Meet the cheese makers

Looking Glass Creamery

“Goats have a devilish sense of humor,” says Jennifer Perkins, the cheese maker and owner of Looking Glass Creamery in Fairview. Case in point: One recent visitor tried to photograph a “selfie” with one of the farm’s goats. “Right when she held her arm up and took the picture, the goat reached over and gave one of her braids a good yank. She was very surprised; the goat looked pleased.” In addition to comic relief, the goats set the scene for visitors who linger on the farm grounds over cheese plates paired with local charcuterie and wine.

Peeking out

The name game

Each of the Jersey cows at Yellow Branch Farm in Robbinsville, North Carolina, are named for flowers—Joe Pye, Tulip, Sassafras, Daisy, Forsythia, Chinquapin, Queen Anne’s Lace, and Honeysuckle.

The English family farm

Jersey and Holstein cows (below) have roamed the English family farm of Marion, North Carolina, since 1927. Back then, dairy production happened without electricity or refrigeration, and feed crops were planted and gathered with teams of horses and mules, or by hand. Times have changed considerably, but some parts of farming remain steadfast. “As the years go by,” says sixth-generation farmer Terry English, “I find that I am doing the same thing as my dad and granddad—using what is available to make a go of it.” Years of neighbors begging for the family’s cheese led them to their latest venture, English Farmstead Cheese, sold at the farm store on Fridays and Saturdays. Now as in 1927, it all comes down to the cows. “They are something special,” English says. “When you can look across the field and recognize a certain cow by her gait, stance, interactions, or markings, you understand that she is that way because you helped her become that way.”

Sitting Pretty

In the shadow of Roan Mountain

Bakersville’s OakMoon Farm and Creamery stands in the shadow of Roan Mountain, but don’t tell that to the farm’s star attraction. “Goats are demanding, loving divas,” says Cynthia Sharpe, who first recognized her affinity for the animals at the age of ten. “They are considered to be dirty, smelly, and able to live on tin cans, when in reality they are finicky, very clean critters, and amazingly complex to manage and raise. I started in goats nearly 34 years ago, and they teach me something new every day.” With the help of a grant from the Tobacco Communities Reinvestment Fund, Sharpe and her husband, Dwain Swing, developed cheese-making and goat-husbandry workshops that draw “agritourists” from around the country. OakMoon is home to Swiss Alpine, Oberhasli, and Saanen goats, as well as LaManchas, the only dairy goat that originates in the U.S. Why these breeds? “For the same reason that I pick the caramels out of a box of chocolates while Dwain goes for the cremes,” Sharpe says. “We like what we like.”

OakMoon Farm and Creamery

Bakersville’s OakMoon Farm and Creamery stands in the shadow of Roan Mountain, but don’t tell that to the farm’s star attraction. “Goats are demanding, loving divas,” says Cynthia Sharpe, who first recognized her affinity for the animals at the age of ten. “They are considered to be dirty, smelly, and able to live on tin cans, when in reality they are finicky, very clean critters, and amazingly complex to manage and raise. I started in goats nearly 34 years ago, and they teach me something new every day.” With the help of a grant from the Tobacco Communities Reinvestment Fund, Sharpe and her husband, Dwain Swing, developed cheese-making and goat-husbandry workshops that draw “agritourists” from around the country. OakMoon is home to Swiss Alpine, Oberhasli, and Saanen goats, as well as LaManchas, the only dairy goat that originates in the U.S. Why these breeds? “For the same reason that I pick the caramels out of a box of chocolates while Dwain goes for the cremes,” Sharpe says. “We like what we like.”

The secret recipe

As North Carolina’s first Grade A goat dairy, Round Mountain Creamery in Black Mountain teems with more than 300 Alpine and LaMancha goats. In addition to the creamery’s own lineup of soft goat cheeses, Round Mountain goat’s milk is the secret behind products across the state, from goat’s milk gelato to Looking Glass Creamery cheeses such as the Connemara. Named for the Flat Rock farmstead of Carl Sandburg and his wife, Lilian, this firm, aged cheddar won a 2015 Good Food Award.

Looking Glass Creamery

As North Carolina’s first Grade A goat dairy, Round Mountain Creamery in Black Mountain teems with more than 300 Alpine and LaMancha goats. In addition to the creamery’s own lineup of soft goat cheeses, Round Mountain goat’s milk is the secret behind products across the state, from goat’s milk gelato to Looking Glass Creamery cheeses such as the Connemara. Named for the Flat Rock farmstead of Carl Sandburg and his wife, Lilian, this firm, aged cheddar won a 2015 Good Food Award.

Pottery and cheese

Consider Robbinsville’s Yellow Branch one-stop shopping for locavores. Here visitors can buy buttery farmstead cheese and a dish to serve it on, too. Bruce DeGroot handles the farm’s Jersey cows and makes the cheese, which includes varieties flecked with peppers or basil grown in the farm’s organic garden, while his wife, Karen Mickler, spends her days at the potter’s wheel creating functional stoneware. “Often we hear from our visitors, ‘pottery and cheese: two of my favorite things,’” DeGroot says.