Farms to Food

"It was my husband's fault," announces Brenda Jensen, who, with accused husband Dean, are new vendors at the Dane County Farmers' Market (DCFM).

"He's a therapist by trade," she continues, "You need one of those on a dairy farm. He has draft horses. We don't have a tractor. We do all of our farming with the horses. We live in the middle of Amish country so we swap equipment and horses with the neighbors. It's really quite nice."

From Brenda's description so far, it seems Dean is accused of nothing more serious than preferring real horse power for his field work to that obtained from the iron variety . Then she continues.

"He got into this dairy sheep thing. I thought he was crazy. Then he just confirmed my suspicions because he dragged me off to these sheep diary co-op meetings. I thought, 'What kind of people milk sheep. This is crazy!'" Sheep at Hidden Springs.

Once the Jensens started raising and milking dairy sheep, the seed for Hidden Springs Creamery, in Westby, near LaCrosse, WI was planted, sprouted, and growing strong.

"I grew up on a farm and I knew it was hard work. He grew up in the city and he wanted to farm," Brenda says with a laugh. "So he had the passion and I had some knowledge. So it was sort of a good combination.

"Not every sheep should you go out there and start milking. There are meat breeds and that's what we're used to. Most of the dairy breeds are imported from Germany, France, and other countries. We did the meat breed for a little while and then got the dairy sheep.

"We thought we should get a cheese maker to make some cheese out of the milk our sheep were producing. We called Willi Lehner from Bleu Mont Dairy but he was just too busy." Willi suggested the Jensens contact the Diary Businesses Innovation Center and maybe they could find somebody.

"They had us go to a class up north. We were making cheese in the class. I had my hands in the vat and I fell in love with the whole process. I thought maybe I could be the cheese maker. So I took more classes, quit my job with insurance benefits and a paycheck and have been making cheese three years as of June."

Presumably, the skyrocketing reputation for quality of the cheese Brenda produces can at least partially be blamed on Dean.

"We've done the United States Cheese Championship, the World Championship," Brenda says with obvious pride. "Last year we took a couple of firsts. We've been so fortunate and meet a lot of wonderful people."

Describing their products, Brenda says, "We have some fresh soft sheep milk cheeses and we have those flavored as well. We have a sheep milk feta. There is also a washed rind, cave-aged raw milk cheese that we age in our 'man and woman-made' caves on the farm. We name all of the cheeses after the area. So we have the Driftless Soft Cheese and the Bad Axe Cheddar, named after a river near us."

Brenda says the couple is thrilled to be vending at the DCFM. "It's just fantastic to be at the market. At first it was like 'Do I have to go every Saturday?' Now I love to come. I'd come every week.

"Not only are the customers wonderful but the other vendors are just so much fun. Even in the rain I had a good time. We're just thrilled to be here."

So it's apparent that sometimes anyway, being at fault can be a good thing ... for the Jensens and for us DCFM Enthusiasts.

For more information:
Hidden Springs Creamery
www.hiddenspringscreamery.com
608-634-2521