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responsible. ... That helps our customers know that we pay particular attention to those details on our farm and that we really care about the health and welfare of our animals." While Hoffmann made all her own cheeses in the early days of the operation, Rachel Kleine is now Green Dirt Farm's Head Cheesemaker. She's responsible for developing the recipes for the mixed milk cheeses that the creamery makes today in addition to its 100 percent sheep milk cheeses, which include Dirt Lover. the dairy's flagship cheese, a soft-ripened lactic style cheese with an ash coating that helps control how the rind develops as it ages. Dirt Lover tastes buttery, lemony, and mushroomy, and becomes earthy and beefy with age. It smells of wet dirt, like working in the garden, according to the dairy's description. It won a third-place award for sheep milk cheeses aged between 31 and 60 days this year at the American Cheese Society's Judging and Competition. Green Dirt Farm's Prairie Tomme won a third-place ACS award for a cheese made in the U.S. in an international style. It's a rustic, mountain style, hard cheese made with sheep milk. The curd is cut very small and slowly cooked, resulting in a lower moisture cheese. It is aged at least four months, during which the rind is washed with brine. This creates a beautiful, natural rind with an earthy flavor, according to the creamery's website. Aux Arcs, pronounced like Ozark, won a second place ACS award for a blended milk cheese in an international style. It's a rustic, mountain style, hard cheese made with blended sheep and cow's milk, made in the summer while the animals are on pasture and aged for at least two months. Aux Arcs is milky and buttery with sweet pineapple notes and hints of flowers. Its rind is evocative of damp earth and mushrooms. Green Dirt Farm also won a second- place award for Fresh Plain, a fresh rindless sheep milk cheese aged less than 30 days, and a first-place win in the category for sheep milk cheeses aged between 31 and 60 days for Woolly Rind, a bloomy rind aged cheese that's a classic lactic style cheese that undergoes progressive ripening as it ages. Woolly Rind tastes buttery, tangy, and mushroomy. With age, the cheese gains earthy and beefy qualities. Its aroma frequently evokes thoughts of forest floor, or fresh soil. It is a good option to introduce people to aged sheep's milk cheese, as it is relatively mild, according to Green Dirt Farm. Bossa won a second-place award in the American Originals category for cheeses made from sheep milk at the 2017 ACS Competition and Judging, tying with Bleating Heart Cheese's Fat Bottom Girl. Bossa is a signature cheese for Green Dirt Farm, a washed-rind cheese that's aged for five weeks before wrapping. It reaches its peak at about eight to nine weeks, when it's very runny, with a custard-like paste that can be spooned out of the rind onto crusty bread. This is a stinky cheese that tastes meaty, with buttery or nutty notes and a delicate honey-nectar flavor.