With few exceptions, most Oregon artisan creameries aren't just small, they're minuscule.
Rogue Creamery and Tumalo Farms have demonstrated how to grow without abandoning artisan principles – both sell their superb products nationwide – but most Oregon specialty cheese stays in Oregon. Tillamook, the state's century-old dairy cooperative, makes more cheese than all the remaining creameries combined.
Fraga Farm, a 60-goat family enterprise in Sweet Home, near Albany, is typical of the Oregon creameries I visited during a tour last fall. Proprietors Jan and Larry Nielsen have Bay Area roots – Jan's grandmother farmed in Castro Valley – and moved to Oregon to retire. They didn't envision making cheese, but they did want goats, and the goats' milk inspired some kitchen experiments.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: San Francisco Chronicle