A summer evening… the wind rustling through leaves, the gently munching cows in tall grass, and barn swallows swooping across the pastures…

There is nothing quite as satisfying as eating a chef’s dinner outside on the farm… meeting the farmers, hearing the love of good food and farming from the man who cooks and the folks who grow and make your food. Sit with friends, old and new, and share a well made meal as the moon rises and the fireflies start their evening dance.

Join us on July 6th when Chef Barry Sexton creates a five-course evening to remember with Cherry Grove Farm cheeses, eggs and meats, and fresh produce from Abe’s Acres. Enjoy a short farm tour, cocktail hour with artisan cheese board, and five grass-fed courses crafted and presented by Chef Sexton of The Rooted Affair.

More details and tickets are available here, at The Rooted Affair’s website…

Howdy cheese friends! We hope you are having a wonderful start to a balmy June!  The cheesemakers have cracked two new batches of the 2018 Havilah. They are ultra delicious and we can’t wait to share them with you!

Here’s what we’ve got for you this week: Havilah For a cheesemaker, there is no better feeling than cracking open a new batch of cheese wheels and discovering the ways in which they differ from the last batch! These particular 2018 early summer batches of our iconic raw milk Havilah greet you with toffee and brown butter aromas, then, as you bite into the dense and velvety paste, you get savory flavors of slow-cooked brisket, onions and scallions, balanced against a slight vanilla sweetness, with tiny hints of citrus and just a liiiiiittle bit of bite at the end. Raw milk. Rarebird These delicious raw milk wheels are perfect for starting the sunny summer off right. A bright sunset-hued washed rind wraps around a dense, creamy palate-coating paste, greeting you with immediate aromas of yeasty bread and hints of barnyardy funk. The center paste has touches of roasted meats, starchy mashed potato flavors, and a slightly sweet finish with notes of vanilla on the rind. Ribbons of slight acidity weave their way through all the other flavors and tie the wheel together in harmony. Raw milk. Herdsman These autumn wheels really highlight the natural balance of flavors in our delicious raw milk! Each bite starts with tastes of fresh cream, hints of sea salt and butter, and then finishes with notes of seasonal citrus & toasted hazelnut. Look for these delicious fall wheels over the next month in the store and at farmers markets. Raw milk. Toma These Tomas are as complex as they are delicious. Our lovely raw milk weaves together varying threads of roast malt, sweet butter, salted pretzels, and hints of barnyard funk that are perfect on the palate. All that flavor is packed into a raclette-esque texture and wrapped under a golden orange-toned rind. Limited amount of these wheels left! Raw milk Bette Davis Eyes These dense raw milk blue wheels hearken back to the days of the original blue, and exemplify all that is lovely about winter milk. A perfect textural balance between fudgey and crumbly, these wheels are brimming with flavor in every bite. Subtle hints of deep dark chocolate intertwine with earthy limestone notes, filling us with wonder about those fairy tale cave blues of yore. Touches of anise round out the flavor profile and enliven the ever-present, yet never overwhelming blue flavor. Raw milk.

This is a throwback photo of little Focault. Believe it or not, he is already big enough that he (and half a dozen of our other wee ones) have started to be weaned from milk! They grow up so fast… Soon this not-so-little guy will be headed out to the summer pasture to munch on all the grassy goodness here at Cherry Grove Farm!

May has arrived in all her floral glory, and it is time to say Hello to Havilah season!

We broke open the first official wheel of the season today, and can’t wait to share this batch with you. These Havilah wheels are a perfect balance between hints of lightly toasted nuts and roasted meats, with a delicate layer of citrus-touched butter notes underneath. 

Havilah
The very first batch of the season, huzzah! These premiere wheels our raw milk alpine-style dream are layered with flavors of roasted meats, mushrooms, and scallions. Undertones of browned butter whisper of clothbound cheddars, with light hints of citrus and toasted cashews. Raw milk, sold at 12 months minimum.

Herdsman
Delicious buttery flavors, with hints of fresh cream and sea salt, and additional seasonal citrus & toasted walnut notes. You can taste those last few days on autumn pasture in these fall wheels. Raw milk.

Toma
November wheels are as complex as they are delicious. The slight extra age imparts layered notes of salted pretzels and roasted malt, with hints of barnyardiness and a little funk that is perfect on the palate. Beautiful cloudy sunrise-colored rind and a raclette-esque texture. Raw milk.

Bette Davis Eyes
These dense, raw milk blue wheels are crumbly, fudgey, and brimming with flavor in every bite. Touches of dark chocolate twine with earthy limestone notes, and hints of anise enliven the intrinsic blue flavor, which remains prominent without becoming overpowering. Raw milk.

Abruzze Jawn
Our award-winning jack-style cheese is enhanced with the flavors of a variety of sweet and smoky peppers & chiles mixed throughout, which deliver both spice and savor to our already-delectable raw milk.

Its Earth Day and we wanted to think about ways to be kind to our grand blue marble, Earth.

Here are 6 simple things you can do to drastically reduce your plastic waste.

With all the plastic being dumped into landfill and floating in our oceans, the time has come for all of us to behave more responsibly.

And that’s actually pretty easy.

You don’t have to be perfect, or completely change your way of living. Just follow these simple steps and you will cut down a lot of unnecessary waste.

Change your mindset

It all starts with changing the mindset.

Once you start to actively reduce your waste, you will realize just how much waste there is everywhere. And then, you’ll be able to make conscious decisions about what you buy.

You will be better prepared and will be likely to buy less “stuff” – as you’ll only buy what you need. That, in turn, can help you save money!

2. Say no to plastic bags

The average American family takes home almost 1,500 plastic shopping bags a year. So if you choose to stop using just one type of plastic – the plastic bag is a great place to start.

Stock up with a few reusable bags and you’ll never have to contribute to this waste again.

For example, reuseable produce bags are great to use to pack your fruit and veggies at markets. Pop your produce straight in the bags, and when you get home – wash them inside the bag, and pop them straight in the fridge.

They are also handy to use while shopping in a grocery store, or for general organization too.

3. Swap your plastic toothbrush for bamboo

It’s recommended that we change our toothbrush every 3-4 months. If these toothbrushes are plastic toothbrushes, that’s a huge amount of plastic waste that is being discarded every single year.

In fact, over 1 billion plastic toothbrushes are thrown away every year in America alone.

Imagine if 50% of the American population swapped their plastic brush for a biodegradable bamboo brush. That would prevent 500 million pieces of plastic entering our environment every year, and 5 billion every decade!

Check out these bamboo toothbrushes – they work super well, have been recommended by multiple hygienists, come in cute colors, and work out to cost under $1.49 per brush (often cheaper than plastic ones.)

Swapping your plastic for bamboo toothbrush is another small change you can make, and save money while helping the environment, too.

4. Rethink the straw

Plastic straws are a one and done event. They are too small to be recycled, so their only destiny is either landfill or floating in our ocean.

Ask yourself: Do you really need the straw? Maybe it’s an added luxury…and you could get used to drinking without one?

Alternatively, you can keep a small pack of reusable straws in your bag at all times…and whip out in times of need. They are easy to clean and kind to our wildlife. Whether you prefer stainless steel drinking straws or bamboo straws, you’ll never have to drink with a plastic straw again.

5. Buy locally

At Cherry Grove Farm, we’re all about sustainable farming and treading lightly on the land.

When you buy from local markets, you can cut down your consumption of plastic packaging and will end up throwing less away.  We have a small “Sustainable Re-useables” section in the farm store that makes cutting back on waste a bit easier. Try our re-useable tea bags and coffee filters, or reusable beeswax wraps to keep food fresh without using plastic wrap.

6. Make more at home

There’s nothing wrong with getting take-out; the problem is the packaging that the take out often comes in.

Plastic lids, cutlery, wrap, styrofoam, polystyrene… None of it biodegrades which means that even though your meal only lasted once, the packaging will last forever.

We know it can be difficult to find the time for home cooking, but cooking meals in bulk can cut down a huge amount of time. And make enough to last two or three meals and it can be just as convenient as a take out – but with all the added benefits of being home-made, chemical-free, and plastic-free.

But if you must have those pot stickers or tacos al pastor, why not have a handy reuseable bamboo cutlery pack in the car and just say no to the plastic utensils? Reduce waste in your life.

***

Earth Day is a good day to think about what we can do to reduce waste and single use disposables. Hopefully these 6 simple steps have given you a little inspiration to reduce your waste today. And remember – it doesn’t all have to be implemented at once. Just one small change can make a big difference.

We are considering expanding our “Sustainables” section in the store to include bamboo reuseables. Tell us if this would help you reduce waste in your life!

This winter we got a call form the Education Group at Stone Barns about participating in a video that would be used for their Food Ed Curriculum. If you know Stone Barns, you know they are a leader in the promotion of
sustainable agriculture, local food, and community-supported agriculture. It was a real pleasure to be a part of the story.

Paul Lawler, our head cheesemaker, and Anna Reinalda, our new dairy manager do a great job of explaining what we do and why it is important.

Please share this video…