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Twenty years ago, Doug and Alyce Wolbert came from Michigan to Baldwin County to found Sweet Home Farm, the stateâ€™s first licensed farmstead cheese maker. To qualify as a farmstead cheese producer, the cows or goats must be raised under stringent conditions, and only milk produced on the farm can be used.ï¿½

In 1984, when the Wolberts arrived, Elberta was a somewhat isolated, slow-paced farming community. While the townâ€™s character pretty much remains the same, the area has become a bustling retirement and vacation Mecca.ï¿½

The Wolberts, although settled in a rapidly developingï¿½

Doug Wolbertâ€™s Guernsey cows are his and his wife Alyceâ€™s livelihood, as well as their pets.

area, remain committed to making cheese in much the same way it has been made for centuries in Holland, the home of Dougâ€™s ancestors. Although they initially constructed their own cheese making equipment, they soon found that much more efficient equipment could be importehttps://www.alafarmnews.com/files/0304archive/d from the netherlands.ï¿½

Alyce tends a vat of Guernsey milk which will soon be made into cheese.

While living in Michigan, Alyce and Doug, who was an auctioneer working at a saw mill and later in an automobile mirror factory, dreamed of the time that they could get into cheese manufacturing supported by their own dairy.ï¿½

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