Bobolink Dairy

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Bobolink and the White family are settled in, more or less, although we haven't unpacked all the books yet. The grazing season will end in a few days, but we will be baking and marketing right through the winter, until the calves start coming in March of 2011.

It has been a year full of change: new farm, new community, new oven and shop, and most importantly, we are now settled in our permanent home, where we are putting down roots deep in the soil.

Artisan Cheesemakers and Land Trust collaborate to preserve historic farm Hunterdon Land Trust and local cheese makers work together to preserve historic farmstead in Holland Township, Hunterdon County picasaweb.google.com/KateButtolph/StametsProperty The Stamets Farm sits atop a hill with beautiful views of the Delaware River and has been farmed by just two families since the American Revolution. When William Stamets, whose family had owned the farm for generations, passed away in 2001, many people feared the property would be developed, ending the tradition of family farming on the land that had endured for hundreds of years. On Monday March 29th those fears were put to rest with the culmination of a deal coordinated by the Hunterdon Land Trust. By purchasing the development rights to the property the land trust simultaneously protected the land, ensuring that it will always be used as a farm, and made it possible for Nina and Jonathan White, local farmers and cheese makers, to purchase the property as the new home for their environmentally sustainable Bobolink Dairy Farm. This project has such a great outcome--the permanent protection of the largest unpreserved farm in the township and its transfer to a farming family with an established commitment to sustainable agriculture, said Margaret Waldock, Executive Director of the Hunterdon Land Trust Alliance. Preservationists and farmers both have big reasons to celebrate the successful completion of this deal. The farm has great conservation value given its size, soils and the fact that it is located in the middle of hundreds of acres of land that has already been preserved. To lose this property to development would have dealt a serious blow to preservation efforts in the region. Holland Township Mayor Edward Burdzy indicated that the preservation of the Historic Stamets farm represents a milestone in Holland's farmland preservation effort. Bill Stamets would be proud that the land will continue in agricultural use said the Mayor. Like many family farmers Nina and Jonathan White have found it challenging to find a farm to buy, given the cost of real estate in New Jersey which is often a significant barrier to famers. They are well known cheese makers producing high-quality artisanal cheeses from their Bobolink Dairy, established on leased land in Vernon, NJ. For many years the Whites had searched for a farm to purchase as a permanent home for their herd of 100 rustic Bronze Age cattle. Their long search came to an end when the land trust showed them the Stamets Farm in Holland Township. The Hunterdon Land Trust secured grant funding to preserve the farm through the purchase of an agricultural easement from the Stamets estate and then the Whites purchased the preserved property from the estate. The deal required the participation of a large group of partners to fund the purchase of the $1.4 million conservation easement, and a great deal of work to coordinate all of the partners involved. The Hunterdon Land Trust secured preservation grants through a variety of public and private sources. The state of New Jerseys farmland preservation program, the Hunterdon County farmland preservation program, and Holland Township all contributed funds and the New Jersey Conservation Foundation provided $700,000 in Federal Farm and Ranchland Protection Funds to secure an agricultural easement on the farm. We are very pleased to contribute a portion of our federal farmland grant to the Hunterdon Land Trust and support their efforts to preserve this farm, said Michele S. Byers, executive director of New Jersey Conservation Foundation. Bobolink Dairy is a terrific example of a sustainable dairy operation, and we congratulate the Hunterdon Land Trust on their success in helping the White family find a permanent home for their farm in Hunterdon County. The Open Space Institute provided a bridge loan which allowed the land trust to close the project in time to meet the March 29 closing date, while the land trust waited to receive a portion of the grant funding. Hunterdon Land Trust has a great track record of agricultural preservation in Hunterdon County, and this is a project were proud to be involved with, said Marc Hunt, the Southern Appalachians field coordinator for the Open Space Institute. The acquisition of this easement will allow the farmer to purchase land that sustains his operation at an affordable price. This is a model for an innovative project by a land trust that really does it right. The Whites cheeses and breads are currently sold on their rented farm in Vernon, NJ, in farmers markets throughout the NYC region, including the indoor market on Sunday in Stockton, NJ, as well as nationally via their website, www.cowsoutside.com. After their move to Holland Township, Bobolink cheese and breads will also be available for sale at the Hunterdon Land Trusts Farmers Market at Dvoor Farm. Bringing Bobolink Dairy together with the Stamets property demonstrates how the preservation and farming communities can work together to keep family farms a part of our county and to build the local food system said Waldock. The Hunterdon Land Trust is Hunterdon County, New Jerseys only countywide land trust. Incorporated as a 501 (C) (3) non-profit organization in 1996, the land trust is committed to preserving and protecting the rural landscapes and natural resources of Hunterdon County. To learn more about the Hunterdon Land Trust, please visit their website at www.hlta.org. ###

BobolinkLLC Dairy derives its name from the ground-nesting bird that frequents its pastures and meadows. In Spring 2003, we began making cheese from the milk of our twenty mixed-breed, grass-fed cows. This season, we'll be milking between 40-45 cows, and we have a bumper crop of young heifers and bulls of our new breed, the Bobolink Blacks, which are the result of crossing several common "modern" dairy breeds (Ayrshire, Guernsey, Jersey, etc.) with the ancient Kerry cattle of Ireland.

In addition to the farming and cheesemaking, we also bake rustic, breads to go with our cheeses. Our new wood-fired oven, designed by the late Alan Scott, has a hearth that measures 48 X 72 inches (about 1.2 X 1.8 metres). Like our first oven, it is a single-chamber "black oven", the sort that has been in use since ancient times. In engineer-speak, it's a biomass-fueled combustion chamber and thermal stack, which stores the heat from an overnight wood fire in its hearth, walls and dome, and re-rediates the stored heat during the bake.

As many of you already know, our younger son, Jacob, now 18, is autistic: while he is quite intelligent, he has very limited speech capability, equivalent to about a typical three year old. Despite his disability, Jake is very outgoing, engaging, curious, and diligent about matters that engage him.

Two matters that definitely engage Jake: cows and baking. Our kids have spent a lot of time in and around dairy farms, and Jake seems to have a particular affinity with cows, and cows seem to respond well to him--hey, they don't even know that he has a speech handicap! As for baking, those who know Jacob know well his passion for mixing, kneading, baking and, most importantly, eating baked goods.
So, among the many reasons for our family's move, is that we hope to make a bright future for Jacob. In my extensive collection of old dairy and farm books, there are many photos of people working on farms and in cheese factories, who appear to have one learning disability or another.
One photo that particularly comes to mind is of a young man in perhaps the 1950s, with biceps like Popeye's, operating a manual cheese press. His bright-eyed, proud and smiling face belies the markers of Down syndrome, although there is no mention of it in the text. This young man had a good job and was proud of it. Nowadays, a Down kid or someone like Jacob is more likely to have a job raking leaves or putting parts in a bag on an assembly line.

Agriculture and food production, in simpler times, had more room for people with disabilities. As modernity has taken its toll of the quality and flavorfulness of food, it has also eroded the opportunities for those of us who are different. So, wish us well as we set out to set it right!

Internships can take the following forms:
Academic Internship: We may be able to develop an internship to meet your school's academic requirements. (some schools call them "externships"). Typical culinary internships of, say, 18 weeks, will be offered in conjunction with recognized culinary arts programs.
Seasonal appenticeships: For the serious would-be cheese and/or bread artisan, a full-season (10-12 month) apprenticeship is available, including all aspects of grass-based milk production, cheesemaking, ripening room operations, baking, and direct marketing.

Individuals interested in Bobolink Internships should write a brief letter describing their goals, education or prior experience, and send it along with three references via email by clicking here .

Everyone should be able to enjoy full-flavor, well-made natural cheese, artisanal cheeses that are designed to nourish the body as well as the spirit, as opposed to industrial cheeses which are merely convenient to make and distribute.
Dairy farmers should be well rewarded for making the most healthful, natural milk possible, while improving their land for the next generation. To accomplish this, we believe that it is necessary to break the cycle of overproduction, where lower margins force farmers to "squeeze the cows" to produce more milk, thereby driving margins even lower, while destroyimg both the environment and the health of the animals.
Cows and other dairy animals should also live well: producing only as much milk as is healthful for them. This means that dairy animals should live out of doors, eating grass and being milked seasonally, and not indoors, being fed grain, animal by-products and hormones, and being milked to death.
We want to raise our children in a world where farming, and indeed all other human activity, is done thoughtfully and sustainably, with long-term well-being taking priority over immediate gain. This requires thoughtful cooperation between producers and consumers. It also requires all people to aspire to a deeper understanding of how their individual actions affect both their own future, as well as the future of all living things: enlightened self-interest.

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Support your local artisan: baker, cheesemaker, soapmaker, glassblower, etc. Would you want to live in a world without them?

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We offer several programs, ranging from short presentations to full day, hands-on cheesemaking classes.

Who we are, and how to reach us:
Grassland Cheese Consortium was founded by Jonathan White, Cheesemaker and Nina Stein White, Dancemaker , who established Egg Farm Dairy in 1994. They left Egg Farm in June 2000, and started the Grasslands Cheese Consortium, in order to share their cheesemaking experiences with others. Now, at Bobolink Dairy, they are continuing the work of the GCC through professional internships and workshops for the general public.

Rosner Soap--if you love our cheeses, we know that you'll love Kiki & Yaron's soaps, too.