Category Archives: Events

Posts about Workshops, Meetings, Festivals and conferences with a focus on cheese, dairy and agriculture.

Guild Workshop

Beginner Cheesemaking Workshop

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Beginner Cheesemaking Workshop with Arlene Brokaw and Beth Calder.  Come join us to learn the basics of safe  sanitation in the home kitchen and how to make boursin and feta style cheeses at home. This class will feature a hands-on cheese making demonstration for all participants. No prior cheese making knowledge necessary!

Milk TempLocation: University of Maine, Orono Campus School of Food & Agriculture’s Commercial Kitchen, Hitchner Hall, Rm 160 (look for signs for the Pilot Plant) Date: Friday, June 27, 2014 Time: 9:00am-4:00pm Cost: $60.00 Please bring your lunch and coffee/tea will be provided.

Space is limited to the first 12 people.

Please tie back long hair, wear comfortable clothing and shoes, and bring along an apron.  We will be standing for most of the workshop.

To register, please contact Melissa Libby at 207.581.2788 or 1.800.287.7170 (in Maine) or melissa.libby1@maine.edu.

 Parking Passes: Parking is located near Hitchner Hall. Melissa will be either e-mailing or mailing parking passes. Participants will need to park in the designated Black Commuter Student Parking Lots. The closest Black Lot is behind Nutting Hall, which is the building next to Hitchner.

Driving Directions: https://umaine.edu/about/driving-directions/

Campus map: http://www.umaine.edu/locator/printable-campus-maps/ If you are a person with a disability and need an accommodation to participate in this program, please contact Melissa Libby (UMaine Cooperative Extension, Rm 134 Hitchner Hall, UMaine) at 207.581.2788 or 1.800.287.7170 (in Maine) to discuss your needs. Receiving requests for accommodations 10 days before the program provides a reasonable amount of time to meet the request, however, all requests will be considered. 

Meeting: May 5 at Little Falls Farm in Harrison

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Our May meeting was held at Little Falls Farm in Harrison. Although they are tucked away in the foothills of Western Maine this is a unique dairy that is well worth any length of drive to visit. Mary and John Belding raise a small herd of certified organic dairy goats on their little patch of fields and woods along the Crooked River. They make a *truly* farmstead product — a single variety of hard aged goat cheese called Riffle that is certified 100% organic because all ingredients besides the salt come from their farm, an excellent example of the breadth of varieties of cheeses made in Maine.

There was a presentation from David Mathieu (www.cheesesociety.org/david-mathieu-clauger-north-america), representative of Clauger North America. They are a French company recommended to us by Michael Kalish. They are involved in atmospheric controls at a new cheese cave in Crown Heights, NY.

We also had a presentation for a web site redesign that we will be considering for 2014.