The most profound gift of 2023 is the arrival of our new cheese maker, Tetyana Dyadechko from Ukraine. She comes to us with nearly a decade of diverse cheese making experiences including her own farmstead goat creamery, teaching cheese making classes and making cheese in the high Alps of Switzerland. Her passion for all things cheese is infectious, and it is wonderful to have a peer to "nerd out with" about milk fat, acidification and affinage. She has already begun a lot of cheese "experiments," and we are excited to share new cheeses with our customers.
Dote on the Does
This weekend, the farm will be open Saturday, January 14th from 11 am to 3 pm. Our pregnant goats are in need of some pampering, and we'll be allowing visitors (with proper biosecurity measures) to get in the pens with them to brush them, pet them and just spoil them a little bit.
We'll have new cheeses for sale as well as some of your old favorites. Come out to enjoy the goats, cheese and meet our new cheese maker! We'll be offering some cheese plate specials along with hot mulled wine and cow milk hot chocolate to warm you up after the "hard work" of pampering the goats.
The farm store will be open for shopping too. Here are the cheeses we expect to have for sale:
Fresh chevre: plain, herbs de Provence, cracked pepper
Ukrainian farmhouse cheese-a pasteurized cow milk cheese similar to cottage cheese but contains no rennet!
Fresh mozzarella-these pillowy balls of deliciousness will blow your mind (and your palate)
Mixed milk feta: this batch is SO creamy and flavorful--you can taste the late lactation milk.
Halloumi-Grilling Cheese--Tetyana's take on this farm-fan favorite (hint: it's really good!)
Angel Food (mixed milk) mini brie + a couple of large wheels for "brie en croute"
Little Bloom on the Prairie: mixed milk camembert-perfectly ripe right now
Winter cheese sales and other Farm activities
For those of you wondering how to get our cheeses during the winter and early spring months, we are working on a buying club or subscription package of some kind. For those local folks, you would place your order by Wednesday for Saturday pick up at the farm. Stay tuned for details about this program.
We will probably open the farm from time to time to host guests for special events (another "Dote on the Does" in February for sure). We'll keep everyone posted as these activities take shape. In the meantime, stay warm and shake off the winter blues with some goat lovin' and delicious cheese.