Features

In Alma, everybody says “cheese”

Written by Kristin Hodges. Posted on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008

Beginning at 4 a.m., Alvin Kahle and Jim Ferguson make cheese. They have been making cheese for 40 years.

Head cheese-makers and second cousins, they start the morning outfitted in white pants, white hard hats and white coats that have their names stitched on the pockets. Together they pasteurize, cheddar, salt and form the all-natural cheese sold at the Alma Creamery.

Kahle and Ferguson both started work at the Alma Creamery before they were 20, Kahle in 1949 and Ferguson in 1968. The two have spent their lives in Alma, population 808, which is located 30 miles west of Topeka. They believe in the community and the work that they do.

“After a while, you know with anything you develop a love for it, even though sometimes a love for your job can be like a bad marriage,” Ferguson said, laughing. “But you still have a love for it. It’s always kept me around, and it kind of makes me feel proud to be associated with something that’s been around all of these years.”

The Beginning

The creamery plant sets along railroad tracks in Alma, and signs around the community point toward “the home of the famous Alma cheese.” Ferguson remembers going to the plant on a field trip in second grade. He never imagined he would work there.

He had dreams of following his love of music and becoming a disk jockey, but, as he said, “sometimes plans change.” In 1968, he was working roof construction in the community when his cousin Kahle convinced him to work for the creamery. He was 16 and eager to work, and he liked being close to home.

At 19, Kahle washed bottles once a week. Unlike Ferguson, Kahle didn’t know what he wanted to do with his future.

“I never gave it much thought,” Kahle said. “I was looking for a job that I could get a hold of right then, because there weren’t very many jobs around. Jobs were a little scarce.”

Kahle eventually became a full-time employee at the plant that was just two blocks away from his home.

Though the two had no prior experience with food production, they quickly learned how to make cheese.