Peter Dixon & Rachel Fritz Schaal

Dairy Foods Consulting

Westminster Artisan Cheesemaking

Training and Consulting with 

Farmstead and Artisan Cheesemakers

since 1996

As a dairy foods consultant and artisan cheesemaker, Peter Dixon draws on over 40 years of cheesemaking, as well as 27 years of consulting with people engaged in or interested in making cheese and dairy products. Rachel has worked with dairy farmers and cheesemakers as the education coordinator at the Pennsylvania Assn. for Sustainable Agriculture, and coordinator of the Vermont Cheese Council and Cheesemakers’ Festival. Together they started Parish Hill Creamery in 2013, where they make seasonal, raw milk cheese by hand.

Peter and Rachel work with dairy farmers and cheesemakers to research and develop, or improve their milk processing businesses.  

At Westminster Artisan Cheesemaking in Westminster, Vermont, they offer small group cheesemaking instruction geared toward handmade artisan and farmstead cheese production.

In 2018, Peter became a Lead Instructor for the FSPCA Preventive Controls for Human Food Course, offering trainings in Vermont and around the country.

Peter got his start in Food Safety while pursuing his M.S. in Dairy Science at the University of Vermont. The demonstrable connection between risk reduction practices and high quality cheese and dairy foods guides Peter's work as a consultant and a cheesemaker.