Meredith Wecker
The town of Heath (population 706) is way off “the beaten path,” even in rural western Massachusetts.
Meredith lives only an hour’s drive from our shop but the last 5 miles or so are gravel road.
Meredith and her husband, Andrew Kurowski own a well known wild blueberry farm, The Benson Place, named after the family who settled there in the early 1800’s. The Benson family had 17 children!
The land, 38 acres, is protected from development for any use other than agriculture or conservation by a land trust. The trust also allows access for the general public to the trails on the property.
The area is called Burnt Hill (possibly because the Indians burned the fields every year to promote blueberry growth).
There is always a 2 week period in July when the road to their farm is busy with people coming to pick their own blueberries and to buy the ones already picked.
Their Home
The house where Meredith and her husband live with their children, Juniper and Satya is hidden by their magnificent pollinator garden in the summer.
When I arrived, Meredith’s daughter, Juniper was eager to show me the chevre she had made that morning.
Juniper
Juniper’s raspberry flavored chevre
There were other flavors on the table for me to sample. They were all outrageously delicious.
Black peppercorn chevre
Basil and dried tomatoes chevre
Meredith taught herself to make cheese, mainly with Mary Karlin’s Artisan Cheese Making at Home and Paul Kinstedt’s American Farmstead Cheese.
She got her goats 7 or 8 years ago. Her herd of 6 milkers (mostly Alpine) provide her with 4 gallons of milk per day.
She makes her chevre with 4 – 8 gallons of milk at a time. She cultures it for 24 hours and heats the milk to only 72F (which makes it lighter and creamier than when she heats it to 86F as some recipes suggest).
The morning of the interview, she was making Jack cheese (from the recipe on our website). She has adjusted her recipes for the goat milk by using less rennet and by cutting the curds a little larger, to make for a moister cheese.
In the summer, she uses the stove on the porch. In the winter, she uses the wood stove. Her dream is to someday have a room dedicated to cheese making.
Her favorite cheese to make is Cabecou (recipe from Artisan Cheese Making at Home). It lasts for months in the fridge and it makes a great gift. She had just made it when I arrived.
When she makes her Cabecou, she starts at 72F (instead of 76F), as she does with her chevre. She cultures it for 24 hours and drains it 8-12 hours. This makes for a lighter, creamier texture.
Cabecou with garlic, black pepper and savory
When making hard cheeses, she usually uses 10 gallons at a time. She finds she can save her milk for 2 days and make cheese on the third.
In the 8 years or so that she has been making cheese, she has made Alpine tomme, jack, cheddar, Romano, Asiago with black pepper, farmstead cheese, Gouda and Gruyere (once). She likes the washed-curd cheeses.
Her cave is a walk-in cooler in summer and a root cellar in fall, winter and spring.
Cheeses aging in the walk-in cooler
Juniper helped label this cheese.
She prefers to wax her cheese because she doesn’t have a dedicated aging space. Temperatures fluctuate in the root cellar, so she doesn’t dare to let the cheeses age with a natural rind.
Meredith dedicates one day a week to indoor activities – making cheese and doing her books. This provides a welcome break from the intensity of the farm.
Their Goats
While the culture was ripening the milk on the stove, we took a walk to the woods where the goats were spending the day, near the chicken coop. (A hawk had been attacking the chickens and the goats would help to keep it away.)
As we walked, the gardens seemed endless. The entire farm is a pollinator paradise.
When we got to the bottom of the hill, the chickens (over 400 of them) were hiding from the hawk in their coop.
The goats were busy, chomping on the foliage.
That’s a solar charger for the electric fence at the lower left.
The bucks are kept in a separate area, until their services are required.
Back to the Pots
We hurried back to the house to add the rennet to the milk on the stove. (A cheese maker’s work is never done!)
As I was leaving, Meredith gave me a bottle of her famous Wild Blueberry Syrup. I had heard about it but never had the opportunity to try it. It was fabulous in my yogurt!
Her syrup can be ordered online – click here
Meredith explained that their berries can be bought frozen at local co-ops and farm stands. They sell their organic free-range chickens and cut-up birds for pick-up at the farm (next batch in October). There is an order form at their website – click here.
The Benson Place
Meredith Wecker and Andrew Kurowski
182 Flagg Hill Road
PO Box 36, Heath, MA 01346
(413) 337-5340
info@bensonplace.org
