Winter 2024-25 Newsletter
Dear friends,
This icy winter has posed challenges and opportunities for our small and mighty creamery. The cows at Meadowview managed to keep warm and keep lactating their rich, beautiful, buttery milk while the farmers kept the parlor pipes and water troughs from freezing. At the creamery we had similar challenges around frozen hoses and whey lines and cooler than ideal cave temperatures. Because of the drought year, several batches of our Lady's Slipper experienced drying, cracked rinds. The blues felt drier than usual this winter too. Thanks to Zoie's rind-washing ingenuity and the determination of our dairy dream team, the cheeses were brought back to their targets and are now happily aging to maturity in the cave.
Our sales have been stronger than ever, and part of that is attributable to a couple of key distributor relationships in Philadelphia who land our cheeses on the menus at michelin-star restaurants in the city to hotels and even convention centers. We have also expanded our geographic footprint from Southeastern Pennsylvania to New York, D.C., Charleston, Nashville, and Chicago. We're grateful to be in a geography that allows our delicate, perishable product to ship easily and economically across state lines so that we can keep accessing new markets. And of course, we have you to thank for our ceaselessly strong sales at the farmers markets and farmstand which make up about 1/4 of our overall sales!
Bringing labwork in house
We were able to convert part of our creamery's packaging room into a labspace where we can now bring some of the state's required lab testing in house. Zoie, Jamie and I completed our training and we are nearing the point of audit and certification (an arduous process!). Installing this lab will allow us to not only maintain our own testing (we previously outsourced it to other farms) but also gives us the flexibility to partner with other local dairy farms should the need arise, and this nimble element to our operation is one of our greatest strengths in a volatile dairy landscape. We're also now testing alt-weekly for avian flu as required by the state. Not to worry - Pennsylvania has not seen a single positive case in milk since testing began last year. I trust we'll be hearing more on this matter as the situation evolves.
Education and dreaming
The creamery crew attended a virtual cheesemaking conference run by the Vermont Cheese Council this week. We took a deep dive into sensory evaluation as well as affinage, the art of aging cheese. The topics are hitting us at just the right moment, as we are in the process of installing a humidification system in our cave which is long overdue. For several years, we got by by maintaining wet concrete floors, being situated partially underground, aging cheese on wooden boards which help maintain moisture, and working in a space with cinder block construction. But the cheeses are begging us for more moisture, especially in this drought year. Textures harden, rinds crack. We partnered with a local mushroom grower, Forgedale Fungi, who has been our consultant on all things humid. Turns out, cheese and mushrooms need very similar environments to thrive. This new misting system will infuse our cave air with 90% humidity which is ideal for aging cheese. We anticipate that this will not only help our current cheeses thrive, but also open the door for us to experiment with new styles of cheese. Like that pesky, stinky washed-rind cheese Dandelion that we've been trying to cultivate for years and can't seem to get right. We will never stop trying for this dream!
Several of us from the creamery will be voyaging up to Vermont next month for a raw milk cheese conference. This is a meeting of the minds for cheesemakers across the country who, like us, are preserving traditional methods of cheesemaking and celebrate the terroir that raw milk cheeses can convey. These are our people. We are looking forward to expanding our knowledge on this wild, ancient craft that we will spend our lifetimes trying to understand.
Our crew gathered at my home for a business retreat this month. During the hustle of our production day we rarely get a chance to step back and reflect on our work as a heart-centered business. We took the opportunity to dream, strategize and vision for the future. We examined our role in the local food economy and rural landscape. We revisited our mission statement and are working to draft a new one that reflects where and who we are in 2025. And we're thinking a lot about community engagement, local food accessibility, and the responsibility we have to take action on the issues that matter. More to come on this in the next several months.
FREE cheese party: save the date and invite your friends!
On June 14, we'll once again gather in the meadow for our annual customer appreciation party. There will be music (band tbd) along with lots and lots of cheese. Our friends over at Heart and Hearth will be offering up their fabulous smoked meats and sandwiches for purchase, some local brewers will surely be pouring craft ale, and pastoral vibes will be flowing. This year, to mix it up, we'll be attempting to build Berks' largest ever cheese board! Bring a wedge of your favorite cheese - any cheese - for the table, and let's journey together on a tasting adventure!
We have yet to publish a class schedule for spring, but I assure you that we will be organizing a few classes on the farm and also at our artist friend's studio in Kutztown (Melanie also happens to make cheese AND design all of our logos, artwork and labels. She's magic! You can follow her work here). If you're reading this newsletter, you'll be the first to hear about upcoming classes and events.
As always, thank YOU
We are grateful for you, cheese devotees and local supporters! Remember: with every wedge of our cheese you buy, you are helping to:
- Promote regenerative dairying
- Maintain a herd of healthy, happy cows
- Support a rural economy
- Celebrate our region's terroir
- Preserve traditional methods of foodmaking
- Cultivate microbial diversity in our diet
Happy almost spring.
Yours truly,
Stefanie