{"id":34919,"date":"2018-08-02T07:45:32","date_gmt":"2018-08-02T11:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/?p=34919"},"modified":"2021-08-24T15:32:57","modified_gmt":"2021-08-24T19:32:57","slug":"good-shepherdess-green-dirt-farm-missouri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/good-shepherdess-green-dirt-farm-missouri\/","title":{"rendered":"The Good Shepherdess: The Women of Missouri’s Green Dirt Farm"},"content":{"rendered":"

E<\/span>liza Spertus steps onto her front porch and the screen door slams behind her. It\u2019s 6 a.m.; the sun is coming up over her shoulders as she gazes west to survey the pasture that lies beyond the dirt lane running perpendicular to her house. As she crosses the road, her eyes are fixed on the yellow and green expanse of native grasses that slopes away from her to meet the rolling bluffs of the Missouri countryside.  <\/p>\n

Her lips move quickly but silently as she counts: 48, 49, 50<\/em>\u2026Every member of Spertus\u2019 flock is present and accounted for this morning, though that\u2019s not always the case. There are some days when herding sheep on the 150-acre farm is more like herding cats. She often has trouble with a lamb named Houdini, whose knack for slipping through fencing defies logic\u2014and it always seems to happen when it\u2019s most inconvenient. The great escapist has been found roaming the neighbor\u2019s yard after bedtime, or more memorably attempting to photobomb a wedding taking place on the farm grounds. Spertus has had to become adept at wrangling him back into the herd quietly and without disturbing others.  <\/p>\n

This is not the average workplace anecdote for a 27-year-old woman in America. While most of her friends are navigating the bureaucracies of office life or beginning their residencies, Spertus spends her days knee-deep in pastures, accompanied by a band of border collies, herding her flock of 150 sheep from paddock to milking parlor, erecting fences, and performing maintenance on farm equipment. She\u2019s the farm manager at Green Dirt Farm<\/a>, she\u2019s a woman, and she\u2019s a total badass.  <\/p>\n

\"eliza

Eliza Spertus and Sarah Hoffman at Green Dirt Farm in Weston, Mo.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

THE FARM <\/h2>\n

Green Dirt Farm in Weston, Mo., is a sheep dairy and creamery owned and operated by Sarah Hoffmann, who left a medical career in Seattle 22 years ago and landed here, 40 miles northwest of Kansas City, with her husband, John Spertus, and their children, Eliza, Jacob, and Daniel.  <\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to start a sustainable small business so my children would have the benefits, joys, and life lessons of growing up on a farm,\u201d says Hoffmann. And as it turned out, she had just the skillset for cheesemaking. \u201cMy aunt owned a gourmet cheese shop when I was a teenager. She taught me to love great cheese. My undergraduate education was in chemistry, and my [medical] interest was microbiology. [Cheese] is my true calling.\u201d <\/p>\n

The way Hoffmann runs Green Dirt Farm is a testament to the adage that it\u2019s the little things that make the big things happen; her attention to detail starts from the ground up. A high priority is placed on sustainability\u2014Green Dirt Farm is Animal Welfare Approved, a designation that involves a rigorous process to prove they raise their animals humanely and operate with the environment in mind\u2014and that means caring for the soil first and foremost, employing practices that prevent erosion and help build topsoil. Hoffmann believes that healthy soil grows delicious grass, which makes for happy and well-fed sheep, which in turn produce tasty milk for their cheeses.  <\/p>\n

The care and effort don\u2019t go unnoticed; Green Dirt Farm consistently wins awards for their farmstead cheeses, and crowds of locals and tourists alike drive the gravel-laden back roads of Weston\u2019s farmlands daily to stand in line at the on-site creamery for sandwiches and cheese boards. <\/p>\n

\n

\u201c[Cheese] is my true calling.\u201d<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\"sarah

Farm owner Sarah Hoffmann.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

THE WOMEN <\/h2>\n

On a warm autumn day, I\u2019m one of those visitors, sitting in the sun-filled tasting room chowing down on one hell of a grilled cheese\u2014stacked with Green Dirt Farm\u2019s Bossa<\/a>, Tuffet, and Prairie Tomme<\/a>, as well as ham, pickled green tomatoes, and mayo\u2026good Lord!\u2014and chatting between bites with Spertus and Hoffmann. Spertus pulls her wild and curly hair\u2014a longer version of her mother\u2019s own wild and curly hair\u2014into a ponytail and digs into a sandwich herself. Sitting across the table from them, it\u2019s difficult not to inventory more of their similarities: their wind-chapped cheeks, their total presence when they\u2019re with you, their smiling eyes.  <\/p>\n

The two women also share a passion for the farm life. \u201cWhen you live on a farm, you\u2019re in close proximity to life and death. The animals and plants you\u2019re growing rely on your common sense and your ability to get things done,\u201d says Hoffmann. \u201cIt builds confidence and teaches you to get over your failings and your inability to control what you can\u2019t control. You learn how to respond to and recover from challenges in life. I was longing for that as an adult.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hoffmann was surprised when Spertus came to her three years ago and suggested that she be the one to fill an open farm manager position. \u201cI didn\u2019t know if I was trying to be helpful or actually making a career choice, but I knew it felt right,\u201d says Spertus. \u201cSince then, I\u2019ve fallen in love with it. Working with sheep is a constant practice in controlling things about my personality. I try to give my animals the best life I can, and I have to accept that all things come to an end. There\u2019s beauty in that, and it\u2019s rewarding to experience year after year.\u201d <\/p>\n

It\u2019s expected for a mother to be an influence on her children, but Hoffmann\u2019s impact extends beyond her daughter\u2019s career path to the nearly all-female team of farmers, cheesemakers, managers, and marketers that make Green Dirt Farm a successful operation.  <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re [more than] 80 percent women,\u201d says Hoffmann. \u201cIt\u2019s not intentional, but there may be an unconscious bias involved. I gravitate toward people who are collaborative and who have empathy for others. I think women have those qualities more often than men do.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n

\u201cYou take care of the problem. Then you take care of another problem. And another problem. And then one day it occurs to you that you know how to do this.\u201d<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\"cheesemaker

Rachel Kleine flips week-old wheels of Aux Arcs, which will age for 60 to 90 days.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Whether or not it\u2019s by design, there\u2019s no question that Hoffmann is teaching the women at Green Dirt Farm how to survive and thrive in the male-dominated farming industry. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of pride in being a woman doing this,\u201d says Hoffmann. \u201cThere\u2019s no doubt that there are times we wish for a big burly guy to come take care of a problem we\u2019re having, but we don\u2019t have that. We have to live by our wits when we get into a physical situation. We have to be smart and use our machinery to do something that a man might do faster.\u201d  <\/p>\n

Hoffmann has seen her fair share of women who were intimidated by more than just the physical demands of farm life: Internal strength is also a requirement. \u201cThere are always problems. So you take care of the problem. Then you take care of another problem. And another problem. And then one day it occurs to you that you know how to do this. That\u2019s what happens to the women who work here. Some come not feeling that they\u2019re strong enough, but they quickly learn what they\u2019re capable of.\u201d <\/p>\n

She shares the story of a young woman who interned on the farm a few years ago and found herself alone in a field with a fence to build. She had been struggling for hours, and the sun was beginning to set. All she had was a tangled ball of electric netting and a growing frustration with the project. She later told Hoffmann that she was on the verge of a breakdown when she realized that breaking down wouldn\u2019t solve the problem. No one else was going to do this for her; it was up to her. She muscled through, and she built her first fence. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy mother instills in us a sense of strength and independence, and that we can do what needs to be done,\u201d says Spertus. \u201cWhen challenges occur, she reminds us that we have it in us to find the solutions, instead of telling us how to do things. She gives us the freedom to do it in our own way, and that\u2019s a gift.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"a

A board of Green Dirt cheeses.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

THE CHEESE <\/h2>\n

Life on Green Dirt Farm isn\u2019t all prancing sheep, grilled cheese lunches, and female empowerment. Making a dairy farm profitable is hard enough, but doing so with sheep presents additional challenges.  <\/p>\n

\u201cSheep milk is both easier and harder to make cheese with,\u201d says Hoffmann. \u201cEasier because it is more concentrated, and that means we get a higher yield, and the calcium in the milk makes the curd easier to work with. Harder because there are very few sheep\u2019s milk cheesemaking experts in the U.S., so we had to do most of our learning by trial and error. Harder, too, from an economic perspective because of the very low milk production volume of American dairy sheep. That translates into higher costs to produce the cheese, and that means that the prices on our products have to be much higher than goat and cow\u2019s milk cheeses, making it harder for us to sell the cheese.\u201d <\/p>\n

When Green Dirt Farm introduced its cheeses to the local community 10 years ago, Hoffmann knew the average Midwesterner was unfamiliar with sheep\u2019s milk cheeses. \u201cWe had to educate, and then give them a lot of things to try in order to sell them on the idea,\u201d she says. They experimented with Dutch styles such as gouda and English-style cheddars, but what they found sold best and inspired them most were French styles. Their first releases were spreadable fresh cheeses and a bloomy rind.   <\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIt takes tenacity, but we just keep at it, and keep getting better.\u201d<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As Hoffmann shifted her focus to creating a long-term viable business with Green Dirt Farm, she needed to get out of the make room and into the CEO chair. Enter Rachel Kleine, a former chef who began as Hoffmann\u2019s apprentice in 2012 and has since taken the reins as head cheesemaker. \u201cRachel has become a phenomenal cheesemaker, better than I ever was,\u201d says Hoffmann.  <\/p>\n

Before even joining Green Dirt Farm, Kleine recognized it was a different environment than she was used to. \u201cI loved that the business was female-owned,\u201d she says. \u201c[But] until I started working for Sarah and being mentored by her, I didn\u2019t understand the importance of having a strong woman in leadership. Coming from male-dominated restaurant kitchens, I noticed the difference in communication style and a relaxed freedom to make mistakes. If we\u2019re giving feedback, and trying to become better, there\u2019s not a sense of competition. It comes from a nurturing place.\u201d <\/p>\n

Kleine pioneered the farm\u2019s line of mixed-milk cheeses, which has created more diversity in offerings as well as a solution for when the sheep aren\u2019t producing milk. She is also the brain behind Tuffet, a lactic-style, Geotrichum-rind cheese that\u2019s a cult favorite among their customers.  <\/p>\n

\u201cTuffet was my R&D project under Sarah,\u201d says Kleine. \u201cIt has a lot of challenges; it\u2019s hard to dry properly, to get the rind to grow the way we want it to, and to ward off unwanted mold. I feel like we\u2019re still perfecting and working on that recipe. Our flagship cheeses are consistent now, but our newer recipes we\u2019re still experimenting with. It takes tenacity, but we just keep at it, and keep getting better.\u201d <\/p>\n

I think of Kleine\u2019s words as I drive away from Green Dirt Farm, kicking up dust on the old dirt road, a box of cheeses filling my car with an enticing stink. The sun is going down and the lambs are grazing peacefully in their paddocks. I pass Spertus as she heads back into her house for a good night\u2019s rest before she gets up and does it all again tomorrow. Keeping at it, trying to get better. <\/p>\n

\"cheese

Green Dirt Farm cheeses, clockwise from top center: Tuffet, Wee Woolly, Prairie Tomme, Bossa, Woolly Rind, Aux Arcs, Dirt Lover, and Ruby.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Photography by Jennifer Silverberg<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What if women ruled the world? Sarah Hoffmann and the team at Green Dirt Farm have a microcosmic answer to that burning question.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":34921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26354],"tags":[2206,1867,4170,3742,4171,4176,4173,4172,4175,1160,4169,4177,4174],"coauthors":[1073],"class_list":["post-34919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-animal-welfare-approved","tag-dirt-lover","tag-eliza-spertus","tag-green-dirt-farm","tag-green-dirt-farm-bossa","tag-green-dirt-farm-cheese","tag-green-dirt-farm-prairie-tomme","tag-green-dirt-farm-tuffet","tag-jennifer-silverberg","tag-missouri-farmstead","tag-sarah-hoffmann","tag-women-in-cheese","tag-women-owned-business"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Women of Missouri's Green Dirt Farm<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What if women ruled the world? 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