GOODBYE CHEESE LOVERS!

 

10 YEARS OF AWARD-WINNING CHEESES • 2009-2019

Bleating Heart Cheese enjoyed a decade of cheesemaking in California.

Our last remaining cheeses were sold in 2019.

It was our immense pleasure to share our handcrafted, award-winning

"American Original" cheeses with all those who supported us.

This site is no longer being updated,

but all content about our cheeses and our history will remain here.

***PLEASE CONTINUE SUPPORTING LOCAL ARTISAN CHEESEMAKERS***

Mixtress

Mixed Milk
Raw Milk • Natural Rind • Aged 2-3 months
Mixtress: mixed milk cheese made from a blend of sheep and Jersey cow milk

We are totally committed to our sheep milk cheeses here at Bleating Heart, but the sheep milk is seasonal, subjecting us to a long 6 month dry spell. Even when things get going again, it takes a while for the milk to really start flowing enough to meet our needs. So what’s an insatiable cheesemaker to do? We fulfilled our bawdy appetite by blending luscious jersey cow milk with the beloved sheep milk. This 50/50 sheep-cow blend left us feeling quite satisfied and we named our new creation: Mixtress.

Shepherdista

Sheep Milk
Raw Sheep Milk • Natural Rind • Aged 2-3 months
Shepherdista sheep milk cheese from Bleating Heart

Created in 2011, "Shepherdista" is a play on the words 'shepherd' and 'fashionista' as inspired by cheesemaker Seana's commitment to infuse some style and flair into her new-found agricultural pursuits....silver farm boots? Damn right. Wearing lipgloss when hauling milk cans? Of course. Shepherdista is made exclusively from the milk of dairy sheep who live and graze freely on open pastures. The cheese is made by hand and then aged for at least 3 months on wood shelves. We let the rind develop naturally and spontaneously - it's molds gone wild.

The Creamery

Seana at vat making cheese

After several years of renting creamery time from other cheesemakers, we finally found a suitable location to build and equip our own microcreamery. We leased a small building, which used to be the milk house for a cow dairy, located on the 1,000+ acre Thornton Ranch in the little town of Tomales, CA. Renovation work began in earnest January 2013. On the evening of February 23, 2013, we received the blessing from our inspector and made our first batch of cheese there the very next morning.

Silva Family Dairy

The Silva's - Marissa, Louis, and baby Paisley Rose

Silva Family Dairy supplies us with 100% of our organic jersey cow milk. Bleating Heart's creamery is located in the same building as the dairy, so the milk only travels about 20 feet before reaching our cheese vat. The dairy was known as Marshall Home Ranch & Dairy when it first launched, and in 2014-2015 also supplied us with sheep milk. The union of the couple behind this rapidly growing dairy was born from a mutual love of the land, dairying, and each other.