written by Lauren Kramer | photography by Ferndale Farmstead
There aren’t many artisan cheesemakers in the world with a seed-to-cheese farmstead, but Ferndale Farmstead is one of them. The 900-acre farm in Whatcom County grows the crops that feed its 750-herd of cows, raises calves, stores milk and processes it in the creamery. Its products include fior di latte, scamorza, smoky scamorza, caciotta, asiago fresco, fontina, parmesan, mozzarella and provolone. And its flavors are garnering national and international attention. Its smoked provolone came home with a gold medal at the 2024 World Championship Cheese Contest, competing against 3,300 cheese entries, and in 2023 its fontina and scamorza received second place awards from the American Cheese Society.
Owner and head cheesemaker Daniel Wavrin is the creative mind behind these flavors. He founded the business on Italian cheesemaking principles in 2014 and, to this day, imports all his cultures and rennet from Italy. “Ours is a clean label creamery, which means our cheese is completely free of additives,” he said. “It also has the longest shelf life in the industry thanks to the purity of the milk and the fact that we’re a single-source creamery.”
Ferndale Farmstead cheese is available at major grocery stores and cheese shops across the state, as well as at its roadside cheese stand outside the Ferndale farm. Its three top sellers are fior di latte, smokey scamorza and fontina. The latter, which captures the beauty and flavors of Washington, is aged for a full year and perfect on a summer cheese plate.
2780 ALDERGROVE ROAD
FERNDALE
www.ferndalefarmstead.com