This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking to Julia Inslee, owner of Locust Hollow Farm in Coatesville, Pennsylvania.

Inslee has lived on the farm since her parents purchased the property in the late 1970s. At the time, it was home to a farmhouse, a few rundown barns and several acres of untended land.

Over the next few decades, Inslee's family transformed the property. In 2010, Inslee started a dairy sheep operation and now raises East Friesians for milk and fiber.

"One of the major misconceptions about sheep is that they're all the same," Inslee said. "Every single ewe has a very different personality, and when you're with them on a daily basis, that really comes out."

Though Locust Hollow sells fiber from its sheep, Inslee's main focus is dairy: sheep's milk, yogurt and cheese.

Inspired by childhood trips to cheese shops in Philadelphia, Inslee taught herself how to make cheese with her sheep's milk, which she saw as an opportunity for additional income.

"I started experimenting and those first batches of cheese, they were terrible," Inslee said of the learning curve. "I think it took about five years to really get a good routine down and really figure out which cheeses worked for me."

Inslee now makes and sells a variety of sheep's milk cheeses, including feta and a Manchego-style cheese rubbed with rosemary grown on the farm and named "Rosy Morning."

Inslee sells her products at several local markets and enjoys the opportunity to educate the public about sheep's milk products.

"I think we're on the cusp of the general public being a little bit more aware of sheep's milk products," she said. "People in general, customers now are looking for something other than cheddar."