Ewe Are Beautiful - And What Amazing Ears you Have!

As I walked from the barn to the house after the last flip of the evening for a batch of Two Faced Blue, I heard some lambs calling out in the night. Like so many things in farm life, lambing season is a paradox. It is exhausting, stressful, relentless, and unforgiving. It is nature at its most ruthless and it is new life. Look into the eyes of this ewe lamb. She is our future - our milk, our cheese, our livelihood. She is a reminder of all we have to be thankful for.

Thank you Amy and Jil and Maria for the hours spent caring four our lambs these last few weeks. We are in the home stretch! And thank you Kate for capturing an image that puts the whole lambing experience into perspective.

First Cheese Ambassador Named. 2 Stores Scheduled, 98 To Go!

Barbara Kavanaugh has been named Cheese Ambassador 001. Barbara will be visiting Pilgrim's Market in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho and one of the Huckleberry's Natural Markets in Spokane. Thank you Barbara. I predict some serious Blue cheese in your future!

Who else has what it takes to be a Willapa Hills Cheese Ambassador? Do you buy groceries? Then you do!

100 Stores in 100 Days: Be A Cheese Ambassador To Your Local Grocery Store & Get Free Cheese!

If you are like so many cheese lovers out there, you keep asking yourself. "How can I make a difference in the life of a cheese?" We have the answer! Consider being a Willapa Hills Cheese Ambassador to one or more cheese stores/cheese counters near you.

Step 1: Using the intuition exhibited by a Willapa Hills Cheese Ambassador, identify one or more stores that carry quality farmstead or artisan cheese. The store can be big or small, rural, urban or suburban. It can be your neighborhood store or it can be a store that will be near you when you travel on a business trip or when you visit your aunt Martha. The one non-negotiable is that the centerpiece of their cheese counter cannot be Kraft Singles or Velveeta. I am serious. We are not cheese snobs, we just like our cheese to be handcrafted, natural and to actually be CHEESE!

Step 2: E-mail us and give us the name and location of the store or stores you will be visiting. We will immediately deputize you as a Willapa Hills Cheese Ambassador and verify that the store or stores you identified have not already been visited. We will then deliver samples of our available cheeses to you in a timely fashion. In fact, we will send you three sample of each available cheese. One sample is for you and the people you love. The other two samples are for the cheese/deli manager or head Cheesemonger.

Step 3: Call the store and identify who the cheese power person is and schedule a time to meet with them so that you, as a Willapa Hills Cheese Ambassador, can share some amazing cheese with them.

Step 4: Arrive five minutes before your scheduled meeting dressed in attire appropriate for a Willapa Hills Cheese Ambassador. Review the Willapa Hills Cheese Ambassador Tool Kit:
a) Ambassador Business Card
b) Willapa Hills Cheese talking points & cheese fun facts
c) Rack card with product overview
d) Two samples of each available cheese (kept in the fridge until you left for this appointment)

Step 5: Meet with the previously identified cheese power person, sharing your Willapa Hills Cheese Ambassador business card, the enlightening and engaging talking points and fun facts, the rack card with an overview of our amazing family of cheeses with a commitment to Blue and, finally, the actual cheese samples. Feel free to also provide a brief summary of how Willapa Hills Farmstead Cheese has changed your life forever.

Step 6: Send an e-mail to ambassadorreport@willapahillscheese.com with a brief summary of the exchange, any feedback/thoughts that may have been offered, and the persons name and e-mail with whom you met so that we can send a follow-up e-mail. Feel free to share any reflections on fulfilling the role of Willapa Hills Cheese Ambassador. Beware, we may include them in our Blog.

BONUS: If you visit five or more stores you will receive a free limited edition Willapa Hills Cheese Ambassador T-Shirt as a sign of your commitment to Willapa Hills and your profound love of fine cheese!

Drop us a note to get the ball rolling at ambassadorsignup@willapahillscheese.com! Note: Only the first visit to a store counts. First come, first served in scheduling stores. Help us reach our goals of visiting 100 stores in 100 days beginning April 1, 2009!

Willapa Old School Moo - Do You Even Know What You Have Been Missing?

Willapa Hills is going to be "test marketing" Willapa Old School Moo, a favorite from yesteryear - fresh, ice cold, cream-on-the-top cow milk, packaged in a classic 1/2 gallon glass milk bottle just like you had when your local dairy delivered it to your back porch (or at least to your parents or grandparents back porch). For those not old enough to remember the amazing flavor, you missed out - until now!

With Willapa Old School Moo, you will enjoy all natural, minimally processed, non-homogenized whole milk that tastes like milk should taste - you know, like MILK! Our product stands apart from the high volume competition, because we will only vat pasteurize up to 100 gallons at a time. Large scale commercial dairies pasteurize using an HTST (high temperature short time - 161 °F for 15-20 seconds) or UHT method (ultra high temperature - 250 °F for a fraction of a second). These hotter and faster methods of pasteurization radically change the texture and flavor of milk. Yes, they extend shelf life, but at a cost!

Old School Moo has a rich creamy flavor and a classic visual appearance that is a true reflection of the milk made by small scale family dairies for decades before the advent of large scale milk production and processing. Willapa Old School Moo will be available in limited quantities beginning in April and May at select Farmers Markets in Washington & Oregon, with limited delivery and retail availability. Keep an eye on our blog to find out availability dates and locations this season!

Seasonal Help Wanted. Training Provided. Be Stronger, Wiser And Eat Good Cheese!

Be honest, you love cheese. It's OK, we do too! Now, about that chance of a life time. We need a few seasonal Cheesemongers - you know, "people who deal in cheese". This is where you come in. We want you - or someone you know and can recommend - to help us share our cheese all over western Washington & Oregon this year. Yes, we need a few good Cheesemongers who love cheese, enjoy people and have that special quality to SELL, SELL, SELL one of the most amazing substances on earth - CHEESE!

Don't worry, Cheesemongers get to eat a lot of cheese. Cheesemongers get an hourly wage that includes travel. Cheesemongers get to profit share by getting to keep a percentage of all sales at their market/s. Most importantly, at Willapa Hills Cheesemonger Boot Camp, prospective Cheesemongers will learn the story of Willapa Hills Farmstead and Artisan Cheese and they will learn about the magical and mysterious ways of cheese (and in some cases copious amounts of mold). As a special bonus they will learn farmers market cheese sales techniques and strategy from a Cheesemonger who is a survivor of the ultimate farmers market concrete jungle - New Your City! Yes, at the end of the season you will be stronger, wiser (maybe a little heavier) and you will have a nice chuck of cash in the bank assuming you didn't spent it on organic produce or artisan bacon.

Special Announcement: We have just added an additional training component to Cheesemongers Boot Camp on how to avoid the sales techniques of other market vendors. Stay tuned to our blog for more details as they develop...

Cheesemonger \Cheese"mon`ger\, n. One who deals in cheese - Webster

Born on March 23, 2009: Two Faced Blue, Batch 1

Its a week of firsts! Earlier today Lindsay hooped our first batch of Two Faced Blue made with our fresh sheep and cows milk. Three out of four 10 pound rounds will be aged three months for our Two Faced Blue Peccato, with one out four being aged six months for our Two faced Blue Saggio. Blue, blue and more blue!

Born on March 22, 2009: Willapa White, Batch 1

2009's first batch of 100% sheep milk cheese was born sometime early this morning as the rennet that was placed ever so gently into our vats transformed our fresh sheep milk into curd. The 2009 sheep milk cheese season is off to a glorious start. Stay tuned for more exciting cheese news!

CheezSorce Consultant to Visit Willapa Hills

Neville McNaughton of CheezSorce, L.L.C. is making a visit to Willapa Hills Farmstead Cheese on March 28th through the 30th. With over 34 years in the Dairy and Cheese industry, Neville has traveled to many parts of the world, manufactured a wide range of cheeses and understands them not as a series of steps in a process but as the result of nature’s intent. In his words "nature provided us the means to make great cheese, understanding and finding the harmony that exists in these natural processes is what leads to great cheese without stress”.

During his visit he will be spending time with the Willapa Hill's crew making great cheese, reviewing their processes and facility and helping chart a course for continued success and growth in the coming years. Lindsay and Stephen just hung up from a pre-visit conference call with Neviille who is currently in Green Bay judging cheeses at the 2009 United States Championship Cheese Contest. We look forward to having Neville join us at the end of the month!

The 2009 Milking Season Begins Today!

The Willapa Hills milking crew started the season by milking our first eleven ewes this evening. From now until September our milk parlor will hum to life at 6:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. everyday. As usual, the first day of milking is a crazy one with ewes adjusting to a new routine and new staff getting acquainted with our single 24 parlor. Thanks to everyone who has supported us through a challenging year. The start of milking represents the beginning of the next chapter of Willapa Hills Farmstead Cheese - and what a chapter it promises to be!

Willapa Hills First Baby (Lamb) of the New Year!

It begins! Our first lamb was born today, Tuesday March 10, 2009. New life is always an occasion for celebration, and our first lamb is no exception. After a long winter in southwest Washington, spring has arrived at Willapa Hills Farmstead Cheese.

Applications Now Being Accepted for Farm Internships

With the mid February arrival of Lindsay Klaunig, plans began to take shape for our 2009 Farm Internship Program. We envision at least two positions being filled between June and November 2009. In addition to advertising at area colleges and universities, we are also spreading the word through numerous national organizations committed to small dairies, sustainable agriculture and farmstead or artisan cheese making. We have also engaged two universities about the possibility of linking credit hours to internship participation.

We are excited by the program that Lindsay has mapped out. For interns, possible duties include handling and milking sheep; care of lambs; making, flipping and wrapping cheese; selling cheese at farmers markets in Seattle and Portland; assisting with general farm work that includes tending the garden, fence upkeep, and chicken chores. The longer the commitment an intern makes, the more immersed they will be in the various aspects of our farm and cheese operation. For more details check out the Farm Internship information on our website or e-mail Lindsay at internship@metrasfarm.com.