By Marian Burros • Photos by Molly McDonald Peterson

© Molly McDonald Peterson

When Michael Koch and Pablo Solanet bought an old farm in Garrett County, Maryland, in 1997 and turned it into their weekend getaway, it was not with the thought that it would become a working farm again. But one thing led to another, and by 2002 they were sitting on their back deck in late summer trying to come up with a name for their new cheesemaking endeavor.

As Koch tells it, “As the sun went down, there was a big field of goldenrod and a layer of fireflies that looked like the Milky Way, and FireFly Farms seemed appropriate.”

From one mild fresh goat cheese, Allegheny Chèvre, the business has grown to nine, including some very complex, aged varieties that would interest any serious artisanal cheese aficionado.

From Big City to Blue Ribbon

Koch and Solanet are both from farming families, and Koch remembers making cheese with his grandmother when he was six. His great-great-grandfather was a cheesemaker in Switzerland.

Like so many young people who are going back to the land, Koch and Solanet bring big-city experience with them. Koch continues to work in housing finance. Solanet, a graduate of L’Acadamie de Cuisine and a chef, wanted to move out to the country but continue to work with food. The next thing they knew, Solanet was making cheese.

“A local man had some goats left over from a project, and we convinced him we wanted to make cheese,” said Koch. “We were doing it for ourselves. And the first year FireFly Farms was officially in business, Pablo won a blue ribbon from the American Cheese Society for a goat’s-milk blue.”

Koch doesn’t find it so surprising. “Pablo is a brilliant chef and I took quite a bit of chemistry. Between the two of us, it was an effective combination.” Nevertheless, their success has been hard won.

By Guess & By Golly

“You don’t know what you don’t know,” he said. “We did it by guess and by golly because it was sort of a dream. We made a lot of mistakes.”

They sought advice from fellow cheesemakers. In 2001, both attended a weeklong course in cheese technology at the University of Wisconsin. Two years later, they hired Matt Cedro as cheesemaker; he went on to graduate from an artisanal cheese program at the University of Vermont in 2004.

On their way to profitability, they threw out whole batches of cheese. They almost ran out of money many times, but they persisted. In 2006, they went into the black with a repertoire of nine different cheeses—some of which are exceptional.

“We didn’t want to just copy someone else,” Koch said. “The cheeses are rooted in tradition but altogether different.”

What Recession?

A lot has changed since the fireflies floated over the goldenrod: The goats are gone—too much work to raise and milk them. FireFly Farms now buys its milk from three small Amish family farmers who farm organically but are not certified.

The business managed to survive the recession—because of the enormous interest in artisanal cheese, Koch believes—and is even expanding. Today Solanet devotes himself to marketing while Koch is president and chief financial officer of the company.

With a Small Business Administration loan, they are opening a new plant next year where they can produce 16,000 to 20,000 pounds a month—four times more than they do now. They already sell to local cheese shops in D.C., Virginia, and Maryland, including Cowgirl Creamery and La Fromagerie; to Whole Foods in four states and the district; to a few wineries; to Mom’s Organic Markets; and at 13 farmers markets.

Ready for Raw?

Koch and Solanet want to make and sell raw-milk cheese, and the state of Maryland is now conducting a raw-milk cheese pilot in order to see whether it will allow the use of unpasteurized milk.

The couple is also talking about experimenting with cow-goat milk cheeses while remaining one of the only maybe half a dozen or fewer cheesemakers countrywide who make goat’s-milk blue cheeses. They see themselves as pioneers in their little corner of Maryland, which they want to become a hub of artisanal cheesemakers. The whole state of Maryland has only four goat’s-milk cheesemakers now.

That doesn’t mean, however, they want FireFly Farms to become a national brand.

“We do not really want to go all over the country,” said Koch. “The idea of putting my goat cheese in California and using all that jet fuel seems to me to be silly. I’m all about place, and we can make a living at it. Pablo and I are committed to small, sustainable agriculture. We want to be a well-known regional brand.”

FireFly Farms
Garrett County, MD
The farm is not open to the public.
(301) 245-4630
www.fireflyfarms.com

Marian Burros was on staff at The New York Times for 27 years and still writes for them. She has lived in the Washington area since 1959, and at one time or other, she worked for The Washington Post and the late, lamented Washington Star and Washington Daily News. She was also a consumer reporter for D.C.’s WRC-TV. The author of 13 cookbooks, she has been writing about small farms and the pleasures of local food since the 1980s.

SOME TASTING NOTES
Easy to enjoy, none of FireFly Farms’ cheeses would be described as intense.

Merry Goat Round: Goat’s milk brie, creamy.

Mountain Top Bleu: Pyramid with blue veining and white-bloomed rind. Delicate and creamy.

Buche Noire: Ash-covered, creamy.

Black & Blue: Sweet and sharp, creamy blue-veined with black-wax rind. A bit like sweet gorgonzola.

Bella Vita: Younger and milder than parmesan.

Allegheny Chèvre: Simple, fresh goat cheese.