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New Seasons Market was the first outlet for River’s Edge Chevre, an artisan goat-cheese dairy nestled in the rain forest of the Oregon Coast Range. After 20 years raising goats, selling milk and excess
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"I think I like their personalities. Everything about goats I like."
-Pat Morford,
River's Edge Chevre
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River’s Edge Chevre was born.
Two years later, Pat is looking to build a new storage building for her aged cheeses. The goats, happily frolicking on the banks of the Siletz River, have paid their way; and the original chevre is now joined by tortes, tommes, washed rind cheeses and eight to 10 pound blocks of St. Olga.
An enthusiastic champion of handmade cheeses, Pat wanders among her goats as they nuzzle her outstretched hand. “I think I like their personalities,” Pat said, “Everything about goats I like. Each goat here is cared for individually. We milk  each animal individually. We make our cheese in small batches."
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"We milk each animal individually. We make our cheese in small batches."
-Pat Morford,
River's Edge Chevre
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“What makes us special is that we’re a small family operation. We’re probably the largest employer in Logsden,” Pat laughs. The entire staff consists of Pat, her fisherman husband, two daughters, two hired milkers, and one intern learning the ropes.
"So many of the cheeses now come from industrial situations where human hands have absolutely nothing to do with the cheese making process," she says.
Pat didn’t rely entirely on her good taste and culinary experience to develop her cheese making skills for River's Edge Chevre. She has taken cheese making at Washington State University and attended workshops tailored toward artisan dairies - including some with Vermont’s Peter Dixon  who has traveled the world on behalf of the USDA studying small batch cheeses. Pat also works closely with the Dairy Herd Improvement Association, an industry association that monitors milk production from River’s Edge Chevre and other small producers for content and quantity on a monthly basis.
The wind whips Pat’s hair across her forehead. Bamboo rustles at the edge of the Siletz - the river featured in Ken Kesey’s book "Sometimes a Great Notion." The Morford girls pack River's Edge Cheeses for the market.
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