MAINE CHEESE GUILD Minutes of Meeting @ Ag Trade Show January 13, 2004

Present: Board Members: Caitlin Hunter, Deb Hahn, Margie Lupien, Jennifer Betancourt, Perry Ells, Cathe Morrill, Anne Bossi, Scott Gardner, Others: Amanda Jamison, Sherry & Rick Chattick, Heidi Klingenhofen, Jane Marasco, Reubin Peshu, Shelley Doak, Russell Libby.

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Cheese Festival : Anne relayed the results of her recent meeting with Kris Horton, ie: Kris & Corey of the Portland Public Market are very supportive of and enthusiastic about hosting the 2004 Cheese Festival PPM will provide free space for cheese producers to set up our individual display tables in the PPM as well as space for whatever workshops, demos, etc that we want to have They have already set up an advertising budget and will take care of that so there should be no costs incurred by MCG or us They want to integrate promotion of Maine cheeses with as many PPM vendors as possible They are considering sponsoring a local chef competition featuring Maine cheeses and mentioned fondue as the theme, which everyone thought was too limiting for the kinds of cheeses we produce. Alternatives: pasta & cheese, hors d’oeuvres, other???? The wine & cheese tasting may not have to be upstairs; could possibly be held at the PPM wine vendor space or in an outdoor tent PPM doesn’t think they can charge admission as we did at MOFGA, but are considering selling buttons for those who want to sample cheese, with a separate one for wine tasters.

Questions: Will there be enough space for all of us? What about producers making products other than cheese (yogurt? Ice cream? Milk? Pudding? Etc) Can we sell from our booths? What about price differences (Kris sells our cheese for more than we do)? With a cheese /wine tasting area, will we also give samples at our booths? We need to set a date

Vote: We voted on whether to proceed with the Festival at PPM, contingent upon positive answers to our questions. A unanimous “Yes”.

Other Festival issues: Since we won’t have space for live animals, we’re wondering how to get across the idea that the milk we use actually comes from real animals. Morris Farm has a milking video and Marg will check out one she knows about. Rick mentioned a fake udder that people can milk that he had seen at a fair and he and Perry will check into that. In the meantime, we are still looking for videos or other ideas to portray dairy animals, milking and cheesemaking.

Russ Libby offered the use of the MOFGA facility for 2004, but not in October.

A Festival committee was formed consisting of Deb Hahn, Cathe Morrill, Anne Bossi, Jennifer Betancourt and Caitlin Hunter, who will set up a meeting soon with the PPM folks.

Cheese Sampler: Cathe reported that our Holiday cheese sampler was a huge success that should be repeated as soon as people have cheese available again. Walk-ins were at least as successful as the internet. However, we need to get together to discuss logistics. Suggestion: get together and pre-package the samplers. We should keep our eyes out for catalogues with sampler packages for prices and ideas; maybe bring them to the next meeting. Mentioned: Stonewall Kitchen, Zingerman’s, Project Truffle.

Fromagex - Two reps from this new North American cheese supply distributor will do a presentation for us on Feb 2 at State of Maine Cheese Co from 10-2. A paper was circulated for us to write the questions we have for them, one being can we do bulk orders? Caitlin will do a press release to publicize this event.

Margaret Morris: We agreed to ask her to do a weekend workshop and a presentation at one of our meetings in the Fall, preferably November. Need to discuss this further.

Testing goat milk: Shelley Doak of the Dept of Ag has asked a lab tech for a proposal of what is needed to test goat milk for fats, solids, somatic cell count, etc, the same as they do for cows. She will email us the results of her inquiry.

Cheese Aging Facility: the need for such a facility has come up before. In order to apply for federal grants we need to form a more formal association that we are now, such as a non-profit or a LLC. John Harker of the Dept of Ag will help us with the application procedure.

Business Meeting: Scott submitted the Treasurer’s Report for 12/1//03 to 1/12/04 but it wasn’t read or approved because we dispensed with the business meeting due to lack of time.

A tremendous thank you to Glendon Mehuren for giving a very informative and entertaining presentation about the regulations and requirements for getting started in the cheesemaking business. And to Shelley Doak for filling in until Glendon arrived.

Next Meeting: Feb 23 at Hahn’s End (Deb Hahn) in Phippsburg. Theme will be packaging. Bring your favorites and less than favorites as well as supplier sources and prices. Should be a good discussion (show & tell).

Respectfully submitted, Anne Bossi, Secretary Maine Cheese Guild

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