FAQs
General
We sell at at farmers markets and special events in the area. Check our Calendar of Events to see where we'll be, or to find a list of other places you can buy our cheese. Also check out our web store. Here you can place an order for UPS delivery, or if you like you can come pick it up. If you live in the local area, we can also deliver it to you. If you'd like to be on our mailing list, please go to “Contact Us”. (We’ll only use your email address to contact you about our products and schedule.)
Do you ship cheese to other places?
Yes, we do. We’ll ship it anywhere it will arrive in 2 days or less by UPS Ground. That’s most of the Southwest, including California.
Do you sell goat milk and other dairy products?
No, we don’t sell goat milk for human consumption, and we don’t sell dairy products other than cheese. Both require a different license and different equipment. We sometimes sell goat milk for animal use, for example if someone needs to bottle-feed a baby goat.
Cheese
What makes your cheese different from mass-produced cheese they sell at the grocery store?
Mass-produced cheese is made in huge lots from pasteurized milk. The only culture it has is what's added. That creates exactly the same cheese every time, in huge lots, no matter where it's made. There's little art to it. Our cheese is made in small lots, and we take advantage of the local "flora" to make our cheese distinctive. Our goal is more to make great cheese, and less to make the exact same cheese as someone else. Of course, we also spoil our goats. They are well cared for and well loved. We think that helps make an excellent cheese, too!
What kinds of cheese do you make?
We make some fresh cheeses like Chevre and Neufchatel. We make Brie, Feta, Gouda, Cheddar, Caprino Romano and a French-style cheese called Tome. We also have a few of our own unique cheeses, including Bourrasque, a hard cheese, and Nuage, a bloomy-rind soft cheese. We don't always have them all, so check with our store for the latest offerings, or contact us if you're looking for something specific. Once our pasteurizer is licensed, we also plan to make Chevre, Brie, Cambozola, Blue, and others. At present, all our cheese is made from goat milk. In the future we plan to make cheese from cow milk also.
Goats
Most of our goats are Alpine, which is a dairy breed originating in Europe. Some are purebreds, and others are mixed with something else. We have some Oberhasli, which is a Swiss dairy breed, and one of our blood lines has a little Nigerian as well.
Is goat milk better for you than cow milk?
Some people who have trouble digesting cow milk find goat milk to be easier to digest. This is because goat milk has smaller fat particles. Goat milk also makes excellent cheese because it has certain enzymes that cow milk doesn’t have. That makes for a more flavorful cheese. But is goat milk healthier than cow milk? No, not just because it’s goat milk. But there’s something to be said for milk produced on small farms. Small farms seem more likely to pasture-feed their animals, providing a healthier diet, more exercise, and healthier animals– and healthier animals produce healthier milk. They also seem less likely to use certain hormones and other chemicals.