Hawthorne Creek Creamery: Makers of Cheese
Just outside Northeast Gainesville sits Hawthorne Creek Creamery, a farm that is home to 80 Jersey dairy cows. Prior to my visit in March, a storm lingered in the area for three days, leaving the dirt road to the farm partially flooded. I am greeted by Kevin Lussier, one of the owners, who is eager to show me around while checking to make sure I have proper footwear. “It’s pretty muddy,” he says.
Kevin grew up on his family's dairy farm a few miles down the road where they spent their career building up their dairy farm from 150 cows to about 650. He knew from an early age he wanted to farm and had plans to take over the family business. When he met his wife Shelby in college, he hoped to be able to go back to the farm bringing fresh energy. But the farm was working at maximum capacity, leaving the family with a decision to make: expand or diversify. Kevin found that a neighbor, a 40-year veteran of the dairy industry, was looking for someone to take over her local cheesemaking operation. It was a perfect opportunity for the newlyweds.
We make our way over to the location where the cows are milked, and Kevin walks me through how it works, pointing out how technology has advanced what farms are able to do and control these days. Fresh milk goes into vats that blast-chills batches down to safe temperatures quickly. Kevin traces the pipe that leads into the cheese making facility, showing how the milk is moved.
Wearing protective gear, we enter the cheese facility. Today they are making gouda. I get there just in time to watch the cooked curds get drained of whey and placed into molds to be pressed. When Kevin and Shelby took over the cheesemaking side of the business, Nancy Mims, the creamery’s previous owner, agreed to stay on to train them how to make and care for the cheese. Three years later, she is now the head cheesemaker and is still the first one on site to tend to operations. It’s clearly a labor of love. You don’t just farm for over 40 years and then stop.
After ogling the cheese cave filled with wheels of Gouda, Havarti, Swiss and Tomme, we made our way down to the pole barn to visit the girls. “You see number 5545?” asks Kevin, pointing out a cow laying down a few rows back. “That’s what we want to see,” he says. “She’s laying down eating her food stress free. She’s making milk.” He stands like a proud parent. “You should see them when Shelby walks through with sugar cube treats. They get excited about that.”
Top quality milk starts with top-quality cows. That comes from animal wellness and comfort, which is at the core of the farm’s identity. “We have to care about our farming practices,” Kevin says. “What’s good for the land is good for the cows.”
Shelby and Kevin took over the creamery in 2019 and it took about a year to turn over, learn the business and roll out a rebranding of the creamery. As with so many other businesses, when COVID-19 hit, there was a scramble to pivot. They were just getting their first production of cheese ready to sell when the pandemic forced businesses to shut down, leaving them with shelves of fresh cheese wheels, cows producing milk and employees needing to work. The couple began to look at other market opportunities, a decision that helped them survive the pandemic. They got a meeting with buyers at Publix and Winn Dixie, which led to a contract to start selling the cheese at the grocery stores. While that seemed easy enough, it required significant investment to get the operations up to USDA and FDA standards, which took them another year to complete.
“There’s no denying the pandemic was a struggle,” Kevin says. “And I hate to say it was a blessing, but we may not have taken those extra steps and had them come to fruition if we hadn’t been pushed to find other solutions.”
There are still a few growing pains. Keeping up with the current demand to fill orders is a far cry from having almost no sales for a year and half. The Lussiers have purchased equipment to expand operations, doubling their ability to produce cheese as they continue to grow and add more local restaurants and retail options. The creamery produces four different types of cheese: Gouda, Havarti, Swiss and Tomme. Kevin says they plan to expand the line to include other styles like feta and add more locations for distribution. In addition to the grocery stores, Hawthorne Creek Creamery is also featured on menus in Gainesville including at Superette Wine and Provisions and Spurriers Gridiron Grille.
Although Kevin was raised on the family farm and had intended to return to work there after college, the cheesemaking side of the business requires a lot of learning on the job for long-term sustainability. Kevin and Shelby must be doing something right, as they were recently awarded 2021 Achievement in Agriculture by the Florida Farm Bureau Federation. “Decisions that get made on the farm are never in haste,” says Kevin. “Otherwise we can’t make the products we want to put our name on.”
*********
To learn more about Hawthorne Creek Creamery and the cheeses they make, visit their website at hawthornecreekcreamery.com.
