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General News: Cheese Making Planned at a Cornwall Farm

Dan and Talitha outside the goats' Moo-tel.
Dan and Talitha outside the goats' Moo-tel.
Henry is one of two bucks on the farm.
Henry is one of two bucks on the farm.
Plans call for this barn to be renovated for the milking and cheese-making operation.
Plans call for this barn to be renovated for the milking and cheese-making operation.
Talitha cuts into a wheel of creamy brie cheese.  In the foreground is a sharp cheddar cheese also made from goat's milk.
Talitha cuts into a wheel of creamy brie cheese. In the foreground is a sharp cheddar cheese also made from goat's milk.
December 01, 2010

If all goes well for Talitha Curtis Thurau and Dan Jones next Monday, they will win approval from the Cornwall planning board to begin work on the first cheese-making facility in Orange County. The couple, partners in life and in the 8-1/2 acre Edgwick Farm on Angola Road, has been planning for this moment for years, raising goats and learning techniques for making cheese that they hope to sell from the farm next year as well as at farmers markets throughout the area.

Talitha started raising Nubian goats in 2005 and her herd of three has grown to a mix of 20 Nubian and Boer goats that she milks and sells today. The animals live in a newly-erected hoop house (called the Moo-tel) behind the 100 year-old, two-story barn that Dan and Talitha are planning to renovate and turn into a milking and cheese-making center once they get approval from the planning board. The farm was designated an agricultural district by the Orange County legislature in 2007.

Experience with Farming and Raising Animals

Talitha was raised on an organic farm in New England and first milked a goat when she was four years old. While farming is in her blood, Talitha gave up plans to become a veterinarian and instead earned a law degree. She married and gave birth to three children but continued to feel the pull of returning to an agricultural lifestyle. Dan has managed horse farms and worked as a plumber. He got to know Talitha when he and his sons offered to milk the goats when she was out of town. When her marriage ended, she and Dan decided to work together to build the farm.

“We are committed to a simple lifestyle, growing our own food,” Dan explained as he pointed out the chickens, donkey and vegetable garden on the farm. Talitha said that they wanted to build a business where they can feed and educate people about agriculture and nature. She recalled how she brought eggs into a first-grade classroom at Willow Avenue Elementary where students could see how they incubated and hatched.

Delicious Feta, Brie, Cheddar and Other Varieties Will Be Available On-site

The plans for the cheese-making facility show a rebuilt barn with concrete walls that separate the areas where they will milk the goats with an electric pump, store the milk and then make the cheese. They also plan to sell the cheese from a small store on the side of the barn that will also house a commercial kitchen where they can offer classes on cheese making. Because the store would generate traffic coming in from and back out onto Angola Road, the planning board is requiring the couple to build a new road that loops through the farm.

The Cornell Cooperative Extension has provided technical support, including a grazing plan for the goat herd that ensures a supply of fresh grass by rotating paddocks. Both Talitha and Dan have taken cheese-making courses and they clearly enjoy experimenting with different varieties of cheese made with goat’s milk. Once they receive their license, they will offer fresh chevre, the classic goat cheese, feta, a ricotta-based herb cheese, along with bloomy rind cheese like brie, which is dripping with flavor.

You can read more about the farm, the goats and the cheese at edgwickfarm.wordpress.com/



Comments:

You can also find http://www.facebook.com/edgwickfarmus at


posted by Edgwick Farm on 12/01/10 at 2:58 PM

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