Due to the seasonality of our products, not all goat’s milk cheese is available at all times in our Farm Store or at the local markets. Please email or call ahead for availability.
Our customers enjoy coming to the farm to make their purchases so that they can watch the animals whose pastures surround the store. These are the same animals from which we get the milk to make the cheese, Goat-La-To and soap and the meat for our freezers. Visitors often bring friends and family to show off where they shop locally. While our farm is only a few miles from Winston-Salem, that trip doesn’t always fit in everyone’s schedule which is why our cheeses are also available locally.
In the summer of 2012, we began making our first raw goat’s milk aged farmstead cheeses, using only milk from our herd, in our new creamery. These cheeses are aged from two to eight months or more in both natural rinds and waxed rinds. In October 2012, we received our Grade B Goat Dairy license and began selling our goat’s milk cheeses in the Farm Store. In March 2013, we began making fresh chevres (soft goat cheese, natural or flavored), feta (brined or marinated) and Farmers Cheese (flavored). In April 2014, we began making Queso Fresco, a fresh Mexican cheese (natural or flavored). And, in 2023, we began production of Goat-La-To an all natural goat milk clean-label frozen dairy dessert.
“Farmstead cheese” means cheese made only with the milk produced on the same farm. Our goats are milked daily. We process the milk in small batches and the cheese is made by hand using traditional cheesemaking techniques that date back hundreds, sometimes thousands, of years. The entire process takes place in the creamery, which is just below our Farm Store. The recipes we use are adapted from traditional recipes.
As a farmstead cheese makers, we are involved in every aspect of animal husbandry: diet, treatment of illnesses, hoof care, vaccinations, disease testing, breeding, etc. and in every aspect of cheesemaking: milking, processing the milk, adding cultures and rennet, cutting curds, molding and pressing the cheese to remove whey and air drying along with waxing and aging the raw milk aged cheese. And, don’t forget packaging!
Cheese lovers talk about the unique flavor characteristics they find only in farmstead cheese. The flavor of raw milk aged cheese is largely the result of the particular combination of bacteria present in the milk in the aging cheese. Our approach is similar to those that have proven successful for centuries. We focus our efforts on strict procedures to maintain the desired balance of bacteria all the way through the cheesemaking process. Because farmstead cheeses are made in a specific place, they tend to develop unique flavor profiles based on the feed the goats receive, the climate in which they are made, and the natural microbes in the air where they are aged.
The milk used in the fresh chevres, feta, Farmers, and Queso Fresco cheese has been pasteurized in the creamery along with the milk for the Goat-La-To. Cheeses too tend to develop unique flavor profiles based on the feed the goats receive and the climate in which they are made. Our fresh chevre may be natural, savory or sweet flavored while our Farmers Cheese is made in disc shaped buttons and crusted with savory herbs. The feta is both brined or marinated. Our Queso Fresco is a fresh, white semi-soft cheese made in disc shaped buttons and is either natural or infused with Chili Peppers or Sun Dried Tomatoes and Capers.
We also make direct sales to chefs in area restaurants featuring local artisan cheeses. Email us to receive information on purchasing our farmstead goat’s milk cheese for your establishment, including a Wholesale Price List. There is NO SHIPPING of our cheese. However, you may pick up wholesale orders at our Farm Store or weekly markets.
Johnny and Erin, our cheesemakers, have taken the following in-person cheesemaking and frozen dairy dessert courses along with many unlisted online classes:
- NC State’s 6th Annual Farmstead Cheesemaking Short Course, Raleigh, NC
- OakMoon’s Beginning Cheesemaking Class, Bakersville, NC
- Elodie Farms Cheesemaking Class, Rougemont, NC
- Goat Lady Dairy’s Essential Elements for Successful Farmstead Cheesemaking, Climax, NC
- American Cheese Society‘s Fest of Cheese, Raleigh, NC
- Piedmont Farm School’s Artisan Cheese Workshop, Statesville, NC
- Sullivan’s Pond Farm’s Beginning Cheesemaking & Microcreamery Design, Asheville, NC
- Standing Stone Farms’ Hands on Cheesemaking, Asheville, NC
- Neville McNaughton’s Cheesemaking with “Dr. Cheese”, Asheville, NC
- Ice Cream 101 Introduction to Frozen Desserts, Penn State, University Park, PA
- Workshop: Basics of Dairy Foods, NC State, Raleigh, NC
We have also visited Paradox Farm, Prodigal Farm, Sleepy Goat Farm, Round Mountain Creamery, Split Creek Dairy, In The Red Farm and Dairy, Kilby Family Farms, Goat Lady Dairy, Heritage Homestead, Holton Hollow, Ripshin Dairy, Mountain Farm, Celebrity Dairy, Elodie Farms, Spinning Spider Creamery, Nature’s Sunrise Goat Dairy, Wholesome Country Creamery, NC State Dairy Research and Teaching Farm, Penn State and Fading D Farm.
