It is already nearly through January, and I still feel like I’m catching my breath from the holidays. This was our first Christmas at the farm, and although we weren’t there full-time, it was still fun to make milking part of our new Christmas day tradition. We had our best month yet in December, thanks to our amazing supporters. It was so thrilling and humbling to hear how our cheese was a part of so many Christmas celebrations and family dinners! Thank you to all of you who made our chèvre part of your holiday festivities.
So where to go from here? While the word is slowly but surely getting out about our chèvre, we are about to hit breeding season, which will decrease our supply of milk. Other farms either end up shutting down production entirely or supplementing with milk from various sources, but we feel passionately about sticking to our high standards of milk quality. We refuse to compromise our product and want to continue supplying the customers who have supported us from the beginning. Therefore, we’re brainstorming ideas about how to make ends meet during our low season.
What we’ve come up with is to open up our farm to field trips, farm days, festivals, and birthday parties! Event planners we are not, but our desire to make this farm work requires diversification. Interest in visiting the farm has been consistent from the time we broke ground, and it has increased since we’ve added a baby llama to the family. Who wouldn’t love a Llama Llama birthday party or a mini-photo session with Cotton? We’ve also thrown around the idea of giving tours of the farm or adding cheese making classes.
Please comment with other ideas or events you’d like to see at Grateful Hill Farm! We’d love to hear your suggestions and feedback.