Beltane Farm makes a variety of fine goat milk cheeses. Our award winning Frech Chevre is a favorite, offering a light, creamy flavor with a smooth velvety texture-perfect on a light cracker, toasted bread or as a complement to any green salad. Enjoy plain, rolled in black pepper, dill or scallion. This cheese is excellent as an integral ingredient for many cooked entrées and appetizers. Be sure to see some of the recipes shared by customers at the open-air summer markets around Connecticut.

Our French style ripened cheese Danse de la Lune is especially enjoyed when paired with a fine wine. These hand formed disks are aged for five to six weeks and offer a slightly more piquant, complex dance of flavors.

Beltane refers to the old May Day celebrations of northern Europe. Fresh cheeses and dairy products were enjoyed as an integral part of the celebrations welcoming a renewed milk supply from the successful kidding and lambing season of early spring.

Our seasonal goat milk supply comes from a small herd of black and brown Oberhasli goats-a variety of Swiss origin known for fine quality of milk and gentle disposition. The herd is milked twice daily on our farm in Lebanon, Connecticut.

History

In the early 1980s, Dorothy (D.J.) Joba and Margaret Lashua began raising Oberhasli dairy goats on their farm. Oberhasli goats are a variety of Swiss origin known for their fine quality of milk and gentle disposition. The farm was called Highwater named for its location on the river valley flood plain along side the Connecticut River in South Glastonbury, Connecticut. For the next two decades, Highwater goats competed on the national circuit and the farm name became associated with its bloodline of champion goats and fine breeding stock.

Paul Trubey crossed paths with D.J. and Margaret in 1994. Paul had a life long interest in goats and had been planning to move from his native state of Massachussets to northern NewEngland with his partner Mark and hoped to buy a farm there. The fates decided otherwise and the two ended up in Connecticut where Mark accepted a job teaching Latin in the same school system as DJ.

Paul, a social worker by trade, became involved with the care of the Highwater animals spending weekends and eavenings at the farm helping DJ with the care of the animals. He began making homemade cheese, reading about cheesemaking and visiting artesanal cheese makers around New England. DJ and Margaret agreed that the fine milk of these goats was making a delicious cheese and that Paul should begin the process of finding the necessary eqipment to begin cheese making at the farm.

The cheese operation was licensed by the state of Connecticut and cheese production began in 1999 with the formation of Highwater Dairy LLC at Highwater farm. With the milk of the goats from the Highwater herd, Paul began producing a more consistant quality and a steady production of fresh goat milk cheese (chevre) that were rolled into french style logs some with different herbs on the outside.

Saturday mornings would include a pre-dawn milking, in time to begin the early morning trek from Glastonbury to Kent to sell the cheese at the farmer's market and back in time to get to afternoon market in Storrs. The cheese was well received and the network of farmer's market expanded and grew to include several retail stores and a number of restaurants. In 2000, the cheese was awarded a blue ribbon in the national competition of the American Cheese Society.

In 2002, the dairy operation was moved to its new home Lebanon, at the former Ajemian homestead in Lebanon, Connecticut. The name Beltane refers to the old May Day celebrations of Celtic Europe. In this pagan celebration, fresh cheeses and dairy products were enjoyed as an integral part of the celebrations welcoming a renewed milk supply from the successful kidding and lambing season of early spring. Today, the Highwater herd of Oberhasli along with the introduction of several La Mancha dairy goats (a cross of Swiss and Spanish origin) continue to produce a seasonal goat milk supply for the cheeses of Highwater Dairy LLC at Beltane Farm.