A month ago, Tim Gaddis, the famed cheesemonger from Star Provisions, moved to Many Fold Farm to take over the sales and operations for the farm’s creamery. We wanted to check in to see how Gaddis was doing in his new role. Down at the farm, he took me on a tour.
Credit: Alexa Lampasona
Credit: Alexa Lampasona
You can view the photo slideshow at the link below.
The Pastures
Speckled across the half-acre fenced plot of land, sheep were munching…loudly. I never realized that sheep chomped their food. The group had just been moved to a new paddock where they would graze for 24 hours. Many Fold Farm practices management intensive rotational grazing, which helps to fertilize and regenerate the farm’s pastures. The sheep are rotated throughout 28 half-acre paddocks, so the grass is always bountiful and fresh when the sheep return. This process allows for minor differences in the flavor of the sheep’s milk, which is used to make four different varieties of the creamery’s cheese.
"Since I only have four cheeses to handle now, compared to 120 when I was at Star Provisions, I can now taste subtle differences in each batch. Even though it is the same cheese, I detect different flavors based on what grasses the sheep ate, and how the weather has affected the cheese texture."
The Milking
At six a.m. and three p.m. the ewes are milked. 24 at a time are loaded into stalls while two employees milk. The process to milk all 200 ewes takes about two hours. The ewes produce milk from February through November. In the off-season, Gaddis is working on producing harder, aged cheeses to sell during the two-month gap.
"Our farm is unique, we are one of the few sheep producers in the United States, and the only one in Georgia."
Other producers: Blackberry Farm, Bellweather Farm, Shepherd's Way Farm, Chatham Farms
The Cheese-Making
"Cheese makers are more like glorified dishwashers. There is a little bit of cheese-making and whole lot of scrubbing to keep the environment sterile and 'operating room' clean."
The attire: white scrubs, white gloves, white boots and a hairnet/bandana
White clothes are designated for wearing inside the cheese room. Everything else is kept separate.
"You only want the mold that you want on the cheese. If any foreign bacteria gets in our cheese room or aging caves you lose a lot of cheese, lose money, and it could make people sick."
The Cheese Selling
Gaddis is not as hands-on during the cheese-making process. He is spending time calling restaurants, many of whom he had relationships with in his previous role, to market and sell the cheese.
"As soon as I began at Many Fold Farm, I got a slew of emails from cheesemongers about wanting samples of cheese."
He spends at least one day a week in Atlanta sampling cheese to restaurateurs. Since he began, he’s introduced Many Fold’s cheese to Perrine’s Wine Shop, Murphy’s and No. 246.
"It's interesting because our cheeses are on more cheese boards in New York City than Atlanta. A lot of it is thanks to Murray's Cheese, who buy about 100 Condor's Ruin a week."
Rebecca and Ross (the owners of Many Fold Farm) got into cheese-making to be farmers, not salespeople. Gaddis’ role allows them to do just that: he concentrates on managing inventory and rotation, and getting the cheese out the door, while they make stellar sheep’s milk cheese.
A final question for Gaddis: Is sheep’s milk your favorite type of cheese?
"They are all different. While at Star Provisions the most popular cheese I sold was parmesan, we sold about 90 pounds a week, but I did notice in the past few years that people have began to care more about what cheeses are being produced locally."
A celebration of locally made products is Martha Stewart's "American Made" awards. Many Fold Farm is nominated. Let us hope they make it to the finals so we can vote for a Georgia farmer!
