The way we farm is the genesis of our cheese
The journey to LaBelle cheese begins with the health of the land and cattle. We embrace the lessons taught to us by past generations that soil health, conservation methods and sustainable regenerative farming cycles is the road map to a healthy future for the farm and the planet. We are equally focused on our cattle with their well being as a daily top priority. Herd health programs focus on long-term quality of life from day one when a calf is born on the farm.
Values
For generations, our family has been proud to be farmers, and they usually married other farmers, bringing in and sharing new ideas, and adding traditions.
Over the generational years, lessons passed down have included:
Take time to do the best job you can.
Take a long view. Do what is best over time for land, cattle and family.
Don’t do something because it is trendy, but because it is for long-term betterment and success.
Take pride in and enjoy what you do.
“Every day is Earth Day when you make a living from the land”
- John Koepke
Cheese with a conscientious purpose
What does cheese have to do with climate change, carbon storing or biodiversity? Cheese such as LaBelle becomes the gateway to better understanding the intricate ecosystem in our farming landscape. LaBelle reflects a “terroir” or the unique profile of soils and climate that offer a taste, texture and aroma of a place and time captured in what the cows eat and preserved in the cheese. Making LaBelle helps us relate to our environment and gives us a food snapshot of what we hold dear to us: supporting soil livelihood and building a healthy soil ecosystem, climate health through carbon storage techniques in our soils and the unwavering commitment to animal health and welfare which is above all else the right thing to do.
Some food for thought
“Once you have lived on the land, been a partner with its moods, secrets, and seasons, you cannot leave. The living land remembers, touching you in unguarded moments, saying, “I am here. You are a part of me.”
— Ben Logan, author of The Land Remembers
“We are not building this country of ours for a day. It is to last through the ages.”
— Theodore Roosevelt
“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”