If you like cheese and if you like local food – you’ll be excited that the Co-op carries Brush Creek Creamery’s soft cheeses.  Webb and Lisa French, their children, and their three cows craft it on their farm in Deary, Idaho.  In the cheese cooler across from the Hot Bar and Deli, you will find labneh, crème fraiche and marinated feta.

Although long time lovers of and 15 years experience making cheese, the family first started selling their products in June 2011 at the Moscow Farmer’s Market and about three months ago at the Co-op.  Under Idaho’s “small herd exemption rule,” they are permitted to sell raw milk and cheese from their cows- Blue Bell and Brie, both Jersey cows, and Blossom, a Jersey-Guernsey cross.

They moved to Deary three years ago from Colorado and before that from Texas where they lived for about 19 years.  In Texas, Lisa was a cheese making instructor at The Ploughshare Institute for Sustainable Culture, which offers a broad spectrum of agrarian-focused classes.

Fortunately for us Co-op shoppers, the French’s moved to Idaho where their artisan cheese can fill our bellies.

In addition to their “gentle cows” aka “no wild kickers,” the family raises sheep, chickens, beef cows, and Belgian workhorses—the team of two assists in cutting hay and plowing. “Our animals all have a personality. They like to get hugged and have their forehead scratched” shared Webb.  With ten children total, the oldest eight are responsible for milking cows, which during the winter occurs around 7am and 5pm.  A few days each week, Issac and Suzannah, two of the eldest, use the milk to make cheese.

The family enjoys the opportunity to produce and share a quality, healthy product from animals they raise and work with.  Currently, they are experimenting with hard cheeses and want to discover customer preferences.  Panhandle Bread Company and the Moscow Wine Company are selling a selection of their hard cheeses.  During our interview at the Winter Market, Webb described his excitement when “coring” or sampling wheels of cheddar and Gruyère.  As hard cheeses must age for a few months to a year, he said “it’s exciting to open up [a cheese] and find that it tastes great.”

In the future, the French’s hope to establish a school similar to The Ploughshare. Webb said “it’s a slow process, but it’s in the works.”  They also plan to build a “cheese cave” into a hillside on their property.  Having a room that is six to ten feet underground, they can age cheese at a temperature of 55° F without the use of electricity. Webb explained that cheeses naturally age with molds that grow in their specific regions such as Roquefort from South France and Parmigiano-Reggiano named after areas near Parma and Reggio Emilia, Italy.  The cheeses “can be duplicated elsewhere but they’re not exactly the same” he said.  I wondered what type of cheese the natural molds in Deary could create?  Maybe one day “Brush Creek Cheese” will be ubiquitous.
 
About Johna:  Johna recently discovered that she would like to go on an international cheese- tasting tour.  Contact her if you or someone you know would like to fund it.