MAINE CHEESE GUILD

Next Meeting:
Date: Tuesday, January 13, 2004
Time: 10:00-11:00 Board Meeting
11:00-noon Open Meeting, a repeat of the panel discussion we had at the Cheese Festival, with Glen Meheuren from the Dept of Ag about getting licensed..
Location: Maine Ag Trade Show, Civic Center, Augusta

Meeting Minutes
December 1, 2003

Present: Claire Mikolayunas, Anne Bossi, Scott Gardner, Eric Rector, Debbie Hahn, Sherry Chattick, Michael Tatro, Cathe Morrill, Caitlin Hunter, Jane Marasco, Jennifer Betancourt, Jean Koons, Perry Ells, Diane Schivera.

MCG Cheese Sampler - The website for this was up and running on 12/1. Cheese from 1797 Farm, Hahn's End, Appleton Creamery, State of Maine Cheese Co, Smiling Hill and Sunset Acres Farm will be included in the samplers.

Trade Show - MCG has three tables in an 8x10 space for January 13, 14 & 15 at a cost of $125. Caitlin will set up the afternoon of Monday, Jan 12, and will man the booth on Tues and Thurs. Scott will do it on Wed, but help is needed for all three days. Please call either Caitlin @785-4431 or Scott @ 786-4688 to volunteer. Also, please consider bringing some cheese books or other "cheeseabilia" to have available for people to look at. We will donate a MCG Tshirt as a door prize.

Meeting Schedule for 2004 - The following schedule includes locations for our 2004 meetings. All meetings except Jan 13 will be from 10-2.
Jan 13 - Ag Trade Show
Feb 23 - Hahn's End, Phippsburg. Theme will be packaging; bring your favorites and less than favorites as well as supplier sources and prices for possible bulk buying by MCG.
April 5 - Appleton Creamery, Appleton. See the kids!
May 17 - Smiling Hill Farm, Scarborough.
June 28 - Town Hill Farm, Whitefield.
Aug 9 - 1797 Farm, Auburn (or possibly Ellsfarm, Union)
Sept 27 - Sunset Acres Farm, Brooksville
October - Second Annual Cheese Festival (date & location TBA)
Nov 8 - ANNUAL MEETING, State of Maine Cheese Co (dues are due at this meeting)
Dec 13 - Christmas Party (location TBA)

Possible topics for meetings: different moulds (forms) and matting and their uses; different molds and cultures and their uses; packaging.

Workshop possibilities -
Cow Cheese 101 - Deb Hahn in Feb or April.
Goat Cheese 101 - Anne Bossi, sometime in March.
Advanced Cheesemaking - Margaret Morris? Other? TBA
The definite dates, times, locations, etc will be announced in the next MCG newsletter.

MCG Newsletter -
Next issue is due out the first week in January and will include an Association wish list, which now includes a book case for our MCG library and a copy machine (preferably color). Deadline is December 29. Please consider submitting articles, photos, notices, etc. Also, for those of us hosting 2004 meetings, we've got to make a commitment so locations can be announced in the newsletter. Also, think photos for our website.

Possible MCG events for 2004 -
Would like to do another Fall Cheese Festival this October, possibly at State of Maine Cheese Co or Portland Public Market. The MOFGA site was excellent, but it seems a good idea to move the site to different parts of the state. There have been some thoughts about doing Spring cheese events at Farmers' Markets, along the lines of the summer tomato events. For further info, contact Deeann Hermon at Dept of Ag in Augusta.

Meeting Minutes - It was decided that minutes of our regular meetings will be sent only to Board members. Minutes from the annual meeting will be sent to the full membership. Our webmaster is working on a "members only" part of the MCG website. When complete, minutes will be available there.

False cheese test results -
Some (detrimental) false positive results have been coming back from the state lab. Let your inspector know that you are aware of this. Also, if you get a bad result back from the lab, talk with them about it.

Notices -

Please keep your eyes open for grant possibilities that would support MCG.

Jennifer is making a poster (hardcopy and on our website) showing locations of MCG cheesemakers and farms from around the state. If you would like to be included, please send your cheese label to her at
170 East Waldo Rd
Waldo, ME 04915
wwoman@midcoast.com
Jennifer would appreciate you emailing her any news/events related to cheesemaking to be added to the web calendar. She is also seeking input in the way of recipes, cheese-related articles, poems, cheese photos, etc.

[webmasters insert: Jennifer Pierce, webmaster, is at the above address and needs the labels for inclusion on the individual farm pages of the site. Jennifer of Smiling Hill Farm needs the labels for a poster she is making for the trade show.]

We will soon have MCG stickers available! There will be no cost to members for 2004 or til the first batch is gone, whichever comes first.

Respectfully submitted,
Anne Bossi
Secretary, Maine Cheese Guild

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