Ardith Mae Farmstead has been producing cheese for 15 years and is located here in the Hudson Valley. Shereen Alinaghian, owner of Ardith Mae took time out of her busy schedule and granted me this both fun and informative interview.
We came up with the name Ardith Mae – my ex-husband’s grandmother’s name. It’s my way of being connected to the product and yet still being able to retain privacy for myself. I love all the old “A” names that just kind of disappeared – like my mom’s first name is Adra – and people are now revisiting and reusing these old names – Choosing the name Ardith Mae was a way of holding on and respecting all those older names as well.
I never really stepped into this role to be a farmer or to manage a farm. I actually had no farming background. I grew up in Southern California and had kind of a classic suburban Orange County life. I never had a garden, much less owning a farm! I moved to Las Vegas and was in the hospitality industry for a couple years. Then I moved to Brooklyn and lived there for and started attending the farmers markets, and just kind of fell in love with the idea of farming. I really had no idea what I was really getting myself into! I got into an internship in Vermont for a year at a goat farm and we made cheese and that’s where I learned a lot – and then I just rolled right into farming.
I think the way I manage is much different than the way most people manage. The crew I have – we are just fully allowed to be ourselves – we’re just a quirky little family. Katie – who has worked for me for 7 or 8 years – we’re very closed to her and her family…then Jeremy – who is actually the cheesemaker over at Hawthorne Valley – has also worked for me for about 8 years- he’s a good friend. Then I have a couple other girls that just came on a year and half ago but we fully support each other in every way. If someone needs a day off at the last minute for whatever reason, we just rally together and get it done. We’re a little obnoxious and sometimes crude and we find the humor in everything. I’ll walk in and sometimes my crew is dancing, laughing and listening to music. We will have people come here to drop off milk and some of them say “we sell milk to a bunch of people and every time we come here you guys are all having a great time!” I don’t really see myself as a manager or a boss…we’re all a part of this one team and we all accept responsibility on every level. It’s just a nice, balanced work situation.
We have roughly 60 goats. It’s probably not the best business move but if for whatever reason a goat is no longer a milker, we’ll keep them or send them to a rescue or a nice home. We never send them through an auction – it’s just not our style. They were born on this farm…this is all they ever know…all they know is us…they kind of sacrificed their whole lives for us so we all work together to care for these geriatric animals.
Before I was a farmer I was a vegetarian. When I was much younger I was actually a vegan because I was allergic to dairy. Goat cheese is great if you’re lactose intolerant. It’s also a lot more easily digestible. The fat doesn’t rise to the top – it’s blended into the milk, so it’s naturally homogenized. It doesn’t make the same mucus that cow’s milk creates. Our cheese process using goat’s milk produces a type of natural probiotic which is just naturally low in fat. Our chevre which is more of a cultured protein and is a very smooth and creamy product.
We’re an Animal Welfare Approved farm. We actually just got our 10-year Approval – there’s only a few 10-year Approved farms – so we’re very proud of that. We feed our goats organic grain. This really adds to the quality of the cheese.
Our business finally turned a corner during Covid. I feel bad admitting it as I know other businesses really suffered during this time – but we did really well. We sell primarily to the city [NYC], and even locally – in Hudson – we had a huge influx of people coming up from the city. People started really getting into local food and cooking and trying new recipes. In the city they would stand in line for hours to go into Whole Foods, or Trader Joe’s, then it would end up where the shelves would be bare. There would be fights or they were afraid to touch anything because they didn’t know how many others had touched it before them…so they started buying through the farmers markets. GrowNYC – they’re a nonprofit that run all the green markets in the city. They fought tooth and nail to keep us open down there as an essential service.
Because we were considered essential workers – we were able to stay open. We couldn’t make enough product during that time! It was the first time we didn’t struggle – we were finally able to get our feet under us. As far as supply chain goes – from our farm to the market – only about 3 people touched the product- which was important to our customers at that point. Actually it was the first time that people really showed us how much they appreciated us! The work we do was considered important.
So for the last 4 years I’ve had a very rocky relationship with the owner of the property that I was leasing from, so we started searching for a property to buy. We finally found a great place and we are now starting the process of relocating to our new home – which is very exciting.
We do a lot of farmer’s markets. The New Lebanon’s Farmers Market is such a nice market! We were really surprised at how it’s such a great little local market. We’ve been doing a lot of other markets, including markets in the city for 11 or 12 years now and that of course is a totally different game. Everybody knows each other at this market and it is just really sweet. It’s something I haven’t really experienced before. I just really fell in love with this market.
To find Ardith Mae’s products:
https://www.facebook.com/ardithmaefarm
You can also find them at these 5 different Farmers Markets:
SATURDAY @hudsonfarmersmarketny
and @unsqgreenmarket
SUNDAY @newlebanonfarmersmarket
and uptown at 77th/Columbus and 115th/Broadway
– Heather Wentworth