Food Connects is incredibly lucky to work with some amazing cheese producers in New England. One such dairy is Blue Ledge Farm in Salisbury, VT. Blue Ledge Farm specializes in goat’s milk cheeses that are creamy and a cheese lover’s dream come true. Owner Hannah Sessions took some time out of her busy schedule to share with us a little more about the farm.
Can you share a little about Blue Ledge Farm and how you started?
Greg is from the Philadelphia area of Pennsylvania while Hannah grew up in Cornwall, Vermont, just a few miles from their farm. We met while studying at Bates College, but mostly while abroad in Florence, Italy our junior year. It is there that our dream of an artistic and food-based life and business blossomed! The Italian culture had a wonderful influence on us. After graduation we spent a year in Brattleboro where we were working members of the Coop, Greg was a teacher and Hannah worked at Lilac Ridge Farm in West Brattleboro, where her love of dairy farming really took root. We began looking for our farm and happened upon this piece of land, a retired cow dairy farm, in 2000. When we saw the ribbon of rock ledge (hence the name “Blue Ledge”) we knew this little parcel was perfect for goats. We preserved our farm with the Vermont Land Trust and used these proceeds to build our first cheese plant-the smallest in the state at that time—in 2002, also the year our first child was born! Those were some busy times! We now employ ten people, milk a herd of 150 goats, and purchase milk from a local family cow dairy. Blue Ledge Farm now produces about 60,000 lbs of cheese annually. We have sized up but some things remain the same: our animals all have names, our curds are poured by hand, and we love what we do.
What is your favorite thing about farming?
We love knowing that what we do is important. As farmers, we feed people and support life. In addition, we are learning more and more that various farming practices can have a major impact on mitigating climate change, so it’s nice knowing that we are on the front lines of some exciting developments there. We also love watching things grow. To raise an animal from birth and see her develop into a part of the herd is pretty amazing. We have some “lines” of goats that extend back generations, and we can point to certain traits and remember that doe’s great-great-great grandmother, Marcy, for example.
What makes your products unique?
The gentle handling of curds make for a lighter texture, and the quality and freshness of our milk (we process every one to three days) make for our signature clean flavor. Blue Ledge is also an Animal Welfare Approved farm and I feel contentment in the animals come through in great milk and therefore delicious cheese. Our cow’s milk comes from the grass-fed Ayrshire cows at MoSe Farm, a breed known for their exceptional creamy milk due to smaller particles of components (protein and butterfat). We are lucky to be able to source milk from this relatively rare and beautiful breed of cow.
What is one of your favorite cheeses (we know it's hard to choose)? Or a recipe you like to make with them?
It's hard to choose a favorite cheese when you make 14 types! We love all of our cheeses, and there is a season for each. If we had to cheese a “desert island cheese”- as in one that we would choose were we stuck on a desert island—it has always been the Crottina. It’s a classic, simple and lovely cheese.
Why is selling locally and the local food movement important to you?
It is in our mission statement to always sell half or more of our cheese in Vermont, the state that we love and that was there for us at the onset. Loyalty is bred locally. Also, we enjoy direct feedback from customers. As a food producer, we also feel a connection to creating a sense of place, and that comes from emphasizing local. We have a farmstand on our farm that serves both locals as well as tourists and seasonal folks. As food producers, we feed our communities but also create an experience and sense of place that can make an impression on visitors as to what Vermont embodies. In this way, food producers are able to provide a double boost to our economy: via food and tourism.
How does working with Food Connects help your business?
Food Connects provides an important service as perhaps the greatest challenge for business in a rural state like Vermont is getting your product from “point A to point B”, especially when the product is perishable! We collaborate with a local farm to get our product to Food Connects and they consolidate orders and deliver from their warehouse. Recently we have gone from being a special order item on the Food Connects docket to a regularly stocked item, so that has been exciting!
Anything else you would like me to feature? Anything that you are doing to respond to the COVID-19 crisis?
The pandemic has highlighted more than ever the value of local food feeding your community. When store shelves are bare whether due to a nationwide pandemic or labor shortage, it’s the local farms and processors that you can rely on that keep you fed! If you support them, they will in turn support you!