From artisanal offerings, sustainable practices, and educational programs, cheesemakers in New Jersey are making their mark

The creation of artisanal cheese here in the Garden State — the way the cows, goats, and sheep who produce give back to the earth — is a nifty thing. Photo courtesy of Getty Images

Call it a “movement” if you wish, but it is truly an art, a way of life, and maybe will find its way to your own table.

The creation of artisanal cheese here in the Garden State — the way the cows, goats and sheep who produce give back to the earth, and how that healthy cheese is created and finds its way to your lunch or dinner table, or even as a party pass-around — is a nifty thing.

“Our farm by international standards is considered a small farm,” Nina White said of her and husband Jonathan’s 187-acre Bobolink Dairy & Bakehouse (www.cowsoutside.com) in Milford, now in its third decade. “And with that, in regions that are densely populated, there are a lot of these small properties that can really serve to improve the environment and host wildlife while producing very high-quality food for the surrounding community. It is a triple win.”

Paul Lawler, head cheesemaker at Cherry Grove Farm, salts cheese. Photo courtesy of Cherry Grove Farm

Tish Streeten is Cherry Grove Farm’s education, events, and community outreach manager. The Lawrenceville farm is 400 acres, and just 3 miles from the center of Princeton in Mercer County. “People visit the farm, whether it is a group of high school, middle school or any grades of school kids, Girl Scouts or corporations doing an outing. They can either visit the farm and just do a tour, or maybe they can make some cheese or see a cheesemaking demonstration,” Streeten said.

They also will learn some valuable history. Oliver Hamill is the owner and steward of the land. The Hamill family has owned the Cherry Grove Farm (www.cherrygrovefarm.com) property and leased it to other farmers since 1902. Hamill took over the farm in 2002, initially raising beef cattle, hens, pigs and sheep. Dairy cattle were added three years later, and artisanal cheesemaking commenced.

Anna Reinalda has been the cow herd manager at Cherry Grove Farm since 2018. Photo courtesy of Cherry Grove Farm

“We have four core cheeses: Havilah, Buttercup Brie, Toma and Rarebird,” said Paul Lawler, who has been Cherry Grove Farm head cheesemaker for more than nine years. “Then we have limited seasonals, cheeses that depend on particular milk or that we only make sporadically. Trilby and Oooumami are seasonal, Trilby made from mid-July through mid-November, Oooumami made with rich late summer and fall milk, August through December. We have a fresh cheese I just make during peak farmers’ market season, May-September. Abruzze Jawn and Herdsman I just make periodically.”

Eran Wajswol, founder and owner of Valley Shepherd Creamery (www.valleyshepherd.com) with his wife, Debra, whom he met when both studied engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, runs a major operation in Long Valley that produces 25 to 30 cheeses by utilizing one-third sheep, one-third cow and one-third goat milk.

Artisanal cheese and fresh bread pairing at Milford’s Bobolink Dairy & Bakehouse. Photo courtesy of Bobolink Dairy & Bakehouse

“We knew that we had to balance our passion for handmade artisanal cheese with a value artisanal business, so that we invented the Simply Sheep Milk Yogurt and Goat Cheese Logs,” Wajswol said. “The Simply Sheep Milk Yogurt, which is a special, healthy kind of product, is unique.”

According to Wajswol, Valley Shepherd Creamery also is the first farm in the United States to make an American made Pecorino Romano cheese due to its large sheep milking operation.” Of the seven sheep milk cheeses his creamery makes, Wajswol calls his Pecorino Romano the “Soprano” in honor of his former Califon neighbor, the late James Gandolfini. “We always think of him,” Wajswol added. “We hear he liked it.”

A cheesemaking class at Cherry Grove Farm in Lawrenceville. Photo courtesy of Cherry Grove Farm

Lawler lauds the Cherry Grove Farm herd managers past and present, JJ Dabbs, Andrew Insua and Anna Reinalda. “They are my counterparts on the farm, and we have continual conversation on milk quality and pasture diet through the season,” Lawler said. “It is really important. JJ and Andrew were instrumental in changing the herd to a more completely all-grass system, and it was Anna who oversaw our transition to fully seasonal. Anna has been vital for improving the farm, honing in on best practices with our cows and milk, and I am so grateful for that. Our milk has never been better.”

Reinalda has been Cherry Grove Farm cow herd manager since 2018. “As I grew up, I realized that good food comes from good sources,” she said. “For me to introduce a cheese to a community that was produced by those tenets is the stuff that I would really like to see the entire world doing.”

“I always joke that I’m a grass farmer more than anything else,” Reinalda said of the rotational grazing of her herd. “Most of my time in the summer gets spent on either physically moving the cows, tracking where they have been, or deciding where they are going to go next. There are several reasons, but primarily it is because I want the grass to grow back lusher every time the cows pass through it. I do it very carefully which, at the same time, is good for the grass. It is also good for the cows because they are eating the best quality grass that I can provide them, which translates to good cheese.”

Sheep grazing at Valley Shepherd Creamery. Photo courtesy of Valley Shepherd Creamery

The Whites of Bobolink Dairy & Bakehouse breed their cows to be semiwild, and they thrive — as does the land that they graze on. Rotational grazing at Bobolink is intense. “That’s what improves the pastures,” White said.

Bobolink, which hosts a popular outdoor summer concert series, milks upward of 70 grass-fed cows. “They (the cows) are low producing, which means they are more robust because their bodies are not taxed by producing a lot of milk all the time,” White explained. “The other thing that we do that is special is that we allow the calves to stay with their mothers for two to three months. That does decrease our milk supply, but it is an investment first of all in the health of the babies and the social dynamic of the herd, so those babies learn from their mothers. It is a long-term investment.”

In New Jersey, that investment is all about the beautiful cycle of nature giving back to nature, and in the end enjoying delicious, healthy artisanal cheese.

And, it can be fun. “We have not had hundreds of years to hone in like our European counterparts,” Lawler said. “That is part of the joy and challenge of being a small-scale artisan cheesemaker. The lifestyle of a cheesemaker is never boring. There are always factors to narrow in on or improve, especially on a farmstead level where the milk is full of seasonal surprises.”