Meeting: June 16 at Appleton Creamery

Our next meeting will be held on June 16th at Appleton Creamery in Appleton, Maine. Caitlin Hunter is the founding President of the Guild and has been making and selling cheese in Maine for over twenty years, and what is more amazing is how she manages an entire milking herd of Alpine goats, has been training many young cheese makers many of whom go on to be hired by major US artisan cheese companies or they start their own award winning creameries, AND she continues to make award winning cheeses in a very tiny (but efficient) space on her small farm in the hills of Appleton. There is much to learn from her efforts, and from the cheese-driven life that she has created.

Caitlin adds: “the Maine AgraAbility folks coming to give a presentation about farming smart as we age. Just got my new hydraulic lift table to help move those pesky full buckets around. We will also have the pizza oven fired!”

Directions:

From the North:
Get on to Maine Rt. 131 heading south from Searsmont Village. After you pass the intersection with Rt. 105, drive another mile or two to the next left on Sennebec Rd. About a mile later continue straight-ish onto Sleepy Hollow Rd., go down across a small bridge then up and take your first right onto Gurneytown Rd. Appleton Creamery is less than a mile down the road on your right, clearly marked.

From the South:
Find Sennebec Rd. heading north off of Route 17 directly across from the intersection with Route 235. Drive north about three miles then take the RIGHT fork to get onto Gurneytown Rd. Appleton Creamery is a little more than a mile farther north on the left, clearly marked

I hope to see you there.

Guild Workshop

Beginner Cheesemaking Workshop

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

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.