Fe at ur ed L a ndowner:
Poor Or ph a n Cr e a mery
When Lark Gilmer bought a home in the Basque of France she learned sheep
could be milked and she could use that milk to make cheese.
by Jodie DeLay
Extension External Relations Coordinator, Montana State University
Grade school kids are her favorite; when they visit the tasting
room they “get it,” says Lark Gilmer of Poor Orphan Creamery.
Gilmer is a cheesemaker, a shepherd, a photographer, an
entrepreneur, a grant-writer, an innovator, an agricultural
enthusiast, a mentor, and an educator. She is the founder and
owner of Montana’s first sheep dairy and Grade A portable
milking parlor.
Born in Minnesota, Gilmer always had a love for sheep. Her
career as a commercial photographer took her to England
and France. There, she looked for opportunities to care for
sheep, helping to lamb and learning from shepherds. In Oxford,
she experienced cheesemaking with one of Britain’s leading
cheesemongers, Major Patrick Rance. It was when she bought
a home in the Basque of France that she learned sheep could
be milked and that she could use that milk to make cheese.
She had found her calling.
Gilmer came to Montana in 2003 and began thinking earnestly
about how she could turn her passion into a living. She knew
that the cost of land, sheep, milking and manufacturing
facilities, utilities, and round-the-clock labor could be
prohibitive, but that didn’t stop her. She researched state and
federal law and various funding opportunities and started
down a path that only someone, she says, “with a border
collie mentality, unwilling to let go,” would undertake.
Montana law requires property owners to manage noxious
weeds and applies penalties for violations (MCA 7-22-21).
Gilmer observed that people were coming to Montana in hopes
of a country lifestyle and purchasing tracts of land that they
often didn’t have the time or knowledge to care for. Rather
than buying her own land, she approached landowners and
offered to run her sheep on their land to help them meet weed
management requirements for a lease agreement of one dollar.
Gilmer was able to secure enough leased land to care for her
flock. “Landowners get sheep on their property, to be seen as
good stewards and good community members, and to be part
of an awesome end product,” says Gilmer. “It is a win, win.”
To make her business model pencil out, Gilmer’s flock consists
of around 170 Icelandic sheep, which she owns. Per Gilmer,
her sheep give about 1 cup per ewe per milking compared to
5-7 gallons per day for cows. In order to harvest their milk,
Gilmer worked tirelessly to obtain funding for a portable Grade
A milking parlor. Though common in Europe, the concept of a
portable parlor without land ownership was new in Montana,
and, as a result, met some resistance.
Gilmer eventually called then Governor Schweitzer who
connected her with the Montana Milk Control Bureau. Fifty
people showed up at the resulting meeting to discuss her
project. Ultimately, Gilmer received two grants and a loan
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| big sky small acres
PHOTOS BY LARK GILMER
“It’s been an epic and even a biblical journey to follow this
through,” said Gilmer. “A lot of people are trained to say no,
and you just can’t take no for an answer. Persistence leads
to success. It makes people know you are serious when you
don’t quit.”
from the State of Montana’s Growth Through Agriculture (GTA)
program to purchase the milking parlor, as well as to pay for
construction and equipment.
Gilmer also worked with the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development office for federal
grants. “Go meet them,” she says. “People told me that if
you don’t have i’s dotted and t’s crossed you’ll be rejected,
so I went in and introduced myself, told them I was nervous,
and asked for help.” She made several return visits and her
persistence paid off. Gilmer received a USDA Value-Added
Producer grant and a Rural Energy for America Program (REAP)
Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Improvement grant
to cover costs of solar electric and solar hot water. Gilmer
commends both the State and the USDA, noting they were
helpful and supportive, especially once they realized she
wasn’t going to go away.
During these years, Gilmer was also searching for the perfect
location for a creamery. She discovered Laurin, a once thriving
mining community founded by Frenchman, Jean Baptiste
Laurin, and located in the Ruby Valley near Alder Gulch. Now
an unincorporated ghost town, it has maintained its French
charm and had an old surplus store that met her needs for the
creamery. And, it came with an added bonus. Her sheep, and the
portable parlor, were pastured on leased land directly next door.
After originally being turned down for a wine and beer license,
she was able to get one thanks to her research, persistence,
and rural location. All summer long she did cheese education,
starting with France and then Spain and Italy. She cooked and
did farm to table dinners. In December they hosted a fondue
night and an Evening in Tuscany.
When tourists visit they can meet the animals. “Icelandic
sheep are very beautiful,“ says Gilmer. “They aren’t skittish or
mean and kids and others can interact with them.” On some
occasions, kids are able to try milking, tasting the milk, making
a quick cheese, and eating the cheese.
Gilmer acknowledges that work in agriculture is hard. It is
physically and emotionally demanding and requires the ability
to adjust on the fly. It can be very difficult on relationships and
doesn’t always have great monetary reward. As she finishes
her third year in business, she notes that she still can’t
pay herself, but she is paying other people. Nevertheless,
agriculture, she says, is a glorious challenge for those who
are called to it and she is happy to help others get started.
She has a great passion for teaching, especially youth. “I can
change the way a kid looks at food forever,” she said. “For me
that has huge value. It is the most rewarding.” 
While Montana law has only a Grade B cheese requirement,
Gilmer’s operation is Grade A rated. For someone building a
commercial facility, she recommends working with the state
inspector from the start. “I had to jump through a few hoops to
prove I was serious,” she said. “But they are very helpful, very
respectful and very willing to be a part of trying to make your
business successful.”
The Poor Orphan Creamery, named in honor of Laurin’s history
housing orphans and the generosity of its people, officially
opened in May 2014. Gilmer’s facility allows her to craft fine
artisan cheeses made both from her sheep milk and from cow
milk that she sources from the Montana State Prison in Deer
Lodge.
In 2016, Gilmer added a tasting room. Cow milk cheeses
are vastly different than sheep milk cheeses. She starts by
offering a familiar cheese, like feta and goes through the
stinky and the blue cheeses. She ends with sheep milk cheese
and says, “There is always a pause, and then a wow. It’s just
awesome. They start with a prejudice about cheese, and I get
to open their minds.”
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