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Featured Cheesemaker
Ayesha, Altitude and
the Mile High Creamery
Sue
and Ayesha in the Himalayas
Ayesha Grewal
came to California in 2008 to study cheese making with
Cowgirl Creamery, funded by a fellowship from Global
Environmental Institute, Americas.
In an effort to
encourage farmers to grow and produce foods that will earn
higher revenues than commodity crops, Ayesha has developed a
production facility in India on the top of a mountain in the
Himalayas, surrounded by dozens of tiny terraced farms and
dairies. She pays top dollar for quality ingredients to
make specialty foods for the New Delhi market.
Artisan Cheese
development will begin in early 2010. Plans are to purchase
milk from five to ten farmers who each have one or two
cows. Production will build to fifty gallons per day as the
farmers learn to provide milk to Ayesha’s specifications.
Hopefully, this division will be called Mile High Creamery,
though the name has not been officially adopted.
Another business, The Altitude Store, serves as a virtual
supplier of natural and organic ingredients from India.
This business, loosely patterned on the Tomales Bay Foods
model in Point Reyes, will provide the marketing and sales
vehicle that will bring the products from the Himalayas to
New Delhi.
We salute
Ayesha's vision and enthusiasm. We were thrilled to see the
incredible community she has created and the hope she has
provided for a hardworking group of farmers. |
