We are excited to announce that Milwaukee county milk will come to Milwaukee’s only cheese maker! Milwaukee Zoo has a small herd of cows that are treated very well and produce some of the highest quality, best milk in the state. Clock Shadow Creamery now uses this milk to make cheese. Close proximity to the Clock Shadow Creamery and the high quality of the milk allow us to make the best fresh cheese.

So. Spring is here(ish).

Things here at the creamery are moving along quite nicely, and we’ve got some new items we thought we would share.

First off, just a couple of weeks ago, Environmental Reporter Susan Bence at NPR affiliate WUWM did a wonderful TWO PART piece on our goat farm and our cheese:

Part 1: Link

Part 2: Link

As always, Susan did a great job conveying what is so important about this partnership and helped us share this project with all of you in a way that we just couldn’t do on our own. Thank you, Susan!

In additional goat news: the goat cheddar is here! We have our first batch of goat cheddar in the retail store and ready to go. Completely biased opinions indicate it is the best goat cheese ever. Once again, great milk helped us make a great cheese. It’s got a great taste, and to quote Bob Wills: “It’s really pretty,” and it is. No color was added and it’s a beautiful stark white color. You really have to see it! Be sure to eat it, too. That’s what it’s there for. We DO have samples available, by the way.

We’re also very happy to announce our special(hopefully very long term) guest cheesemaker: Anna Landmark.  Anna is and is of Landmark Creamery (link) and she’s producing what we think is the first sheep’s milk cheese ever made in the city of Milwaukee! We’re really enjoying working with and learning from her, and we’re hoping to have some of her elegant and delicious cheese available very soon. We’ll keep you posted.

Time to run. Keep an eye out for us this summer at your favorite farmer’s market and be sure to stop in and visit. We have some more interesting things around the corner!

Eat more cheese!

Spring has…well, almost sprung here in Milwaukee. We’ll be the first to admit that this winter has been brutal. We’ve had a couple of teaser days, with hopefully more to come. It’s been a while since our last post, but we haven’t been slacking. We’ve been making new friends, hanging out at the winter farmer’s market, shippin’ some cheese, sponsoring new events in the community and….(gasp) making NEW CHEESE!!!

As many of you have probably read and hopefully(for you) have tasted, we are now in the goat cheese business! We made our first batch of chévre on March 19th, 2014 and we’re absolutely thrilled with it. (If you see Ron here at the creamery, be sure to pat him on the back–he nailed it!) The goat milk is fabulous, and it’s really allowing us to make some great cheese. We’re excited for several reasons. 1) It’s good. It’s just really yummy. 2) Many people that are mildly lactose intolerant can enjoy goat cheese. (obviously, check with your doctor) So we’re happy to be able to bring cheese to some people who didn’t think they’d be able to eat it! 3) Like most of our cheese, we’re really happy to be able to offer you-our community- FRESH cheese. To be able to offer FRESH chévre? Forget about it-we’re over the moon! It’s currently available in our retail store with other retailers in the area soon to follow. You’ll also be seeing it in your favorite restaurants very soon.(OK, some are using it already) We’re going to have goat cheddar available very soon,  with Capriko (a goat/cow blend) to follow, so stay tuned!!

Soooo…where do you get GOAT milk?

The goat farm. That was easy. Seriously though, we’re very fortunate to have forged a close relationship with a small, sustainable goat farm just about 30 miles north of us in Port Washington, WI. ‘Tis the season for increasing milk production and things are definitely ramping up. Is there anything cuter than a baby goat? Yes, there is: 100 of them. The farm may be small, but it’s growing and as we mentioned, really delivering some amazing milk. Happy goats=good milk, and he’s got some happy goats! We think this a match made in heaven because everyone involved has the same core values and we’re all employing sustainable practices while working to have a minimal impact on this great planet of ours. This is probably a good time to tell you that Clock Shadow Creamery is super green, right? Did you know all of our electricity is wind generated, thanks to our friends at WE Energies? Additionally, every week we ship our whey (waste product from production) to a biodigester just down the street. There, it’s converted into clean, renewable electricity. Enough electricity to offset our natural gas consumption (for our vats) AND have enough left over to power an average american home for an entire month. So every year, we generate enough electricity to power a home for over 4 years. Which we think is pretty darn cool. OK, back to the goat farm…

The farm was originally a dairy farm and has been in the process of converting to goats over the past year or so. The farmer employs sustainable practices and treats the goats with love and respect, which we really dig. We’ll have more on this story, as well as all the parties involved as we progress. It’s a really great time here at Clock Shadow, and we’re very thankful to have this opportunity.

Speaking of thankful, we don’t want to miss the opportunity to thank you, our loyal customers. We’ve made it through a long, hard winter, and we made it with your help and unwavering support–so THANK YOU!! We really enjoy being able to provide fresh cheese to our friends, families, and neighbors right here in Milwaukee, along with our extended friends and family around the state and a few throughout the country! We have a pretty good gig going here. People of Milwaukee can come right to the creamery for fresh cheese. That’s an opportunity that other cities just don’t have.

That’s about it for now, but we’ll be back soon. In the mean time, if there are any cheeses you’re interested in seeing on our shelves or in our vats–speak up! We’d love to hear from you. Until next post–EAT MORE CHEESE!!