THERE’S A CHINESE PROVERB ABOUT A JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES THAT BEGINS WITH A SINGLE STEP. In this case, one young woman’s travels in France inspired the birth of Vermont Creamery, an iconic cheese company that helped shape America’s palate for goat cheese and cultured dairy products.
Why buy the cow? For brothers and cheese-makers Andy and Mateo Kehler it wasn’t about getting the milk for free. Their farm in Greensboro, VT was the result of “the quest for meaningful work in a place we love,” says Mateo. For more than a century, members of the Kehler family maintained a summertime romance with Greensboro, a sleepy village nestled in the foothills of the Green Mountains. So in 1998, the brothers consummated their relationship with the town by buy-ing the out-of-business Jasper Hill Farm.
