A loan helped a farmstead creamery finish rebuilding and begin processing their milk again.


Melanie's story

I have always loved the land and my cows. I started processing milk on my family dairy farm in 2001, making farmstead cheeses and selling them at Farmer's Markets. This combined all my passions into one business, milking cows, making food, caring for the land, and educating the consumer about where their food comes from.
I grew up milking cows on our family farm and went to Virginia Tech, where I earned a B.S. in Dairy Science. In 1997, my husband, Mark and I returned to the home farm and in 2000 founded Keswick Creamery. We started making aged, raw milk cheeses in 2001 and selling at Farmer's Markets in the metro DC area in the fall of 2001. Our daughter was born in 2005, and we bought a pasteurizer in 2005 and started making pastuerized milk cheeses as well.
We are a true family farm, my mother still helps with milking the cows and works on the farm and in the creamery.
Before the fire we were making over 33 varieties of cheese, hard aged cheese to bloomy rinds, as well as yogurt and chocolate pudding.
I stay active in my community, both locally and agriculture. I have served on farmer's market boards, the board of PASA (Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculter) and helped start 3 local farmer's markets. I have been a Girl Scout leader for over 10 years and help with our local chapter of United States Pony Club and in the past have been a 4-H leader as well.
Our farm has been chemical free since the 1980s and we don't use antibiotics. We are a true grazing dairy, during the grazing season our cows get almost all over their nutrition from the pasture. Our farm is sustainable, organic and regenerative.


This loan is special because:

It supports a small business owner with 0%-interest, zero-fee capital.



Loan details


About Keswick Creamery at Carrock Farm

Industry: Food
Years in operation: More than 5 years
Website: keswickcreamery.com

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Loan details