Garden Variety Cheese

Rebecca King
1481 San Miguel Canyon Rd.
Royal Oaks, CA 95076
831-761-3630
rebeccajaneking@gmail.com
www.gardenvarietycheese.com

Markets: Aptos

Products: Several varieties of raw sheep cheeses: Moonflower (creamy smooth texture, salty caramel flavor, with a hint of pungency at the finish), Black-Eyed Susan (fruity and buttery, with a nice tang and a rich flavorful finish, dry texture like cheddar), Hollyhock (full, rich flavor, smooth texture, mildly tangy), Cosmos (rich and creamy feta) and Beau’s Blend (a mix of raw sheep milk and cow’s milk from nearby Schoch Dairy, like an aged Jack cheese). In addition, natural lamb sausage is available periodically, and whole and half lambs are for sale a few times a year.

History/Philosophy: Garden Variety Cheese is a small farmstead cheese business, based on 40 acres in Northern Monterey County. Rebecca began commercial milking and cheese production in March 2009, and started selling three varieties of raw sheep cheeses at Santa Cruz farmers markets in June 2009. Their sheep produce lovely, rich sweet milk that makes fabulous cheese.

To ensure the health and well-being of the animals and the high quality of the milk and cheese from Garden Variety Cheese, the 100 milking ewes at Monkeyflower Ranch are fed on organically raised, irrigated pasture and organic brewer’s grain. Each ewe is named after a garden flower and treated with love and respect.

Dairy sheep only produce milk for six months out of every year, and spend the dry season pregnant, fattening up for the milking season. At the peak of the milking season, Rebecca's sheep produce up to 20 gallons of milk per day.

Rebecca spends about four hours a week in the “cheese cave”— a concrete-walled garage built into the hillside, where the cheese is aged. She methodically turns the cheese wheels and cleans off the mold growth. The cheese cave holds 600 to 600 wheels of six to seven pound wheels of cheese. Most of the cheese is aged and ready for sale in about three months.