January is a quieter time at Idyll Farms. Pregnant does are happily ruminating in their cozy barns. Our cheesemaker is readying her supplies for the coming cheesemake months, and our farmers getting a little well deserved rest from milking and preparing themselves for kidding season.   It’s a time to reflect on our past year and to look ahead to our goals for the coming year. In 2016 we produced roughly 14,500 lbs of  7 varieties of cheese!

Our accolades in 2016-
Idyll Gris- 1st and 2nd place at the World Championship Cheese contest
Idyll Gris named in Culture magazine’s “Best Cheeses of the Year” issue
Idyll Pastures- 3rd place World Championship Cheese Contest
Mont Idyll 3rd place at ACS
Mont Idyll named a “Best Artisanal Cheese” by Food and Wine Magazine

This kidding season, starting in February, we are expecting around 400 kids! We will be on the letter “F” for our kid names this year. Below is a picture of Eli operating our new ultrasound machine, which allows us to know which of our does were impregnated this year so that we can give them the proper care. It’s so exciting to see their little bodies developing in their mamas!

We are rolling out some new packaging this year for our Idyll Pastures and our Fresh Chèvre in Tubs (renaming it Idyll Spreadable Pastures) which will significantly extend the product’s shelf life, allowing us to distribute it in more grocery stores. Please ask our local cheesemonger/chef for us by name! We would love to be able to get our cheese in your local markets and restaurants.

Currently our only cheese available for sale until April is our Temptation.

TEMPTATION

Temptation is a raw milk tomme styled cheese. It ages in our state of the art cheese cellar for a minimum of 60 days, gracefully perched on specially aged kiln dried wood harvested during the last full moons of December. During the affinage process, it is hand washed daily with a hard cider made from Idyll Farms harvested apples. The end result is a semi-hard cheese with complex layers of length, nose, texture, and flavor going from mild to sharp as it ages.

Sizing: Large Wheel (7-9 lbs), Small Wheel (3-5 lbs), Cut to size