Ancient Heritage Dairy- Scio, OR by Kendra

August 9, 2007

On our way from Corvallis to Portland, we left the interstate and traveled to the town of Scio, Oregon. There we met up with Kathy, of the Ancient Heritage Dairy.

We left the bus and rode with Kathy to a beautiful farm snuggled into a valley, surrounded by the Cascade foothills. Cows and sheep roamed, grazing in the pasture.

Ancient Heritage Dairy is a sheep dairy, which was established because the family believed that “everyone has the right to eat real food.” The family makes raw milk artisan sheep cheese that they sell at People’s Food Co op in Portland and a few different farmers’ markets in the area.

I didn’t know it was common for sheep to be milked, but Kathy explained that throughout the world more sheep are milked than cows. Unbaaaaaaaliveable. (okay that was a really corny but how could I resist?!)

On the Ancient Heritage Dairy, live 60 milking ewes, 8 Ayrshire cattle, and lots of lambs.

When we first arrived, we headed out to the field to meet the cows. The eight cattle are milked and the cows’ milk is mixed with the sheep’s milk to produce the Scio Heritage cheese – a rich cheese with a buttery, nutty flavor.

In the field, we met Kathy’s 18 year old daughter, Ellie and her milk cow, Daisy. We learned from Ellie that she wakes every morning at 6am to milk the cows and ewes. After the morning milking is finished, Ellie gets to work on packaging cheese. By the time the 200 rounds of cheese are packaged and prepared for market, it’s time for Ellie to begin evening milking. When asked about how she likes having so much responsibility at such a young age, Ellie replies, “ I really like working with the livestock.”

Before we left the field, Sustainable Table’s media guru Leslie got an opportunity to give Daisy a hug. Won’t Diane be jealous! Daisy wasn’t as fond of the hug as Leslie, so with a flick of the head and a toss of the tail, she high-tailed it back to the others to continue her day of grazing and cud-chewing – truly, a great day’s work for a happy cow!

After meeting the animals on the farm, we headed off to the cheese room, where Kathy and Ellie offered us samples of their fine cheeses. In addition to the Scio Heritage, the family makes a soft-ripened cheese called Valentine – which how great is this….it’s shaped like a heart!! There is also the Scio Feta and the Scio Heritage Blue. All the cheeses had very distinct flavors and were nothing short of DELICIOUS!! However, I personally loved the Scio Heritage and being local myself, I can’t wait to go to the farmers’ market and bring a block home for my family!

We asked Kathy what was most surprising about getting into the dairy and cheese-making business. Her response was one that we have heard from others. “I was surprised at the number of people that will go out of their way to eat local food because they want to know and trust the farm families that produced it.”

It was hard to leave the Ancient Heritage Dairy, but we had to get back to the bus so that the road trip adventure could continue. We are very grateful to both Kathy and Ellie for taking time out of their dairying and cheese-making to show us around.

This farm family is wonderful and what is most apparent about the Ancient Heritage Dairy is that it is that a lot of love goes into these animals which means tasty milk resulting in superb cheese!

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