Sunlight grows the grass, feeding the cows that produce the milk for the cheese, all on the same picturesque Ferndale hilltop. Ferndale Farmstead doesn’t make just any cheese. The cheeseshop specializes in authentic Italian cheeses, including scamorza, which is hung on ropes to age, an aged asiago, the soft caciotta, and of course, the ever popular fresh mozzarella.

The cheesemaking equipment all came from Italy, as does all the enzymes used in their cheese. They want to make cheese as similar as possible to the kind that’s been made in Italy for centuries. “We’re producing the same product,” said cheesemaker Daniel Wavrin, “just with American milk.” Starting soon, he said, their mozzarella will be sold as the store brand in New Seasons Market, a grocery store chain with 21 locations mostly in Portland, Oregon.