Culture Magazine

46 culturecheesemag.com ENTERTAINING 202 3 says. "We went home together and we haven't been apart since. He is the crowning blessing of my life." After a few false starts—painting, biomedical engineering, English literature, chemistry, and competitive swimming—Koch found his way into the corporate world, climbing the career ladder to head up marketing and communications for Fannie Mae. Instead of putting their money in the market, he and Solanet invested in an 1865 farmhouse in the town of Accident, not far from Deep Creek, and split their time between the country and D.C. The couple launched FireFly Farms six years before the 2008 financial crash, when Koch decided it was time to exit the corporate world. "I'm a die-hard optimist. I'll try anything," Koch says. That includes running FireFly as a farmstead cheese business first so he and Solanet could learn the ins and outs of operating a creamery. Milking animals themselves gave the couple essential cred when it came to the company's next phase: working with area dairy farmers looking for an alternative to a tanking fluid milk market. "If you go to a farmer and say, 'I'm a brand-new cheesemaker and I'd like to buy your milk,' you're not going to find anybody who will leave their milk market and sell to an unproven buyer," he says. "We had to prove ourselves first." Today, Firefly sources goat's and cow's milk from 13 dairy farms located within 30 miles of Deep Creek, with another four further afield they can call on as needed. The company's initial slate of "Everyone starts as a cheesemaker. Then we try to understand what else makes them happy—food safety, affinage, fulfillment. You keep a foot in the make room, but you start to add value to the company in other ways." cheeses—fresh chèvre, blue-dusted lactic bloomy-rind Mountain Top, and soft- ripened Merry Goat Round, all chosen for their quick-turnaround production that returns cash flow to the company in as little as 30 days—has grown to nearly a dozen. Between June 2022 and June 2023, the FireFly team produced 272,000 pounds of cheese, mostly made from goat's milk. PROMOTING JOB GROWTH Koch saw how a business like FireFly could make a substantial community impact during a stint heading up Garrett County's Department of Business Development, and it informed his and Solanet's mission to create good-paying jobs that can grow into careers. "We're very competitive for the area with what we're paying, the benefits that we offer," says Dan Porter, who started in FireFly's cheese room as a teen in 2004. He's since been promoted to director of operations, with a seat on the company's board. "A lot of other jobs here are service jobs. You could make good money in the summer and in ski season, but in the shoulder seasons, it gets kind of slow." The company now employs 24 full-time workers at its production facility and cheese shop, which spun off into its own location in 2011. In addition to solid wages, health and retirement benefits, paid time off, and sick leave, the workplace is structured so staff can explore their own interests while contributing to the success of the business. "Everyone starts as a cheesemaker. Then we try to understand what else makes them happy—food safety, affinage, fulfillment," Koch says. "You keep a foot in the make room, but you start to add value to the company in other ways." Detail of the paste of Cabra La Mancha

• Cover