ABOUT US!
Sorry to get all your hopes up but there is just Me! However
I manage to do the work load of a family of oompa lumpas. Everyone always wants
to know how a nice Jewish-Irish girl ended up in Chehalis, Washington making
cheese. Let me tell you.
One night shortly after I dropped out of law school and
started an Internet company with my newly found business partner and boyfriend
I was up late reading a book. When I came to the part of the book where the
grandmother was to take her granddaughter and teach her how to make the family
cheese I put the book down and went straight to my computer. Incidentally the
same one I am typing on now! So I looked up cheese making classes and found one
in the Berkshires. I called in the morning and managed to albeit the 3 month
wait since I called one second after a cancelation. The lady told me she was
just going to give me the spot. That was exciting! I was pretty pumped up about
going to the class. I had absolutely know idea what cheese making was about,
but I also found an apiary and a very charming B&B and selected a Mustang
GT to rent for the trip so who wouldn’t be excited????
After letting everyone in my small town of White Salmon,
Washington know I was going to make cheese, I hopped on a plane, hopped off and
away in my GT to go learn cheese.
On a side note I accidentally hit one of the most gigantic
raccoons every to roam this earth, he was fine but the GT was a bit dented L
It did nothing to dampen my enthusiasm. I loved The Cheese Queen and her class
and asked a thousand plus one billion questions. I loved learning the bizarre
and unique a process of cheese making. I mostly somewhat understood it, and
made up the rest in my head (which I usually do) to fill in the blank spots.
This is a brilliantly unique trait I have, with cheese making I really did not
know a lot.
On my way back with honey and 25 year old aged white
balsamic vinegar that I want more of to this day, I thought about the cheeses.
I also talked incessantly to the very charming couple on their 45 wedding
anniversary about cheese making. I remember liking that conversation greatly.
Shortly thereafter I decided that I wanted to open a creamery and called the
department of agriculture. This was a bit of a blow; the requirements for a
facility and equipment are quite expensive. I thought I would call every single
cheese maker in Oregon and Washington to see if I could rent a day in their
facility. Low and behold someone said yes and Jacobs Creamery was born.
People often remark at what gumption I had to do such a
thing, so I should mention that I had never stepped onto a farm before I
negotiated rental terms for a licensed facility.
I actually had aspirations from about the time of 1st
grade to be a lawyer. Having family in Ireland I visited often and had lovely
cups of tea in delicate china in castles with my grandmother and most loved
aunt. I only mention this because no one else seems to think that it is
hilarious that cows poke their tails out and pee out their butts! They say its
not funny because they have seen it a lot, but I have seen it a lot now too and
it still gets a smile out of me. I am not entirely sure it was all gumption; I
had no idea what I was getting into. I think the correct term is naïve.
Fast forward 4 years and I still managed to possess some of
that brilliant Irish luck, and landed myself a farm and cheese making facility
in one swoop. Now I have plenty of space for my chickens to roam (I have lots
of hens who eat cheese and whey!) and parking spaces for my trucks (I have a
milk truck and a cargo van!) and of course aging rooms to cure the cheeses in.
I also have a cheese shop on the farm, as part of the creamery and welcome you
to visit!
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