Say cheese

May 31, 2006

One way to experience Vermont's bounty is to taste cheeses. The cheese trail map, published by the Vermont Cheese Council, lists 35 cheesemakers and farms, details what kind is made and whether the farm is open to the public. At Taylor Farm, where Holsteins and Jerseys are milked and cheese is made year-round, owner Jonathan Wright says, ``We're very tourist-oriented." But a visitor from Pennsylvania wandered into the farmhouse kitchen at Peaked Mountain Farm recently and thought that the cheeses set out were for guests, rather than a tasting for a reporter.

At some farms, visitors can watch cheese being made, pet calves, and take hay rides. Other farms, such as Star Hill Dairy, where water buffalo milk makes yogurt and cheese, limit hours. Twig Farm in West Cornwall, a small operation, can't handle visitors.

The Brattleboro Food Coop keeps a large stock of local cheeses. The Vermont Cheese Trail map is available at www.vtcheese.com; it links to websites from each farm, and lists local farmers' markets.

Blue Ledge Farm, Salisbury, 802-247-0095; visitors by appointment.

Cabot Creamery Cooperative, Montpelier, 888-792-2268. Tours year round.

Consider Bardwell Farm, West Pawlet, 802-645-0932. Visitors by appointment.

Crowley Cheese Inc., Healdville, 802-259-2340, tours available.

Jasper Hill Farm, Greensboro, 802-533-2566.

Neighborly Farm, Randolph Center, 802-728-4700, open to visitors, call for hours.

Orb-Weaver Farm , New Haven, 802-877-3755, visitors by appointment.

Peaked Mountain Farm, Townshend, 802-365-4502, open to visitors, call for hours.

Star Hill Dairy, South Woodcock, 802-457-4540, open to visitors, call for hours.

Taylor Farm, Londonderry, 802-824-5690, open to visitors.

Twig Farm, West Cornwall, 802-462-3363.

Vermont Shepherd, Putney, 802-387-4473, open house days, call for information.