The Collective Creamery Cheese Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Every cheesemaker needs a market for their product: a city where you can offer your wheels at farmers' markets, shops and restaurants that sell your products, distributors who truck them across the country. For Allison Lakin, cheesemaker and co-owner of Lakin's Gorges Cheese and East Forty Farm, running a small-scale creamery on the Maine coast means getting creative with how she reaches customers and markets her cheese. Stef and Sue talked with Allison about the challenges of selling and distributing cheese from the far northeast corner of the country, the ups and downs of running a scrappy little cheese business, her open and honest approach to social media, and how 2020 changed everything from her cheese offerings to her Cowside Supper events. 

LINKS: 

More on Allison: Lakin's Gorges Cheese / Instagram

More on Sue: Birchrun Hills Farm / Instagram

More on Stef: Valley Milkhouse / Instagram

More on Alex / Instagram

Do you daydream about running your own little cheesemaking operation? Megan Bogle of True North Farmstead in Downingtown, Pennsylvania is living that dream—but she and her husband didn't start out hoping to become dairy farmers. Today, Megan raises a small flock of sheep for milk, meat, and fiber on just two acres in the Philly suburbs, making fresh cheeses during the growing season and experimenting with cow's milk sourced from a nearby dairy in the winter. Stef and Sue talk with Megan about the trials and tribulations of the startup creamery, why sheep's milk is so great for cheesemaking, and the power of mentorship and community in Southeast Pennsylvania's cheese culture. If you're a startup cheesemaker or have your own micro-dairy dreams, this episode is for you!

LINKS: 

More on Megan: True North Farmstead / Instagram

More on Sue & Birchrun Hills Farm: https://birchrunhillsfarm.com/

More on Stef & Valley Milkhouse: https://www.valleymilkhouse.com/

More on Alex: https://www.alexandrajones.net/

When we first interviewed Kate Turcotte at the American Cheese Society Conference last summer, she and her husband were preparing to take over cheesemaking operations at Vermont’s iconic Orb Weaver Farm. Now, they’re up and running as Orb Weaver Creamery and experimenting with new cheeses, so we went back up to Vermont to get an update. Plus, you’ll get to hear from our amazing producer, Jordan Heil, on mic for the first time!

Don’t forget: Collective Creamery subscriptions for Summer 2019 are on sale now! Households in Southeast PA and Spring Lake, NJ can sign up for our summer season of cheese (shipping to surrounding states will return when the weather cools in the fall). Click here for more info.

Our cheesemakers spent this past weekend cruising through the farm fields of New England, gathering even more maker interviews for future episodes — so we’re busting this interview with Sean Fitzgerald of Cherry Grove Farm out of the archives! This episode is a perfect companion to our last ep featuring Sean’s co-cheesemaker Paul Lawler. We hope you enjoy!

For Pennsylvania folks: our Summer Cheese Share is now open! Find out more and sign up for a season of cheese with Collective Creamery here.

Our cheesemaker crew stopped by Cherry Grove Farm in Lawrenceville, NJ to interview their longtime head cheesemaker, Paul Lawler! (You can hear his colleague Sean Fitzgerald on one of our earliest episodes.) Even before he was a cheesemaker, Paul was a cheesemonger working to help makers in the region get their products to consumers in Philadelphia, and now, he makes some of the best cheeses in New Jersey. Get the scoop on their cheeses (and hear what cheesemakers listen to while they’re working) on today’s super-sized show!

On this episode, the cheese dames sit down with longtime southeast PA goat farmer and cheesemaker Pete Demchur of Shellbark Hollow Farm! He and Sue were two of the earliest artisan cheesemakers blazing a trail in the region’s artisan cheese movement more than a decade ago. Enjoy — and stay tuned for the Spring-Summer Collective Creamery cheese share to open very, very soon!

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In this episode, the Cheese Dames look north to Maine, where a campaign for food sovereignty has made the state a haven for artisan cheesemakers. We sat down with Jessie Dowling of Fuzzy Udder Creamery discuss the opportunities and challenges Maine’s regulations around dairy and cheese — the most permissive in the country — have created for the state’s bustling cheesemaking community.

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The cheese dames sit down with Rynn Caputo, head of the amazing Caputo Brothers Creamery! Their frozen cagliata curd and 95% whey ricotta — made with local milk from a neighboring Animal Welfare Approved dairy — have changed how we think about Italian-style cheeses and what “fresh mozzarella” really is.

We want your feedback! If you listen, please take our brief survey about the podcast: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/V7LDT29

Did you miss us? The Collective Creamery crew is back with more cheesy episodes for your listening pleasure! In today’s ep, we sit down with Sam Kennedy and Stacey Gentile the PA cheese power couple behind Doe Run Farm, one of the winningest cheese outfits in the state! Their wheels have won multiple ACS awards and Best in Show ribbons from the PA Farm Show — the numbers don’t lie! We also dig into one of cheese’s most intriguing ingredients — rennet — in the first episode of our new season.

This week, Sue and Stef chat about the connection between the hospitality world and cheesemaking, then dig into an interview with our good friend Vito Forte, cheesemaker of Meadow Creek Dairy in Galax, Virginia! Vito made the transition from bar owner in north Jersey to fermentation nerd and home cheesemaker to full-fledged professional, and now he’s making award-winning cheeses at Meadow Creek. Sue and Stef caught up with him at the Cheesemakers’ Resource Conference in Lancaster County back in February over Pennsylvania Dutch treats like ham balls and potato cakes. Listen in and follow Vito on Instagram @vitofermente.