Our Difference
Cheese On A Mission
Local Family Farms
Yes, we’re different. And it’s not just that we’re one of the most awarded cheesemakers in the U.S. From fair relationships with our farmers, to powering cheesemaking with our own solar energy and active conservation efforts, to donating our whey to local farmers and pig growers, to our commitment to handmade cheese – only handmade, and always from fresh milk – we’re working to make our community and the world a better place for all of us – one wheel of cheese at a time.
Farming
Behind every cheese maker is a dairy farmer. Our farmers are our most important partners.
Manufacturing
We use only four simple ingredients to make our cheeses, and they are free of additives, preservatives, or stabilizers.
Retail
For us it’s simple, our cheeses find their way to retail cases far and wide and two of those cases are our very own.
Leading in our community
Fair Relationships with Farmers
Our farmers are not forced to manipulate their herds to provide a consistent, year-round milk production. The animals cycle naturally, and we manage our production and aging processes accordingly. Our milk-pricing contract does not penalize producers for “under-production” in winter months, nor “over-production” in summer months. We coordinate closely with our producers regarding anticipated herd growth, and breeding time frames.
"I have been milking for FireFly for over a decade but I am not the longest-milking farmer. I bought my herd from my father-in-law, who was FireFly's first goat dairy farmer back in 2006. They've grown the goat milk market substantially in our community."
Land Acknowledgement
FireFly Farms would like to acknowledge that we and our farmers are on the traditional lands of the Massawomeck People, and we most sincerely pay our respect to their elders both past and present. The Massawomeck tribe was a group of Iroquois Native Americans, primarily located in modern-day Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. The Massawomeck were a powerful, warring tribe who occupied the lands between Lake Erie and the Chesapeake Bay. In early American colonial times, the Massawomeck controlled the flow of trade goods west and into the interior. Attacked by immigrant colonists and other ambitious tribes, the Massawomeck were defeated and absorbed into the Seneca.Their lands were seized and settled by British colonists and new Americans.
Our own creamery’s hometown name bears witness to this seizure: About the year 1751, a grant of land was given to Mr. George Deakins by King George II, of England, in payment of a debt. According to the terms, Mr. Deakins was to receive 600 acres of land anywhere he chose in Western Maryland. Mr. Deakins sent out two corps of engineers, each without knowledge of the other group, to survey the best land in the area. After the survey, the engineers returned with their maps of the plots they had surveyed. To their surprise, they discovered they had surveyed a tract of land starting at the same tall Oak tree and returning to the start point. Mr. Deakins chose this plot of ground and had it patented “The Accident Tract;” hence, the name of the town. The area around Accident was laid out in military lots and was given to Revolutionary War soldiers in lieu of cash for services rendered. Most soldiers sold their lots and never lived in Western Maryland.