LOCAL SPOTLIGHT: FIREFLY FARMS
Making cheese at FireFly Farms.
LOCAL SPOTLIGHT: FIREFLY FARMS
The art of cheesemaking is underway in Western Maryland.
In the late 1990s, Mike Koch was looking for a change of scenery. For decades, he had been living in Washington, D.C., working a corporate career that provided him little inspiration, while his partner, Pablo, worked long hours as a local chef. As their friends began exiting the rat race and retiring to beaches out east along the Atlantic Ocean, they instead headed in the other direction—to the rural rolling countryside of Western Maryland. In Garrett County, they bought an old farm for rest and relaxation. Soon enough, though, they started dreaming about what they could grow there.
“Garrett County is a little piece of heaven,” says Koch. “We’re eight miles west of the Eastern Continental Divide, in the Ohio Valley watershed, on a forest-covered stretch of elevation called the Alleghany Plateau. It’s this beautiful micro-climate. The terrain is mountainous, and the soil is rocky. Which makes it perfect for goat farming.”
In 2000, he founded FireFly Farms with his partner, Pablo, becoming artisan cheesemakers who have since received international recognition for their array of fresh goat’s-milk cheeses. It made sense: Koch had spent childhood summers on the Iowa dairy farm of his Swiss grandparents, making his first cheese at age six, while Pablo had a similar connection to a cattle ranch in his native Argentina. On top of that, the Mid-Atlantic was a wide-open market for would-be independent cheesemakers, with the industry heavyweights based farther afield, in Vermont, California, and the Midwest.
Firefly Farms in Accident, Maryland.
Starting with 30 Nubian goats—the “photogenic, floppy-eared ones,” says Koch—they grew the herd to about 400 animals, and for the first five years, the couple raised them, milked them, and made the farmstead cheese, largely just the two of them. Needless to say, by 2005, they were exhausted, and thus decided to enlist some real help.
“We now source from as many as 17 local family farms, and when I say local, I mean within a 40-mile radius of where I’m sitting, right here, in Accident, Maryland,” says Koch. “We pick up their milk on an every-other-day basis, skipping the weekends, and process it within 24 hours, which is why our cheese is known for its freshness.”
Cheesemaking is an artform, and goat’s milk, in particular, being a delicate ingredient, requires a deft touch. Its flavor can range from bland to overly earthily pungent, or as some describe it, “goaty.” Its texture, too, is often prized for a light, fluffy, crumbly fromage—though these days, many modern companies rely on frozen curd imported from overseas, which leads to a thicker product. On both fronts, FireFly has found the sweet spot. In fact, over the years since, they’ve won nearly 150 awards for their finished product, which is now distributed nationally, from retailers like Whole Foods to restaurants like Silver Diner.
Much like wine, that has everything to do with the terroir, and the fact that we make the cheese by hand.
“I always like to think of us as the crossover goat cheese—I can’t tell you how many people had told us they don’t like goat cheese, only to try ours and love it,” says Koch. “Our cheese has a beautiful, almost lemony tang to it. Much like wine, that has everything to do with the terroir, and the fact that we make the cheese by hand.”
On top of using local, fresh dairy, they credit much of their success to that handcrafted process. FireFly scoops, turns, salts, washes, and brushes each wheel not by some line of machinery, but a team of apprenticed cheesemakers, ultimately creating jobs in their rural Appalachian community.
It’s part of their larger mission, of creating a better food system, rooted in reciprocity. They’re making cheese not only for the customer to enjoy, but to as a way to support their neighbors, and a sense of tradition. Knowing where food comes from can deepen both connections and become a point of pride.
“It literally chokes me up,” says Koch, holding back tears. “This is why we changed our lives and started a business in rural America. I’m not interested in cutting corners. Our legacy, I hope, is a company that continues to be independently owned and focused on its values. We partner with farmers who treat their animals and land right. They produce delicious, fresh milk, and we turn it into delicious, fresh cheese, made by human beings, the way they used to do it 100 years ago, when my grandparents first learned.”
New Snake River Farms Wagyu Chop Steak, also available as a melt.
NEW SEASON, NEW MENU!
With the leaves changing colors and the temperatures cooling, it’s officially autumn in the Mid-Atlantic, and in the spirit of changing seasons, Chef Ype has been hard at work on some exciting new specials. Find a selection of fall and winter dishes that are freshly innovated, full of local ingredients, and prepared in a timeless fashion. Start your day with eggs Benedict smash burgers, ricotta and lemon curd pancakes, or a chili crisp breakfast burrito. Or come by at dinner for a classic chop steak—upgraded with wagyu beef and truffle-dill mashed potatoes. Plus everyday upgrades to sides, drinks, and desserts. The kind of tastes that never goes out of style.