Atlantans Rebecca and Ross Williams launched Many Fold Farm in South Fulton’s Chattahoochee Hills in 2009, and a year later they began selling eggs, lamb meat, and blueberries at local farmers markets. But it wasn’t until late this past June that sheep cheese, their showcase product, made its debut. First the husband-and-wife team had to establish a flock, survive their initial lambing season, and build the creamery, a gleaming 3,000-square-foot facility—capable of producing about 14,000 pounds of cheese a year—that was finally licensed this summer.

The learning curve has proved worth the effort. The couple, still in their twenties, are the only independent makers of sheep’s-milk cheese in Georgia, and one of a handful in the Southeast. Their initial efforts show astounding skill. There’s brebis, a bright soft cheese with a texture similar to fresh chèvre and a sweetness that hints of apple, and Condor’s Ruin, an aged beauty gently coated in vegetable ash. A firm but creamy Peekville Tomme cheese will be unveiled in late fall.

As they continue to introduce new cheeses, don’t expect the familiar. “We’re not going to do a feta,” Rebecca Williams says. “Our philosophy is to make cheeses that you can’t get. The Spaniards do a really good Manchego; I don’t think I can improve on it.” Many Fold cheeses can be found at Peachtree Road Farmers Market on Saturdays and at Star Provisions. manyfoldfarm.com

Photograph by Caroline C. Kilgore