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- [Heather] This is the heart

of this cloistered Trappist nun community

gathering for worship andprayer seven times a day,

starting at 3:15 in the morning.

And this is the cheese barn,

where the 12 sisters atOur Lady of the Angels

make close to 20,000pounds of Gouda every year.

Most of their quarter milliondollar business is mail order

although some localshops drive out monthly

for the cheese their customers crave.

- The flavor's great.

It's on the mild endin terms of intensity,

but it's delicious and really versatile.

You can use it for cooking

or you can just nosh it

with salami and olives and bread.

- When they started, the nuns knew nothing

about how to make cheese.

Today, they literally cannotkeep up with the demand

from food connoisseurs around the country.

- It sort of sells itself.

People get it as a gift

and they call and they say,

could I order some of this cheese?

- [Heather] Sister Barbarais one of the original six

who was sent by a largemonastery in Massachusetts

to start anew on thisgorgeous piece of land

near Charlottesville, Virginia.

The goal, follow the centuries-oldrules of Saint Benedict

by building a life based on prayer

and engage in manual laborto support themselves.

Happily for the sisters,the property they bought

already featured a cheese-making facility.

- We were so naive.

We thought it'd be so simple.

You have some of this equipment here

and you just get somemilk and a few lessons

and just make some cheese.

- [Heather] But the sisters persevered

and they got it right, really right.

They allot 30 some daysa year to make the Gouda,

and everyone pitches in.

Sister Maria is thedesignated cheese cook.

She must manipulate some 6,000 pounds

of pasteurized milk with a little culture

and rennet into severalhundred wheels of cheese.

It looks easy, but like any good recipe,

it's all about precision,

getting the correct temperature,

cutting the curds atjust the right moment,

heating them, then draining the whey

and finally pressing the cheese.

Over the years, the sisters

have not only perfected their technique,

they have never bungled a batch.

That's almost unheard of.

The sisters say prayer

is a big part of their work

from making the cheese to sending it out.

- While I'm doing it,

I'm really praying for the people

who are gonna eat that cheese.

I mean I know every family,every person have problems.

- For every five cheeseorders that come in the mail,

at least one, maybe out of every four,

one will have a request for prayers.

- [Heather] Prayer is alsothe reason the nuns say

they won't grow their business.

- People will come in and say,

well you sold out last year

so you're gonna make morenext year, aren't you?

- [Heather] What is happening here,

a seeking after the Lordthat is visibly discernible.

- It's fun to see the nuns

and they're so kind and calm and mellow.

It sort of slows you down a little bit.

- [Heather] When they're not in the chapel

or making the cheese, the nunsdo admit to eating it often

and there is a preferred method.

- You toast a piece of bread

so that the bread is kind of crispy.

And then you put couple ofthin slices of cheese on,

put in the microwave for 25 seconds.

- [Heather] Flash forward to 2020,

and the sisters say the pandemic

has made them even moreconscious of the need to pray.

They're especially mindfulof healthcare workers

and those who have lost a loved one.

A new puppy, Skippy, hasadded joy to their lives

but otherwise their dayscontinue as they always have,

full of prayer and ministry opportunities

in simple two pound wheels of cheese.

Heather Sells, CBN News.

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