But let me back up! This journey began around the time of Philo's birth. Milk prices had dropped through the floor. After dairying for over 15 years, my husband was now literally going into debt each month to the tune of about five grand. It was a devastating time. He took a job on the side to help pay the bills and began milking at two in the morning and late into the night. Our production dropped with such wild hours and the milk company no longer even wanted to haul our milk as the quantity wasn't worth their time.
When we stopped milking we were in over forty thousand in debt. It was sickening that Dean Foods was reporting record profits. DFA, the company we sold our milk to, was supposed to be a cooperative of dairymen which then sought out the best price possible for its members. The feeling of betrayal was intense. We agreed to never put our milk on a commercial truck again. The idea of making cheese was born.
But a lot of work lay ahead before we could even consider the logistics of another farm operation. We were too far in debt. Daniel began working off the farm, in a number of jobs, simultaneously. He leased his herd to a large dairy and we worked down the debt, little by little. To keep our farm dreams alive, we dabbled in goats and chickens.
By late 2015 we had paid off our debt and we were dreaming of bringing Daniel back home to the farm. I contacted Heavenly Homestead Cheese, a cheese maker about 90 minutes from home. The proprietor's daughter responded enthusiastically, saying that her father loved the business and would be willing to share some insights with us.
Recovering from back surgery, owner and proprietor, Terry Huff, graciously led us through his facility. He shared his successes and his struggles. He also showed us some short-cuts and things he would change about his facility and business practices if he could have started all over again.
Daniel and I marveled at each other as he generously packaged up cheese for us to take home-about hundred retail dollars worth, for free. Before us stood a man, still in recovery from a recent surgery doing everything he could to encourage us and send us in the right direction....despite the fact that we could one day be his direct competition! It was a humbling experience to say the least.
The year of 2016 was one of business plan writing, market research, and developing a floor plan and cost estimate for the facility. Our state cheese facility inspector was a patient guide in all of this. He answered all kinds of random and weird questions we had about facility layout and equipment. He even drove an hour and half just to help us pick out a vat! We were blessed with a lot of guidance.
What we were left with was the sobering reality that we were looking at an investment of about $100,000. That left us a bit stunned and unsure. What if we didn't like the business? We didn't want to be in debt again! How were we going to come up with that kind of money? How many years would we have to work at getting this facility up? Terry's took five years!
Other deep emotional ties came into play and we both came into a time of crisis. Just as we had let go of our dreams and began to seek familial ties in earnest, a phone call came from the state cheese facility inspector. He said Terry Huff is looking to shut down his facility and mentioned our names to another inspector as prospects for taking over its daily operation.
We were flabbergasted that our cheese facility inspector would take the time to contact us and amazed that Terry would still be interested in us. Nervously we called on Terry and from there a whirlwind of planning and cliff jumping began!
Cheese making begins next week! Check out our website at www.maidnmeadows.com ! We hope to "pay it forward" in the months ahead, so look out for give-aways and gift certificates!
I love reading these! It's interesting seeing the behind-the-scenes stories of lives like yours. It's often hard to see things beyond one's own experiences.
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