Our Milk
We are a creamery and not a farmstead dairy which means we buy our milk from inspected and licensed local dairy’s. While we have a couple of our own family milkers, Vivian and Tess (two beautiful Saanen does that we bought from Kickadee Hill Farm), we do not operate a commercial dairy. Our milk comes from three North Carolina Family Farms. We try and make cheeses that suit the characteristics of the milk from each farm. The milk for our fresh chevre comes from Natures Sunrise Farm run by the Hostetler Family in Union Grove, NC. The Hostettler’s are a close knit Amish family that all work together to milk and maintain a herd of 90 dairy goats of every dairy breed. Everyone in the family helps with the twice daily milking and care of the animals. Their goats are robust and well cared for and have open access to roam lush pastures or lounge in the newly built, open and airy barn attached to their state of the art milking parlor.
We believe this milk makes the best fresh cheeses, it has a very fresh clean taste and you can detect the subtle difference throughout the year of the seasonal grasses and legumes that the animals eat as they are rotated throughout the year to new pasture and forage suited to each growing season. We also buy goat milk from Heatherlane Farm located in Woodfin, NC just outside of Asheville. Heatherlane Farm is owned and operated by Yvonne Coburn and her family. They lovingly care for their mixed herd of dairy goats with a lot of superior Oberhasli, Nubian, and Nigerian Dwarf genetics. The milk from Heatherlane Farm is rich and creamy and high in butterfat due to the Nigerian and Nubian influence. This lends itself well to the rich texture and flavor of our Ellington Cheese.
Our cows milk comes from the Pack family dairy located in Polk County. The Pack Family retired from large, commodity-scale milk production but wanted to keep the farm a working dairy operation for their grandson Baron. They decided to make the switch to milking a small herd of Jersey cows and now sell their milk to us and other local cheesemakers. The milk from their herd is beautifully rich and golden in color. It makes great cheese! Their Jersey cows spend their days roaming huge green pastures when they are not in the parlor being milked. The milk from their cows is a big part of what makes Chocolate Lab cheese such a delight. 
We travel every week to each farm to pick up loads of fresh, raw milk or the farmer delivers it to us. The milk is carefully transported to our creamery. Upon arrival we test it for proper PH, temperature, and antibiotic residue before transferring it to our vat pasteurizer. The milk is gently heated to 145 degrees and held for 30 minutes before being cooled to cheesemaking temperature. From there, the process of transforming the milk into fresh cheese, semi-soft cheese, or hard aged cheese begins. 
We will be looking for additional sources and types of milk as we expand. Dairying used to be a viable part of a diversified farm in the mountains of Western North Carolina. We hope to be a part of returning that tradition to the area by offering an outlet for small producers to sell their milk.Each type of traditional cheesemaking milk (cow, goat, sheep or even water buffalo if you are that adventurous) has its own unique characteristics and lends itself best to different types of cheeses. If you already have your own dairy animals and have extra milk to sell or were thinking of starting a small dairy in the Fairview / Asheville or surrounding area, please contact us.
It is our goal to help several other small dairy farmers come on line as licensed producers and help keep local milk local. We can help put you in touch with the right people at the North Carolina Department of Agriculture to find out what is required to become licensed. It may not be as difficult as you think!
