Breen Mesa Farms Creamery opened in May of this year, and according to owner Edit Aquarian, it is “the only FDA-approved mobile milk parlor in Colorado.”

The farm and creamery specializes in soft goat cheeses, including ricotta, feta and several flavors of chevre. However, it also sells fresh, non-GMO-fed, free-range eggs and Hungarian baked goods featuring goat cheese, such as cheesecake slices with walnut crust and lemon zesty flavor and biscuits made with double-smoked bacon, lard and goat ricotta.

The farm rotationally grazes its goats over 300 acres in Breen and milks them by hand, Aquarian said.

Aquarian also created the nonprofit Veterans Homestead Project with her partner, Gregory Hopkins, to provide combat veterans with hands-on training in regenerative agriculture practices. Breen Mesa Farms is a private business, Aquarian said, but it acts as a host for the Veterans Homestead Project – six veterans from the project interned with the farm last year, and each now owns a goat herd and milks and bags their cheese.

“As a teaching facility, we teach everything from cheesemaking to butchering to composting,” she said.

The farm’s actual cheesemaking occurs in the commercial kitchen of Durango Artisan Foods, where the products will also be on sale in the near future, Aquarian said. The store will provide a place for customers to buy the cheese during the winter season.

ngonzales@durangoherald.com