Monroe Cheesemaker Ruffles Some Feathers

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Last weeks some folks in the Guild asked if I would go to the State House when the Farmer Brown supports marched on April 17th to provide the prospective of a licensed dairy processor.

There was a bunch of media there for the march (much of it was there for the Governor’s signing of new domestic violence laws earlier in the day), and I was interviewed after the media finished talking with the demonstrators. Here are links (WLBZ, and WABI) to the two stories that have been broadcast on TV news so far about the issue.

(I made it clear to reports that I was also President of the Maine Cheese Guild and that I supported the Guild’s Quality Statement, but so far they have preferred to identify me only as the owner of Monroe Cheese Studio.)

Use the comments section to let me know what you think.

How do you wash your cheese?

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I am washing some cheese wheels with beer or mead. Glengarry used to carry sponges for washing cheese, but they discontinued and now only carry brushes. I cannot find sponges at other cheesemaking suppliers (New England Cheesemaking, Dairy Connection) or dairy processing suppliers (Nelson Jameson, Weber Scientific). Supermarket sponges might be treated with antimicrobials (like triclosan), so I want to avoid them. Do you wash any of your cheeses? If so – what do you use, do you like it, where to you get it? Thank you for any information!

Meeting: Fuzzy Udder Creamery in Unity May 7

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We had a very productive meeting held at the Fuzzy Udder Creamery in Unity on Monday, May 7th, including a tour of Jessie’s newly inspected and licensed creamery which is impressive in it’s simplicity and efficient design. We also heard from Barbara Skapa about several marketing opportunities for cheese makers interested in teaming up with Maine distributors, as well as a question about how the Guild should best market itself. That lead to a effort that Karen Trenholm will explore to put together a printed brochure with a cheese map inside that could be distributed state wide for summer visitors to use, as well as for Open Creamery Day. We hope to see a proposal for making this happen at the next Guild meeting in June.

We also had a spirited discussion about the efforts being made to exempt dairy licensing from small commercial dairy producers, which is something this Guild had often argued against. There will be more about that in another post that will include the crux of their argument.