Caroline’s Snow Farm Creamery

At Snow Farm Creamery, it would be an understatement to say that dairy farming was a tradition. The Snows have farmed in Caroline for 200 years. Today, Calvin and Jean Snow run the farm, their son Aaron makes cheese, and their son Jonathan works with Snofarm Dairy, a separate operation focused on wholesale milk sales.

Cheesemaking was a natural extension for Calvin’s great-grandfather’s small dairy operation, particularly in the days before refrigeration. “Cheese is milk steeped in immortality,” Calvin said. To extend shelf life, the Snows turned milk into cheese, butter, and pork — feeding hogs with the leftovers.

While Calvin’s father and grandfather owned a creamery on and off, by the time Calvin took up the family dairy business after graduating from Cornell University with a degree in Biological Sciences, the cheesemaking had fallen by the wayside.

His son Aaron renewed the family cheesemaking, first as a hobby, and then as a business in its own right. The Snows received their license to sell cheese in 2011.

The Snow’s dairy barns house 35 milk cows, primarily Holsteins, Jerseys, Brown Swiss, Dutch Belted, and Milking Shorthorns, and are just down the road from Calvin Snow’s home. The farm operates sustainably, growing all of its own feed with the exception of salt and minerals.

When asked about the size of his business, Calvin said: “We’re not even a small dairy, we’re smaller than small.” So small, in fact, that Calvin and Aaron make the cheese in the basement of Calvin’s home.

All of the cheeses Snow Farm Creamery produces are made from unpasteurized milk, and the styles they make follow time-honored farmstead recipes. Snow Farm Creamery offerings currently in the GreenStar West End cheese case include Baby Swiss and Fetish, a brined white feta. Look for selections to change as Calvin and Aaron make new varieties.