Homestead Market®
a division of
Hefty Creek International, LLC
Our history began in 1848 when our ancestors came to America from Switzerland and homesteaded the farm we live on. Homestead Market is affectionately named after our homestead farm and is located in the heart of Wisconsin cheese producing country.
It is from these great cheeses that our interest in gourmet foods and fondues developed. In olden times, laborious and time consuming preparation of these dishes was the norm. Now this is all changed. Our terrific Cheese Fondue and Crème Brulée mixes have the same great, consistent taste as the originals, but without all the fuss, bother and extra time.
Over 150 years ago, Fridolin Hefty and his family immigrated to America from the mountain village of Hätzingen, in the canton of Glarus, Switzerland. Fridolin and Rosina Hefty's homestead farm started with a one room log cabin on the banks of what is now Hefty Creek. Together they built their farm, their family, and their new lives in America. Over time, the Hefty Homestead Farm grew into a flourishing dairy operation. As their milk production increased, they saw an opportunity to build a cheese factory right on the homestead in 1881. This factory produced Swiss and limburger cheese from the milk produced on this farm as well as neighboring farms. The Hefty Homestead earned the reputation as being one of the most progressive farms in Green County. Not only were they one of the first to switch from traditional wheat farming to dairy farming, they were also one of the first to have electricity, running water, and milking machines.
Today the descendants of Fridolin and Rosina Hefty are still farming the Hefty Homestead Farm. Fred Blum, Jr. (the son of Olga Hefty and Fred Blum, Sr., and also the great-great grandson of Fridolin Hefty) and his wife, Miriam, have been farming the Homestead since 1964 where milk from their dairy herd has gone into the making of local cheese. They opened their first cheese store in 1974 in southern Wisconsin where the cheese factories are right "in their own backyard." Fred and Miriam's own son is a cheesemaker whose Baby Swiss has won first prize at the Wisconsin State Fair and third best in the world!
The Hefty Homestead Farm continues to be a progressive farm. Along with a high commitment to quality, Fred and Miriam are also committed to preservation of the environment. They have won awards for conservation, including the preservation of the banks of Hefty Creek that runs through the homestead property.
The Blums are also committed to historic architectural preservation. Six of the buildings located on the Homestead are listed in the National Historic Registry. The buildings in this Historic District include the Granary (1859), the Stone Barn (see picture above left) built in 1861, a large Victorian farm house (1880), the Cheese Factory (1881), Buggy Shed (1882), and a large wooden dairy barn built in 1884.
One hundred and fifty years after the beginning of the Hefty Homestead Farm, Hefty Creek International, LLC was founded in 1998 by Fred and Miriam Blum, their daughter, Gale, and her husband, Kent. Steeped in the traditions of the Wisconsin Swiss, Hefty Creek International's Homestead Market brings you a collection of products that are hard-to-find, products that are innovative, products that work and products that make a difference in your life.
