk for cheesemaking. This means that we can count on the continuation of beautiful farmstead cheeses which is wonderful. We can also look forward to ongoing developments at Pure Luck...maybe even more cheese?

June 2006Name: Bittersweet Plantation Dairy [Update: The dairy closed in 2013]Owner: Chef John FolseLocation: Gonzales, LouisianaAnimals: Bittersweet gets their cow milk from a milk processor and their goat milk comes from a small dairy a few hours away. This will change when they make the dairy expansion- they will be able to collect cow milk from local dairy farms.Cheeses/Products: Fleur de Lis, Fleur de Teche, Evangeline, Gabriel, Creole Cream Cheese, Bulgarian Style Kashkaval and Goat Milk Feta, Marinated Goat Milk Feta, Boulettes de Chevre, Feliciana Nevat, Chocolate Pecan Butter, various flavors of both ice cream and gelato, and various flavors of yogurt. Hanging out with Chef John Folse is like having a live audio tour of the cultural and culinary Cajun and Creole history. The full day we spent touring all parts of his company was like participating in an immersion program... seriously. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > We stayed at Bittersweet Plantation, which is in a small town called Donaldsonville, about 40 minutes northwest of New Orleans and one time capital of Louisiana. We cheered as we crossed the Mississippi (a first for me)...little did we know that we would cross it many more times before weaving our way out of the bayou a couple days later. Teri, the manager of Bittersweet Plantation, which has been converted to a small restaurant and B &amp;B, greeted us with wine and tea sandwiches and showed us to our room- the Bitter Suite. The plantation is an amazing source of history itself, formerly owned by the great-grandfather of John Folse’s wife, it was one of seven buildings left standing after the town was burned by Union soldiers during the Civil War. The owner of the plantation owned the general store and kept reserves of dry goods and meat on his property, making his home a perfect location for the Northern General when the troops arrived.The following morning Matt Summers, the dairy manager, picked us up and took us to Gonzales, LA where the dairy, bakery and company headquarters are located. The chef was waiting there for us with coffee and breakfast, but first we went to see the milk get pumped into the vat by the two full-time cheesemakers from Bulgaria (they are a story in and of themselves). Matt explained to us that their workhorse product is the Creole Cream Cheese which is sold within their local market and is therefore guaranteed to be less than a few days old whenever purchased. We can confirm its popularity as we looked for it at a number of stores who were sold out.We talked to the Chef while we ate breakfast (pastries from his bakery) about what drove him to get into the cheesemaking business. He explained that while he was doing research for his latest book, The Encyclopedia of Cajun &amp; Creole Cuisine, he discovered information in the archives about dairy farming in the area. It struck him that where he grew up, in the Bayou, every family had one or two cows to provide milk and cream for themselves and that the cuisines of many of the nations who settled Louisiana involved cheese. He fully acknowledges that when he had this insight he really knew next to nothing about cheesemaking, so he began to call around to local universities with dairy science programs and began to ask a lot of questions. What he looked to do was to make cheeses that would be representative of cheeses that might have been made by the seven nations who created the Cajun and Creole culture. It seemed simple enough, he just needed to find someone with the right cheesemaking expertise. Much to his dismay, no one seemed to have answers about small scale, non-cheddar cheesemaking techniques.Chef decided that he would begin with the Creole Cream Cheese, a product that had virtually disappeared from the marketplace. He found a company that had made it for years and they agreed to give him the recipe and all of the old wooden forms they had used to hoop the product. The forms went into his archives, and the recipe was put to immediate use. Now, one key element to the development of all parts of the Chef John Folse empire is something that the Chef refers to as his Mr. Magoo syndrome; good things tend to land in his lap. A young student at LSU visited his offices one day and explained that his parents, who were currently in Bulgaria, had won a lottery to immigrate to the U.S. but that they needed a company to sponsor them in order to come over. This young man had come to Bittersweet because his parents had been making cheese for the past 30 years in Europe and he had heard there was a dairy in Gonzales. Chef began working with this young man to get his parents to Louisiana and into making cheese at Bittersweet. Of course they also needed lessons in English which were provided as part of their workday. Their names are Dimcho and Petrana Dimov and they have been with the dairy for the past three years. They have been making the cheeses that Matt and Chef John Folse develop for his Cajun &amp; Creole line and also some of their favorites from Bulgaria- Kashkaval and Feta.&nbsp; <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > We spent the morning with Matt and the Dimovs watching them begin the cheesemaking process for Creole Cream Cheese and Fleur de Lis; both cheeses are required to set overnight so we saw them pasteurize and add the cultures and rennet. Once we had interviewed Matt we left with Chef to go see the other property he owns called White Oak Plantation which was acquired only through the sheer will of the owners that John Folse be the person to buy it from them. Like he said, Mr. Magoo syndrome. This is a space they rent out for catered events, corporate meetings, etc. He also is beginning to do events for the public like having the symphony play out in the beautifully manicured gardens. As with his cheesemaking, White Oak Plantation carries over the theme of the seven nations through its seven distinct gardens involving native species from those nations which are being developed on the property.I asked Chef what it was like to come into the cheesemaking community as a known chef with a certain level of celebrity and his answer was impressive largely because it illustrated that he is well aware of his predicament in the artisan cheese industry. He is an established and successful businessman in the food industry who is expanding into cheese at a time when it is hot and he knows that some people will want to write him off for this. Instead of backing out he is looking at expanding his operation and working to use his influence to foster sustainable growth within the local dairy community. For example when he expands his dairy, he will begin purchasing milk from local dairy farms because through his research on dairy farming in the region he has come to realize that he has the potential and the means to help that industry. When John saw that the number of dairy farms has dwindled, he began to wonder if Bittersweet could help even more dairies by becoming a milk processor. It is worth noting that Chef’s non-cheese product lines (soups, sauces, bakery) involve large quantities of milk and cream so he actually could support a sizable portion of Louisiana dairies.Chef wanted us to see all aspects of his operation, so we proceeded to his USDA manufacturing facility where he makes soups and sauces and also develops his other product lines- butters, gelatos, etc. After the tour we returned to Bittersweet Plantation for a fantastic five course meal. We left Bittersweet Plantation with some awesome ice packs for our cooler, cheese, a loaf of their bread, and a strong desire to return and see what Chef John Folse and Co. will be able to do to help dairy farmers in Louisiana not to mention the new cheeses he will develop.

June 2006Name: Sweet Home Farm [Update 2020: Alyce and Doug have retired! Their retail shop is closed and inventory remaining will be sold to local restaurants.]Owners: Alyce Birchenough and Doug Wolbert Location: Elberta, AlabamaAnimals: Milking 13 Guernseys, total herd is 30 including calves and heifersCheeses/Products: Chalet, Fondrea, Jubilee, Perdido, Baldwin Swiss, Elberta, Bama Jack, Gouda, Feta, Montabella, Blue, Pepato Asiago, Cheese Fudge, Garlic Blue Cheese, a Taleggio style cheese that I can’t remember the name of!Everything at Sweet Home Farm is done to please both the functional and the aesthetic. The first thing you see when you pull into the farm is a chicken coop that is so sweet (and so well kept) it could break your heart. I knowI’m really selling the bucolic image here- but it would be a disservice to not talk about the craftsmanship involved in the entire operation that makes up Sweet Home Farm. There are only two "employees" Alyce Birchenough and her husband Doug Wolbert, they are also the owners. This means that they are the gardeners, the repair people, the milkers, cheesemakers, and as if that were not enough they are shopkeepers too. All of the cheese produced is sold on the farm, not to prove a point, but to keep things simple. <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > I called Alyce from the road when we realized that we were running late and might not arrive at the farm until well after 7pm. She asked enough questions to determine that we were headed the right way and promptly invited us to dinner...we didn’t realize that between Georgia and Alabama we had crossed a time zone. One more hour for us and such a great dinner with Alyce and Doug. When we arrived Alyce walked us around the farm. We started in the garden which is teeming with growth: beans, blueberries, greens, pears, three varieties of figs, pecans, loquats, limes, oranges, lemons, herbs, white peaches, quince, artichokes, mulberries, persimmons, and muscadine grapes... just to mention a few. Of course there was something cheese related in the garden too- cardoons- the thistle plant used as the coagulant in a number of Portuguese cheese recipes. She educated herself on how to make the solution used in cheesemaking and even tried working with it in some of her cheeses until she learned that it creates bitter flavors when used with cow milk (many of the Portuguese varieties are sheep milk).We busted open some cheese that we had brought with us from Sweet Grass Dairy for a little aperetif and then Doug popped out to milk the cows so that we could all lounge comfortably after dinner. While Alyce put the finishing touches on dinner, Michael and I got to check out Doug’s collections of butter molds and cheese plates- even dairy farmers can get hooked on ebay. Looking down at a table full of food that was grown on the land you are standing on gets me every time- grass fed beef strips, string beans from the garden, sweet corn, cucumber tomato dill salad and parsnips. After dinner we managed to get Alyce to recount stories about their first dairy cow and some of their other early farming experiences.Our visit fell during Memorial Day weekend so the gulf coast was packed and that meant that on the first full day of our visit, Saturday, the cheese shop would be even busier than usual so they encouraged us to check out the beach in the morning before coming to the farm. We followed their instructions and rolled into their driveway around 2pm and found that it was full of cars. Every time one car would pull away another pulled in and this went on right up until 5pm when the shop closed. There is a lovely little bench in front of the shop where we sat, between our visits to the milking cows in the pasture and coffee breaks with Alyce and Doug (seperately of course), and chatted with their customers. It is important to understand that Sweet Home Farm is not in the "middle of town" - it is off of a somewhat trafficked road and then is a mile and a half down a dirt road! This means that customers have to know where they are going and they have to want it. And since all of Sweet Home’s sales are done at the farm, it makes the effort of those customers even more amazing. Everyone that we spoke with that day felt like they had discovered something special when they found Sweet Home Farm and they assured us that if we ever had an event to attend or a group of people to impress that cheese from Sweet Home would be sure to put us in good standing for any occassion.Once the shop closed we hightailed it down a few back roads to the coast to the Pirate’s Cove for a beer and some pizza. Even though the weather was gorgeous and the beer was cold we exercised restraint because Doug needed to get back to milk the cows. While Doug was busy in the parlor, Alyce and I flipped through her cheese photos from Italy. We interviewed them later that evening while Doug peeled their first harvest of garlic for Alyce to use in the Garlic Blue cheese she would make the next morning. Around midnight we kicked ourselves out, fearing that we were going to interfere with their Sunday schedule.... <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > The next morning we watched carefully as Alyce made a large batch of blue cheese; separating a small quantity for the Garlic Blue which she developed because of a customer request and continues to make it because it has developed a cult following. I am so blown away by Alyce, her approach to and passion for cheesemaking, not to mention the way that she and Doug have developed their farm, that I’m feeling squidgy about how to say something that does her justice. Really! She became a small-scale cheesemaker before there were home cheesemaking books and small quantities of cultures for sale; she learned to make cheese by reading an Encyclopedia of Country Living which illustrates her determination. But the real wow factor about Alyce is that she might have more love for the actual thing- making cheese by hand- than anyone I’ve encountered in my time in cheese. Sweet Home Farm could sell twice what they currently do from their farm shop, and she could rest on her laurels, but instead she does things like troll the internet and figure out how to make rennet from cardoon thistles! Her curiosity about all things cheese related is insatiable. She is probably a wonderful, if not a bit intimidating, student and yet she is also a phenomenal teacher. The majority of cheesemakers in the South, even a few along the eastern seaboard, credit her with having been their best resource when they were learning to make cheese.Being around Doug and Alyce was particularly enjoyable because they have the ease that comes with being around people who know where they are headed and why... if something is complicated for them, they figure out how to make it uncomplicated. Watching them life looks so much more straightforward; they are focused on what is workable... for them. Fortunately, the things that work for them are totally cool for the rest of us too.

June 2006Name: Sweet Grass DairyOwners: Jessica and Jeremy LittleLocation: Thomasville, GeorgiaAnimals: approximately 150 goats (Saanen, La Mancha, Alpine), they also buy cow milk from Green Hill Dairy which is owned by Jessica’s parentsCheeses/Products: Thomasville Tomme, Georgia Gouda, Myrtlewood, Green Hill, Lumiere, Fresh Chevre, Holly Springs, Pecan Chevre.As unfortunate is it was, the fate of our visit to Sweet Grass Dairy was determined by a seemingly unimportant stop en route to the farm. A small bowl of food we ate in Athens, Georgia literally brought us to our knees about 6 hours later. When we got to the farm we introduced ourselves, apologized in advance for our antisocial behavior and asked for a bed and a bathroom. Eighteen hours later I sat down to have my first conversation with Jessica and Jeremy; Michael had lasted about two hours post-arrival before he succumbed to the illness so he had gotten to know them a bit. I have to say that the Littles were the absolute best you could hope for in such a situation. Not a shred of annoyance from them about our delicate composition, just lots of apple juice, sparkling water, crackers and sympathy.Many people associate Sweet Grass cheeses with Desiree Wehner, Jessica’s mother, who started the dairy. Desiree and her husband Al are known throughout the grass-based, rotational grazing cow dairy world as an example to be followed; not to mention that they are known throughout southern Georgia as right good people. Al and Desiree were conventional dairy farmers who became disenchanted with dairying and decided to try something different. Similarly to Helen and Rick Feete, the Wehners turned to the New Zealand model and created Green Hill, a 340 acre rotational grazing facility currently milking approximately 500 cows. In the late 90’s a variety of circumstances lead the Wehners to move into Thomasville onto 140 acres. Desiree saw an opening to have the handful of goats she had always wanted and the development of Sweet Grass Dairy began.Fast forward to 2003 when their son-in-law, Jeremy, joined them at Sweet Grass to assist with the expansion of the cheesemaking facility. Jessica came down from Atlanta a few months later and both she and Jeremy gradually became involved in the dairy. At a certain point, Al and Desiree decided that they needed to focus their attention on Green Hill and the discussion of Jessica and Jeremy taking over Sweet Grass Dairy began. It took over a year for the couple to decide to buy the dairy and get everything organized for the purchase. (As Mateo Kehler- Jasper Hill Farmonce told me, "You want a good laugh? Walk into any bank and tell them you want a loan to start or buy a small dairy farm.")Jeremy apprenticed with Desiree on the cheesemaking side and gradually took control of the production while Jessica focused on sales, marketing and accounting. It is refreshing to hear the two of them talk about the ups and downs of their experience with the dairy in such a candid way. I’m not talking about whining or complaining - as that is almost never impressive; what I mean is that there is a level of honesty that comes out as a result of their humility. They are open about the inherent contradiction they feel about their ownership of the dairy; they probably would not have done it had they truly understood what they were getting into and yet they are in total agreement that they would do it again if given the option. <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > On the afternoon of our second day there, Michael and I finally felt like we could stand long enough to get the full tour of the dairy. It was about five in the afternoon so milking was in full swing. The goats are all waiting for their turn in the parlor and were surprisingly nonplussed about the 95 degree heat.While they make cheese daily at Sweet Grass with their goat milk, they also get beautiful Jersey cow milk from Green Hill. We walked through the cheesemaking room and all of the aging rooms. One of their most valued employees was finishing up flipping the Green Hills- small disks of Jersey milk with delicate bloomy rinds. Jeremy has worked a lot on the Green Hills and it has paid off- they are absolutely insane! The expansion that Jeremy helped build was for the two rooms that were added to provide the proper environments for soft-ripened cheeses. Two other cheeses are ripened in these rooms - the heart-shaped Lumiere and the Pecan Chevre, both are made with goats milk from Sweet Grass.We proceeded on to see the bulk fresh chevre, made earlier that day and draining in tubs, and the Goudas which were still in their forms in the cool, old press that stands in the middle of the production room. There are four "caves" teeming with aged cheeses made from cow and goat milk. Jeremy explained that, like all the cheesemakers we have visited so far, they cannot keep up with the demand for their cheese and that it is difficult to age some cheeses much beyond the required 60 days because people are waiting for them.I didn’t realize until we looked into each of these rooms that my perception of Sweet Grass Dairy was that they were quite small. Maybe because in my retail days I had focused on their small cheeses or maybe because I had not seem them sold in many places in NYC. Regardless of my reasoning, I was wrong. Sweet Grass is in a stage that reminds me of what it felt like when I was 7, too old to be a cute little kid and not old enough to be a big kid either. Jessica and Jeremy confirmed that they are in the midst of an awkward phase where they are too big to be small and too small to be big. This might not sound like much to an outsider but it is something that plagues many American cheesemakers. Producers feel the risk of having their customers decide that they have become a "factory" if the growth of the cheese production seems too large. It is one of many contradictions of the consumer: wanting something rare and unusual but wanting a consistent supply of it. <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > The next morning, before we sat them down for their interview, Jeremy took us out to Green Hill so we could see the farm that we had heard so much about. It really is amazing and lucky for you all Michael was brave enough to climb up onto one of grain towers (the cows are fed grain during milking) to snap some photos that give you a sense of the layout of the farm.It is great to see a farm making the transition from one generation to the next. We look forward to seeing where Jessica and Jeremy will take the company. Based on the cheeses we sampled we would encourage them to press on through the middle ground, more of their cheese would be great for everyone.

June 2006Name: Goat Lady DairyOwners: Ginnie, Steve, Lee and Norma Tate Location: Climax, North CarolinaAnimals: Approximately 75 goats; Nubians, Saanens, and French-AlpineCheeses/Products: Spreadable Fromage (in nine flavors), Chevre Logs, Feta, Smokey Mountain Round, Marinated Chevre, Chevre Camembert, Crottin, Sandy Creek, Providence, Gray’s Chapel, Goat Lady Gouda. Chocolate Goat Cheese Truffles (only during Holidays)Holistic. This is the word that comes to mind when I think about Goat Lady Dairy. The farm came together organically, beginning with Ginnie Tate’s move to Climax, North Carolina. She bought an abandoned tobacco farm that had a dilapidated log home on it and began the process of restoring it to prime condition. Along the way she took on a couple of goats and earned the nickname "the goat lady" with locals in town, some of whom she hired to help restore her home. The other members of the Tate family came later on; Steve Tate and his family enjoyed the visits they made to Climax in the summer months but it wasn’t until years later that they thought about moving there and developing the farm with Ginnie. Steve and his wife Lee were living in Minnesota when they became involved in a CSA (community supported agriculture). As they became more actively involved in their CSA, they began to do work for local groups focused on farmland preservation.Years into this it occurred to Steve and Lee that maybe the best thing they could do in addition to preserving farmland would be to create an active farm themselves. They began to discuss the possibility with Ginnie originally thinking they would grow organic vegetables and create a CSA themselves. The three of them considered many business plans and thought about their respective interests and talents before settling on a plan that diversified their income streams. Organic vegetables, cheese, and hospitality were the areas they decided to start with and they figured they would see which ones were more successful. Little did they know that those three areas would work so beautifully together largely due to their wonderful creation called Dinner at the Dairy. People pay a fixed price to come to the dairy for a five-course meal composed of foods from their farm, other local farms, and of course, some of their acclaimed hand made cheeses. Guests also get a tour of the farm and can watch the goats being milk through a window in the side of the milking parlor. The dinners sell out minutes after the schedule is posted on the Goat Lady website. Roles have shifted over the years and Ginnie and Steve’s mother Norma has joined them but their overall mission to create a sustainable farm committed to education has only grown stronger.The day that we visited Goat Lady Dairy there was a lot going on...even more than usual. A class of fourth-graders from the local elementary school was being taken on a tour by Ginnie while Steve and his partner in cheesemaking, Carrie, were making more cheese than they have ever made in one day. Steve had attended a Slow Food event the day prior so he had to do a bit of catch up and make three batches of cheese instead of the usual two. Regardless of the extra activity, Steve greeted us, suited us up in hairnets and booties, and invited us into the cheese room. By the time we arrived at the dairy they had already made a batch of fresh chevre and molded chevre from a previous day into logs. Carrie was working on various flavors of spreadable fromage, largely preparing stock for the farmers’ markets they would attend that week. <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > Steve and his niece Jessie, who is doing a year-long internship on the farm, were focused on a batch of goat milk Gouda. As he pressed the cut and cooked curds together the fourth graders huddled up around the viewing window along the side of the cheese room. Once the curds were cut into blocks and loaded into the hoops, Steve and Jessie put the wall-mounted press together and set the freshly packed Goudas in position under the press. Just in time to begin scooping the soft curd that had been cultured, set and cut by Carrie in the vat pasteurizer. The curd was scooped into small molds and left to drain for a couple hours. This soft curd would become a crottin size cheese called Sandy Creek with a line of ash through the center. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > At this point the lunch "whistle" blew and everyone migrated into the large square table in the dairy kitchen for lunch. Of course lunch was made from foods on the farm. During lunch we got to meet Brian Farlow, the most recent addition to the farm. He grew up on a farm in Climax and after a few years working after graduating college he wanted to return to farming . He now works as the farm manager, assisting with all aspects of the farm: the garden, the pigs that they raise, support for Lee who manages the herd, and maintenance of farm equipment.Once the cheesemaking obligations were near finished, Steve gave us the full tour of the farm. We walked out to one of their pastures to bring the goats in for milking. The herd is gorgeous- they are milking approximately 60 does- Saanens, Nubians, and French-Alpines. Lee is the herd manager; she does everything from milking to hoof trimming. Michael and I hung out with the goats in the "waiting room", the pen where they wait for their turn in the milking parlor. We stayed in until they began to get a little...friendly with us and then Steve walked us down to see the pigs they are raising (whey fed, of course). Last but not least we strolled through the garden which is absolutely stunning. It is tended daily by Norma, Steve and Ginnie’s mother, and gets a bit of additional care from some volunteers who work the garden in exchange for an education about organic farming.Steve sent us off with a wide variety of their cheeses...YUM...and we drove away crossing our fingers that we will be quick enough online to get into a Dinner at the Dairy in 2007! <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " >

June 2006Name: Meadow Creek DairyOwners: Helen &amp; Rick Feete Location: Galax, VirginiaAnimals: Over 100 Jersey with some crosses mixed inCheeses/Products: Grayson, Mountaineer, AppalachianIn the 80’s Helen and Rick Feete went into dairying because as they saw it the profession was stable and they would get to spend more time with each other and with their children than if they worked other kinds of jobs. Both of them worked at conventional confinement dairies. In 1988, when they decided to get cows and started their own dairy, they reacted against conventional dairy farming. This was primarily because of the cost of running a confinement dairy; they did not have the capital to invest in the equipment or the ongoing purchase of corn silage to feed the animals. Around this time they saw an article in Farm Magazine about methods used in New Zealand dairies- grass-fed, rotational grazing- and also a book by Bill Murphy, Greener Pasture is on Your Side of the Fence, came out and they could see a style of dairy that they could afford. As a result, Meadow Creek Dairy- along with a handful of other New Zealand style rotational grazing setups in North America- stood out like a sore thumb in the world of cows milk dairies. The cows are outside on grass 365 days of the year and there are few structures and not so much heavy equipment around to support the dairy.Six years into their own dairy business, without any non-family employees and not a single milking off, they began to wear out. So they considered their options and decided to try changing over to being a seasonal operation meaning they would breed their herd within one window. Any cows that do not get pregnant within that window must be cut from the herd. Not an easy decision to stick with, not to mention arranging your finances to get you prepared for the dry season- no milk production means no cash flow. Although this was a difficult decision to carry out, it also breathed new life into the farm...and we should all be thankful for this change as it gave the Feetes a chance to build a small cheese plant so that Helen could begin to take some of the grass-fed, raw Jersey milk from a few cows and turn it into cheese.When we pulled into Meadow Creek Dairy Rick was just finishing up milking with Judith, one of their milk hands. Helen, Michael, and I trailed behind one of the last groups of cows milked out to the paddock they would graze that evening. The farm is beautiful with hills that may qualify as slightly more intense than rolling, a creek, a couple of ponds, and copious amounts of luscious green grass. We wandered out amidst the milkers (approximately 89 of them at the moment) who are almost all mostly Jersey with a few carefully selected breeds crossed into the herd. As with all other factors that impact the farm, Helen and Rick are constantly tweaking their breeding to improve the overall genetics of the herd. They are definitely doing something right as this past season they had 89 successful births (no dead calves or cows). <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > On our first night, Helen treated us to one of the chickens raised on their farm and spring lettuces from her garden. We got up in the morning and wandered up the path to the cheese plant where Helen had been busy for some time setting up the room for making Grayson, their raw milk Taleggio style cheese. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > The make works best with four people and Helen had set up the crew to come in special on Saturday so that we could see them do it. Dixie was the first to show up (with homemade cinnamon rolls and butter and strawberry ice cream made from Meadow Creek cream), he has worked there for about 8 years. Then Helen and Rick’s daughter Kate arrived with her fiance Dan, they both work for Meadow Creek. We stepped in to watch Helen cut the curd and then cleared the room for a few minutes to allow them to set up all of the forms. Once they were ready to hoop the cheese we were directed to two spots where we could stand without being in their way. Kate stirred the curd gently and constantly to prevent it from adhering to itself, Dan scooped curd into buckets, Helen and Dixie ferried the buckets from the vat to the molds around the room. At a certain point, Helen stopped pouring curd and began flipping the cheeses that were hooped first. As luck would have it, we got to see the biggest Grayson make they have ever done- it was awesome to see a cheese make that involved so many people moving a lot of curd and having such a good time together. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > Those cheeses were flipped at various intervals that day and eventually we helped Helen move them into the cellar. Helen is patiently waiting while the finishing touches are being done on a new cheesemaking room and in-ground cellar- an excellent excuse for us to go visit them again later this year.The following morning they took us on a walk around their property. One could easily wander around on their farm and overlook one of the most important features- what is growing on the land. While we walked, Rick explained how one cares for a pasture when they are focused on long-term sustainability (environmental, economic, and social). When you kneel down and look at the variety of grasses available to the cows it is intense to think about the amount of work required to create this landscape (without the use of chemicals). He also talked to us about something other farmers have mentioned, the concept of a nutrient loop on a piece of land- I will do my best to give an explanation although it will be oversimplified. The cows go out and eat the grass which has grown from nutrients in the soil, they metabolize that grass and put it back onto the land via manure. One of the wonderful thing about grass based dairying is that you are closer to closing the loop because you are not taking hay from someone else’s land and moving those nutrients onto your own land... over time this depletes the hay farmer’s land.Listening to Helen and Rick talk about their path through the dairying industry it is apparent that they are steady visionaries with the patience required to do something the right way. They are humble about what they have accomplished and yet they would never undersell the complexity of what they do- which is exactly as it should be.

May 2006Name: Westfield FarmOwners: Bob &amp; Debbie StetsonLocation: Hubbardston, MassachusettsAnimals: Westfield Farm gets its milk from four local goat dairies and cow dairiesCheeses: Hubbardston Blue, Blue Log, Fresh Goat Cheeses (with various flavors - we highly recommend the Wasabi and Chocolate), Bluebonnet, Camembert, and many others When we called Bob Stetson to confess that a 3pm arrival at Westfield Farm was a long shot, he graciously invited us to join him and his wife Debbie for dinner that evening. So we slogged through Boston rush hour traffic and pulled into a hotel near their farm where we had an interesting chat with the receptionist about the cheeses at Westfield Farm. She is a native of Hubbardston (where the farm is located) and said that one of her childhood friends who now lives out in California called her one day to tell her that cheese was not only being made in their hometown but also written about in a national food magazine. This was clearly a point of curiosity and pride for them both- as she said, “Almost no one even knows where Hubbardston Massachusetts is, let alone that there is cheese being made there.” Kind of the classic tale of many small American cheesemakers- people across the country might know about them before members of their immediate community do.The Stetson home is situated in a clearing near the top of a rolling hill in a town called Hubbardston. The house they live in is literally as old as our country and still in beautiful condition. Bob and Debbie moved here from Boston approximately ten years ago to take over the cheesemaking operation from Bob and Letty Kilmoyer who started the farm approximately ten years prior. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > As the story goes, Bob Kilmoyer (a university math professor) was asked by one of his students to watch a few of his goats for the summer and the student never returned- at least not for the goats- and thus began Westfield Farm. The herd grew, an entire line of cheeses were developed (not to mention a market for specialty goat milk cheeses), and a number of employees came on to work the farm and live with the Kilmoyers. Nearly a decade later, the workload and cooperative living got to be too much for the Kilmoyers and they decided to sell the goats and place a small ad in the Boston Globe for a goat cheesemaking business.The Stetsons had been working in shipping in Boston and Bob had an increasing interest in shifting his work away from selling services- he wanted to produce something tangible. He saw the ad in the Globe and it piqued his interest. They drove out to visit and although they had never even tasted goat cheese, they saw the creamery as a viable business. So they moved in with the Kilmoyers shortly after that and learned about milk collection, cheesemaking and distribution. Approximately one month later the Stetsons were living the dream. Over the last ten years they have nearly tripled the volume of cheese produced on the farm. They made additions onto the cheesemaking facility shortly after taking over and now use the old barn for packaging and cold storage.Westfield gets milk from four local goat dairies. These dairies have evolved because Westfield Farm created a local market for goat milk. A couple of the dairies they work with shifted from cow dairying to goats because there is now more money in selling goats milk for cheese than selling fluid cows milk. The weekly make schedule seems relatively set and since most of the cheeses are fresh (less than 60 days old) the majority of their cheese are pasteurized.Ten years into the business Bob and Debbie are still encouraged by the tactile nature of what they do. They modestly give nearly all the credit to the Kilmoyers who, for all intents and purposes, established the farm, the vision, and got the cheese on the radar of retailers and restaurants. That said, it is rare to find people willing to take over an established business who understand which pieces they should tinker with and which they should leave alone. Lucky for all consumers of Westfield Farm cheeses, the Stetsons are indeed that kind of people. We will take their modesty so long as they continue to pump out their delectable line of goat and cow milk cheeses. <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " >

May 2006Name: Appleton CreameryOwners: Caitlin, Brad, and Fiona HunterLocation: Appleton, MaineAnimals: 32 American Alpine goats. She also buys sheep (Dorset Freisian cross/Freisian) and cow’s (Jersey/Holstein cross) milk from neighborsCheeses/Products: Chevre, Feta, Chevre in olive oil (YUM), Crofter’s Cheese, Sheep Milk Yogurt, Caprino di Vino, St. George Blue, Brebrie, George’s Highland... really you just need to catch her at the farmer’s market because she changes it up often. We hear a new Camdenbert is on the horizon.Farmers’ Markets where you can find Appleton’s cheeses: Orono, Belfast, Camden, Rockland, Damariscotta, Bath (check the Maine Organic Farmers and Grower’s Association, MOFGA, for days and hours of each market)We pulled into Appleton Creamery around 4 pm and cheesemaker Caitlin Hunter’s husband Brad greeted us.He walked down from his sail-making workshop (New England is almost irritatingly rife with craftspeople), which occupies the structure next to their home. Brad walked us through their 5 acres which are aesthetically pleasing and, more importantly, laden with incredible projects. As we headed down the stone path, flanked on either side by a thriving flower garden, toward the barn Brad pointed out the micro-vineyard behind the house, now in its fifth year of growth. There is a lot of cheese being made on the farm and he feels obligated to develop a variety of washes for them so he is grafting some rare cider apple species onto older root stock on one end of their land and growing hops up the side of his workshop for home brewed beer later this season. They are preparing to seed their fruit and vegetable garden and we will do our best to get back for the harvest as they focus on heirloom varieties. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > After seeing the spread of active projects happening on their farm we should have expected to discover a cheesemaker producing a crazy variety of goods but based on the size of the cheesemaking room we thought otherwise. Brad described it accurately when he said, “It is like making cheese on a boat.” The cheesemaking room is one section of the barn (which was built by Brad for Caitlin’s five goats years ago), making up about 20 % of the overall space. The room is a long rectangle, maybe 6 feet wide and 20 feet long. Everything has its place and Caitlin moves around fluidly in this space, she has been making cheese her for over a decade.When we wandered over to the barn, Caitlin was finishing up cheesemaking with her first apprentice of the season. Now- let me just say that if I worked in a “cozy” make room and was at the end of my day and already deep in the throes of teaching one person, I am not sure that I would have invited two people inside to hover over me for a couple hours. Lucky for us, this is precisely what Caitlin did. Once we began talking to her about how she became a cheesemaker this magnanimous behavior made sense and also made us some of her biggest fans.Caitlin is a back-to-lander who became interested in goats and cheesemaking in the late 70s. She is largely self-taught as there wasn’t anyone to learn from in cheesemaking or goat rearing. As a result of going it on her own and growing her business slowly, she keeps her equipment low-tech, “if I can’t fix it myself, I don’t really want to use it.” Another interesting outcome of her own path of development is her commitment to new cheesemakers having access to better information than she had. She has learned so much in her years of cheesemaking and has a lot of knowledge to share and every year she does just that by bringing on not one but often two apprentices. I know from experience at both Murray’s and Artisanal (in NYC) that having interns is both an enormous help and also a big commitment of time and energy. Teaching in the cheesemaking room requires a special kind of patience and Caitlin has endless amounts of it.It is clear that the goats were her entry into the cheese world; making cheese was a way to keep the goats around. After years of larger and smaller herds, she has settled on a number that is manageable for her to care for (also keep in mind their land base of only 5 acres) and leave enough time for all the cheese she needs to make and sell at farmer’s markets. She has the great fortune of being surrounded by neighbors who were looking for outlets for their own milk. One neighbor sells her cows milk and another who wanted to be a shepherd but wasn’t quite ready to get into cheesemaking herself so she found Caitlin as an outlet for her sheep’s milk. This is a cheesemaker’s dream- you get to have a herd size you can manage and you have great sources for additional milk so you can produce a more reasonable volume of cheese (not to mention the fun of working with a variety of milk types).If you are wondering why you have not seen many Maine cheeses in your local cheese shop that is because there is something unique happening in the state of Maine right now: cheesemakers are selling out locally. After tasting Caitlin’s cheeses this makes me feel both bummed (selfish me who wants to eat Maine cheeses wherever I am) and psyched that the products are consumed where they are made. Appleton Creamery is ideally situated to serve four farmer’s markets in the mid-coast region which is chock full of tourists at the height of milking season. Caitlin is the president of the Maine Cheese Guild (I know- we can’t believe it either- and she still has an off-farm job twenty hours each week in the local school system) and explained that as a group, the cheesemakers are focusing their attention on training more cheesemakers in the state rather than marketing their cheeses nationally. We appreciate this because every time we look at the beautiful Maine Cheese Guild poster our mouths water and our tummies grumble for all those cheeses we have to venture to Vacationland to get!(If you are looking for some good cheese decor I highly recommend the posters- they are for sale on the Maine Cheese Guild website) <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " >

May 2006Name: Willow Hill Farm [Update: Willow Hill Farm no longer makes &amp; sells cheese. They have transitioned to a you-pick blueberry farm–something they always offered in addition to their farmstead cheesemaking.] Owners: David Phinney and Willow SmartLocation: Milton, VermontAnimals: 80-90 sheep (plus 80+ lambs) East Friesian and Icelandic Friesian crosses, 6 cows Dutch Belted and BrownSwissCheeses/Products: Sheep milk yogurt, Alderbrook, Autumn Oak, Blue Moon, Cobble Hill, Fernwood, La Fleurie, Mountain Tomme, Summertomme, Vermont Brebis, whole grass-fed lamb, wool blankets David and Willow have truly rolled with the changes since they purchased their land in the early 90s. Beginning as an in-ground fruits and vegetable crop operation, they now have their feet firmly planted in the shepherding and cheesemaking business. A few vestiges of their old life remain- the single rectangular plot of Christmas trees now serving as a windbreak for pastures, the last of the beef cattle that will go this year, and even a couple retired chicken coops remain near the barn. Some pieces of these earlier businesses have been consistent: they have a booming, seasonal business with their organic blueberries and currants which they open up each summer for people to pick on their own and also sell at local farmer’s markets.The big thing happening these days at Willow Hill Farm is the final construction on their new production facility. David and Willow took us on a tour of the new facility as well as the old to give us a sense of the main goal for the new building: increased efficiency. They will absolutely achieve this and they will continue to work their tails off.David will be milking a minimum of 80 sheep and at least 5 cows while Willow will crank out over 15,000 pounds of cheese (she supplements her sheep’s milk with milk from Bonnieview Farm). Oh, and let’s not forget that David is also producing the delectable sheep’s milk yogurt and that Willow has to age, package, and take her cheeses and their organic blueberries and currants to market each week. Think about this for twenty seconds and you can understand why these two would strive for efficiency.We were fortunate to visit post-lambing yet pre-milking (unlike cows and goats, sheep aren’t weaned from their mother’s milk for 30 days or so). The milking and cheesemaking will begin later than usual this year&nbsp; <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > because of the new production facility construction. The production facility is built on tiered levels, like steps, to allow the milk to be brought into the make room using gravity feed rather than pumps. Along the side of the make room are large windows to allow visitors to see the process and after the cheese is made, aging and brining rooms are the final stop before shipping. To get some relaxed moments with a shepherd or cheesemaker is a rare privilege; our visit with Willow and David was like a goldmine. After arriving and taking a tour of the new make room being constructed, we hovered over them as they did chores around the solar ban used for lambing season. The next morning we followed them around for chores again, watching as David tagged some lambs born only days ago. Then we went to see the old cheese production facility and meet the cows in the original barn.One thing that stuck with us after spending two days with them was the level of commitment to their farm’s philosophy- it is truly inspiring. Regardless of the additional work (and sometimes cost) associated with the tenets they believe in, they do things the way they believe they should be done. David and Willow are believers in the true roots of the organic movement- meaning sustainable land management. They follow organic practices in their pastures and continue to feed their animals organic grain even though they recently de-certified their cheeses because they are supplementing their cow milk with milk from a neighboring dairy that is not organic. They could have asked their neighbor to convert to organic, or they could have searched for an organic milk source outside of their local area. It was too much, in their minds, to ask another farmer to convert to their philosophy and yet, remaining true to their own beliefs they continue with organic practices on their farm.Animal comfort is also a high priority on the farm. When David explains why he doesn’t dock tails on his sheep, you can see that he considers the experience of the animal, the tail is the only defense that the animals have against biting black and horse flies that are around all summer long while they are on pasture. He didn’t have any assistants until recent years and when he mentions that he didn’t have a day off from milking for 8 years there is no bitterness in the statement, in his mind I think he just sees it as what has to be done for the animals and their operation.Proper care for the animals and the land results in clean milk with wonderful nuances in flavor and this makes beautiful cheese. Willow will continue to produce both pasteurized, soft-ripened cheeses that are aged for only a couple weeks and also raw milk cheeses held for 60 days or more. She is cautious about her excitement for working in the new facility, as she knows, from years of experience, that any small change can impact the finished product.We have total confidence that she will rock these changes as she and David have all the ones that have come before. <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " >

May 2006Name: Vermont Butter &amp; Cheese (changed to Vermont Creamery)Owners: Allison Hooper and Bob ReeseLocation: Websterville, VermontAnimals: VBC gets milk for their cheeses from approximately 25 farms. Many are in Vermont, and they are working to help these farms grow, and some are in surrounding areas- New York and Quebec. All are within a 200-mile radius.Cheeses/Products: Chevre, Creamy Goat Cheese, Creme Fraiche, Quark, Fromage Blanc, Mascarpone, Cultured Butter, Bonne-Bouche, Bijou, and CoupoleWhen we grow up we want to be like Allison Hooper. A pioneer in artisan cheesemaking, she is a humble, straight shooter with a palpable passion for what she does. She and Bob Reese, the co-founder, and owner of Vermont Butter &amp; Cheese (VBC), have grown with the industry and are now expanding it with their new production facility. In a sense Allison is returning to her cheesemaking roots - the new cheeses VBC is producing (Bijou, Bonne-Bouche, and Coupole) are the kinds of cheeses that drew her into the profession over 20 years ago when she spent time on farms in Brittany, France.When we arrived at VBC we went right to the new facility and watched as Allison and Adeline Folley, the operations manager who moved to Vermont from France to work with Allison on the new production facility, carefully drained and flipped each rack of Bonne-Bouche (during the first 24 hrs there is much hands-on care needed). After this, we walked through each aging room to see how the equipment works, see how the cheeses look and smell the variety of aromas that come from the cheeses at each stage in their development.Allison cleared her afternoon (this is no small feat) and took us out to one of the goat farms that supply VBC with milk. [2]Oak Knoll Dairy is in Windsor, VT about an hour and a fifteen-minute drive from VBC. Karen Lindbo and George Redick have approximately 600 goats on their land. Their goats are not pastured because they don’t have the land required to sustain this, especially given that goats are not grazers (grass eaters), they are browsers. The plants they like to eat take even longer to re-grow than grasses, which makes pasturing goats a big challenge with any size herd. Oak Knoll grows their own feed for the goats so that they know exactly what they are getting. Karen, George, and their most trusted herding dog Moss gave us the full tour from the big, beautiful old barn, which houses the kid pen and maternity ward, to the pens of young goats and the main barn, milking parlor and milk bottling/yogurt making room. They treated us with bottles of chocolate goats milk- YUM- that has an incredibly thick and rich texture. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > We spent the evening with Allison and her family just steps away from where the dream began- in the old barn across from their house. Day two we were out the door at 6:30 to start un-molding Bonne-Bouche with Adeline. After removing the cheeses from their molds, we sat down with Allison and Adeline to taste Bijou, Bonne-Bouche, and Coupole from various batches over the past month. They are doing some revolutionary things with these cheeses- defining the specifics of the flavor profile of each cheese and tasting to those profiles and designing special packaging that provides a mini-cave for each piece/package so that it can make it through the distribution channels and taste how they want it to at each stage in its development. And the results are terrific even while they continue to test and nail down the profiles of each cheese.Adeline gave us the full tour of the old and new facility. She knows the place inside and out; we saw how all the cultured (creme fraiche, fromage blanc, quark, feta, chevre, creamy goat cheese and butter) and fresh (mascarpone) products are made and packaged. Of course, we also saw all the behind-the-scenes aspects of the new plant- the compressor room will make your brain hurt with all of the wires and switches and pipes overhead. Adeline knows what every single pipe feeds and what every switch and valve controls. It is apparent that the design, construction, and operation of this new facility have all been meticulously planned.The new make room is a big risk for Vermont Butter &amp; Cheese. It is a large capital investment for them, but it is a bold move that is summed up best by Allison when she said it is better to be bold and lie awake at night worrying about things working out than to be timid and lie awake thinking about missed opportunities. We couldn’t agree more.We interviewed Allison and then she sent us off with some crates of Bijou and Coupole to share with cheesemakers down the road- we told you...she is a class act! <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > Shaping Coupole Next stop: Willow Hill Farm

May 2006Name: Twig FarmOwners: Michael and Emily Lee (let’s not forget 8-month old Carter) Location: West Cornwall, VTAnimals: GoatsHerd Size: 17 does, 14 kidsCheeses: Twig Farm Cow’s Milk Tomme, Twig Farm Goat’s Milk Tomme, Twig Farm Wheel When someone says "Vermont farmstead cheese" I think people imagine a place like Twig Farm. Michael and Emily Lee milked 17 goats and in their first cheese-producing year and made 3,000 lbs of cheese. That is a little less than 60 lbs per week. In Vermont lingo they are "flat-landers" meaning they live down in Addison county where the landscape is somewhat conducive to farming. Their barn and home blend seamlessly into the surrounding land that is thick with spindly trees and brush. The surrounding land is ideal for goats to work as goats are technically not grazers–they will eat grass–their preference is what is called browse. Basically this is anything you would not want to walk through if you were out for a stroll in shorts and sandals; the thickety bushes with tiny leaves and brambles. These inconvenient plants are the very things that can create such stunning flavors in Twig Farm’s cheeses. Michael commented that he wished he had an entire field of honeysuckle to put the goats in... we do too, but for the time being we will settle for the garden variety of plants that nature provides.Michael is up at 4:45 AM for chores and to prepare the milking parlor. When weather permits he walks the goats out to small paddocks after their morning milking. They browse for the day and return to the barn around 4pm for the second milking. Sounds like lots of downtime in the middle of the day right? But there are many other things to be done even on a farm this size. Milk is collected from neighboring farms for cheesemaking (17 goats don’t produce enough milk for cheesemaking multiple times a week), chores in the barn, setting up fences around new paddocks, brining, washing and turning cheese in the cellar and then boxing up orders. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > Although we slept through morning milking on our first day- we woke up to watch the goats doing their springtime pecking order exercises which consist of rearing up on their hind legs and coming down head to head with one another. We got to walk the goats out out to one of the paddocks with Michael, then I did a bit of cheese turning and patting in the cellar while he packed up some cheese for Saxelby Cheesemongers. He took a couple hours out of his day to sit down for an interview with us (we’ll be posting some clips soon). This brought us right up to the afternoon milking. We "helped" Michael a bit in the barn and then washed some fiddlehead ferns for the big cheesemaker feast...Addison County is loaded with cheesemakers. On our second night at Twig Farm Michael and Emily offered to have some over for dinner so we could meet them and taste their cheeses. The meal was superb- both the company and the food. Along with Michael cooking a pork shoulder that slow cooked in some of his amazing goat’s milk, Carleton Yoder and his wife Moira from Champlain Valley Creamery brought two cheeses, mozzarella and a new soft-ripened, triple creme, and CHEESECAKE made with their ridiculously real cream cheese. Hannah Sessions from Blue Ledge Farm had two of the farm’s goat’s milk cheeses with her- the elegant Lake’s Edge and a new washed-rind that her husband Greg has been experimenting with. The new folks on the scene were the Crawfords (siblings Jim and Sherry) and their cheesemaker Maria Trumpler with their raw cow’s milk cheese Vermont Ayr. Of course Michael cracked open a wheel of Twig’s Soft Cheese for the occasion as well.The opportunity to meet these cheesemakers was excellent and also made us just a tiny bit sad to know that while we are visiting many farms, for every one that we do see there are probably 5 more that we’re not seeing. Poor baby, I know- we don’t expect any sympathy from you- its just an observation! <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > Next stop: Vermont Butter and Cheese

February 2006This was a very big weekend for Cheese by Hand. We made our way up to Jasper Hill Farm in Greensboro, VT to do a "dry run" of our upcoming tour of American cheesemakers. Greensboro is in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, a name which I find both amazingly boastful yet accurate! Brothers Andy and Mateo Kehler have been kind to us for over two years now - we have visited the farm before and they always make us feel welcome and part of the family. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > Andy handles the animals, in this case, 35 milking Ayrshire cows, which requires two milkings a day, every day, no matter what. I do not envy Andy’s job. His wife, Victoria, runs the cellar - aging and maturing the cheeses before they go out into the wild.Mateo handles the cheesemaking. They are a raw milk maker and have developed five cheese to date. Mateo is always experimenting and looking to make new cheeses. His wife Angie runs the Accounts Payable and Receivable, as well as the website and their 15 month-old son, Reed.Although on previous trips we’ve spent time in the various parts of their operation–the cheese house, the barn, the cellar, and even each of their dinner tables–this time was different. Part of the difference was in us- we were paying much closer attention to how things worked and listening carefully for the sounds of the place. The farm itself has also changed, the ground is covered with snow and the foundation has been laid for a new barn across the dirt road from the existing barn. This was the first time we’ve been to visit when the cows are all inside the barn because the danger of them slipping on ice or losing sound footing in mud is too high. There are some new faces on the farm too- Amy, Josh, Princess, and Tim- the four of them help in all areas of the operation.We also realized this weekend that finding a quiet room to record audio poses quite a challenge on a working farm...there is always something going on. Compressors, motors, cleaning, moo-ing - well moo-ing is ok. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > Although we arrived late Friday night, we didn’t sit down to interview Mateo until late Sunday afternoon. Given how busy they are it is difficult to get both brothers in a room together so we will return later to talk with Andy. Over the last two years, I have talked to Mateo in-depth about the farm, and yet in this conversation, I learned so much more. It left me with the feeling that we had only scratched the surface.Mateo made one statement that stuck with me- I found myself thinking about it all day today. He said- and I paraphrase here- that the creation of Jasper Hill Farm was his and Andy’s response to the globalization of our economy. He fully acknowledges that he and his brother rely on that economy in many ways - he is not in denial, he is aware of the situation and taking action. This inspired me to think today about things that weigh heavily on my mind and conscience. <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " > I find it disconcerting that we’ve lost a connection with what it takes to produce the majority of what we consume. Listening to Mateo speak about the reality of what it takes to "live the dream" on the farm was satisfying in a way that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Today, back in the cheese caves, it struck me that maybe this project, this effort to explore the production of hand-made cheese and share it with the public, is my response. <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " > <a role="presentation" aria-label="" class=" image-slide-anchor content-fill " >