Murray’s Cheese: Meet the Maker
Murray’s Cheese
“The vision for the creamery is to sustain the farm and keep the land in agriculture.”
January 2021
“We spoke to Head Cheesemaker and General Manager Veronica Pedraza to find out how this new venture came to fruition and what’s in store for a unique creamery that’s guaranteed to be a cheese powerhouse.
How did the idea for the creamery initially come about?
Our farm was originally a 300-cow dairy called Lake Breeze (one of our cheese names). The original owner, Roger Karrels, wanted to retire and his children were not interested in taking over the farm. He wanted to sell his farm but did not want to see it developed into condos. So he approached our owner, Lynde Uihlein, whose family owned the farm, Afterglow, adjacent to the Karrel’s. Lynde agreed to buy the farm and keep it in agriculture but she wanted goats instead of cows. So, about 9 years ago, they began to transition the farm into a goat milking operation. The goal was always to make cheese, but the first step was building a reliable supply of goat’s milk. We currently have 1200 goats and milk about 900 year round. Once there was a reliable supply of milk, Lynde began looking for someone to design a creamery and build a business plan for a cheesemaking operation. It so happened that Lynde knew Andy Hatch, of Uplands Cheese. Andy’s father knew Lynde and they had worked together in the past. ” Read full article
Image courtesy of Murray’s Cheese.