THE WEIRS TIMES, Thursday, April 22, 2010
CHEESE from 22
out there with restaurants wanting to feature locally produced food. Making the connection between the farmers and the chefs benefits both and boosts the local economy,’’ says Page. For Granite State dairy
farmers, making cheese is a way of creating a valu- able product which helps keep their farms afloat at a time when falling milk prices threaten their abil- ity to remain economically viable. John Porter, University
of New Hampshire exten- sion professor and dairy specialist, emeritus, and author of “The History and Economics of the New Hampshire Dairy Indus- try” says that expensive land and high taxes are some of the other chal- lenges New Hampshire’s dairy industry faces. Dairy farms in New Hampshire are concen-
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“farmstead” cheese pro- ducer,’’ says Jarvis, who has been making cheese for over 10 years and has been honored as Best of New Hampshire by NH Magazine. She says that due to
aged cheddar, smoked cheddar, Caerphilly, Cou- lommier, Jersey Jack, and Brie, as well as a va- riety of fresh soft cheese spreads. “All of our cheeses are
made by hand in small batches using time-hon- ored methods. As a small family business, we are committed to a product that helps people stay connected to their local farms,’’ says Tom Merri- man, who said that the
Jenny Tapper makes goat cheese at Via Lactea Farm in Brookfield.
ROGER AMSDEN PHOTOS
cheese. Boggy Meadow Farm in
Walpole makes cheeses based on old Alpine reci- pes using raw milk from their cows. The cheeses are made by hand twice a week in a barn across from the dairy parlor us- ing only vegetarian rennet and fresh milk. The farm’s new cheese
Boggy Meadows in Walpole uses Alpine recipes for its cheese.
COURTESY PHOTO
trated along the Con- necticut River Valley on the western border of the state, and the Merrimack River Valley down the cen- ter and east. The average herd size is 115, and there is one 1,000-cow dairy in the state. He says that a lot of the state’s 125 dairy farm- ers are looking at making cheese or bottling their own milk as a way of cop- ing with a bad economy and relying on a buy lo- cal theme to help market their products. Among the pioneers in
the recent cheese making boom are Tom and Lisa Merriam of the Sandwich Creamery, which was es- tablished in 1995 and now produces cow’s milk farmstead cheeses like
creamery is proud to have the distinction of produc- ing New Hampshire’s only cheddar, and is happy to be listed in ‘The Great Cheeses of New England.’ Doug and Debby Erb,
owners of Springvale Farms, a second-genera- tion dairy farm in Landaff, have added farmstead cheesemaking to their business to raise the val- ue of the milk from their 85 cows. In January 2009 the
Erbs made their first batch of Landaff cheese, a mild, semi-firm cheese modeled after the Welsh Caerphil- ly. The Erbs’ cheese busi- ness, Landaff Creamery, sells the cheese “green” to Jasper Hill Farm in Greensboro, Vt., which ages and markets the
maker Stan Richmond is developing new chees- es, including Fiddlehead Tomme, a raw milk cheese which is cave-aged for over six months, to go along with the farm’s baby Swiss, smoked baby Swiss, Meadow Jack. One of the latest farms
to go onto cheesemaking is the Taylor Brothers farm in Plainfield, which is operated by the sons of former State Agricul- ture Commissioner Steve Taylor. He says that the cheese
making equipment was bought from Holland and that a representative of the manufacturer spent a week with his sons show- ing them how to operate it. They are producing two kinds right now, Mill Hol- low and Evelyn’s Jack. “We sold everything we
could make during maple sugar season to people who were coming to the farm for maple syrup. Now we’re going to have to reach out to market it,’’ says Taylor. Robie Farm, a small
family-run dairy farm in Piermont, has been mak-
ing cheese for the last four years, using the farm’s own raw milk to produce small batches of four dif- ferent types of natural rind cheeses. One of the state’s most prolific goat cheese mak- ers is Valerie Jarvis of Heart Song Farm in Gil- manton, who has a herd of 55 does all born, bred, bottle fed, hand raised and then milked by her family, every twelve hours, 365 days a year. “Every ounce of the
nearly 15,000 pounds of cheese we produce an- nually is hand dipped, hand salted and personal- ly packaged, you guessed it, by hand by my family. This earns our farm the right to truly be called a
the increasing demand for her goat milk cheeses, including creamy Camem- bert, ashed, mold ripened Valencay and apple wood smoked buttons, she has been expanding the size of her herd. Her focus is currently
on bulk-sized sales to the restaurant market and she sells to over 40 of them, many on them noted establishments on the Maine seacoast. Other goat milk cheese
producers include Jenny and Andy Tapper, who
own Via Lactea Farm in
Brookfield, and Kevin and Janna Straughan of Agape Homestead Farm in Cen- ter Ossipee.
March 25, 2010
Message of the
BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
Medjugorje, Bosnia-Hercegovina
“Dear children! Also today I desire to call you all to be strong in prayer and in the moments when trials attack you. Live your Christian vocation in joy and humility and witness to everyone. I am with you and I carry you all before my Son Jesus, and He will be your strength and support. Tank you for having responded to my call.”
For a FREE copy of the book,
“Medjugorje the Message” call Faith 702-558-7520
Our Blessed Mother has been giving a Message to the World every 25th day of the month since June 1981.
Proverbs Moment
“Honor the LORD with your wealth,
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Proverbs 3:9
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