Sandvoss at the vat making one of the creamery’s artisanal cheeses.
Max Sandvoss ’98 runs with the herd at First Light Farm & Creamery in Upstate New York.
What do you love the most about doing this work? I love where I live. I love making the kind of food I want to eat. It’s particularly gratifying to develop friendships with chefs who love our cheese. m Sandvoss with his goat herd at First Light Farm & Creamery.
in many wineries and high-end co-ops and small markets in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and throughout the Finger Lakes. We’re in 52 Wegmans in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. The next step for us is Whole Foods, hopefully in the Tri-State Area and the Northeast soon. Look out for it! Do you still do a Dairy Share CSA (community supported agriculture) program for your dairy products? We have a dairy CSA that delivers our milk, cheese, and yogurt to members in Buffalo and Rochester.
What are some of the hardest parts of your farming life? The hardest part of this job is kidding season, when hundreds of babies are born. It is busy. What’s one of the crazier funny moments? We make a wine-brined goat’s milk Gouda called Moonshot. Two years ago, using a GoPro camera, we decided to try to catch some footage of goats drinking “wine” that was really just molasses and water. They went nuts for it, and we got lots of awesome footage of our goats drinking “wine” from wine glasses and even right out of the bottle. Goats are pretty great on-camera talent, and they always get a laugh out of me.
Are you glad you moved back East? Between my brother, Trystan, and me, we’ve been exposed to a lot of what’s out there, what’s possible. I’ve lived many different places, and I miss most of them, but I’m glad to be where I am. [Ed. note: Sandvoss’s mother and stepdad happen to have a dairy farm up the road from where he and his brother started First Light. The area is perfect for dairying, with a temperate climate with fertile soil.] What’s next for your business? Our goal is to bring our cheese east to New York City, Boston, and everywhere great in between, including Connecticut, and west to Ohio and beyond. Wegmans is taking us company-wide this fall, so we’ll be in six states beginning Labor Day! j —Linda Hedman Beyus See more about First Light at firstlightfarmer.com and instagram.com/firstlightfarmer.
Taft Bulletin / SUMMER 2017
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