Author Topic: Hello from Virginia!  (Read 1058 times)

Mollyk

  • Guest
Hello from Virginia!
« on: August 11, 2013, 12:26:00 PM »
Hi all
I am a cheesemaker in northern Virginia. I've been making cheese for a number of years and have lurked here periodically but never posted. This spring we made the leap and are now licensed and making cheese commercially! We have a small herd of goats (alpines) and make mainly french style goat cheeses. Bloomy rind lactic cheese is my main obsession :) Next year I would really like to add a blue...
Cheers!
Molly

Spellogue

  • Guest
Re: Hello from Virginia!
« Reply #1 on: August 11, 2013, 03:36:29 PM »
Welcome Molly,

We keep a small hobby herd of Nigerian Dwarfs in NE Ohio.  Goat milk bloomies are my favorite too. I'm exploring lots of different styles to find the right cheeses to help us make it through the winter and provide variety as well.  I dream about a career involving cheesemaking, but haven't figured how I'd go commercial yet.  Perhaps some day.

You already know how generously helpful and informative the folks that post here are.  Looking forward to your input and questions too.  We'd all love to here about your endeavors.

jwalker

  • Guest
Re: Hello from Virginia!
« Reply #2 on: August 11, 2013, 05:38:37 PM »
Welcome Mollyk , glad to hear you made the jump to commercial cheeses making , that is my aspiration as well.

Was it a lot of red tape in your area , how long did the process take from application to finally getting licensed?

In Canada , it's extremely hard to do , but I'll keep trying.

Again , welcome to the forum , lots of good folks and info here for the home cheese maker as well as the commercial artisan makers.

Mollyk

  • Guest
Re: Hello from Virginia!
« Reply #3 on: August 11, 2013, 07:45:05 PM »
Thanks for the welcomes!
It was a lot of work making our facility so that it met the standards required by the state, but I never really felt that anything was onerous- the requirements were all very logical and what you would expect to produce a safe product. Over all (so far) we have had a good relationship with our inspector and thy were out here a lot while we were building, which was very helpful. Virginia had a few "small farm" exceptions which make it easier to be a small operation, we don't have to comply with some of the rules the bigger guys do (like an employee changing room, stuff like that that wouldn't make sense).
It's definitely an undertaking though!