Despite Tragedy Striking, This Woman’s Following Her Dreams to Make Buffalo Mozzarella

Yahoo Food is proud to partner with Barnraiser, a crowd-funding site which features entrepreneurs in the farm and food business looking to expand their businesses. Yahoo Food will feature a project each week, as well as the personal stories of these small business owners.

It always starts with a dream. Audrey and her late husband Craig dreamt of raising Italian water buffalo and becoming the only Americans currently making authentic, artisan buffalo mozzarella at Ramini Mozzarella in Tomales Bay, in northern California. They love animals and wanted to spend their days with these amazing, exotic creatures. They’d learned they could be as loving as dogs if treated with affection and care. Audrey also learned no one at that time was producing buffalo mozzarella in the U.S. They knew the cheese was incredible and thought: Americans should have this cheese produced domestically and experience what the Italians have discovered in these rich, porcelain white, creamy balls of fresh cheese. Its shelf life, if made as the Italians do, should only be 3 days. Importing it from Italy means we are getting it, more than likely, past it’s prime or previously frozen. The challenge was on and they were ready!

Audrey and Craig started with five water buffalo, a shoe string budget, and a big dream. The first 4 years were amazing as they learned and grew with the herd, living their dream, building relationships with the buffalo, and learning to make the cheese. They rented a small farm and pasture, renovated the dairy and designed a farmstead creamery. By 2012 they were successfully selling out of all the cheese we could produce.

Then tragically in 2014 Craig was diagnosed with Non Hodgkins Lymphoma. Audrey strapped on her boots and rubber pants and ran the dairy and creamery alone while Craig underwent his treatment. He was in complete remission after 6 months and the couple was elated. Then it hit, a month later he felt poorly. Scans and tests revealed the cancer was now in his brain and spine. Three months later Craig passed away, with the dairy by then shut down and Audrey by his side. She reopened a month later at the request, and with the support of, our customers. She has kept the dream alive now for a whole year without Craig, proving that she can run this farm herself.

The dream is happening! Check out the farm’s numbers: they have 45 buffalo, 10 babies coming in 2016, 25,000 pounds of milk, 60-80 pounds of cheese being made twice a week. Audrey is currently doing this with two milking stalls and one wheelbarrow. She sells out in 24 hours of each batch.

While demand for Audrey’s cheese is great, she needs help scaling her business. Learn more about how you can help this awesome farmer and cheesemaker grow on Barnraiser.