Welcome to our JULY 2021 Newsletter!

Meet Our Cheesemaker, B&B Update & Our Newest CSA Member!

The cheeses our CSA members receive each week are not just delicious and creamy, they’re also part of a multi-generational experiment in food production, breeding and animal husbandry. In fact, animal milk, fermentation, cheeses and butter underpin our modern civilization and economies much more than some might realize. In this month’s newsletter, we thought it would be interesting to highlight the ways milk and cheeses paved the way for the modern societies we live in today and to discuss the ways our CSA cheese partner, Westmeadow Farm & Dairy, is leading the way in sustainable and humane cheese production, proving that excellent product can go hand-in-hand with reverence and respect for Nature and animals alike.

Whenever we talk about the history of civilization, we tend to focus on the Neolithic Era’s technological advances in farming, like wheat and grain cultivation. However, the fuller picture also includes advances made in animal husbandry and breeding which allowed for new foods – like cheese and butter – to be produced and stored. The “Lactation Revolution” (also called the Dairy Revolution) was a major shift in the ways humans ate, lived and survived. By providing humans with higher fat content foods, animal milks shaped prehistoric culture, biology and economies in ways that continue to underlie modern life around the world.

Of course, in order to keep cows and goats lactating, they need to be giving birth to babies. Tom and Jaimie manage this humanely as well with a range of methods, including staggered breeding and keeping the calves and kids with their moms. “Taking kids away from their moms after twenty four hours seemed inhumane to me – I am a mother!” Jaimie exclaimed when explaining their calving techniques for the goats. Tom elaborates, “Similar to their human counterparts, in the early days and weeks, calves require a lot of attention and monitoring...Their housing and feeding routines mimic Nature as closely as possible, and we then add protection from predators, delicious feeds and warmth, with generous doses of love and close attention so they thrive. Make no mistake, these animals know when they are being loved, and they respond in kind.”

As the cow and goat breeds of the Westmeadow operation are considered the top quality and are carefully managed to retain that pedigree, excess kids and calves always have a place to go when they grow up, if they can’t be used on the farm: People purchase them as pets, or to use in their own dairy operations; male goats are purchased to be “lawn mowers and brush clearers” and they are also used for breeding at other farms as well.

For Tom and Jaimie, the future of the farm is not just about the animals, or the milk, or the bottom line, but also the land itself. “The actions start with total attention to the soils, and how we go about rebuilding them. If the soils don’t have the nutrients, the animals that eat crops grown on them won’t have the nutrients, ultimately leading to a nutrient deficiency in humans...so it is our action plan to focus on soil regeneration, finding the right way to work with Nature. This will give us the best quality crops to feed our animals, which will then give us the best milk to make the best dairy products” Tom explains. They also spend ample time and effort minimizing the waste produced on the farm, as well as making environmentally conscious choices around products used for their operation. For example, cleaning pipes from the milking parlor with enzymes and not bleach, which can then be distributed on the land for soil health; filling used plastic drums with water and heating them in greenhouses to use as thermal mass to keep the animals warm in the winter; keeping waste to a minimum, recycling what can be recycled and repurposing what cannot be.

Their commitment to excellent tasting products and animal welfare, as well as land stewardship is what cemented the partnership between Westmeadow Farm and Mama Farm. We are proud to work with a team that is so in tune with their animals and the land itself as well as producing an outstanding product we can all enjoy every week. To our cheese members we hope you’ve been enjoying the cheeses every week! Cheers to the animal mamas that work so hard to supply our milks and to the people that help steward and look after them, and create the delicious array of cheeses we get to enjoy.