Hidden Springs Creamery is a culmination of a dream for myself and my husband Travis. Nearly 30 years ago, in a small Italian restaurant in Burlington Vermont, we had a crazy dream of creating artisan products from our dairy farm together, but the cost of processing equipment was insurmountable for us at that time. Life of course had other plans at that time. We became very involved in a cooperative that had a mission to keep family farmers on the land. It was an amazing opportunity, and we jumped headlong into that vision. For over 25 years, we were farmers, advocates, and leaders in that cooperative.

Through the years, we were blessed to grow up with that cooperative, and over 10 years ago, moved our family to Wisconsin so that Travis could take an executive role and oversee the membership side of Organic Valley/CROPP Cooperative. The crazy dream of a newly married couple seemed to have been lost in the shuffle of life and time. Serendipity had a different plan though. When the founders of Hidden Springs Creamery made the decision after 15 years to retire, someone suggested it would be a perfect fit for Travis and Myself. It seemed like a dream and a crazy one at that, but we decided to follow that dream. I retired from my role at our cooperative and went back to school to get my cheesemaking license.

I was mentored by Brenda Jenson, the founding owner/cheesemaker. With Brenda’s wisdom and award-winning cheeses, our dream was ready to take off. We soon realized that this endeavor would need both myself and Travis full-time if we wanted to bring Hidden Springs to its full potential. In November of 2023, Travis joined me full-time at the Creamery, and we have now come full circle to farming together again and this time, we are able to produce that value-added product of our own as well. Together we oversee all aspects of Hidden Springs. Travis is focused on the farm side of the business, while I oversee all the cheesemaking and most of the customer relationships. Together we fill in the gaps of marketing, sales, and farmers markets. We are wonderfully overwhelmed with the support and success so far and are so excited to continue producing products that resonate with our customers.