The Veldhuizen family moved to Dublin in 1990 from Minnesota. In the early 2000’s, the Veldhuizen family was looking to convert an old dairy in Dublin into something profitable. This was just the beginning of one of Erath county’s “cheesiest” operations. 

In 2002, the Veldhuizen family began making cheese on their operation. This became known as the Veldhuizen Cheese Shoppe, which today makes approximately 60 cheese wheels per week. 

Connie Veldhuizen is one of the main owners at the Veldhuizen Cheese Shoppe. Connie’s husband grew up in the dairy industry alongside his father, Connie’s in-laws followed to Dublin shortly after and helped the couple continue a dairy operation. 

“In 2002 we started making cheese, he [Connie’s husband] did some schooling, he went to a basic cheese makers class in Wisconsin… he did a few other short courses on some farms that were more our size and then we just started,” Connie said.

The cheese farm primarily uses Guernsey and Jersey cows to make cheese, the cow cheeses are made twice a week. When sheep are in season, the cheeses are made twice a week, according to Connie sheep are seasonal from January to July or August. 

“We milk twice a day. About 4:30 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon,” Connie shares.

The operation is family run, Connie’s husband and son-in-law tend to the milking. After milking, the cheese making process begins.

“There’s a million kinds of cheese you could make, but we make some of our own original varieties,” Connie shared. “We mostly decide on what cheeses to make based on our wholesale business, what cheeses do we sell the most of. We sell to a lot of restaurants, hotels and specialty cheese shops.”

“Made by hand, blessed by God,” Connie shared one of the teams favorite taglines to keep motivated. The cheese farm is four generations of the Veldhuizen family that has worked to make the store front what it is today. 

The Veldhuizen family currently offers 20 varieties of artisan raw milk cheeses. These cheeses are available for tastings Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

When cheese tasting, the Veldhuizen farm offers eight cheeses to try from the approximately 20 to choose from. A fan favorite is Dublin Karst. 

According to Emily Winkler-Rake, one of the executive cheese makers and employee at the Veldhuizen farm for nearly 12 years, the cheese making process starts early in the morning. The cows are milked and the milk then goes on to be heated in an 800 gallon vat. 

As soon as the milk gets heated, the cultures get added in, the cultures are what flavors the milk into whatever the cheese type will be. At this point, the rennet is added to the milk, this is what makes the milk become a solid mass. Once the milk is a solid mass, the curds are cut. When the pH gets to the right levels, the cheese should be formed into a solid. 

Winkler-Rake shared the process of placing the cheese in molds then coating the cheese. She also shares how the cheeses are stored to be aged and the long processes. The Veldhuizen farm has aging caves and rooms to allow the cheese to age correctly and acquire the correct natural flavors. 

“Each cheese ages a minimum of 60 days because we are all raw milk,” Winkler-Rake shares. “We have cheeses anywhere from 60 days to seven years. 60 days is going to be the most mild, the most sharp is going to be the seven year cheeses.”

After over 20 years of being in the cheese business, Connie shares a piece of advice to other agriculturalists, and others that want to be apart of the industry.

“An agriculture way of life is not an easy way of life, most people wouldn’t choose it because it’s a lot of hard work,” Connie shared, “but it’s a good life. You have to be willing to work hard, have a good attitude, and keep going.” 

For more information about the Veldhuizen Cheese Shoppe visit www.veldhuizencheese.com/. They can also be found on facebook at Veldhuizen Cheese.