Cheesemakers Host Creamery Crawl in Ferndale Dec. 8

There’s a good reason to get cheesy this festive season, with a Creamery Crawl open house at 3 locations in Ferndale, WA Dec. 8. Whatcom County’s top cheesemakers will each be offering tasters, tours, gift basket giveaways and discounts on gift basket orders that day from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. This is the second annual Creamery Crawl and the family-owned enterprises Appel Farms, Twin Sisters Creamery, Pleasant Valley Creamery and Ferndale Farmstead are participating, each of them well known for their handcrafted and delicious assortment of cheese.

Appel Farms

The third generation cheesemakers at Appel Farms produce an assortment of gouda and cheddar cheese including gouda, maasdammer, cheddar, nokkelost, feta and havarti. Try samples of the cheeses while browsing the great assortment of accessories for cheese lovers in the cheese shop. Then feel free to wander to the creamery to watch the cheesemakers at work. Located at 6605 Northwest Drive Ferndale. For more info call 360-312-1431 or visit www.thecheesefarm.net.

Twin Sisters Creamery

Twin Sisters is known for its blue cheese, Whatcom Blue, and its creamy raw milk cheeses, Whatcom Farmhouse and Farmhouse with Peppercorn. At their 3,500-square-foot tasting room and retail shop, owners Lindsay and Jeff Slevin feature up to 80 cheeses from all over the world as well as cheese accompaniments, wine and great gift ideas. Located at 6202 Portal Way Ferndale. For more info call 360-656-5240 or see twinsisterscreamery.com.

Pleasant Valley Dairy

At Pleasant Valley Dairy in Ferndale, owner Joyce Snook has been making and selling raw cow’s milk cheese since 1976. Selections of cultured cheeses include mutschli, farmstead, gouda and a plethora of flavors. Snook delivers custom cheese cuts for personal gift-giving and samples are readily available. Visit her shop at 6804 Kickerville Rd., Ferndale, or call 360-366-5398.

Ferndale Farmstead

Chances are you’ve tasted the cheese from Ferndale Farmstead, makers of mozzarella, asiago, fontina, scamorza, caciotta and provolone. Its products are used by chefs at Aslan Brewery, Pizza’zza and Ovn Pizzeria among other local restaurants. The business, with original recipes by Daniel Wavrin, has achieved fast acclaim since it was founded in 2015. Since Ferndale Farmstead does not have a public tasting room, the cheesemaker will have a table available at Twin Sisters Creamery. For more info call 360-255-7062; or see ferndalefarmstead.com Ferndale is located 5 miles north of Bellingham, WA. For travel and lodging information visit bellingham.org, or call the Visitors Center at 360-671-3990.

We acknowledge that Whatcom County is located on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish Peoples. They cared for the lands that included what we’d call the Puget Sound region, Vancouver Island and British Columbia since time immemorial. This gives us the great obligation and opportunity to learn how to care for our surrounding areas and all the natural and human resources we require to live. We express our deepest respect and gratitude for our indigenous neighbors, the Lummi Nation and Nooksack Tribe, for their enduring care and protection of our shared lands and waterways.