Tucked in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, down a
lengthy stretch off Route 250, Our Lady of the Angels Monastery sits perched on
the hillside. Inside, the sisters live a self-sustained lifestyle filled with
prayer, devotion … and cheese-making.
The 13 Sisters of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Crozet, Va.,
believe God has a plan for everyone. When Sister Barbara Smickel arrived on the
newly purchased 507-acre farm in central Virginia in 1987, she was surprised to
find a barn filled with ready-to-use cheese machinery. Without much
hesitation, Sister Smickel and the others realized God’s plan. In 1990, the
first rounds of cheese were made by the sisters. Today, their semisoft, mild
Dutch-style Gouda is produced in 2-pound wheels.
Thursdays are dedicated cheese-making days at the monastery. The
day starts at 3 a.m. with a morning prayer. Around 7 a.m., Sister Myriam
Saint-Vilus leaves Mass early to turn on a container used for
heating. The windows of the cheese room grow foggy as the room heats to a
proper cheese-stirring temperature. The cheese is stirred in 20-minute
increments, and the sisters work in shifts in the barn, wearing scrubs and rain
boots. By 9 a.m., Sister Maria Gonzalo forms ovals around steel presses, and by
11 a.m., the machines cut the sheets of cheese mixture into cubes. Sister
Jacqueline Melendez takes the cubes and squeezes them into molds. Once formed,
the cheese waits in one of three chilling rooms to be packaged and sold.
The process takes six to eight hours — a full day’s work. “We
always say the secret ingredient is love and prayer. You get out what you put
in,” Sister Gonzalo said.
Their not-so-secret ingredient is fresh milk delivered from local
farms. "We get our milk delivered regularly and locally. We like to know
where everything is coming from and exactly what gets put in," Sister Gonzalo
said.
“This work is good,” Sister Eve Marie Aragona said. “It becomes
sort of mindless and allows us to work for God in ways similar to prayer and
our studies.”
And the work never goes to waste. The sisters include the cheese at
almost every meal, and the Gouda is especially good for grilled-cheese sandwiches.
“How can you get sick of something that you are proud of?” said Sister
Saint-Vilus. “We know how it is made and what is in it.”