R
LIVING AND SUSTAINABILITY –« ALTERNATIVE IN THE APPALACHIAN REGION
FALL 2017 | Special Issue | $6.99
contents
04 // Spiritual Healing The benefits of modern day shamanism explained by Reverend Kate Rodger
08 // A Different Kind of Utopia
04
A look inside the largest intentional community on the East Coast
22 // Q&A with an Herbalist An interview with Hildegard, long-time herbalist at Twin Oaks Community
24 // Better than Cheddar
08
A day in the life at Mountain View Farms, a family cheese farm in Fairfield, Va.
From the editor:
22
Hello makers, doers and creative thinkers! Welcome to Renew’s special issue on the community of Twin Oaks, the largest and oldest egalitarian commune in the country. Since 1991, Renew continues to be an adventure from front to back, featuring stories about unconventional living, medicine and sustainability. As always, Renew has the environment in mind and uses soy-based dye and is printed on compostable paper. Please take the time to dispose of Renew consciously by using it in your garden or gifting it to a composting neighbor.
with love,
24 Renew ¦ 2
“My father is a wizard. He would never say that… And my grandfather was a leprechaun.” – Reverend Kate Rodger, “Spiritual Healing”
Erin Clark, Renew Editor, Writer & Photographer
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Spiritual Healing The journey of Rev. Kate Rodger and how she came to be a Shamaness and a Modern Day Priestess living in Ojai, Calif.
A
s the town of Ashton, Maryland begins to awake, people start to arrive to Blueberry Gardens, a yoga retreat center outside of the bustling Washington D.C. Yawns are shared and limbs are stretched,
excited whispers circle around the octagonal room. Reverend Kate Rodger, Shamaness and Modern Day Priestess is in town, and her disciples are ready for healing. “The shamanic portion begins as soon as they say yes to being there,” says Rodger. But first, there is the gong bath, a form of sound therapy used for the purposes of relaxation. “We just create these atmospheres. That’s what I’m interested in doing is creating atmospheres for love to spontaneously erupt.” “The Opening of the Circle” begins and the atmosphere grows thick with spinning energy. Many people, says Rodger, don’t even know why they might be attending or the reasons might change once they begin the shamanic process. “So they’ve said yes, they’ve signed up then something starts operating in their
Jim Wert takes part in a spiritual journey during a shamanistic ritual performed by Reverend Kate Rodger at Blueberry Gardens in Ashton, Maryland.
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“We just create these atmospheres. That’s what I’m interested in doing is creating atmospheres for love to spontaneously erupt.” - Reverend Kate Rodger system,” says Rodger. “And then by the time
Her father was a wizard, and her grandfather
has spent the past two decades merging
they get there, it’s just more and more and
was a leprechaun, emigrating from Scotland
traditional medicine and spirituality through
more and more. We open the circle and
to garden for a wealthy family. “He was a
her institution in Ojai, California.
then that part of it is done and cooking
medicine man,” says Rodger. “That’s where
and marinating and informing in the non-
my Shamanic roots came from.”
conscious aspect.” Raised in a Catholic home in rural
Although spiritual since birth, Rodger hasn’t always been a Reverend. For over ten years,
Kentucky, Reverend Kate Rodger always
Rodger was known for her work as an actor
had an interest in a deeper spirituality.
on stage and in film and television. But she
Rodger believes it all began when she was
was consistently unfulfilled and feeling as
about five or six years old and would play
though she wasn’t having the impact that she
by the wooded creek in her backyard. She
wanted. “If I was going to be in that particular
would take off all of her clothes and spend
career, it was necessary for it to be a spiritual
time with the Davis spirits, the fairies and
experience for me,” says Rodger. “It was turning
the elementals. When told she would never
into something else like money oriented or
be able to become a priest, Rodger began
more personality ego and I can’t operate that
an adventure that landed her living with
way.” Rodger quit acting and went into solitude
a Buddhist nun in a treehouse in rural
for two years, emerging with a commitment
Thailand. “It’s always been a part of who I
to “live a life of inspired-living rather than
am,” says Rodger. Spirituality is in her blood.
achievement-orientation.” Since then, she
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° ° ° The group slowly emerges from their trance and quietly begin to stretch and yawn into a sitting position. Contented smiles are exchanged with a long squeeze of the hand and a meaningful embrace of the eyes. The participants move into a circle and Reverend Kate leads them in a closing breathing exercise. The change in the room is palpable and the exchanged emotion is thick with intention. The silence speaks volumes as the group gradually awakens. Giggles and contended sighs spin around the circle with energy. The group closes, and the silence is broken. “Anyone want to go get Mexican food?”
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A photojournalist takes a look inside Twin Oaks, the oldest egalitarian community in the country. Home to over 100 people, Twin Oaks has been making hammocks and sharing resources since 1967. Continue reading to learn what draws people to the community and what makes them stay
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PREVIOUS: Claire, center, holds onto Mala’s hands while riding back to the gardens to harvest potatoes. TOP LEFT: Mason jars full of cooking spices sit organized in the community’s industrial sized kitchen. BOTTOM LEFT: Twin Oaks’ members talk during lunch time outside of ZK, the community building that serves the purpose of meals, socializing and community events. Food is shared at Twin Oaks and residents have 24/7 the kitchen. TOP RIGHT: Cloth diapers and women’s menstrual pads hang out on the line to dry.
A
typical day for River Oneida might be to wake up, retie his wispy,
greeted by a man who introduces himself as adder Oaks – intentionally spelled
elbow length braid, slip into clothes that he probably wore
with a lowercase ‘a’ because, as adder puts it; “a lowercase ‘a’ flows better into
yesterday, hand 5-year-old Finley off to his caretaker and walk
the d’s”. adder rests his well-worn bicycle, reminiscent of the 1980s, against a
to Emerald City. For lunch, he might eat tofu with a glass of fresh
tree and extends his hand in greeting.
milk and discuss the downfalls of the patriarchy or the benefits of group parenting. When night falls, River could probably be found in
Kaweah, watching a movie with the home’s 20 other residents or cracking open
Morningstar and across from ZK,” he says. I frantically look at the map I was
the fridge to munch on snacks shared by the community. Although far from Oz,
given when I first arrived, flipping it around multiple ways, attempting to
River does live in what some people consider a utopia. (Last names will not be
make sense of the names being thrown at me. Most of the buildings are made
not used in deference to the community’s ethos).
with wooden paneling, weathered with age. There’s seven living
° ° ° I look in my rearview mirror to see a farmer with a red hat say, “who was that?” The man he questions answers with a dismissive shrug. I look at the gravel road ahead, my knuckles gripping the steering wheel with apprehensive determination. I had just arrived at Twin Oaks in Louisa, Virginia; the longestenduring and largest secular intentional community in North America. I’m
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“Zhankoye is where we serve lunch and dinner,” adder says, as he takes me on a whirlwind of a tour. “You’ll be at Beechside, in Kaweah, right past
spaces total, but that doesn’t include the various other community buildings. There’s Nashoba, Degania, where the children have daycare, the Video Shack, Emerald City, where the community packages its tofu, hammocks and seeds and the Courtyard, to mention a few. I’ve arrived at a small, fully functional city and I feel equal parts of fear and excitement. I follow adder down the path, passing Pagan Ridge and the gardens. A group
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of people harvest potatoes and share laughs while tossing root
still exist?” Much to his surprise, they did. He found Twin Oaks and
vegetables into white, five-gallon buckets. A beaming blonde
after his three-week visitor period, he fell in love. “I guess I had
woman passes us with her tiny child, who sports what looks like
this idea that I’m in my early 20’s, I just finished college. If I’m ever
recently dyed, bright blue hair. We curve up the path and are
going to do something like living on a commune, now is the time
greeted by a covering of thick, tall walnut trees and withering
do it.” Seven years later, adder has two sons, a partner, and plans
dense pines. The Monoccan Forest, according to my map. The
to stay at Twin Oaks at least until Colin, his youngest at 19 months,
rest of the community is sprinkled throughout the woods. There’s
is an adult. “In a lot of ways, I’m meeting sort of the mainstream
the tofu hut, the sweat lodge, the hammock shop and others – all
metrics of success, if you’re willing to be a little bit fuzzy about the
accessible by paths like veins leading to the multiple hearts beating
definition,” adder says. “Sure, I don’t have a mortgage, but I have a
in Twin Oaks.
house, I’ve got a family, I have a stable career.”
° ° ° adder Oaks sits on the edge of his bed as he folds laundry
° ° ° The Twin Oaks Community can thank an author named B.F.
and discusses his reasons for leaving behind the society that he
Skinner for its conception. Inspired by a book titled “Walden
was raised in. He wears a thick, wool sweater and skinny, black
Two,” Twin Oaks began as an “experimental community” and was
tights. Yesterday, he wore a flowy skirt. The day before, he sported
founded by eight members in 1967. A controversial book in its time,
suspenders. He’s your stereotypical intellectual – black plastic
“Walden Two” is largely based on a fictional utopian community
frame glasses, math major, dad jokes for days, not to mention the
that employs socio-politico-economic structures such as sexual
community’s only IT manager. But unlike some residents, adder
equality, free will, behavioral modification and the common
did not have a clear motive when he decided that he wanted
good. Twin Oaks Co-founder Kat Kinkade drew directly from B.F.
to live alternatively. After graduating from college, moving into
Skinner’s utopia when acquiring 450 acres of land from a family
his parent’s house and experiencing a lackluster job search, he
friend to create an alternative society with seven other friends.
decided on a whim to type into Google, “do hippie communes
Kinkade created the commune in a way that everyone owns an
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TOP LEFT: Jeli scrapes hair off of a cow hide after soaking the skin in a chemical cream. Jeli plans to use the hide to create shoes for community members. TOP RIGHT: Lioness plays with a homemade anemometer he created to measure the wind speed.
equal part in the rights to the land. Through a tax status very similar
egalitarian, income sharing, large and secular,” says Valerie Renwick,
to a monastery, the Twin Oaks community is considered to be
a Twin Oaks resident for 26 years. “Because we are that, we’re able
its own legal entity. In the eyes of the government, the tax status
to have a strong cultural force. If you’re a community of ten people,
allows for every member to have a shared stake in the affairs of the
that’s great; but you don’t have the same strong cultural reality as a
community and acreage.
group of 100 people.” That’s right. 100 people currently live at Twin
“We were trying to make a new and better society,” Kinkade remembers in her history of creating Twin Oaks, “Is It Utopia Yet?”
Oaks, with a constant waiting list for new members. The second time I met Valerie, she was wearing no pants as she joined me at the sink in the dormitory-style living space. A couple
“There was no task on earth more important, or certainly more interesting, than the building of an egalitarian community.” – Kat Kinkade, Co-founder of Twin Oaks
of stray whiskers coyly poke from her chin, occasionally glinting in the soft, orangey glow of the hallway light. She explains to me, in between spitting toothpaste into the communal sink, that I need to be careful about the electricity in my section of the house. The home was split in half; the section I was staying in solely fueled by solar electricity. Valerie wishes me goodnight and pads off to her bedroom. Valerie moved to Twin Oaks in the winter of 1991. Growing up in the suburbs of Ottawa, Canada, she says she would look
“Central to my own happiness was my conviction that there was no
around, cringe, and think, “this is not going to be my life. I didn’t
task on earth more important, or certainly more interesting, than
know what it was going to be, but I knew it wasn’t going to be that.”
the building of an egalitarian community.”
“Mainstream Society,” which is how many Twin Oakers refer to the
Fifty years later, Twin Oaks has strayed slightly from the original
world outside of their community, is what drove Valerie and many
pillars; but the community remains true to their values of feminism,
others to seek an alternative living situation. The story repeats itself
egalitarianism, social justice, nonviolence and sustainability.
for most members; they are unhappy with conventional norms
“There’s almost no other community that falls into all those criteria –
and searching for a clear alternative to an unsustainable cultural
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and political system. “The mainstream does not support a diverse
and resources must be shared and earned proportionately. Each
group of human beings,” Valerie explains. “It heavily favors people
member works 42 hours a week in a labor-contribution system
who are white, it heavily favors people who have money, it heavily
that basically means they record hours completing tasks that the
favors people who are straight, etc.,” she says as she passionately ticks off the reasons she removed herself from the mainstream.
° ° ° It’s 6:00 p.m. at Twin Oaks and the community slowly arrives at Zhankoye, fondly referred to as “ZK”, for dinner. Some might be coming from a garden shift, where they may have spent their afternoon harvesting crate after crate of potatoes – enough to feed the community until next spring. Other members might be arriving from a shift at the hammock shop or perhaps the tofu hut, where they generate most of their income. Still others might be arriving with children in tow (for most, not their biological kids), finishing up a shift as “primary,” Twin Oaks’ tried-and-true arrangement of systematic shared parenting. For Twin Oaks to be a true egalitarian community, income
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“There’s almost no other community that falls into all those criteria’s – egalitarian, income sharing, large and secular.”
ABOVE LEFT: Freshly planted seedlings soak up the afternoon light.
boundless. Pillow making for the hammock chairs, organizing the
It’s where he met his wife of 26 years, Kristen, and where they have
wood cutting crew to heat their shared living residences, visitor
raised both of their boys. Keenan was attending George Mason
ABOVE RIGHT: Arlo measures the milk after the morning milking of the community’s four current dairy cows.
correspondence, primary-ing for the community’s 15 or so kids; the
University, president of the student government, with the goal
list goes on. “I think that it keeps you more engaged if you get to
of becoming an entrepreneur when he started fantasizing about
vary your work throughout the day,” says Valerie. “It’s really healthy
utopian communities. He started questioning his schooling and
for your body and healthy for your mind to be alternating between
the hours required. When told he should pursue opportunities
some physical work and some sedentary work throughout the day.
that he did not love so as to not overly invest his time and money,
All physical work or all sedentary work is not as healthy for your
“something broke” inside his head.
body – that’s what I believe.” Keenan Dakota stretches back in his suspended hammock
“Okay,” Keenan thought, “sixty – 80 hours a week doing something that you don’t love – how is that different at all from
chair and casually swats at an insect. He has a crop of wiry auburn
any sort of mainstream corporation where you could work
hair and a mischievous sparkle in his bespectacled eyes. He looks
less?” Keenan moved to Twin Oaks, two classes short of earning
like any average dad that you might see picking up his kid at
his degree, and never looked back. When asked about where
community deems to be “labor creditable” and equal. Valerie does
soccer practice or grilling burgers at the park. I had been told that
he sees himself living in the future, Keenan leans back in his
many jobs at Twin Oaks, sometimes it seems never-ending, she
in a community where the majority of its residents have left the
hammock chair, interlaces his fingers across his belly, and smiles
says. And she’s not exaggerating. With separate tofu, hammock,
mainstream because they were anti-social, Keenan is arguably the
mischievously. “So, one of the things that I do is that I try to do
furniture, and seed businesses, the labor opportunities are
most outgoing. Keenan has been living at Twin Oaks since 1983.
long-range planning,” he says. Specifically, Keenan explains, he
– Valerie Renwick, Twin Oaker for 26 years
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actively maintains the cemetery. He pauses, raises an auburn
with the mothers for an unusually long amount of time. Now, the
eyebrow in my direction, and begins to laugh. “My retirement plan,
community was short on milk and opinions were flowing much faster
six feet under.”
than the current dairy.
° ° °
When I arrive to ZK for Saturday night dinner, I beeline for the
In an egalitarian community with equal stake in the resources, opinions are freely shared and disagreements happen. But don’t
bulletin board where the community posts about anything from
worry, there’s a team for that. The process team exists specifically
events, name changes (which is encouraged for brand-new Twin
to help manage interpersonal conflicts. “The sign of the health
Oakers), concerns, jubilations, to updates. The board works as a
ABOVE LEFT: Finely checks the ripeness of a persimmon after dinner. ABOVE RIGHT: Zadek poses for a portrait in the soft glow of evening light. Zadek is 12-years-old and has spent his entire life living at Twin Oaks.
sliding 3x5 card system, with the most up-to-date cards on the left-hand side and shuttles the older ones off to the right. It reminds me of a Facebook newsfeed for alternative communities. I scan the cards for relevant updates. Erika, who I had met the day before while harvesting potatoes, changed her name to Belle. One member was arranging a group trip to go hiking. Seth, a jovial man in his early 20’s, expressed interest in arranging a group to learn Esperanto, a universally spoken, second language. My eyes land on a card a member wrote accusing the community of censorship after their first
“Sure, I don’t have a mortgage, but I have a house, I’ve got a family, I have a stable career.” - adder Oaks, Twin Oaker for seven years
card mysteriously “disappeared” from the board. The missing card
of the group is not whether you have a conflict, because there is
had apparently voiced disapproval of the decision to not separate
always conflict in any group,” Valerie says. “The sign of the health of
a mother cow and her calf earlier. I had heard some buzz about a
the group … is how you handle the conflict that inevitably arises.”
milk shortage that was created due to keeping the newly born calves
Several other teams have been established over time to deal with
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Belle, who changed her name from Erika after her first two weeks as a member, steadies crates of potatoes in the back of a pickup truck en route to the cellar. Belle helped to harvest 132 crates of potatoes – enough to feed the community until next spring.
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different aspects of life at Twin Oaks. There’s the health team,
group of about five, faceless shadows. As my eyes adjust, I spy
the mental health team, the economics team, the child team,
some familiar faces. There’s Bobby, a shy woman with long,
the membership team, the list goes on. “At age 50… we’ve
wavy brown hair. I also recognize Anande, who uses “they”
mostly got it down,” says Valerie.
pronouns, and has worn the same pair of quirky, patched
To say they’ve got it down is an understatement. Twin Oaks
“At Twin Oaks, that fear is just basically erased. You know you’re going to get taken care of, you know there’s going to be healthy food, you know the community is going to continue to exist.” – Keenan Oaks, Twin Oaker of 34 years
around the fire, a guitar cradled in Anande’s lap, and a bottle
not exist, but members of Twin Oaks might feel that over the
of gin circles around. “Let’s sing The Tampon Song!” suggests
past 50 years, they’ve come pretty close. The community has
a girl named Jules, who seems to be the trailblazer of the fire
successfully eliminated the rat race and constant panic that
gathering, with short, bleached hair and an easy laugh. Anande
ABOVE LEFT: Claire kisses her daughter, four-year-old Grace, at Twin Oaks Community. Grace recently dyed her hair blue after her friend Franky, also four, dyed her hair earlier in the week.
is mainstream greed and conventional success. “Even the
starts playing some chords, and the group begins to sing...
ABOVE RIGHT: The sun rises over Twin Oaks Community. Many of the buildings still stand from the original community, built by the eight founders in 1967.
community is going to continue to exist.”
wealthy people are very concerned about losing their stuff, there’s just this fear,” says Keenan. “At Twin Oaks, that fear is just basically erased. You know you’re going to get taken care of, you know there’s going to be healthy food, you know the
° ° ° A couple of nights after I arrive, I hear about a bonfire happening at Bozo Beach. Fire juggling and a conversation on the fragility of sexuality will follow. I walk to the beach after dinner, fumbling for my cellphone flashlight in the soupy black of the night. Over 40 miles from the nearest city, Twin Oaks is blanketed in thick rural darkness. The stars look like someone has haphazardly tossed a fistful of glitter onto a jet-black piece of construction paper. I follow the sound of voices to Bozo Beach, which is actually a small pond, where I find a small
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overalls since the day that I arrived. The group sits close
operates like a well-oiled machine. Perfect utopias might
“Tampons aren’t recyclable, And that’s a goddamn shame, They fill up all our landfills And clog the toilet drain.” A shout for more gin is heard from the other side of the bonfire, and the bottle circles again. Everyone joins in on the chorus with uninhibited glee.
“Grab yourself by the pussy, And pull your tampon out, Put it in an envelope, And mail it to the White House, That’s 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C. 20003-3242. I’m sure that Trump will know just what to do.”
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Q&A
A quick trip to the doctor’s is a bit of a faux pas in the Twin Oaks Community. Instead, one might visit Hildegard Ott, the local herbalist that has been living in the commune for the past 30 years. Hildegard has been dabbling in holistic medicine since her daughter was a child. Three decades later, she has built an herb garden of astronomical proportions and provides treatments to the over 100 community members.
How did you become interested in herbalism? I had a small homestead and I started growing herbs there for my family and learned about them through reading and practice. That was 50 years ago and I’ve just been growing, and reading, and growing, and reading, and learning. I try to really encourage people to use the herbs that we can grow right here on the farm because I feel like we get the life force of the area that we’re in rather than going to some other country, particularly where the plants aren’t acclimated to this climate. It’s even better if it can come from the soil where we live and breathe.
Most is your most common herbal remedy? It varies from year to year but the elderberry echinacea is always very popular. Most of what I’m dealing with are colds and flus. Then of course cough medications. I use horehound and elecampane and licorice root, those are the three major ones that I use. Horseradish is really good for the lungs. That can go into the cough medicine, as well. Any of the root crops you want to do in the winter, or late fall. I ran an experiment last year, just to see with the dandelions. I was so anxious to tincture them cause I really wanted to use the herb. So I did them in increments and you would not believe the difference after it had turned really cold. The tincture was almost clear - there wasn’t much that was coming out at all. And then two weeks later, wamee, it turned a dark brown when it was time.
Is there any herb that you would recommend taking on a regular basis? I think the elderberry is great, but I don’t think its absolutely necessary to take any kind of herb on a constant basis because I think it should be saved for when you really need it. You can go out and nibble on the chickweed and parsley and all of those good herbs rather than taking some more processed things.
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“We get the life force of the area that we’re in.” Parsley is just packed full of vitamins and minerals and it’s a blood purifier, it really cleanses the system in a really compacted way. It’s sort of like eating celery. I’m a big believer in just the food and vegetable use of the herbs to keep you in pretty good shape. Right now, dandelion’s most powerful part is the new green leaves that are coming up in the fall growth. All of the juice has settled down to the root, so I’m eating a lot of dandelion leaves when I’m out picking herbs. They’re delicious right now and not so bitter.
What would you recommend for allergies? Nettles. What I suggest to people is to make a tincture. It’s always best to use the spring nettles, if you can get them. And I mean for that season. Let’s say, for example, you take a pint jar and you fill it up with cut up nettles. Then you pour very hot apple cider vinegar over it and let it steep over night and then drain the liquid off of that and add one half cup of honey to it. So you’re hitting it two ways with the vinegar honey mixture and the nettles added to that. Nettles are exceedingly good for allergies. People drink nettle tea, too.
What advice can you give to those new to using herbs? I wish I could encourage more people to grow their own herbs. You don’t have to have a huge garden to do it, you just need a little space. Even in a windowsill you can grow a lot of things. For all purpose, for everything, I would say have a nice pot of comfrey and then grow parsley, and sage, and rosemary, and thyme, and mint, and you can always throw in a cilantro plant or two. And that will pretty well take care of you. The thyme and the sage are both great for colds and flus. And then you have them as culinary herbs, as well. Cilantro is a general tonic for the entire body. I’m learning more and more about all the good things that cilantro does for you so I always eat a plant of that when I’m out there. Comfrey is one of the first herbs I learned about. Out of the root, you can make all sorts of salves and pastes. You don’t want to ingest the root, but I certainly ingest the leaves. I sometimes cook them and eat them like spinach or something.
“That was 50 years ago and I’ve just been growing, and reading, and growing, and reading, and learning.”
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better than
cheddar I
t’s 4 a.m. at Mountain View Farms when Christie begins milking her herd of 148 cows. She’s declared today “swiss” day as she pumps over 500 gallons of milk through the pipes and over the wall into the next-door building. Yesterday was “feta” day, Christie’s favorite time of the week because it is the easiest to make. But regardless of ease, the show must go on as Christie and her crew of two make around 40 wheels of cheese a day. “Right now we’re producing about 5000 pounds of milk a day, which is great because that’s how big my cheese vat is,” Christie says with a laugh.
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Mountain View Farms did not start out with a vat capable of
Since the milk comes directly from the cows, it doesn’t need to
processing 5000 pounds of milk a day. The Huger family moved
be warmed as it would in other, larger facilities, says Christie.
to Louisa, Virginia in 2000 when their oldest son was born. They
After the vat is filled, the culture is added and soon after that,
began with just dairy cows and milk, but after several years and
rennet put into the mixture, which is curdled milk from the
a cheese workshop that Christie took on a whim, the family
stomach of an unweaned calf. “The rennet coagulates the milk,”
realized just how lucrative the cheese business is. Within two
says Christie, “and makes it like a big tub of jello”. An hour later,
years, they were producing cheese at a volume and quality
the milk finishes coagulating and Christie takes a curd knife
high enough to get noticed by a local grocery store. “The whole
and slices through the mixture, separating the curds from the
local foods movement, was really getting started,” Christie
whey. “Depending on what kind of cheese you’re making is what
remembers. “So we were in a good position to sell at that point
you do next, whether you take whey off and add water back or
and we did four or five farmers markets at that time.” Soon, they
whether you heat it,” says Christie. “But whatever process you’re
were picked up by a grocery coop in Harrisonburg, Va. and Sweet
gonna do or whatever kind of cheese you’re going to make, at the
Greens, a salad franchise based in D.C.
end of that, you would drain the whey off and put the cheese in a
° ° ° Six days out of the week, Christie is making cheese. The routine is pretty much the same, although the farm has
ABOVE RIGHT: After the cheese soaks in brine and is waxed, Christie stores the cheese in a separate storage trailer. RIGHT: Dairy cows walk back into the barn after the afternoon milking. On average, the farm milks over 140 cows a day.
hoop and press them.”
° ° ° At 3 p.m., the newly formed cheese drips in the circular, plastic
several different varieties – swiss, cheddar, feta, gouda, colby,
hoops and Christie leaves for the barn for the afternoon milking.
mozzarella, and monterey jack. Every morning begins at 4 a.m.
The process repeats – there’s 40 wheels of cheese to make.
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ABOVE LEFT: Over 500 gallons of milk is warmed at Mountain View Farm before being made into cheese. The farm produces almost 40 wheels of cheese a day.
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