About
Our milk and our landscape
Our dairy partner is Meadowview Jerseys where we source 100% of our cheesemaking milk. Located in neighboring Lancaster County, Meadowview raises A2A2 Jersey cows on a pasture based system. They farm with organic practices. The milk composition changes with the seasons, where summer milk tends to be leaner and vibrant with flavor from the diversity of forage in the pasture. Autumn and winter milk is rich with high butterfat and lends itself to our creamy soft-ripened cheeses and fudgy stilton-style blue. The seasonality of this milk makes our work dynamic, and it’s one of the features that we love about working with Meadowview Farm.
Our work begins after the morning’s milking, where we pump fresh milk into our 400-gallon stainless milk tanker for its journey to our creamery. We gently fill our vats with the raw milk, and that's where our process begins. We produce both fresh pasteurized cheeses as well as aged raw milk cheeses. All of our raw milk cheeses are aged for a minimum of 60 days according to FDA food safety standards. Part of our work is to preserve - and celebrate - traditional methods of cheesemaking while weaving in current knowledge on quality, microbial diversity and safety.
We see cheese as a way to transform our landscape. Cheese is not only an expression of culture and place, it is not only a bestower of joy and pleasure; it is a store of value. When a person picks up a wedge of our cheese at a shop in Philadelphia, their food dollars are being directed right back to the farm. Artisan cheese incentivizes regenerative dairy practices because pasture-based systems make happy cows, high quality milk, and the best cheese. Our working partnerships with local, sustainably-driven dairy farms strengthen the bridge between urban and rural communities, between people and soil.
the dairy dream team
We are a women-run artisan production and a mission-led small business. Our impact on our community and landscape drive our operation. We work together in a collaborative structure to mind the hundreds of details that bring our cheese to life. We thrive to deepen our knowledge of the science and art of cheesemaking every day. We have several cheesemakers on the team. Each one of us is part of the vision and growth of the business from cheesemaking to navigating our place in the broader agricultural landscape.
Zoie Moyer runs the operation as the creamery manager. She is the engine behind our operation, tending the day to day nuts and bolts, organizing staff and infrastructure, setting the standards of our cleaning protocols, designing new systems, and of course, making cheese.
Brie Best tends our wholesale relationships, manages distribution, corresponds with customers, and makes cheese.
Jamie Jones minds the operational logistics, assists with wholesale distribution, makes cheese, and manages events and community engagement.
Eden Baillie is our affineur, caring for the aging wheels in our cave with diligence and care.
Melanie Linder is the artist behind our logo, labels and overall aesthetic.
Stefanie Angstadt is the founder of Valley Milkhouse and continues to make cheese and operate the business.
In addition to this creamery crew, there are several people who help us run deliveries through city traffic, sell cheese at farmers markets in rain, sleet or snow, haul milk from the farm in the earliest hours of the morning, repair our pipes, and fix air conditioners. These people include but are not limited to Ernie, David, Hayden, Lana and Kelly.