History of Bleating Heart Cheese

Founded in June 2009, Bleating Heart Cheese began with a mission to enter the artisan cheese industry by producing a very small quantity of unique, handcrafted, premium quality “American Original” sheep milk cheese. Sheep milk is very hard to come by - you cannot just go to the store and buy it!

I was fortunate to begin my cheesemaking by buying milk from my friend and fellow cheesemaker Marcia Barinaga, who owns Barinaga Ranch - California's 4th sheep dairy - in Marshall, CA. I gained a lot of experience helping in the sheep dairy and had a great time sharing Marcia's little creamery with her. By the end of summer 2010, Marcia realized that she needed every precious drop of her flock's milk for her own delicious cheese, which meant she could no longer sell me the amount of milk I needed to keep my cheese in production. So, I had a choice to make: stop making sheep cheese, or get my own sheep.....

In December 2009 I purchased my starter flock. I bought a big truck on Craigslist, drove to Wisconsin and bought myself of 10 pregnant ewes from Swedish Mission Farm, a sheep dairy in Wisconsin and member farm of the Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Cooperative. These ewes are crosses between the East Friesian and Lacaune dairy breeds which are common throughout Europe. East Friesian sheep originated in Germany and are considered to be the highest producing dairy breed by milk volume, while the French Lacaune sheep produce milk with slightly higher milk solids. The famous Roquefort blue cheese from France is made exclusively from the milk of Lacaune sheep. Each of my first 10 ewes was bred to a Lacaune ram from the University of Wisconsin's Spooner Agricultural Research Station, the only university in the United States with a program dedicated to sheep dairying. I attentively cared for these ewes while they lived in the apple orchard in my backyard in Sebastopol. They all gave birth to their lambs in April 2010.

In March 2010, I also purchased 50 dairy ewe lambs from Rebecca King, owner of Garden Variety Cheese in Royal Oaks - California's 3rd sheep dairy. These ewes will be ready for breeding in September 2010.

In June 2010, I purchased 20 more mature dairy ewes and 1 dairy ram from Sheri Palko, owner of Locust Grove Farm, the only sheep dairy & cheese operation in Tennessee.

Bleating Heart Cheese has partnered with experienced Sonoma County sheep ranchers, Rex & Kerry Williams, owners of Williams Ranches who produce the most delicious grass-fed lamb I have ever tasted. The three of us have founded California's 5th sheep dairy - Black Oaks Sheep Dairy, LLC - on their 28 acre farm in Sebastopol. We were officially licensed in June, 2010. Rex & Kerry are responsible for the day-to-day care and management of the dairy flock, while I play a supporting role in the dairy. This arrangement allows me to focus on Bleating Heart where I continue to have full responsibility for all cheesemaking activities. All milk produced by Black Oaks Sheep Dairy is exclusively contracted to Bleating Heart.

Here we are... The 3 partners in the Black Oaks Sheep Dairy, California's 5th licensed sheep dairy. (Rex, Seana, Kerry)