June 24, 2008
What a beautiful time of year in East Tennessee. This has been such a fascinating year for us - a year of changes, growth and education. With lambing season behind us we are already looking forward to planning for the coming season. Our wonderful ewes provided us with 70% ewe lambs this year, a great number for a growing dairy. We currently have 40 ewes in production and will continue to milk through August. The rain is a true gift, but is appearing less frequently as we delve into these hot summer months. The ewes are spending more nights on pasture, and more days lying in the shade of our trees. Most of this years meat lambs have gone to market, and the 2008 ewe lambs are stunning. 2009 looks to be a promising season!
Our cheese production for the year has just barely kept ahead of our sales. This concerns us a little as we anticipate being out of stock of some of our cheeses over the winter, but what a wonderful problem to have. We anticipate milking about 100 ewes next year, so our production will be increased to meet our customers needs. To assist in that increased production, we have hired a part-time cheesemaker and a part-time milker. What a great asset these two have been to the team. We are considering taking on an intern in 2009 to help with general farm chores; that too, will be a welcome relief during our busy months.
Our 2008 cheese have begun to come out of the aging cave and the improved texture due to a more constant humidity is amazing. The customer feedback has been excellent, as the taste combined with a smooth, creamy texture is our dream coming to fruition.
The last 3 seasons approximately 98% of our cheeses left the state. So, this year we decided to try something new to do some local promoting. We are currently participating in several "farmer's/open air markets" around East Tennessee. These markets have been a huge hit as the demand for local, quality products seems to be on the rise. For information about which market we are participating in which is closest to you, please don't hesitate to shoot us an email.