Cheese Greater

When Michael Koch and Pablo Solanet bought an old farm in Garrett County, Maryland, in 1997 and turned it into their weekend getaway, it was not with the thought that it would become a working farm again. But one thing led to another, and by 2002 they were sitting on their back deck in late summer trying to come up with a name for their new cheesemaking endeavor.

As Koch tells it, “As the sun went down, there was a big field of goldenrod and a layer of fireflies that looked like the Milky Way, and FireFly Farms seemed appropriate.”

From one mild fresh goat cheese, Allegheny Chèvre, the business has grown to nine, including some very complex, aged varieties that would interest any serious artisanal cheese aficionado.

From Big City to Blue Ribbon
Koch and Solanet are both from farming families, and Koch remembers making cheese with his grandmother when he was six. His great-great-grandfather was a cheesemaker in Switzerland.

Like so many young people who are going back to the land, Koch and Solanet bring big-city experience with them. Koch continues to work in housing finance. Solanet, a graduate of L’Acadamie de Cuisine and a chef, wanted to move out to the country but continue to work with food. The next thing they knew, Solanet was making cheese.

“A local man had some goats left over from a project, and we convinced him we wanted to make cheese,” said Koch. “We were doing it for ourselves. And the first year FireFly Farms was officially in business, Pablo won a blue ribbon from the American Cheese Society for a goat’s-milk blue.

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