Mountain Valley Farmstead

02/08/2025

Seven years ago, Carol and I traveled to Washington State University (WSU) to develop our recipe for our Mountain Gem gouda-style artisan sheep cheese.
We passed through the Bavarian-Styled community of Leavenworth.
We also dtopped by the Sunshine Mine disaster memorial.
It was a very enjoyable, productive, and memorable trip.

11/10/2024

Yesterday evening Carol and I stopped by the historic Sheep Bridge crossing the Big Wood River.

It allows sheep to cross the Big Wood River and move from lower to higher elevation pastures.

Built in 1965, the bridge connects the Bennett Hills and Timmerman Hills to the Wood River Valley.

The bridge is important because it allows range sheep to avoid hayfields and agriculture, and to stay on the west side of Hailey and in the hills.

The BLM maintains the bridge, replacing old wood and tightening railings.

Around 25,000 sheep from 12 bands cross the bridge each year. The bridge can swing almost two feet from side to side when sheep are crossing.

https://www.google.com/search?q=history+of+sheep+bridge+idaho&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari =ive&vld=cid:71070412,vid:yIEFMjozXtU,st:0

11/07/2024

October 31, 2024: The last day our beloved sheep are enjoying our Salmon River Valley pasture. On November 1, they all were loaded up and transported to Montana.
Oh how we are already missing them!

11/04/2024

Traveling to and from the Boise Farmers Winter Market always makes us appreciate Idaho’s openness, serenity, stillness, and breathtaking beauty.

10/20/2024

I am truly taking every opportunity I have lately to get all the last moments together with our beloved flock of loyal “sheepies” and “momma girls”.
They will be leaving us in 12 days…never to return.
Tenor, the oldest, was born here our first lambing in 2015. She has given us her milk and her wool every year for 9 years. She has given us 20 lambs and is pregnant again now. Many of her daughter and granddaughter ewe lambs have, and still do, give their milk, wool, and lambs every year.
But this is still not all. She has always been one who comes up to me and loves my attention. I am going to so miss giving her my love and attention.
Our lives have been so blessed by our beloved flock of sheep. I have been forever changed by my sacred stewardship as a shepherd of a flock of sheep.

09/28/2024

Time to update our Facebook followers:

We have sold our entire flock of sheep, all of our milking, cheese-making, aging, and packaging equipment. We are retaining all of our real estate property.

The young Amish family that purchased our sheep cheese business have nearly completed the construction of their new barn that is very similar to ours where, like us, they will have their living quarters on the upper level. Their 80-acre sheep dairy will be located in Madison County Montana.

Like we did each year, they plan to shear in January, start lambing in February, start milking and cheese making in March, and will have the same sheep cheeses available for sale as soon as it has aged.

Right now we still are grazing the sheep flock here and the ewes are split into six groups each with a breeding ram. The rams (Cluseau, James, Toby, Zues, Maverick, and Dodge) are now justifying their annual feed and maintenance costs. The rams will go back to temporary retirement around November 1st when the 96 (hopefully pregnant) ewes and 6 breeding rams will then be transported to their new home in Madison County Montana.

We will dearly miss our loyal sheep flock but we are also very confident that their new owners will love and shepherd them as we did.

06/20/2024

Carol and I are in Lava Hot Springs attending the annual Idaho Wool Growers picnic and sheep range tour.
The Etcheverry Sheep Company has been grazing in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest for generations.

06/04/2024

Three stone workers were at work one day.
I paused a while as I passed their way.

The self same question I asked all three.
Just to see what they thought and would say to me.

What are you doing? I asked them all.
And these were their answers as I recall.

The first one said: “I’m chipping a stone.”
But he saw his job and his job alone.

The second one said: “Can’t you see?
My ten bucks is important to me!”

But the third one said, and he was right:
“I am building a temple on this site!”

The self same work by all was done.
But one had VISION, the rest had none.

Your work is easy or hard for you.
But it all depends on your point of view!

05/15/2024

I love the spring that finally allows the sheep to enjoy their favorite activity… grazing!

03/28/2024

A sure sign of spring!

03/09/2024

Our lambing process at Mountain Valley Farmstead

03/08/2024

For anyone wanting more info on the local food grant:

Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program The Idaho State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) is pleased to announce the competitive solicitation process to award Infrastructure Grants and Simplified Equipment-Only grants to expand capacity for the aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storing, t...