Hopleaf Bar • Uptown, Chicago

Wednesday, September 15, 2010 7:00 pm

Come spend some time with Jeremy Stephenson, the man behind 2010 Second Runner-up Best of Show Winner Springbrook Farm Tarentaise. Hear how Jeremy became the second farmstead producer of Tarentaise. Jeremy will explain how Springbrook Farm captured the essence of Tarentaise while incorporating the unique terroir of their micro-region. We will also hear about the creamery itself,  which retains traditional copper kettles in their cutting edge production technique. Finally, Jeremy will illuminate the “Farms for City Kids” project, the not-for-profit greater mission of Springbrook Farm.  (more detailed information on the cheese, the farm and the project are below, just scroll down.)

Oh, and beer pairings… delicious beer pairings!

Spring Brook Farm Tarentaise Cheese

At Spring Brook Farm, we follow a long tradition of cheese making which has its origin in the French Alps. Though our Vermont-made, raw-milk Tarentaise cheese was inspired by the traditional cheeses of the French Alps, its complex, rich flavor tastes like no other European or American cheese. Several years ago John and Janine Putnam of Thistle Hill Farm in nearby Pomfret, VT traveled to France looking for a cheese that would suit the milk from their herd of Jersey cows and Vermont’s climate. After much research and help from a French Cheese maker, they developed a semi hard cheese and named it Tarentaise, after the valley in the French Alps which inspired it. As demand for their cheese grew, John and Janine collaborated with Spring Brook Farm and the Farms for City Kids Foundation to build on this Tarentaise cheese making process.

Much like the variation from one cheese maker to the next, within the regional cheeses produced in Europe, both our Spring Brook Farm Tarentaise, made in Reading, VT and that produced on our sister farm, Thistle Hill Farm in Pomfret, VT, maintain unique flavor profiles. This is the result of subtle differences between our two farms – the pastures, the Jersey herds and the cheesemakers. Our locations are preserved and even highlighted in our respective cheeses. The result is a difference not only expected but highly celebrated.

Our Mission

Farms for City Kids Foundation provides a stimulating outdoor classroom where urban youth explore new dimensions of learning and where academics are seamlessly integrated into everyday farm activities.

This innovative agricultural classroom—so different from a student’s everyday environment—makes an impression that will last a lifetime.

About the Farm

Spring Brook Farm is a traditional dairy farm located in Reading, Vermont. It spans more than 1,000 acres and is home to a wide array of livestock—the maintenance and care of which keep our students quite busy. Our farm is home to over 100 registered Jerseys, and the 42 milking cows produce over 600,000 lbs. of milk each year, now used to make our artisanal Tarentaise Cheese. In addition to the cows, we have horses, sheep, goats, chickens, roosters, pigs, turkeys, dogs, cats and even some humans–just for good measure. All these efforts play an integral role in helping us help ourselves. The Farm sells hay for horses, sweet corn to the local market, chickens and turkeys seasonally and this, combined with our egg and meat production, enables us to take the lead in feeding our program annually.

Our students help grow all sorts of vegetables including sweet corn, peas, tomatoes, pumpkins and potatoes as well as caring for the animals. The greenhouse, raspberry and blueberry bushes, grapevine and small apple orchard also keep the kids busy. The Farm’s honey bees pollinate it all, while still finding time to produce fresh honey. And the addition of the Spring Brook Farm Cheese House, designed for the kids with a glassed-in viewing area so the students can watch the cheese makers from two different levels, further enhances our mission by creating an important venue for students to study chemistry, microbiology, food preservation, economics and health and nutrition. This new learning experience enables our Lessons for a Lifetime ® workshops to take on a new level of meaning and importance as the students, perhaps our next generation of future cheese makers, see all of their efforts transformed into a product that will be consumed by people they may never meet.

Of course, it just wouldn’t be Vermont without a maple sugar house. When the Spring Brook Farm Foundation bought Spring Brook Farm from the Vermont Land Trust in 1992, the farm had 3,200 taps on its maple trees. Currently, the farm has 3,500 taps on trees and in the spring, typically produces between 400 and 600 gallons of maple syrup. Children learn to gather sap from maple trees and boil it down in the sugar house to produce a sweet treat for use on our breakfast pancakes, waffles and many other foods.