This morning I wrote a letter to the township where I grew up in Michigan and this is what I wrote:

“I am writing regarding the township master plan of constructing high density mixed residential homes across the street from my childhood home. My parents Hubert and Lynne Winkelbauer have lived there since 1970. My parents raised my sister and I there and started a dental practice in the community. They have been apart of the community for more than 50 years. My parents chose this town as a place to grow roots and live based on the community being rural with open land, nature, wildlife, and the recreational opportunities. My father as a teenager spent numerous summers visiting the area for is plentiful lakes. He found refuge in visiting the area from a much more densely populated suburb of Detroit. When my parents fell in love at the University of Michigan they dreamed of some land to raise animals and enjoy the outdoors. They found that dream home on Bauer Road. I feel who I am as a person was greatly influenced from my childhood enjoying the outdoors and watching my parents do the same. We would canoe, hike, walk, and always be outside on our land. I make my living as an organic farmer and steward of 25 acres in rural Illinois. This career choice was influenced by my childhood and love of the outdoors. I watched the tremendous growth that my hometown has undergone throughout my adulthood. Every visit home over the years I have witnessed loss of wildlife habitat, traffic congestion and pollution, less of a small community feel, and the overall loss of open land. I feel through creating high density mixed residential housing this will only continue that trend causing the town to become a less desirable place to live and raise a family.” 

I think about nature and land daily. I make my living as an organic farmer so nature and my land are always on my mind. If you pick up an organic farming publication you will read about the alarming loss of farmland. You will probably also read about how land prices have skyrocketed and how billionaires are scooping up thousands of acres of midwest farmland. The U.S. Department of Agriculture data shows that 80% of rented farmland is owned by investors who do not farm themselves. This makes it nearly impossible for young farmers to be able to purchase land and make farming a career. I worry about the loss of farmland to suburban sprawl.  I worry about the loss of open land for future generations. I don’t pretend to know what the answer is to these issues. I sometimes get overwhelmed and frustrated about whether or not we are really making a difference on our small farm. We are just a tiny 25 acre dot in this huge vast country. The argument against organic small scale farming is that it cannot feed the world. Sometimes I feel defeated by that concept too. On my worst days I say to myself they are right and small scale farming will change nothing.

But on my best days I say to myself, “I can try damn hard to make a change on my tiny 25 acre dot of land.” Small farms are not meant to feed the world. They are meant to bring healthy land and food to their communities. They are meant to build community and preserve open land. They are meant to create rural jobs. They are meant to treat farm animals humanely and with respect. They are meant to connect us to our roots and spirit. I consider today to be one of my better days. I wrote a letter for my hometown and for those who are fighting to preserve open land in their community. I also watched goats graze on wide open spaces on a healthy farm. Here’s to better days ahead for all. 

The buck. The true hero of a farm. Yep, I said it. The true stinky hero of the goat farm. If you would have asked me 12 years ago if this was an accurate statement, I probably would have laughed pretty hard at that idea. Let me explain myself. Twelve years ago I quickly learned that in order to grow my farm or even have a goat farm, I would have to purchase a healthy buck to kickstart breeding. One of my first goats came to me “in milk” from a farm in Michigan which allowed me to delay breeding on my own farm. This goat’s name was Kazoo. She had the bluest eyes and looked like a spotted cow. She was a tough goat to learn to milk because of her stubbornness. We often referred to her as the stubborn beauty. I knew my fear was getting in the way. I kept putting off buying a buck. I felt intimidated by the reputation that bucks have. I read about how aggressive, stinky, and hard to contain they can be. One farmer I spoke to said, “YOU WILL” find your buck in with your female goats despite your best efforts to contain him. Their drive to mate is pretty insane! In order for my farm dream to come true, I needed a buck to get started.

 Kazoo

Giving myself numerous pep talks and talking with farmer friends who said Gretta “you got this” over several months I finally found a jet black stinky little guy in Wisconsin. He was just a bouncy kid living on the farm where I had bought my first doe, Sham-wow (I know, I know, the names we choose are something else!). We picked him up and brought him back to the farm where I first started farming in Grayslake, IL. We named him Buck Rogers and soon he became known as BR around the farm. Well, he definitely turned out to be stinky! When giving farm tours we often joked with people and said “now is the time for you to plug your nose”. He turned out to be gentle with us and our farm hands over the years. My respect for him grew. He never challenged me aggressively in the pasture. He was even quite friendly despite me always saying keep your distance BR (he was just too smelly!).

He gave us SO many beautiful kids over the last decade. We appreciated him for being our first buck and helping us realize our goal of starting a farm. We lost him this past week to old age. In typical BR fashion it was without fanfare. We think he died in his sleep. Death used to break me in two on the farm. I won’t lie it still does sometimes. What has shifted is my perspective. My perspective has turned to finding gratitude for each and every animal on this farm and the short time we have had together. The fun they have brought to visitors, to us, and our farm. Everything changes, nothing stays the same. Everything is impermanent. The one thing that does stay the same is love. We love you, Buck Rogers. Stay stinky. Buck Rogers: March 28, 2012 – September 15, 2022

Buck Rogers

We are beyond excited to announce our partnership with the Eco- Soap Bank. As a former educator and woman business owner we are proud to be affiliated with this organization that supports women and children’s health and employment options. The Eco-Soap Bank is a humanitarian and environmental non-profit organization working to save, sanitize, and supply leftover soap from manufacturers for the developing world. As one of their “scrap packers” we fill boxes that hold ten pounds of soap scrap from our soap operation. This soap scrap consists mostly of soap ends from our soap logs, shavings for laundry soap, and any leftover soap we may have. This soap is then shipped to one of the Eco-Soap Bank’s hubs where they work with partners to employ women who come from disadvantaged backgrounds and have no other reliable sources of income. These women repurpose the soap into usable soap bars while being paid a good and livable wage. The soap is then distributed to children in over 25 countries around the world. These jobs are enabling them to support their families and make a product for those in need. Many of these bars end up in schools. I was shocked to learn that over 800 million children in the developing world go to school without using soap and water or have soap in their schools. Know that your soap purchases are also helping to support this mission!

Eco-Soap Banks seeks to address the critical need for hygiene. Working since 2014, the Eco Soap Bank has sustainably supplied more than 3.5 million people with soap and hygiene education. The demand for improved hygiene in the developing world is immense, and much remains to be done. You can support Eco-Soap Bank by donating, by getting involved [email protected], or spreading the word on social media. Eco-Soap Bank’s mission is to provide soap to every school in the developing, and it costs $.20 to provide soap to a schoolchild for an entire year. Together let’s save lives.

To learn more visit visit https://ecosoapbank.org

Hello! Please see some the newest members of Gretta’s Goats. We had a pretty easy kidding season this year. Below are some of our newest kids. They joined their mothers and the rest of the yearlings for a hike on Sunday. They loved it. Clark is the little brown and white moon spotted boy. He decided on his birthday that he would not nurse mom. The little cutie left us no choice but to bottle feed. He’s doing great, much like all of his new friends and led most of the most recent hike.

Enjoy!

Hello Farm Friends and Happy June!

We are super happy to report that we passed our annual Animal Welfare Approved by a Greener World Farm Audit in May. Why does this certification mean so much to us? This certification represents how we feel farm animals should be treated in this country. We would not farm any other way than what is reflected in the Animal Welfare Approved (AGW) standards even if were not certified! Our farm has been certified by AGW since 2016. It took some time to build the infrastructure and fencing to support these standards but we feel that there is nothing more important. The health and well being of each and every animal on our farm comes first. The following information is cut and pasted from the AGW website. Please continue reading if you would like to learn more about these awesome standards.  You can begin to see how farming this way creates more nutritionally dense healthy food for you and your family. As an added bonus, these farming practices create healthy soil, less erosion and prevents agriculture runoff when animals are allowed to graze and not be confined to large buildings with no access to the outdoors.

A Greener World (AGW) has the most rigorous standards for farm animal welfare and environmental sustainability across the globe. Certified Animal Welfare Approved by AGW standards have been developed in collaboration with scientists, veterinarians, researchers and farmers across the globe to maximize practicable, high-welfare farm management with the environment in mind.

Covering all major farmed livestock and poultry, AGW standards are proven to be achievable in the vast majority of farm situations, and AGW updates them regularly to incorporate new research or to reflect “best practice.” The basic premise of all AGW standards is that animals must be able to behave naturally and be in a state of physical and psychological well-being, and that the way we raise our animals, the nutritional quality of the food they produce, and the impact of the farming system on the environment are all intrinsically linked.

Certified Animal Welfare Approved by AGW:

• Requires animals to be raised on pasture or range
• Awards approval only to independent farmers
• Incorporates the most comprehensive standards for high welfare farming

To accomplish the goals of the Certified Animal Welfare Approved by AGW program, all standards address every aspect of each species’ lifecycle needs from birth to death. AGW works diligently to maintain a farm’s ability to be economically viable and the standards have been proven to be achievable by the vast majority of farm situations. AGW standards are reviewed annually and updated as needed to incorporate new research and on-farm findings.

Various certification and labeling programs have been developed in response to the growing trend of consumers looking for better quality meat, eggs and dairy products from animals treated with high welfare. Some USDA approved food labels and marketing claims use loose, subjective terms such as “free range” or “naturally raised,” which are misleading to consumers and do not require farm compliance verification or program validity.

Click here to read specifically about the AGW goat standards:

https://agreenerworld.org/certifications/animal-welfare-approved/standards/goat-standards/

Thanks so much for reading and supporting AGW farms! Together we can be the change that our food system needs!

Sincerely,

Gretta and Eric

  Its time to hand over the livestock guardian dog (LGD) duties to the next generation of dogs. Our new great pyrenees puppies will learn from watching Hazel and Bernice (our current dogs) guard the goat herd. Hazel and Bernice have been the most hardworking, loyal, loving and patient working dogs you could ever ask for. They will remain on the farm for their retirement and hopefully give up their duties slowly to the pups (more time for naps in their old age!).  Many folks have asked how these gentle giants protect our herd and farm so I thought I would share some information about this amazing breed of working dog and how we train them to work on our small farm.

First let me introduce you to Vivian and Trudy, two of the fluffiest pups around. Vivian has badger markings on her face and has a smaller head and frame.

We have had great success with Hazel and Bernice working on our farm over the past 7 years. Ideally, you want to obtain LGDs before you have an issue with predators on your farm. We knew that we had a coyote presence on our farm when we moved here.  We also had concerns about random and stray dogs that could wander onto the property and attack the herd. We routinely see and hear Bald eagles, bob cats, and foxes and they can also be a threat to goat kids and chickens. The role of the LGD is tokeep the predator threats outside the perimeter of your farm through their scent and loud booming bark.

Ideally you should have a pair of LGDs. If you have a pack of coyotes that end up entering your pastures the dogs will be able to work together to ward off the pack. One dog could not do this as the coyotes would work the dog from several angles. We have found that a pair of puppies will also have each other to play with and this in turn will burn off some of that awesome puppy energy! Hopefully, then they will have less energy to chase the goats. I spent a lot of time correcting Hazel and Bernice in the beginning to not chase the goats. This is the hardest when the goat kids are born! Bouncing baby goat kids are a huge temptation to the pups! Almost impossible to resist! We have made it a top priority for our LGDs to be raised around “their” herd from puppyhood. This helps to create a lasting bond between the dogs and their herd. It also helps to create a strong bond from the goats’ perspective as well. There is nothing more beautiful than seeing your LDG completely clean off a new born kid for a goat mama with multiple kids or let 20 baby goats climb all over them and never once growl or flinch. I have seen Bernice lay next to sick goats as if to comfort them. It truly is one of nature’s most beautiful and selfless relationships. 

I recently read about a LGD that was used to protect penguins on an island that were being killed by foxes. The LGD stopped it. These amazing dogs smell, hear, and see things at a distance that you as the farmer can’t always detect. You can’t be there with the herd 24/7 either. And no, we are not considering getting penguins!

We’ve had visitors in the past ask if our LGD’s are herding dogs. Herding dogs are quite different than a LGD. Herding dogs will help you move your animals from place to place. The herding dogs move in the same style as a predator. The obvious difference is that they would not harm the animals in the process. LDGs are completely non predatory in their behavior. Their brains are wired differently from most dogs in this way. Their instinct is to be a calm presence unless of course there is a threat. We’ve watched Hazel and Bernice go from a sound nap to sprinting to the other end of the pasture if a predator threat is present. 

Great Pyrenees were bred centuries ago to work with shepherds and herding dogs in the snowy Pyrenees Mountains, the natural border between France and Spain. Hazel and Bernice sleep most of the day and patrol the pasture at night. They always have access to a warm barn if they want it. Even with the bitter cold over the past couple of weeks, they preferred to be outside, curled up in snow drift. The Pyrenees coat is amazingly thick and weather proof. They have a long outer coat with a soft undercoat. We don’t ever shave them in the summer as the coat helps to cool them and shade them from the sun. They do need to be groomed and nail care is a must! We joke that we should spin their wool into sweaters! They even have double dew claws.

Vivian and Trudy are starting with short introductions to Hazel and Bernice outside of a fence. They will begin working with them in an area that the older two do not think of as “their territory” – more of a neutral territory. After several weeks we hope to incorporate them into the herd. They also need slow introductions with gentle older goats to learn how to behave around them. No chasing or nipping! It’s a gradual process that requires patience but it is beyond worth it to have a loyal and confident guardian you can count on for 8 – 10 years to watch over your farm.

There are lots of opportunities to visit the farm this spring to meet Vivian and Trudy and the rest of the farm crew! You can purchase tickets on our website for goat hikes and baby goat snuggle sessions. Check out www.grettasgoats.com for more information and click on events.

Goodbye 2020!

I am also very glad that 2019 is in the rear view mirror too! 2020 has been filled with anxiety, hardships, sickness, and loss for so many people. I haven’t talked about it much but the last few years have been pretty tough as I have been recovering from Neurological Lyme disease. In addition to dealing with illness we have been dealing with the fallout of challenges that COVID-19 created on our small farm and business. Neurological Lyme disease and/or Chronic Lyme is an unfortunate condition that happens when you are not aware that you were ever bitten by a tick. This is what happened to me. I never knew I had been bitten by a tick. I never had the telltale sign of a “bullseye” rash that most people get. This gave the bacterial infection time to take hold of my body. I think I had the infection for several years before being treated at the end of 2019. Most of my symptoms were in my brain. Symptoms like severe brain fog, trouble concentrating, depression, anxiety, blurry vision, word retrieval issues, and profound crippling fatigue.

Check yourself for ticks especially if you are outdoors a lot! Most of the time if you find the tick and treat yourself right away with antibiotics the infection will not turn into a chronic one.

Please keep reading as this story has a happy ending! I received multiple misdiagnoses (too many to list here). When I was finally tested with the IGENEX test (the best test for lyme) for lyme disease and received a positive test my doctor knew lyme was to blame for my issues. It all made so much sense. I spent most days in long grass rotationally grazing animals and outside on my farm. The treatment was brutal to kill the long standing infection that I had. I could barely get out of bed for most of last winter, almost 4 months. The only time I really got up was to drag myself to my weekly doctor appointments. I could barely walk up the stairs of my house and my thinking was so fuzzy. I was scared and worried, not only for my health, but how would I be able to farm? Mama goats had already been bred and spring babies were on the way whether I had the physical strength or not. The farm was not about to stop moving just because I was sick. I was terrified for the financial future of our business. As I began to recover slightly in March, news of COVID-19 hit. Our busiest time on the farm is typically the end of March through June. So much of our on the farm tourism activities had to be canceled. Farmer’s Markets were up in air. We didn’t know if we could withstand another hit. We started coming up with a Plan B to sell animals and equipment and then eventually the farm. My heart and spirit were broken.

It all seems like a bad dream now. My health continued to slowly improve. My eye sight was no longer blurry and I had some improved energy. I was able to help more with the chores and be up with the mama goats and assist with kidding like I do every season. Friends and customers donated to the farm. Our online store doubled in sales from previous years with more folks shopping from home. Where there was lack of income from markets, our wholesale accounts helped to make up for the losses. As things began to open up again and people felt safe to venture out we introduced goat hiking on the farm as a new agritourism activity. Goat hikes were a big hit with our customers as most sold out. The goats loved it too being able to forage for all sorts of new and tasty treats in the woods. The hikes helped to connect people with animals and nature at a time they needed it most and helped us to bring in some income for the farm to replace some of our other activities. As my health continued to improve, I was able to start running again (slowly) which really improved my energy and spirit. I started to remember why I farm and why I love farming so much. I started remembering some of those original goals that got buried in sickness, sadness, and frustration. I even started laughing everyday again like my old self! Laughing at myself, the crazy antics of all the animals, and just laughing at the sheer joy that we were making it through some crazy years. I feel like myself again. And with this return to self, I am overcome with immense gratitude. I am filled with gratitude to still be here and making our living from farming on this land. I am filled with gratitude for my health, friends, family and all of you who make up our farm family. Even more so now I want to give back. One of the goals when moving and expanding the farm in 2013 was to offer educational programming to students on the farm with visual impairments and blindness. My background is in blind rehabilitation and education. Eric and I both volunteered and taught at a blindness organization in Romania right before we started the farm. We would like to support Light Into Europe, an organization that delivers essential services to children and adults who are blind across Romania. We believe in their mission and I have a connection to the area as my dad was born in a rural village in now northern Romania. The goal of donating proceeds of sales has proved to be a lofty one. Especially, with all of the costs of starting a farm from scratch in a new rural location, and growing and learning about how to run a dairy. What we have found is where we lack cash, we more than make up with ever increasing energy and cute fuzzy animal experiences! This got me thinking! We can donate ticket sales from some of our future goat hikes this spring! I will let you know on our website and social media which hikes are slated to be donated. Before this blog gets any longer here are the three groups will be donating to in 2021 and hopefully beyond.

1. Light Into Europe
2. Frontera Farmer Foundation
3. Global Lyme Alliance 

The Frontera Farmer Foundation is an amazing organization that supports so many Sustainable Chicagoland Farmers. The Frontera Foundation catapulted our business years ahead with their support of us building our farmstead creamery on our farm. Chef Rick Bayless is a huge supporter of local food and farmers. Visit www.rickbayless.com/foundation/ for more information

The Global Lyme Alliance is dedicated to conquering Lyme disease and other tick-borne illness through research, education, awareness, and patient services. Visit www.globallymealliance.org for more information

We hope to start hosting school groups again when it is safe. Our focus will be to host children with special needs and refugee children. 

In closing we would like to thank our amazing farm volunteers Tera and Jill. We could not have made it through 2020 without their support, kindness, and smiling faces (under mask, of course!) And to Ann our amazing beekeeper mentor and friend. Thanks to all our amazing customers. We would not still be here farming if it were not for you.  Keep believing everyone in a brighter future! We got this!

Short Leg Farm feels more complete now. Before I started the farm 10 years ago, I used to pull over on the side of the road on my lunch break (I was in the car a lot for my old job) next to a horse farm and watch the donkeys graze with the other horses. I used to dream about what it would feel like to get to work outside all day and along side animals on a farm. I never thought the farm dream would become a reality but it has through a lot of hard work. Over the past 10 years miniature donkeys always seemed out of reach for one reason or another, especially this past year. Things finally fell into place when we heard about these girls needing a new home!

Marigold

Scout

Marigold and Scout are not only adorable creatures but they will serve some real purposes on our farm. Our plan is to start some multi-species grazing to help our soil health and keep parasite levels in check on the pastures without using chemicals. Multi-species grazing is just as important as the diversity of crops, forages, and soil biology on a farm. Pastures that are grazed with multiple species benefit the animals that are grazing and also the plants that grow there. Our goats love to nibble the top portions of plants and the donkeys don’t mind eating the lower portions of the forage that is available. This helps to break break the life cycle of parasites without the use of chemicals or mowing.

Marigold and Scout have a natural curiosity and really enjoy being apart of the social scene. Their favorite part of the day is the evening when we take them for walks on the trail around the farm. The girls are super gregarious animals and are never too far apart from each other. If one stops walking, the other typically stops walking too. Donkeys need the company of at least one  other donkey friend to be happy:) We can’t wait to introduce you to them on one of your next visits to the farm!

Hello farm friends! I hope everyone is doing as well as possible and staying healthy. I hope you are remaining hopeful and your spirits are up. This blog is basically a love letter to our farm. At first it felt strange to write a love letter to anything other than a person but I felt compelled to get my emotions on paper and then ultimately to you all. I am filled with gratitude for my improved health, friends, family, our customers and this farm community that we have built together over the past 10 years. This past year I was grappling with the prospect that we may lose our farm due to health issues that I was experiencing. On a deep level this past winter while dealing with these challenges I realized how much the farm meant to me.  As I was coming out of my late stage lyme disease haze and my strength and cognition were slowly coming back to me we and were hit with the news of Covid-19. These two events have been the perfect storm for our farm business to test our flexibility, creativity and resilience.

I love my farm, I love my animals and I love the fact that my husband and I support ourselves on the products that we make from our land and the animals that our farm sustains. The beauty of our grass based farm is that the sun and healthy soil provide the nutrition to make nutrient dense cheese and good for your skin soap. The honeybees that we are stewards of produce immune supporting honey, and our pasture raised chickens provide eggs with bright orange yolks. Our chickens give us eggs and help to give us healthy soil. I even love the hundreds of hours of labor and daily care that goes into raising each animal. I love working to ensure their health and well-being. I love being an alternative for consumers in a broken inhumane food system. I am proud to be an animal welfare approved farmer. But most of all, I love seeing bouncing babies in the spring and happy and healthy goats grazing on green pastures the way nature intended. In this time of uncertainty, I do worry that we may lose this way of life. I worry too for our friends that are small scale vegetable growers and other small family farms that may be lost as access to markets shrink. I urge you to seek out your local small family farm and support them.

According to food tank – “This crisis, unfortunately, is only a glimpse of what is to come. Farmer’s continue to grapple with extreme weather from our climate crisis, and if we continue farming with our current practices, the United Nations say we have 60 years of farmable topsoil remaining. To secure the future of our food supply we need a drastic shift in regenerative organic farming practices, a shift to a resilient local food systems and a shift to prioritizing healthy nutrient dense food direct from our farmers.” PP

With that said lets take action together and fight for farms and good food for our families.

The passage below was Copied and Pasted from a Greener World www.agreenerworld.org

Unfortunately, though recent legislation was supposed to extend relief to farms impacted by COVID-19, independent farms and agricultural businesses are still waiting. While aquaculture enterprises, agricultural cooperatives, and nurseries are eligible, the Small Business Administration (SBA, which handles disaster loans) specifically excludes farms from accessing vital loan assistance from emergency Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) programs.

Please click the link below to sign a petition to make sure farms are included in small business relief.

Sign our petition to make sure farms are included in small business relief.

The legislation just passed clearly said funds would be available to farmers. The impacts of COVID-19 have devastated many farm businesses and there is no end in sight to the market disruption caused by this deadly virus. With the mounting closures of restaurants and farmers’ markets, many farms serving these customers have seen their sales evaporate overnight. While $9.5 billion in funding has been committed for local food systems and specialty producers, there is no information about how or when this will be accessible. The Farm Service Agency has an existing loan program for farmers but it is not sufficiently adapted to the current market situation of COVID-19, and at the time of writing A Greener World could find no adaptations to allow farms to access critical funds at this time. The promise of funds is meaningless if they’re not accessible when farmers need them.

A Greener World’s statement:

“We’re calling on all of our constituents to contact their representatives and demand urgent action to allow farmers to apply for the same relief as other businesses through the Small Business Administration—or, to put pressure on the USDA to provide resources for these farmers to access much-needed emergency funds. Along with healthcare workers, grocery stores and logistical and utility workers, farmers are on the front lines in the fight against this pandemic. They are continuing to work through unimaginable schedules and conditions—many times with no safety net and new demands of adapting to a pandemic—to provide us the food we depend on. These urgently needed loans could be the lifeline for sustainable, cutting edge farms in the United States. While funds have been allocated by Congress, no steps have been taken to expediently get this money to those who need it. As an organization working with some of the most impacted farmers we are painfully aware that resources are needed now.

While the first priority in this unprecedented and challenging time is keeping people safe and well, we also need crisis management that doesn’t sacrifice our future. If we can’t show our independent farmers the same level of appreciation we do for a multi-million dollar widget-maker, we face the very real danger of losing these farms forever—and with them, the food security of this country. We call on everyone who farms or eats to contact their representatives immediately and demand clarity on how independent farms can access the resources so readily available to other sectors.”

Through these challenges this past year it has only reinforced my mission to farm humanely and sustainably. We will get through this together!

In health, love, and strength,

Gretta

Hi Everyone, I am Eric and I make all of the cheese here at Gretta’s Goats. When we started our farm it was fun to steal some milk from the soap making business and whip up a batch of fresh goat cheese. Cheese making seemed to be a logical yet daunting addition to Gretta’s Goats. While making a small batch of cheese for a cocktail party or to share with friends was relatively simple, the task of making a batch of cheese that could be sold to our customers was a long process.

We worked for nearly 2 years planning and working with the health department to build out and ultimately license the creamery on our farm. We poured our savings, our sweat and generous grant contributions from Frontera Farmer Foundation to make it all happen.

Our creamery is seasonal. We tend to see a decrease in milk production on the same day that I scratch my head in late August and wonder where all of the day light has gone! We continue to milk until the end of October or so. This provides a nice break for the goats and the farmers too.

Our creamery was licensed in the late summer of 2016. We began making a very simple farmstead chevre or goat cheese. We use milk from our goats, pasteurize that milk, culture it, drain it, whip it with a little salt and off it goes to market.

Over the winter of 2018, we began experimenting with a recipe for feta cheese. In our life before goats, Gretta and I spent 2 weeks in the mountains of Romania. Each morning for breakfast we were offered farm fresh products. The Pension were we stayed made a simple feta cheese. It was creamy, salty, and a little funky. I was hooked.

After making numerous batches of less than perfect feta, I cracked the code for that cheese that I devoured most mornings in Romania. Our feta uses only goat milk. Most feta made in the US is made with milk from cows or sometimes a blend of cow and goat milks. The cheese is semi firm, and is brined for 7 days. 

At markets customers ask how we like to use our cheese. That is often a tough and varied answer. Either cheese is great by itself. Serve it with some fresh vegetables, a simple cracker or a rustic piece of bread. Our good friend and farmers market neighbor Tamara thinks its best eaten with a spoon!

The chevre seems to shine when heated and paired with cooked tomatoes. Finish a plate of pasta with red sauce with our chevre. Dollops of the cheese will take a wood fired pizza to a new level. We have it most days in a simple frittata made with our pasture raised eggs. Our friend Tracy whips our honey into the cheese to make a delightful dessert. 

The chevre is soft, spreadable and is an empty canvas. During scape season, we dice garlic scapes and mix them into the cheese. If you can source some black garlic go for it. Mash the black garlic gloves into a paste and then mix them into the cheese.

The feta is lovely on a fresh green salad or cube it, add some olives, garlic and some mediteranean spice and a bit of olive oil. Or how about topping a grass fed burger with a couple of generous slices? Slice it into wedges and serve it on a charcuterie platter.

Below are listed a couple of easy favorites.

Herbed Goat Cheese

¼ pound Gretta’s Goats Farmstead Cheese

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

4 cloves garlic finely chopped

2 chives finely chopped

¼ cup Parsley finely chopped

Place all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and blend completely. Form mixture into a ball and place in refrigerator for 3 hours to allow flavors to blend.

Allow cheese to warm to room temperature and serve with crackers, bread, top burgers, or dip veggies.

Simple Tomato Cucumber Feta Salad

1 Container of cherry or grape tomatoes – sliced in half

1 small red onion – sliced

1 english cucumber -sliced

¼ pound of Gretta’s Goats Feta – crumbled

¼ bunch of cilantro – chopped

Dressing

2 Tablespoons Extra virgin olive oil

1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar

2 cloves garlic – minced

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

¼ teaspoon cumin

1. For dressing, add ingredients to small mixing bowl and whisk together
2. For salad – add prepared ingredients to medium mixing bowl and combine.
3. Drizzle dressing over salad ingredients just prior to serving.