Farmers, Caretakers and Cheesemakers
On the day in early March when our Kingfisher staff visited Chapel Hill Creamery, owner Portia was preparing for the birth of a calf. We sat down to talk near a roomy stall where the cow was separated for the delivery.
Portia McKnight and Flo Hawley, partners and farm co-owners, began their careers in produce at Wellspring Grocery, which eventually became Whole Foods Market. After a combined 20 years in retail, they wanted to get closer to the production of food. Portia was fascinated by both apples and dairy; they chose to focus on dairy, which is better suited to North Carolina’s Piedmont region. They created Chapel Hill Creamery in 2001.
Portia explains that in the 1950’s, you could make a living milking 30-50 cows, but given the current challenging economics of farming, they chose to focus on a value-added product: cheese.
“Cheese is miraculous,” she says, “because you can make so many things, and it’s really just milk.”
Chapel Hill Creamery is unique because all of the milk used in their cheeses comes from their own herd of cows. They raise Jersey cows, which produce less milk than Holsteins, but with superior flavor. Portia and Flo’s work is a blend of farming, animal husbandry and food production.
Portia describes cows as gentle, loving creatures. “People think they’re boring,” she says, “but they’re not. They all have their own personalities and they play from time to time.”
A deep respect for animals is the guiding doctrine on this farm. Chapel Hill Creamery is Animal Welfare Approved, which demands the highest animal husbandry standards.
The process required to produce milk is often overlooked, because as consumers we are distant from the food system. Portia states it bluntly: “You can only milk the girls. And you can’t milk them until they have a calf.” Each year, the cows have a new calf and are milked twice a day for ten months. Many of the cows live for 14 years and birth 12 calves.
Between milking, the cows at Chapel Hill Creamery graze on spacious, lush pastures.
Portia is listening for sounds from the pregnant cow nearby as she tells us about the farm. She takes out her phone and types a text. She mutters, “baby in the way”, deletes, and retypes, “baby ON the way.” Eventually, she places a call to her coworker, calmly saying, “We’re gonna have a baby here in a little bit.”
Portia explains that Chapel Hill Creamery is focused on the local community. “Flo and I are grounded in North Carolina,” she says. “We’re from here and we want to stay here.” She observes that as a country, we have lost much of the regional personality of our food.
“Our intention is to be of a size where we really fit into our local community,” Portia says. “We don’t want to grow beyond that.”
Chapel Hill Creamery attends three weekly farmers’ markets. Portia describes these markets as “the best kind of retail,” because everyone is in a good mood and you can get to know your customers.
Towards the end of our conversation, Portia yells out to her coworker, “We got feet?” She enters the stall to assist with the birth of the calf, as we peek in from a distance. The calf is born safely and the staff begin tending to the baby and mother with care.
Later, on a tour of the farm, Portia explains how a cow chewing its cud is turning grass into energy. She gets excited watching the cow, “I love to watch this,” she says. “I never thought this is how I’d get my kicks, but I do.”