Eat Local Eastport

Farmers Market in Eastport, Maine

For eight years we have diligently produced yogurt and kefir for wholesale accounts. We have not missed a single week of getting product on the truck and also have never taken a vacation together. As we grapple with the harsh reality of rising prices and the ongoing struggle to pay our bills coupled with the wish to devote more time to my three kids before they leave home, we are required and excited to embrace change.

We currently produce over thirty different products and have maxed out our schedule and facility. As a result, we are being forced to prioritize the products that are most financially viable for us. These also happen to be the products we are most inspired to create and which will allow us a better quality of life with our family. The truth is, we never set out to run a yogurt and kefir factory. Our dream was to pursue the art of producing amazing milk and turning it into cheese. We’ve been trying hard to do it all but have come to realize we will never be able to pursue our cheese-making when our time and space are dominated by an endless production of yogurt and kefir.

Our business is truly artisan. We make everything by hand (hard-working human beings fill well over 1,000 jars, bottles, and containers a week without any sort of bottling machine). We are committed to purchasing the highest quality organic and local ingredients. We believe in paying our employees a living wage. We strive to create the very best and most natural life for our animals. Though we have been privileged to have access to land, as well as critical grants and low interest loans along the way, we do not have a trust fund or another outside source of income to float our operation. It must survive on its own merits, and this is a hard struggle. Unfortunately, the stark truth is that we live in a society that doesn’t even come close to paying the true cost of food---one which takes animals, people, the environment, and the future into consideration. Due to these methods and realities, we find it very difficult to be profitable at our current scale. It has become necessary to shift from a high volume/low profit model to a lower volume/higher profit one, a model that can come closer to paying these true costs of good food and one that will allow us to diversify our sources of income in order to support our family.

We will continue to offer our delicious organic raw goats’ milk, goat yogurt, and goat cheeses, made with our own milk, for wholesale and retail accounts. As for the cow milk yogurt and kefir, made with milk we must buy in, we will now only be producing small quantities for retail sale. You will still be able to find these well-loved products seasonally at the Common Ground Country Fair and in our “soon to open” Farm Store at our home on Tide Mill Farm. Some of you may have to take a trip to beautiful Downeast Maine, but we promise, it's well worth the effort.

This is, of course, a bittersweet transition for us, but one that we ultimately hope will allow us to delve more deeply into the calling we feel most passionate about: that of farming and producing traditional raw milk aged cheeses by hand. We aspire to make cheeses which are truly a reflection of our beloved farm, our small herd of goats that have names (or my cousin’s cows of Tide Mill Organic Farm), and the diversity of wild flora around us. Shifting to a seasonal dairy and creamery will allow both animals and humans a natural period of rest in the fiercest part of the winter and might even enable us to travel and learn more about the art of cheese-making. Stay tuned for good things to come.

In addition to our Farm Store, we are working towards offering a Farm Stay here at our little goat dairy on the cove, and the occasional Singing Goat Speakeasy for any of you who are intrigued by the thought of eating cheese and drinking herbal cocktails with goats.

With gratitude,
Rachel, Nate, & the Goats