Lois

We got our first dairy goats about 8 years ago and I was NOT enthusiastic about it at that time.  My husband begged me for several years to get goats, but I felt I just had too much on my plate.  Our son has a lot of food allergies but he tolerates goat milk, so I finally gave in.  I swore I would have nothing to do with them, but that didn't last long.  I fell in love with the wonderful, smart, funny goats and what a blessing that has been!

Goats have a way of multiplying very quickly.  They have twins and triplets normally, and we have had a few sets quadruplets over the years as well.  After a few years we were getting more milk than we could drink, and I began to experiment with cheese making.  As I improved my skills and experimented for friends and family, I began to notice a surge of interest in local and artisan food.  It started to seem realistic that I could make a modest living making and selling

 high quality cheese on a very small scale.  I began to look into facilities and equipment that would be necessary to become a licensed dairy and cheese plant.  We built the barn/cheese plant in the summer of 2006 and I was licensed by August of 2007.
 

My goal is to produce cheese of the very best quality for my customers.  This includes flavor, texture, and appearance.  To this end, I work with relatively small quantities of milk which gives me more control over the process.  My pasteurizer was custom made with a 5 gallon capacity so I can pasteurize immediately after each milking.  Cheese is made in 4 gallon batches by hand with attention to detail during ladling of the curds, draining and salting to ensure best texture and flavor.  I use fresh herbs for a clean, pure flavor, even though this means some of the most popular flavors are seasonal, e.g., sun-dried tomato and basil.  My cheese is always sold fresh and has never been frozen (it freezes well, but I believe it should be the customer's choice to freeze it, as there are some textural changes).  The cheese must also appear delicious and attractive, especially those designed for entertaining.  Edible flowers are used to decorate some cheeses, and the vibrant colors of the fresh herbs add to an appetizing and fresh appearance.

I feel strongly that packaging should not have a negative impact on the environment.  Feta is packaged in a wax-lined paper.  This year for chevre, I will be using compostable containers made of corn or possibly sugar cane.  These are FDA approved food safe containers, but will decompose because they are made of plant products. 

I am looking forward to a full season this year.  Kids will begin arriving in March (we have a few unplanned pregnancies so there may be some earlier) and I should begin to have small amounts of cheese in local outlets sometime in April.

Debbie
Debbie Montz is my faithful friend and employee.  She has been with me from the painting and finishing of the building to the cleaning of the dairy at the end of our first successful season.  She is so good with all of the goats who know her as "Aunt Debbie."  She has been very important to the success of Reichert's Dairy Air, and we look forward to many more seasons of working together!