It’s often said that real estate is all about location. The same is true for goat cheese, according to California dairy farmer and cheesemaker Dee Harley. Her goat farm resides near the small town of Pescadero, just a couple of miles from the Pacific Ocean.
“We say that it’s our secret ingredient,” she explains on Grow Getters, a Farm Journal podcast that showcases how ag producers are diversifying their operations by creating side businesses. “The foggy, salty air drifts in from the coast and goes into the earth that grows the grass that the goats eat, and it subtly comes through in the flavor of the cheese.”
The cheeses made from the milk of her roughly 200 goats at Harley Farms have won first place in a number of national contests held by the American Cheese Society. They also won a gold medal at the World Cheese Show. “We have our own flavor,” Harley says. “If we took our herd of goats and moved them inland, the cheese would taste completely different.”
The success of Harley Farms is quite a story, beginning when she and her husband started out on a “derelict” 1910 farm with six goats. The story of how she got there is even better. A coal miner’s daughter from Yorkshire, England, she came to the U.S. while still in her teens for a job at a YMCA camp in the San Juan Islands of Washington. Her love of travel led her gradually down the Pacific Coast, finally planting her in Pescadero, where she worked for several years on an organic herb and produce farm.
About raising and milking goats, they knew nothing. They were, after all, just kids (pun intended). In the 30 years since then, she’s learned quite a bit, including how to diversify the dairy. Harley Farms produces four types of cheese — chevre, fromage blanc, ricotta and feta — and sells them in an on-site store.
To draw customers, she started hosting dinners in a renovated hayloft, serving five-course meals made from ingredients raised on her farm or ones nearby. “Our dates for the dinners would be posted in November and they’d be sold out in minutes for the whole year,” she says. This triumph led to hosting corporate and school tours, group events and weddings on the farm property.
More recently, she started a branded line of bath and body products made with her goat milk. She says the key to creating profitable side hustles is a willingness to change and adapt as customer needs change. As for where to start, she advises, “Do what you’re good at. What you’re good at is usually what you love to do. And surround yourself with people who encourage you. Then get a coach and an accountant.”
Watch the full interview on Grow Getters:
Visit Harley Farms online at https://www.harleyfarms.com
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