This mailing includes both minutes from the last meeting and information about the upcoming Cheese Festival, scheduled for October 16 at the Portland Public Market in Portland

MAINE CHEESE GUILD MEETING at Sunset Acres Farm September 27, 2004

Present: Barbara Brooks, Caitlin Hunter, Mark and Amanda Whitney (Pineland), Jane Marasco, Eric Rector, Lin Sullivan (guest), Jennifer Betancourt, Debbie Hahn, Gary Anderson, Jean Koons, Anne Bossi.

Next meeting: November 8, 10-2:00 at State of Maine Cheese Co. This is our Annual Meeting so bring your dues.

We started with a tour of Anne's cheeseroom, then proceeded to the barns and milking areas before starting the "meat" of the meeting which began with a Festival update from Caitlin.

Due to some lack of activity on the part of the PPM we proceeded to address what still needs to be done.

Corey had recently sent Caitlin a press release, but we felt it needed revision, so Eric wrote one even as we met. [this has been submitted statewide]

A chef had not yet been engaged for the "Cooking with Maine Cheese" demo. Several suggestions were offered and as of this writing, Katie Hoffman of the Maine Dairy Promotion Board has gotten Chef Harry who will do a demo in the kitchen area at 11.

There are some discrepancies in the publicized times of the Festival. Some sources say 10-4 while others say 11-4 and 11-9. Because of this we decided to open at 10 but not start any workshops until 11. [vendors are requested to arrive by 9]

Mark Whitney will explore the possibility of free parking for Festival participants [looks good at this point]

Agreed on a $35 fee for a table (and will hope for free parking).

Decided to bring the MCG Asiago cheese for Kris Horton to crack open in addition to the Parmesan she'll be doing. [Sadly, Deb reports it suffered in the aging room, so we'll only be able to sample bits of it] We will also sell her the Caerphilly we made at the spring workshop, to sell during the festival.

There will be two Guild tables. At each one we will sell Guild T-shirts, have the milk tasting and sell raffle tickets for two cheese baskets. There will be a sign next to the baskets advertising "This basket is similar to our Holiday basket". [WE STILL NEED VOLUNTEERS TO HELP MAN THE GUILD TABLES] Tickets will cost $5.00 and Deb will print them.

Jane will research baskets for the sampler. All cheese vendors are requested to bring cheese for them.

Schedule of Events: Kitchen Area 11-12:30 - Chef Harry, Entertaining with Maine cheese, courtesy of the Maine Dairy & Nutrition Council 12:45-2:15 - Deb Hahn, Hahn's End: Cheesemaking demo: a hard cheese 2:30-4:00 - Cathe Morrill, State of Maine Cheese Co: Kitchen Cheesemaking: Queso Blanco Maximum number of 30 people per workshop

Seating Areas Wine and cheese pairings will take place in the seating areas all day and will be taken care of by the Mirnada's Vineyard, Kris Horton and the PPM.

We can have a yogurt making demonstration at noon in the seating area near Kris. Eric Rector has volunteered do this.

Plaza There will be animal demos going on all day in this area. The Public Market is supplying two 10x10 tents and will circle the area with hay bales. Smiling HIll Farm is bringing a cow and the Tripps will bring goats. At noon, Joann S Grohman , author of Keeping The Family Cow, will do a talk and may also spend time some with the book vendor. [Her books will be available for sale]

Fireplace Longfellow Books will be set up in this space.

Workshop details Sign-up will be at the two Guild tables Cost is $10 per person for each workshop, $25 if someone signs up for all three. [this fee may be reduced] Caitlin will make the tickets 30 person max per workshop A Guild member will check people into each workshop

Russell French's photo poster of Guild cheeses hopefully(!) will be ready for the Festival as a fundraiser. Please bring any old and/or scenic cheesemaking equipment or other related stuff for display on the Guild history table. Anne will bring a copy of the cheese photo from Downeast Mag. Cathe still has copies of the Down East article Milk for tasting: Caitlin will bring sheep milk, Jennifer: cow, Anne: goat (2 gals each) Caitlin will take care of signage for the Guild tables.

We did discuss a few other things besides the Festival:

Caitlin is working with Gabe McPhail on updating the Guild flyer. Check it out and update your info if needed. The new version will be available at the Festival.

There will be a fundraising event for the Maine Arts Commission at Slate's in Hallowell from 5:30-7:30 on Nov 7. They want to offer Maine cheeses and would appreciate any donations, but will also pay. They figure on about 200 people at 4 oz cheese each. There are no kitchen facilities, so bring you cheese already cut up and ready to go.

The Mathews Museum in Union wants someone to do a cheesemaking demo at their Founder's Day meeting in July. If you are interested contact Jane Marasco.

Christmas Sampler baskets: The Guild will buy the cheese, put the baskets together and sell them to retailers. A committee has been formed to work on the details and will meet Oct. 25 in Wiscasset. It was suggested that the Guild produce posters or window stickers for stores and restaurants that sell Guild cheeses. [we're working on this]

Guild Christmas Party: Pineland was suggested as a possible location. They have a nice meeting area and cafeteria where we can eat, drink and be merry and celebrate our accomplishments over the year. Caitlin will ask Mark (who had already left) to look iinto this. [this is in process!]

Discussed the need for a fun Fall Guild event. CEI had some funds to implement a similar trip last spring and Caitlin will contact them. A Vermont tour to cheese aging caves and cheesemakers is a possibility. [this is not going to happen this year.]

Nelia Dunbar was an invited guest who stopped by to tell us about a Brunswick/Topsham Land Trust fundraiser on Oct 7th that she is working on. She is looking for a selection of Maine cheeses to buy. If you are interested call her at 725-0998.

Cheesemaking Workshop with Margaret Morris : Margaret is able to do a workshop for us on March 18 & 19 (the following weekend is out because it's Easter). She would like to do specialty French cheeses that haven't been presented at workshops before and she really doesn't want to duplicate cheeses that have already been done. Besides, she's going to a French affinage workshop for a week this month and will have all that to share. Her plan would be to start on a Friday afternoon with us bringing in our cheeses for evaluation, which would also lead in to discussing different cultures. On Saturday we would make 2 or 3 cheeses, a soft bloomy rind and a washed rind such as St. Paulin, which she raves about. She would make and bring the finished cheeses so we could see (and taste) what the finished product would be. Rather than doing a separate "mini trade show", she would rather bring and use different equipment, so it would be integrated into the whole workshop. Unfortunately, it's expensive; $1200 for the day and a half plus expenses.

Respectfully submitted,

Anne Bossi, secretary, with addendums from Caitlin Hunter

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