Larkhaven Farmstead Raw Milk Sheep/Goat Cheeses
Customer Assurances
Food safety is as important to us as flavor and nutrition. We offer you these aged dairy products with complete confidence that we are delivering a clean, safe, and utterly desirable food.
Aging vs. Pasteurization
A rule-of-thumb for cultured dairy products is that raw milk products aged for at least 60 days are as unlikely
to contain concentrations of dangerous bacteria as products made from pasteurized milk. We are glad that
regulatory agencies recognize this basic principle about aged raw dairy products: if it seems edible, it is.
Therefore, tasting the product when it arrives is your best assurance of safety and quality.
It's a pleasant task, and someone has to do it!
We are licensed and inspected at least annually by the Washington State Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Consumer Services Division.
We carry product liability insurance because some of our retailers' policies require it. We are happy to provide
a certificate of coverage in response to buyer inquiries.
State inspections are important, but what we value the most is your welcome inspection of our farm, our healthy livestock, and our production methods.
Our sparkling-clean dairy is small and manageable on a family scale. Sorting corrals help the waiting animals relax and know what to expect during milking.
The milking parlor is open-air, for the animals' comfort, and the fully-enclosed milk room is attached. Little Whiskey Mountain watches over the operation.
This is the interface between the barnyard and the dining table - very carefully managed with strict protocols. Any tool or object that touches the parlor floor or milkstand...
Small and simple and clean.
- Clare & Sam
