Ahhh...The sound of live music and the smell of fresh air alongside garden-picked vegetables and crafts in vendor stalls nearby. Is that a cow mooing in the background? Welcome to the weekly summer farmers market held at Rockhill Creamery in Richmond, Utah.

Rockhill Creamery is a lively, bustling operation now, but did not start out that way. Almost 30 years ago, owners Jennifer and Pete bought the old farm property including the original buildings used by the farmstead before them. Instead of tearing down these buildings, the couple found a way to convert them into what they utilize today. Through all of their hard labor in reconstruction, the couple won the National Trust for Historic Preservation Award in 2011. 

The hay barn functions as a event space for weddings, or the home to the weekly farmer’s market. Across the property, the original granary transformed into Rockhill’s store front where it offers a variety of local products including their cheeses.

Of all the buildings on the property, the most coveted space is the old chicken egg storage. This is now the prized cheese making room and the reason why we stopped here for our first farm feature!

Rockhill has a unique cheesemaking process by striving to limit machinery use. Instead of using equipment, their cheese is all made by hand from start to finish. Cheese is made twice a week with the help of a seasonal apprentice. Once they are formed, the cheese wheels are then moved to the cave underground to age where they will form a natural rind instead of being packaged in plastic.

Not only is this farm producing hand crafted cheese, but does so sustainably and through local measures. All of the milk comes from the couple’s six brown cows- known by name and transferred across four acres of open, beautiful land to feed. Once the cows are milked, the milk is transferred into storage raw and is never pasteurized. Whey leftovers from the cheese making process are sold to local farmers as feed.

Currently Rockhill Creamery is offering six kinds of cheeses, one of which they rub with Utah local rock salt from Real Salt. Find Rockhill Creamery Cheese at their farm stand and at local grocers including Liberty Heights Fresh and Harmon’s. During the summer months visit them at the Downtown Farmer’s market or the Cache Valley Farmer’s market, if you cannot make it to their farm.

Make the trip to northern Utah for this one of kind experience. Stop in the old granary and try out some samples!

Many thanks to Jennifer and Pete for giving a tour and allowing us to take photos. You can check them out on Facebook or reach them through their website.

We love our local producers!

Author: Stacy Semborski