News Flash!
2012 Kidding Season Has Begun!
Go to "Our Goats" Page to see schedule
New for 2012
Valley View Farm and Wolf Meadow Cheese Shares
1 # Monthly Goat and/or Cow's milk cheeses
June - October
$135
Goat Cheeses include
Chevre, Feta, New Meadows & Harmony
(see description of cheeses below)
Cow's Milk Cheeses include
VVFarm's Essex
(see description below)
and
Wolf Meadow Dairy
(made at Valley View Farm Dairy)
Primo Sale, Ricotta, Mozzarella
Scarmorza, Caciocavallo, Caciotta
(see website for description)
Email for more information.
Valley View Farm loves
First Light Farm, CSA
Enjoy local, fresh, organic veggies all season long
For more info: First Light Farm, CSA
About our cheeses
Our specialty cheeses include:
- Valley View Chevre, a soft, fresh goat’s milk cheese either plain, coated with pepper, herbs, chive, dill, or blends of oven roasted garlic, chipotle pepper, toasted pecan and sundried tomato and basil.
New Meadows (1/3 and 1 pound wheels). A soft-ripened cheese (aged 4–6 weeks) in the Camembert style New Meadows has a white, wrinkled, velvety exterior mold. It is more strongly flavored than the soft-fresh chevre; the flavor intensifies as it ages developing a creamy lining between the soft molded exterior and the dense, smooth interior. It is best served at room temperature to allow its full flavor to come forth.- Our Feta is made with whole goat’s milk. It is pure white, crumbly yet creamy and full of flavor.
Named for the Essex National Heritage Area, the Essex is a soft-ripened style cow's milk cheese somewhere between a Camembert and double crème because of the high butter fat in the Jersey milk. Its flavor, intensity and texture changes as it ages and can be eaten anywhere from 6 weeks to 2 months after packaging. Variable with the seasons, the Essex is very creamy, nutty and delicious. It comes in a 1/2 and 1 pound wheel. Harmony is made the same way as New Meadows and Essex, but is a mixture of the Nubian and the Jersey Cow milk.
This year we will begin experimenting with aged styles of cheeses similar to the "Tommes" or mountain cheeses produced in Europe. Ideally theses cheeses are cave aged and we are in the process of designing a cave for our hillside.
We purchase cow's milk from Appleton Farms in nearby Ipswich. Appleton’s is the second oldest farm in America in continued operation and is now owned by the not-for-profit land trust organization -- The Trustees of Reservationsand milk 40 pastured grazed Jersey cows in the original tie stall barn.
Our Kids
Andrew Henry
About the Farm
Peter and Elizabeth Mulholland, started Valley View Cheese in 1998 on Elizabeth’s family farm. The name Valley View was given to the farm in the early 20th century when previous owners transformed an 1830s farmhouse into a “gentlemen’s” summer home. Today the house and barn sit on a high hill with expansive views of the Ipswich River, the small town of Topsfield and the wooded rolling hills of Essex County in northeastern Massachusetts.
Valley View Farm survives as the only dairy in Topsfield and the only cheese producer in Essex County. With kids, human and goat, running through the kitchen, yard and barn, the Mulhollands produce handcrafted farmstead goat milk and artisanal cow milk cheeses for fine food restaurants and groceries and now retail sale. We take pride in our products and our work in preserving the rural scenery, small town atmosphere and farming way of life into the 21st century.
About Us
Peter grew up in neighboring Ipswich sailing and fishing. Always interested in machinery, carpentry and manufacturing, he saw farmstead cheesemaking as a way to a "renaissance" lifestyle. One part animal husbandmen, one part mechanic, one part carpenter, foodie and on and on. He also works off the farm as a registered investment advisor at Phalanx Asset Management in Topsfield.
Valley View Farm is Elizabeth's family home. She left it's tranquility to study history at Bowdoin College and historic preservation at the University of Pennsylvania. Still very much involved in preserving the architectural heritage of New England, Elizabeth divides her time caring for sons Andrew and Henry and the goats, making and selling cheese and volunteering in her community to preserve and promote history, architecture, farming and life in a small town.
Elizabeth's mother Mary Brown is also a critical part of Valley View Farm. The actual owner of the farm, Mary helps keep life on the farm and in the house running smoothly. Her main responsibility is taking care of the annual crop of goat kids. They are treated to the "good life" by starting out in her kitchen, where most folks like to hang out when visiting the farm. Mary is also the main deliverer of Valley View's cheeses on the North Shore.
Valley View Farm also raises chickens, turkeys and bees and every March boils down sap from the Farm's maple trees to produce about 18 gallons of syrup.