Putting Western Pennsylvania Cheese on the Map: Cheese Trails and the Promotion of Artisan Cheese
Maureen Gullen
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Food Studies at Chatham University
August 2015 Acknowledgements
Many thanks to everyone who made this thesis possible. Specifically, Nadine Lehrer for helping me get my thoughts in order and on the paper, Taylor for helping me get through the challenge of graduate school and thesis work, and my fellow Food Studies students who made the past two years so enjoyable.
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgements ...... 1 Introduction ...... 4 Literature Review/Background ...... 7 The Evolution of American Cheesemaking ...... 7 The “Second Wave” of American Artisan Cheese ...... 9 Creating American Terroirs ...... 12 Putting Artisan Cheesemakers on the Map ...... 16 Methods ...... 20 Cheese Trails: Websites and Brochures ...... 21 Cheese Trail Websites...... 22 Cheese Trail Brochures ...... 22 Stakeholder Interviews...... 24 Analysis and Discussion ...... 25 Issues Facing the Western PA Cheese Industry ...... 26 Cheesemaker Profiles...... 30 On the Brochure/Map ...... 30 On the Web ...... 31 Cheesemaker Values ...... 34 Family and Tradition...... 34 Animal Husbandry ...... 38 Landscape ...... 40 On the Cheese Trail ...... 42 The Cheese Trail as Tour Guide ...... 42 Creating a Rural Destination ...... 44 Cheese Trail Events ...... 47 Recommendations for a Western Pennsylvania Cheese Trail ...... 51 Conclusion ...... 59 Bibliography ...... 61 Appendices ...... 67 Appendix 1: Cheese Trail Websites ...... 67 3
Appendix 2: Cheese Trail Maps and Brochures ...... 67 Appendix 3: Interview Guides ...... 96 Appendix 4 profiles...... 96 Appendix 5: Western PA Map Prototype ...... 101 Appendix 6: Resources for Preparing Farms for Open Houses ...... 102 Appendix 7: Grants to Consider ...... 103
Introduction
American artisan cheese is becoming increasingly prevalent across the country. Not only
is producing cheese a way for small dairy farms and artisans to stay financially solvent, it is also
an expression of the cheesemaker’s creativity, as well as the culture, environment, and history of
the surrounding area. California, Wisconsin, and Vermont dominate the artisan cheese scene by
sheer number of producers, as well as by acclaim. However, the popularity of local food has also called attention to locally made cheeses from other parts of the United States. Although popular, these cheeses are not always easy to find, especially in cities. They are rarely available in larger groceries stores. Rather they are more often found at farmers’ markets, co-ops, specialty food stores, or Whole Foods Market, retail locations where only a small portion of Americans shop for their food. So, while many consumers are increasingly concerned with where their food comes from, few of them actually come into contact with artisan cheeses. For those who do, the cheese is typically disconnected from the cheesemaker or farmer (except at farmers’ markets).
Thus consumers lack any sort of accompanying knowledge of where and how the cheeses were made, knowledge which often functions as one of the major selling points of artisan cheeses.
One way to bridge this disconnect and help urban consumers learn about and decide to
purchase artisan cheese, is through the creation of a cheese trail, a map that can guide visitors to 4
locations where they can see, learn about, and purchase locally-made cheeses. This thesis
proposes the creation of a cheese trail for Western Pennsylvania. While Western Pennsylvania
has a strong dairying history, the large majority of dairies in the region have become highly
industrialized. Nevertheless, the region has recently been experiencing a resurgence of small-
scale dairy farmers and artisan cheesemakers. In Western Pennsylvania there are 51 licensed Figure 1. Green dots represent artisan cheesemakers in Western dairy plants, with 27 of those dairies plants PA. Red dots illustrate the greater clustering of cheesemakers in Central and Southeastern PA. (Source: Author) producing cheese. Of these licensed
plants, 8 can be defined as artisan or
farmstead producers. In the rest of the
state, there are over 65 artisan and
farmstead cheesemakers. Thus,
compared to Central and Eastern
Pennsylvania, Western PA has
significantly fewer artisan cheesemakers (Fig. 1). As this resurgence is still in its beginning stages, there is therefore as of yet little infrastructure in place to support it.
While Western PA cheese is available in multiple small locations, such as restaurants,
small food stores, and farmers’ markets throughout Pittsburgh, there is no one-stop source of
information for Western PA cheeses. A cheese trail could help collect information on where to
find different Western PA cheeses, making it more accessible to consumers, broadening their
general knowledge of Western PA cheeses, and increasing the cheeses’ visibility in the market.
Thus, a Western Pennsylvania cheese trail, modeled after existing trails, is explored here as tool
to bring greater awareness to the region’s cheeses and to help this artisan cheese industry grow.
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This thesis brings together an analysis of cheese trails from other locales with feedback from local PA stakeholders to suggest that a cheese trail might be used to increase consumer awareness of Western PA cheeses. In other words, cheese trails are explored as a tool to help sustain the growth of the artisan cheese industry and address some of the challenges facing cheesemakers. In looking at a cheese trail’s ability to solve some of the problems facing Western
PA artisan cheesemakers, this thesis asks more specifically:
• How do cheese trails play into the history and current issues facing the
growing artisan cheese industry?
• What do other cheese trails do that Western PA should emulate or avoid?
• What do Western PA cheese stakeholders think should be included in a
Western PA cheese trail?
The goal of this thesis is to suggest that a cheese trail can increase consumer awareness of
Western PA artisan cheese, and to put together a roadmap for creating a trail that can support this burgeoning industry. To do this, I first explore the literature on artisan cheese in the United
States, from its colonial past to the current state of the artisan cheese industry in order to answer the questions: Why is American artisan cheese experiencing a renaissance? And, if there is popular interest in the cheese, why are cheesemakers still struggling to stay in business? Cheese trails are then examined as tool to help address some of the challenges facing cheesemakers in
Western Pennsylvania. By examining cheese trail websites and brochures, this thesis explores how cheese trails accomplish their goals of linking producers and consumers, providing education and tourism opportunities, and marketing the cheesemakers’ products. Finally,
Western PA cheese stakeholders were consulted for input on what should be incorporated into a
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cheese trail. All of this information was then synthesized and used to inform the creation of a
Western PA cheese trail.
Literature Review/Background
The current popularity of artisan cheese has not emerged in a vacuum. Rather it reflects a
history of cheesemaking that has been present in the U.S. for centuries. This history is examined
to illuminate the historical factors that led to the decline of artisanal cheesemaking, as well as the
factors that brought about its return. To understand why cheese trails exist and why they are
needed, we must first examine why artisan cheese exists as an alternative to industrial cheese.
Then by reviewing the issues facing cheesemakers, I suggest that cheese trails, working to
connect consumers, producers, and retailers, can help increase consumer awareness of artisan
cheese.
The Evolution of American Cheesemaking
Artisanal cheesemaking has existed in North America since the arrival of Puritans from
East Anglia in the 17th century. At that time, women were in charge of production, making hard
English-style cheeses on their farmstead. As New Englanders migrated west to New York and
Ohio, and north to Vermont, they brought their cows and cheesemaking expertise with them
(Paxson 2013). As immigration from Europe increased, new arrivals brought a variety of
different cheese styles and cheese crafting techniques, as well as knowledge of and a taste for the
cheeses they had grown up eating. As such, American-made cheeses began as imitations and adaptations of European recipes, brought by immigrants wanting a taste of home (Jenkins 1996).
In the mid-nineteenth century, cheese production began rapidly shifting from the farmhouse to the factory. The first cheese factory in the U.S. was built in New York in 1851, and
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used milk pooled from multiple dairy farms (DuPuis 2002, Paxson 2013). By the 1870s, factory
cheese production had nearly replaced home cheesemaking in New York, and factories began
opening in Wisconsin and Canada (Paxson 2013). Turning milk into cheese made for a more
stable and portable food, well suited to travel from farm to urban market. Pooling milk from
multiple farms also enabled factories to gain the advantage of economies of scale, creating a
uniform, bulk product (Valenze 2011). Adding to this rapid shift was the fact that making cheese
was difficult work, and not all home cheesemakers were especially skilled. Once farmers pooled
their milk, the most capable cheesemaker of the group would create cheese for the collective,
scaling up their recipes for larger amounts of milk. Thus, these early factories were not
established to simply replace home cheesemakers, but rather in recognition of the “skill of
particularly proficient cheesemakers” (Paxson 2013, p. 101).
While the production of cheese became mechanized in factories, it was not automated.
Rather, these factory cheeses were made by master cheesemakers utilizing the same techniques
as the farm women before them, using raw milk from local family dairies, naturally present
starter cultures (rather than lab isolated ones), and selling the final product to regional
populations (Thorpe 2009, Paxson 2013). In this way, cheesemaking quickly moved off the farm,
and by the end of the 19th century 95% of cheese was made in factories (Kindstedt 2005a).
Early cheese factories were located in rural areas out of necessity. Due to transportation barriers such as poor infrastructure, the use of horses rather than motors, and farmers hauling their own milk to the local cheese factory, the movement of milk was limited to a distance of no more than five miles. For these reasons, cheese factories were located at crossroads dispersed throughout the countryside, close to dairy farms. The arrival of truck transportation added some flexibility to the system, enabling milk to be transported longer distances. Cheese production
8 moved further into the countryside, while farmers located closer to cities - able to quickly ship a more perishable product to population centers - began to focus on fluid milk production (DuPuis
2002).
Refrigerated trucking and improved roads led to the consolidation of cheese factories.
There was no longer was a need for many small factories when milk could be shipped to a centralized location that could take even greater advantage of economies of scale. This scaled-up production in turn required new equipment that could work with larger amounts of milk. As a result modern day steel equipment was invented, replacing items such as copper kettles (Paxson
2013). Twentieth century research and technology further separated the old, artisanal cheese factory from the new. Industrialized factories introduced testing, standardization, and automation into the cheesemaking process, eventually replacing skilled cheesemakers with machine operators (Paxson 2013). No longer a product of the farm, or even the countryside, cheese was becoming a commodity.
The “Second Wave” of American Artisan Cheese
Partly in opposition to a rapidly industrializing food sector, a new era of American cheesemaking emerged. These new cheesemakers were mainly women moving “back to the land” in the 1970s, and beginning to sell their cheese in the 1980s (Paxson 2013). Rather than modeling their operations after the early American cheesemakers described above, this new wave of artisanal cheesemakers was inspired by European-style cheeses, especially those made with goat and sheep milk, which were nearly nonexistent in the United States. Around this time gourmet specialty shops, such as Dean & DeLuca, began to pop up, introducing Americans to fine European cheeses that had previously been difficult to find (Jenkins 1996). Americans were also traveling to Europe, and on their return, they craved the new foods, including cheeses, they
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were introduced to, creating a market for European-style cheeses in the U.S. (Jenkins 1996,
Chenel and Siegfried 1989).
However, this second wave of American cheesemakers has not simply created imitations
of European cheeses; rather they have embraced a “tradition of invention,” playing with
traditional recipes to create their own cheeses with unusual - and nontraditional - names (Paxson
2010a). This is partly due to the reality of the United States’ food regulations, which do not permit certain cheesemaking techniques and practices that have been used for centuries in
Europe, such as the U.S. requirement that raw milk cheeses must be aged for more than 60 days
(Kindstedt 2005c). This drive to create unique, “non-traditional” cheeses is also likely influenced
by American ideals of individualism and entrepreneurism (Paxson 2013).
Whether American artisan cheesemakers emulate European inspired traditions or
American cheesemaking traditions that evolved from earlier European immigrants, artisan
cheese is certainly viewed differently today than it was in the past. In the past, artisan methods
were the norm. However, with the vast majority of cheese now being produced in automated
factories, today artisan cheesemaking is seen as more of an art than a craft, resulting in
associations with higher social classes and elite status (Paxson 2010a). Where, in the 1800s and
early 1900s, the American cheesemaking scene was almost entirely producing English-style hard
cheeses and perhaps a few other varieties, today cheesemakers have “embraced the rich heritage
of European cheesemaking in all its diversity” (Kindstedt 2005a, p.17). This exploration of the
variety of European cheeses present in today’s American artisan cheese scene further illustrates
the prevalence of a “tradition of invention” (Paxson 2013). Cheesemakers are experimenting
with traditional European varieties, and are not limited by the regulations of E.U. government-
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protected recipes, but rather are free to use different milk types, or wash their cheese with local
wines, spirits, and beers (Paxson 2010a).
Heather Paxson, who has studied the evolution of American artisan cheesemaking,
believes that taking a closer look at American artisan cheesemakers “upends blanket assumptions
about the elite status of artisan foods and their makers” (Paxson 2010a, 38). American artisan
cheese is expensive compared to its industrial and European counterparts in part due to high
production costs, as well as lack of government subsidies (Paxson 2013). Its high price, along
with its gourmet associations, positions artisan cheese as an elite foodstuff. However, American
artisan cheesemakers are as diverse as the cheeses they produce. While some are urban
transplants specifically producing high-end cheeses for high-end urban markets, others are
owners of a family farm, struggling to keep their land in the family. Yet others work in century- old historic factories turning out familiar varieties such as Swiss cheese and orange cheddar, produced using artisanal, rather than industrial methods. Thus, prices for artisanal cheeses can range widely, anywhere from $8 to $30 per pound and above. Recognizing the variety present in the production methods, producers, and varieties of cheese that are part of the current cheese renaissance challenges elitist assumptions, as well as what it means to be artisanal.
In 1983, Cornell dairy science professor Frank Kosikowski founded the American Cheese
Society (ACS), with the mission to encourage cheese appreciation and support the development of on-farm cheesemaking (ACS 2011). The growth of the ACS demonstrates the development in
popularity and production of artisan cheese. In the Society’s first artisanal cheese competition, in
1985, there were 89 cheeses entered in 7 categories by 30 cheesemakers (ACS 2011). In the most
recent competition, 248 producers submitted 1,685 cheeses for judging in 20 different categories
(ACS 2014).
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Whereas this movement began as a result of urbanites going “back to the land,” it has
also since become a means for small farms to diversify their income and stay in business. In the
mainstream dairy business, it has become increasingly difficult for small farms to survive.
Competition with large industrial dairy farms and low milk prices have contributed to the decline
in family farms’ ability to sell to mainstream dairy distributors for the past two decades (Valenze
2011). Value-added dairy products that break through the low margin commodity milk market
instead provide small family farms with an opportunity to diversify their income, making dairy
farming viable for future generations to come (Robertson and Shauger 2008).
It is not just this added income that is valued by farmstead cheesemakers, but also the
role cheesemaking can play in preserving farmland and the environment. This is reflected in
Paxson’s concept of “post pastoralism” a view of farming that is focused on the future, not
nostalgic for the past. Rather than using science and technology to dominate nature, “post
pastoralism” works with natural systems, including pastures, livestock life cycles, and
fermentation, to preserve farmland, raise healthy animals, and create nutritious food (Paxson
2013). “Post pastoralists” typically raise animals on pasture, making small-batch cheeses that
highlight the unique attributes of their animals’ milk and the grasses they eat. And, there is a
burgeoning market for products imbued with such values. Consumers increasingly want “food
with a face,” food that is high quality and offers them a personal connection to both the producer
and the land (Gillespie et al. 2007). Small artisan cheese producers are providing consumers with
these products and the connections that accompany them.
Creating American Terroirs
Marketing terroir, taste of place, is one way cheesemakers explicitly work to connect their customers with the land. Difficult to translate, terroir is not simply an indicator of the
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geography, or environment in which a product is made; terroir also indicates a product imbued
with cultural and historical values. This concept is partly so difficult to translate because its
meaning is rooted in French culture. France’s “strong agrarian tradition, the symbolic importance of the peasant, and nationalist pride in all things culinary” translate to the celebration of agricultural products with their roots in the past (Trubek 2009, p.93). In part this may resonate today because France’s traditional agriculture and peasants are facets of the country’s past, more than its present. As more people move from the countryside to the city, France is no longer the agrarian country it remembers. This fear of losing touch with its peasant past, many argue, has led France to create protections for traditional products. These protections, such as the appellation d’origin côntrolée (AOC) label, were created by the state to control the origin and production of certain products, and are influenced strongly by the concept of terroir (Barnum
2003). Examples of such protection include Camembert de Normandie, which can only be produced in the Normandy region, and the use of the name “Roquefort” only allowed for cheese produced in Midi-Pyrénées (Androuët 1973). Recently, however the rigidity of this protection of the past has been questioned, with many recognizing that it is unrealistic, and impossible to create products exactly as they once were. As Pierre Boisard states in his work on Camembert,
Tradition is not always strict adherence to ancient recipes, nor is it the faithful reproduction of physical and chemical characteristics. It is not nor can it be, an unchanging way of doing something in a world that is forever in flux. Desirous of preserving past practices when the modern world demands constant change, tradition is faced with the need to adapt to new economic and social conditions. The safeguarding of a tradition thus requires a constant effort to adapt the legacy of the past (2003, 191).
Nevertheless, these products are not just protected for the sake of tradition; rather protecting them also guards the communities in which they are made, and the artisans and farmers whose lives are devoted to their production. These connections and broader values, in turn, are what
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“ensures the survival of some part of the tradition” (Boisard 2003, p.191).Thus, terroir is much
more than simply the taste of a place.
That said, environment does have a significant impact on cheese aroma and flavor.
Cheese has long been celebrated as an object embedded in the countryside. With its main ingredient, milk, imbued with associations of “bucolic purity and abundance,” cheese has been described as the “soul of the soil,” a pure and romantic “link between humans and the earth”
(Valenze 2011, p.4, Jenkins 1996, p.xxvi). This connection with the land is not merely symbolic;
the flavor of cheese is connected to the animals and environment in which it is created, similar to
the effects of geology and microclimate on wine. For raw milk cheeses, even the microflora- the
living organisms present in the milk- play a key role in aroma development. These organisms are
linked to soil, hay, and even the dairy animals’ teats, and lead to different aroma characteristics.
Because different arrays of microflora lead to different tastes, they are heavily tied to a cheese’s
terroir (Berodier et al. n.d.). In other words, the cyclical nature of plant growth throughout the seasons, the types of plants and soils present, as well as the particulars of the ruminant’s life
cycle create changes in milk composition and flavor (Dixon 2005). Thus, while in some ways a
strict adherence to the notion of terroir can be seen as a (perhaps impossible) attempt to preserve
the past, it is also a way to highlight the irreplaceable attributes of a food produced in a specific
locale at a particular point in time.
What sets artisan cheesemakers apart from industrial production is their response to these
seasonal and cyclical changes in milk quality and flavor. They adjust their production as milk
changes, rather than standardizing their milk, common practice in industrial cheesemaking
(Paxson 2010b). This type of standardization is not only nearly impossible at the small scale of
artisan cheesemakers; it also does not fit the art of handcrafting cheese (Kindstedt 2005b, Dixon
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2005). Thus, the taste of small batch cheese is greatly impacted by nearly all elements of its
production including environmental conditions, geography, microorganisms, livestock, pastures,
dairy farmers, and cheesemakers that bring the cheese into creation.
While there is evidence that the environmental conditions in a place can affect taste, terroir’s roots in French culture create a fuller definition of the term. In the U.S., some have tried to adapt the culture and history of a place, and the tastes of products made there, into a version of terroir. Paxson (2010b) describes two different ways American cheesemakers do this. The first is
a more literal translation of terroir as a “taste of place,” which cheesemakers use to connote the
uniqueness of their cheese. Here cheesemakers argue that their product is imbued with the
physical characteristics of its place of origin, and as such is impossible to create anywhere else
on earth. But artisan cheesemakers in the U.S. also use a more holistic definition of terroir that does not necessarily rely upon the characteristics of the land, but rather on the values that their cheese represents and protects, namely “independent family farms, unconfined dairy animals, and working landscapes” (Paxson 2010b, p.445). These values are what set their cheeses apart from their industrialized counterparts.
This definition of terroir takes into account the land upon which the cheese is made, as well as the people, community, and animals that are integral to that place, and in some ways is a
definition of terroir that is similar to the more recent French interpretations described above.
Instead of creating a “taste of place,” these cheesemakers are creating “place through
environmental stewardship and rural economic revitalization” (Paxson 2010b p.444). Reflecting
the “tradition of invention” of American cheese, cheesemakers study and are inspired by
European techniques, but create products suited to their region or environment rather than cheese
that may have been traditionally made in the area. Theirs is a terroir focused on the future, on
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improving society and the land. This reframing of terroir creates connections in the United States
that until recently were missing between people and the places their food is being produced. For
example in Vermont there has been a push to protect the state’s “working landscape,” one that
was created, in part, by centuries of small-scale farming and dairying. Jasper Hill Farm works to
support Vermont’s “working landscape,” not only creating a product that reflects a unique
regional taste of place, but by also supporting the surrounding community and providing cheese
aging, distribution, and marketing resources for other Vermont cheesemakers (Jasper Hill Farm
2015).
Because most of American consumers’ information about food comes to them through
outside sources such as cookbooks, experts, labels, and advertising, information on where that
food is actually coming from is often limited. And not having firsthand knowledge of how food
travels from farm to table can make concepts like terroir difficult for Americans to understand.
Thus, to create a concept of American terroir, which can support farmers and artisans who
produce more artisanal, less commodity-oriented foodstuffs, many argue that Americans will need to have a greater understanding of where their food is coming from (Trubek 2009). This is where agritourism comes into play. Tools such as cheese trails work to bring Americans back to the countryside, onto farms, and into conversations with farmers and artisans to re-embed the notion of how food travels from the farm to their kitchen.
Putting Artisan Cheesemakers on the Map
The “place of taste” terroir described above puts marginal rural towns back “on the map,”
while at the same time strengthening the identity of a region (Paxson 2010b, Backe 2013).
Artisan cheesemakers need this recognition as they face business, marketing, and production challenges, with many of these issues stemming from their small size and rural location. Artisan
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cheesemakers are at an economic disadvantage from the very beginning of their business
planning process, as there is little economic data on start-up and operating costs for small artisan food businesses. As a result of this lack of information, entrepreneurs may have difficulty obtaining financing (Bouma et al. 2014). Cheesemakers also face difficulties in marketing their product. Retailers and consumers expect a memorable cheese that is consistent in taste and quality, a feat that can be difficult for a new small business (Dixon 2005, Hooper 2005).
Fermentation relies on live organisms that do not always cooperate in a drive for consistency.
Above all, distributing cheese can be the biggest problem for cheesemakers, due to the
small size of their companies and the perishable nature of their product (Hooper 2005). Markets
close to farmstead-based cheesemakers are likely to be in rural areas, where cheese is usually
unable to be sold for a high price. Instead, cheesemakers are more likely to receive top price for their goods (needed to keep their business viable given smaller volumes of product) in urban
markets, often located further from the cheesemaker. Thus the artisanal cheesemaker is placed in a bind: the local market is not broad or deep enough to fully support their business, but selling to
a more distant market entails spending their limited time and money on transportation (for
example to farmers’ markets) or selling their product through a distributor, where they cannot personally convey the unique attributes that are the selling points of their cheeses. Furthermore, artisanal cheeses are a vast departure- in price, variety, taste, texture, aroma, appearance- from cheeses readily available in grocery stores. Thus, some education is required to explain to consumers why artisanal cheese is so different.
Organized by state tourism departments, groups of cheesemakers, or cheese guilds, cheese trails are agritourism initiatives that provide a solution to many of the issues described above. By mapping cheesemakers in a region or state to promote and market artisan and
17 farmstead cheeses, educate consumers, and encourage tourism to the region, they attempt to provide additional markets for artisan cheesemakers. Previous studies of agritourism providers have identified marketing-related issues, as well as “awareness and identification of farm locations,” as impediments to the successful development of agritourism (McGehee 2007, p.117,
Che et al. 2005). Cheese trails can help provide solutions to these challenges simply by letting urban consumers know (and encouraging them) to seek out artisan cheeses on the farmstead.
They also help facilitate communication between artisans and consumers, acting as a destination marketing organization, providing efficient transmission of information between the agritourism provider (cheesemaker) and tourist (cheese customer), and providing cheesemakers with marketing and promotion opportunities (McGehee 2007).
Placing cheesemakers on a map allows consumers to easily access contact information, available products, and where to buy trail member cheeses. Cheese trails can also promote and sponsor events featuring their producers’ cheeses, providing consumers with the chance to interact with many cheesemakers all in one place. These events as well as farm visits are important educational opportunities, allowing cheesemakers to share their stories and describe what sets their cheese apart from its industrial counterparts. Finally, cheese trails encourage tourism in the communities surrounding cheesemakers. Whether on a day trip or a weekend vacation, tourists visiting cheesemakers need places to eat and drink, fill up their gas tanks, explore, and sleep. Connections between cheese trails and local businesses allow them to work together and promote one another to tourists, increasing the communities’ attractiveness as an agritourism destination (Wicks and Merrett 2003).
The Finger Lakes Cheese Trail (FLCT) is an example of a trail that incorporates many of the aspects described above. The Trail’s map is available online in interactive form, as well as on
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brochures that are available at member shops and farms. On the map, cheesemakers are
organized by whether they have regular visiting hours year round, irregular or seasonal hours, or
if they are a “non-destination farm” (they do not allow visitors) (FLCT 2015a). The FLCT online
map was made using GoogleMaps, allowing visitors to use the “directions” feature to facilitate
trip planning. Both the website and brochure promote FLCT events including open houses at the
dairies, wine pairing events with the Finger Lakes Wine Trail, and a summer cheese festival.
These events are all “temporary attractions,” drawing attention to the cheesemakers without
requiring them to invest in the infrastructure, services, and labor needed to become a permanent
agritourism destination (Wicks and Merrett 2003). Finally, the Trail also promotes local
connections with its second tier of trail affiliates, called associate members. These members
include accommodations, restaurants, markets, and wineries that the FLCT promotes as preferred
vendors.
Taking the FLCT and other cheese trails as a jumping off point, this thesis explores the cheese trail’s ability to increase consumer awareness of artisan cheese. Building on the existing literature around the values imbued in artisan cheese, and the issues facing cheesemakers, this
thesis examines how cheese trails can support communication and interaction between
cheesemakers and consumers, promoting the values that set artisan cheese apart from industrial
cheese. Specifically, I examined multiple cheese trails and interviewed Western Pennsylvania
artisan cheese stakeholders to assess the need for and determine what aspects of a cheese trail
would be most beneficial in the promotion of Western PA cheese.
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Methods
Inspired by the Finger Lakes Cheese Trail and others like it, this project investigates and learns from existing cheese trails to create a Western Pennsylvania trail that can serve the region.
Because there has been little research done on Western Pennsylvania cheesemaker as well as tourism trails (even less on cheese trails, due to their relatively new status), this thesis prioritized the gathering of qualitative data to provide a preliminary description of the Western PA artisan cheese industry as well as the emerging popularity of cheese trails. Analysis of cheese trail website content and interviews with cheesemaker and cheese trail stakeholders were the primary methods used.
First, existing cheese trails’ website content was analyzed to determine how the trails are presented, what information is present, and how cheesemakers are portrayed. Screenshots were used to collect all text and images from websites. Themes in the text were then coded and analyzed for content and design, and used to develop recommendations for a Western PA cheese trail. Second, the owners, employees, or creators of existing cheese trails were interviewed to learn more about the development of existing cheese trails and how they could inform a Western PA cheese trail. Last,
Western PA artisan cheese industry stakeholders were interviewed. Semi- structured interviews were conducted with cheesemakers and local cheese stakeholders to gauge interest in a cheese trail and Figure 2 . Cheesemakers interviewed were located in the Western Region indicated on this map, as well as Cambria and Blair gather information on the interviewees’ Counties outlined in red. (Source: PASA n.d. , edits made by author) farms, cheesemaking practices, current marketing, and experience with agritourism.
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Cheesemakers interviewed included farmstead operations (where cheese is made on the same
farm which produces the milk) as well as non-farmstead cheesemakers located in counties west
of and including Warren, Forest, Jefferson, Indiana, Westmoreland, and Somerset, as well as
Cambria and Blair Counties (Fig. 2).
Cheese Trails: Websites and Brochures
Of the eight cheese trails found through internet research, three different types of cheese
trails were identified and categorized: independent, cheese guild/council, and state organized
trails. Independent cheese trails are run by organizations founded by cheesemakers and/or advocates that want to support artisan and farmstead cheesemakers. Those analyzed include the
California (CA) Cheese Trail, Finger Lakes (FL) Cheese Trail, Western North Carolina (WNC)
Cheese Trail, and North Carolina (NC) Cheese Trail. Cheese guilds and councils, on the other
hand, are organizations “dedicated to the art and craft of making cheese” (Oregon Cheese Guild
n.d.d). They are devoted to increasing awareness of their state’s cheese, creating educational
opportunities, and sharing resources among member cheesemakers. The cheese guild/council
trails studied here include the Oregon (OR) Cheese Trail and the Vermont (VT) Cheese Trail,
founded by the Oregon Cheese Guild and the Vermont Cheese Council respectively. Both the
OR Cheese Guild and VT Cheese Council provide cheese trails specifically as a resource to aid
the consumer in discovering cheesemakers. Finally, the state organized cheese trails studied are
products of state tourism and agricultural product promotion boards. Both the New Hampshire
(NH) and Massachusetts (MA) Wine and Cheese Trails are used to promote the states’ farmstead
cheeses and wines. While these state organized trails differ from the other two types of trail in
that they are publications rather than groups (these trails only exist as published booklets), they
were included in the study because they provide examples of the diversity of cheese trails. The
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differences between the three types of trails are important because they influence how active the
trail is in updating its resources and interacting with consumers, how involved cheesemakers are
in the organization, and whether or not the cheese trail is the sole purpose or focus of the
organization, or just one program of many. Representatives from five of the cheese trails were
found through internet searches and contacted through their websites, and three (FL, NC, and
OR) were interviewed about their cheese trail and the factors that went into its development.
These interviews focused on why the trails were created, who created them, and what their
membership structure and their functions were.
Cheese Trail Websites
All of the cheese trails studied had websites except for the MA and NH trails. Common
sections on these websites include descriptions of member cheesemakers, a cheese trail map,
calendar of events, a news section with press releases or articles mentioning the trail, events such
as the trail’s cheese festival, lists of other supporters, sponsors, and non-cheesemaker members,
and a contact page. Other resources on the websites include recipe and pairing suggestions and
resources for further information. Links to all the studied websites can be found in Appendix 1.
Cheese Trail Brochures
The brochures of the cheese trails studied took the form of tri- and four-folds, booklets, and maps. The OR trail was the only one without a brochure. Three of the four independent trails, FL, NC, and WNC, have more traditional three- or four-fold brochures. The inside of each of the three brochures contains the cheese trail map. All three maps note cheesemaker location, and label large towns, geographic features, and major highways. Both the FL and WNC maps have their cheesemakers labeled by number on their maps and note whether the cheesemakers
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are open for visitation, open by appointment, or not open to visitors. Cheesemaker contact
information is also listed, with the FL brochure listing in addition what type of cheese members
make and whether their farms are bus or group friendly. The NC map marks where members are
located on the map, but these markings are not labeled. Contact information for both
cheesemaker and non-cheesemaker members is listed. The outer panels of the brochures provide
information on trail events and how to travel the trail. All of the brochures mention that tourists should visit the trails’ websites for more information and trip planning resources.
The California and Vermont brochures are more traditional maps (rather than tri- or four-
fold brochures with maps inside). Both maps are colorful and illustrated, appearing almost as if they are hand drawn. The CA map is whimsical with illustrations of wine bottles, cheese, the
Golden Gate Bridge, and a surfer. Some roads and towns are labeled, and cheesemakers are denoted on the map by symbols that stand for whether they allow visitors or not. The other side of the map lists the cheesemakers with their logos, contact information, and a short description.
The Vermont map has major highways labeled. Symbols mark the location of cheesemakers and indicate if the farm allows visitors. Cheesemakers are listed around the outside of the map with contact information, details on visiting, and a symbol for whether they have goat, sheep, or cow’s milk cheese.
Finally, both the state organized trails are longer print publications. Including the cover,
the MA guide is 23 pages, and the NH booklet is 8 pages. Both contain a small map of their respective states with the vineyards and cheesemakers as well as major highways labeled. The
NH map labels larger towns. These booklets contain descriptors of the cheesemakers and
wineries organized by region/trail, with pertinent contact info in the description (MA) or at the
end of the booklet in a directory (NH).
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Thus, different types of trails seem to favor different types of brochures, which in turn
highlight different attributes of the cheese trail. Tri-folds give a broad description of all the trail
has to offer and point the reader to their website for further information, maps show off the
physical geography of the trail itself, and booklets are more information-dense, as they are
designed to be the sole resource of their trails. All of the studied brochures can be found in
Appendix 2.
Stakeholder Interviews
The region of focus for the Western Pennsylvania cheese map contains 21 counties.
Within these counties there are 51 licensed dairy plants, with 27 of those dairies producing
cheese. Of these licensed plants, eight can be defined as artisan or farmstead producers. One
Western PA dairy farmer studied ships their milk to another part of the state to be processed;
however they sell their cheese in Western PA so they were still considered for this study. These
nine producers targeted for interviews were identified through the Pennsylvania Department of
Agriculture AgMap directory and the Penn State Extension Pennsylvania Dairy Plant and Raw
Milk Directory. All of the cheesemakers studied, except for one, are farmstead producers. Six raise cows, one raises goats, one raises sheep, and one raises sheep and goats. Six of the cheesemakers were contacted (the other three were not contacted due to inability to find contact information), and three were interviewed. The interviewed cheesemakers include a sheep farmstead producer that crafts one type of cheese, a goat and sheep farmstead producer that makes one type of cheese as well as other cultured dairy products, and a cow dairy farmer that owns a cheese business but hires a cheesemaker to produce many different cheeses.
Local cheese stakeholders interviewed included cheese purveyors, distributors, and mongers around Pittsburgh. Participants were identified through the Pennsylvania Association
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for Sustainable Agriculture members. Four stakeholders were contacted, and two were interviewed. Interview questions and procedures were reviewed by Chatham University’s
Institutional Review Board (for interview guides, see Appendix 3), and interviews were recorded and transcribed. The transcriptions were then analyzed for common themes. This analysis was used to inform the creation of a prototype Western Pennsylvania Cheese Trail map.
Both the interviews and cheese trail analysis were used to determine how cheese trails promote artisan cheese and think about whether and how a Western PA cheese trail could increase consumer awareness of local artisan cheese. For instance, looking at cheesemaker profiles and finding the common themes that were promoted illuminated the values of artisan cheese that cheese trails focused on marketing. Taking into consideration the trails’ activities, such as their positions as tour guide and event coordinators, further illustrated how cheese trails work to promote artisan cheese. Finally, interviews conducted with Western PA artisan cheese stakeholders were paired with these cheese trail analyses and were used to assess a cheese trail’s fit in Western PA. In particular, I asked:
• How do cheese trails play into the history and current issues facing the growing artisan
cheese industry?
• What do other cheese trails do that Western PA should emulate or avoid?
• What do Western PA cheese stakeholders think should be included in a Western PA
cheese trail?
Analysis and Discussion
Speaking with Western PA stakeholders, it became clear that there is a need for cheese
promotion and education in the region. Western PA cheesemaker concerns, such as lack of
25 consumer recognition, high prices, and distribution challenges, are similar to those discussed earlier in other parts of the country. Through the analysis of other cheese trails’ cheesemaker profiles, the values that the trails market, the style of the maps and the information that they contain, and the cheese trails’ actions as tour guides and event planners, my goal was to determine what cheese trails do, and which aspects a Western PA cheese trail should adopt.
Consulting with Western PA artisan cheese industry stakeholders also provided input into what they would like to see in a Western PA cheese trail.
Issues Facing the Western PA Cheese Industry
The challenges facing Western PA cheesemakers are similar to those facing cheesemakers across the country. Stakeholders noted a lack of familiarity among consumers about Western PA cheese, as well as concern about their high prices. Distribution issues are also present, making it difficult for cheesemakers to get cheese to the markets where it has the best chance of selling. Recognizing and further examining these issues will help inform how a
Western PA cheese trail can help support the region’s cheese.
Stakeholders recognized a general lack of familiarity with Western PA cheese and its many different varieties. This lack of familiarity can be due in part to the unfamiliar names and varieties of cheese, such as Tussey Mountain, Clover Creek Cheese Cellar’s name for their
Emmenthaler Swiss-style cheese. It can also be due to a general lack of familiarity with cheese not made with cow’s milk. While “goat and sheep cheese are super popular right now [overall],” misconceptions about the taste of these cheeses lead consumers to continue to avoid them
(cheesemaker interview, 3/20/2015). While the majority (about 66%) of the Western PA cheesemakers studied produce cow’s milk cheeses, there are also both goat and sheep cheeses made in Western PA, of which many people are still unaware. This seems to be even more the
26 case in the rural areas outside of Pittsburgh. One cheesemaker noted how difficult it was to sell sheep cheese in her rural community, “People here don’t know sheep cheese. They correct me and ask if I mean goat cheese.” So, she sells the majority of her cheese to restaurants and shops in the Pittsburgh area, where “people understand sheep cheese” (cheesemaker interview,
3/18/2015).
Similarly, when cheese needs to be sold off the farm, the expense and time needed to distribute it can make a big difference in whether a cheesemaker is successful (i.e. financially solvent) or not:
I think distribution will become a big part of the next chapter of our business because it’s extremely difficult from a business standpoint to sustain peddle markets, you know going door to door to restaurants and retailers and grocery stores and what not on your own because that’s expensive. And time consuming (dairy owner interview, 3/26/2015). Distribution to cities can especially be an issue for Amish farmers, who typically do not drive motorized vehicles. This was actually the impetus for one of the cheese buyers interviewed in starting his business. After an Amish cheesemaker whose stand was next to his at a farmers’ market decided it was just too much work to travel the 90 miles into Pittsburgh to sell cheese, the cheese buyer (who was at the time a coffee purveyor but would soon become a cheese stand owner) decided to see if it was possible to sell the cheesemaker’s product for him. So, he:
drove up to meet them at their house and farm. I had never been there and kind of looked around and was inspired by what they are doing, which is family made artisan cheese and so we said ‘what if we sell it for you?’ Famous last words (cheese purveyor interview, 3/26/2015). Thus, getting cheese to the markets where it is likely to gain top price can be very difficult for farmers. To combat this distribution barrier, as well as the previously mentioned lack of consumer knowledge about Western PA cheese and artisanal/farmstead cheese in general, cheese
27 trails can function to educate consumers about the region’s cheese, while also increasing the cheesemakers’ visibility in the marketplace.
Increasing the visibility of cheesemakers would be the first step in educating consumers about local and regional artisan cheeses. As one cheesemonger stated “even if you don’t know anything about it, the fact that it’s there and you can partake in it can just be the first step to learning about it and what sets apart PA cheese from everything else” (cheesemonger interview,
3/13/2015). Once people are aware of artisan cheese, they may be turned off by its high price; however the cheesemonger noted:
You can say the same for almost anything. People aren’t going to spend $20 on a bottle of wine all the time but when you go to the winery and talk to the maker and you meet them and you know everything that went into it you’re more likely to spend the extra money on that special bottle that you can enjoy on a special occasion. It’s the same way with cheese - people just need to be open to it (cheesemonger interview, 3/13/2015). However this sticker shock can be exacerbated when consumers compare American artisan cheeses to their European counterparts:
I think it’s hard too from a price point perspective. People go to Penn Mac [Pennsylvania Macaroni Company, a specialty Italian food store] and they have great cheese, imported cheese, and it’s half the price of our cheese. And I mean that’s kind of hard when you can get something that good from another source. It’s mostly all factory made but a lot of it is pretty high quality (cheese purveyor interview, 3/26/2015). Meeting farmstead cheesemakers and realizing that their prices are high because they perform all the work of raising animals, as well as the cheesemaking – “milking, chores, and caring for the cheese while it ages” – can help consumers realize that often cheesemaking is “a labor of love” and cheesemakers are not “doing it to get wealthy” (cheesemaker interview, 3/18/2015).
Especially if people are buying cheese at the grocery store, “they don’t really know where it’s coming from and how it’s made” (cheesemonger interview, 3/13/2015). A cheese trail could help begin a discussion on why local cheese is different. There are people “who are desirous of that
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farm-to-table crafted product versus just buying manufactured, so any organization that’s going
to educate and promote to that audience to grow that interest, there’s a lot of value”
(cheesemaker interview, 3/26/2015). A cheese trail would build off of the current interest in
eating local and “continue to educate consumers about the farm-to-table experience”
(cheesemaker interview, 3/26/2015).
These issues suggest an important role for a Western PA cheese trail in helping to
develop and sustain the area’s artisanal cheese production. As an agritourism attraction, cheese
trails provide tourists with a resource to help them discover and navigate trips that are off the
beaten path. Cheese trail websites compile information from all the member cheesemakers in a
state or region, highlighting them via cheesemaker profiles, the largest source of information on
these websites. Whether written by the cheesemakers themselves, or by the cheese trails, these
profiles are designed to draw tourists onto the cheese trails and towards farm visits, and as such,
they tended to emphasize the cheesemakers’ history of farming, traditional production methods,
animal welfare practices, and surrounding landscape – all attributes that illustrate some of the
major differences between artisanal cheese and its industrial counterpart. By highlighting these
factors for the consumer, the cheesemaker profiles (and subsequent in-person visits) add value to
the cheese, creating a product that is unique. The cheese that tourists encounter becomes food with a story and a “face,” tapping into those attributes that the literature argues are a draw for artisan cheeses in the first place.
By describing the landscape and the cheesemakers, the cheese trails also pique consumers’ interest, describing an intriguing option for a day trip or vacation. Not just limited to cheesemakers, the cheese trails studied often include information on breweries, vineyards, restaurants, shops, and other potential attractions along the trail or in the vicinity of
29 cheesemakers. The cheese trails also conduct events to raise awareness of their cheesemakers and the trail, as well as educate cheese enthusiasts. All of these aspects are common in agritourism destinations, and provide new marketing and sales opportunities for cheesemakers and associated rural businesses. Examining how cheese trails present their cheesemaker profiles, how they market and promote their region’s cheese, as well as their role as tour guide and event planner, can inform what can or should be incorporated into a Western PA Cheese Trail.
Cheesemaker Profiles
Cheese Trail brochures and websites provide the trail with the opportunity to introduce not only a mapped series of attractions but also profiles of specific cheesemakers, and their values, to the public. Because brochures are limited in space, cheese trail websites often house longer profiles of their members along with photographs to provide even more information to visitors.
On the Brochure/Map
On cheese trail brochures, space is theoretically limited and cheesemaker characteristics must be described succinctly. At the very minimum, a cheesemaker’s description on the brochure may include name and contact information, sometimes with additional information on Figure 3 . Example of a short cheesemaker description from the Vermont Cheese Trail Map cheese type and visiting possibilities (Fig. 3). (So urce: Vermont Cheese Council 2014 .)
At most, distinguishing characteristics of the cheesemakers such as cheesemaking techniques, variety, family history, and animal husbandry practices are listed (Fig. 4). Symbols such as the goat image in Figure 3 and the letters C, G, FM, F, and M in Figure 4, help to save space while also providing further information. In these cases, Blue Ledge Farm produces goat cheese
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(thus the goat symbol), and Achadinha Cheese
Company is a farmstead cheesemaker (F) that
produces both cow (C) and goat (G) cheese that
is available at farmers markets (FM) and through
mail order (M). Both of these examples use
symbols with a legend, and are the most
common ways cheesemakers are presented on Figure 4. Example of a more detailed cheesemaker description from the California Cheese Trail Map cheese trail brochures/maps. However, the New (Source: CA Cheese Trail 2014 .) Hampshire Trails brochure takes a more narrative approach, describing cheesemakers and
wineries along the trail. For example, the Valley Vineyards, Orchards, and Dairy Trail begins by
descriptively presenting similar information as that included in Figure 4, while contact
information is listed in a directory at the end of the brochure:
As you move up and down the western border of the state, you can feel the history, rich agricultural traditions and unparalleled beauty of the Connecticut River Valley. Begin your ride at Boggy Meadow Cheese Plant in Walpole where they transform raw milk from a dairy herd of Holsteins into sumptuous cheese from old Alpine recipes. The Buttery Baby Swiss tastes nutty and sweet, and the Fiddlehead Tomme is cave-aged for over six months, creating a rich flavor. Visitors are welcome for tours and to sample and purchase cheese directly from the farm. Be sure to call ahead; hours vary (NHDRED n.d.) Without a coordinating website, the NH Trail does not have unlimited space and must
communicate all of what it deems most important about the cheesemaker on paper.
On the Web
On their websites, cheese trails presumably have more space to provide visitors with
detailed information on cheesemakers. But the trails still differ in the amount of information they present, ranging from no information to multiple paragraphs. The Western North Carolina
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Cheese Trail does not have individual cheesemaker profiles. Instead creameries are listed with the name of their cheesemaker, address, and a link to their website (if they have one). Both the
California and Finger Lakes Cheese Trails provide slightly more information, listing their members with a few sentences of description each as well as a link to their website. Surprisingly, the CA Cheese Trail does not elaborate on the information provided on their map, as their website descriptions of cheesemakers are nearly identical to those on the brochure. For example, the description of Achadinha Cheese Company on the CA website,
Jim and Donna Pacheco’s 600 goats graze year-round on verdant pastures at the Pacheco Family Dairy. The grass is supplemented with alfalfa and brewers’ grain from local breweries. Donna handcrafts all cheeses. Achadinha has tours of their dairy by appointment and is starting up occasional cheese workshops, is nearly identical to the Creamery’s description on the Trail’s map (Fig. 4) (CA Cheese Trail n.d.b). The North Carolina, Oregon, and Vermont cheese trails all provide more cheesemaker information on their web profiles. And, rather than having the descriptions in one long list (which is how the CA and Finger Lakes Trails present their Figure 5 . The NC Cheese Trail has the most extensive member profile of all the trails member information), on the NC, OR, and VT sites, (Source: NC Cheese Trail, 2015 d ) each member’s profile is an individual webpage. This allows the cheese trail to provide more
32 information on each cheesemaker, as well as show pictures of their animals, cheese, and farm store (Figure 5).
As advocates of artisan and farmstead cheesemakers, one major role of cheese trails is to help promote member cheesemakers. One way they can do this is by providing consumers with a resource that collects information about many cheesemakers and houses it in one place. By presenting cheesemakers on their website, cheese trails are adding to a cheesemaker’s online presence. About 12% of member cheesemakers studied do not have websites, so additional web presence from a cheese trail is especially useful to them; however this does not mean that the other 88% of cheesemaker websites are well made, user friendly, and informational. Websites can also be expensive (if hiring a web designer), time consuming, and require web design skills and marketing acumen. Websites also require internet access, and while 67% of farms in the U.S. have access to the internet, only 40% use it for business (USDA and NASS 2013). Thus, by providing more member information in cheesemaker profiles, trails have the opportunity to increase artisan cheesemakers’ online presence, especially for those who are lacking in this area, as well as provide consumers with a one stop destination for cheese tourism information. This was one of the main goals of the NC Cheese Trail, wanting to help “smaller cheesemakers by putting them up front in the public’s eye through on-line promotion of their products” (cheese trail interview, 3/23/2015). Because these more elaborate profiles can be an important marketing and educational resource for cheesemakers, and thus a potentially useful model for a Western PA cheese trail, the following analysis focuses mostly on those trails that did have more informational profiles of their cheesemakers online.
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Cheesemaker Values
As described above, cheese trail websites and publications say a lot about cheesemakers.
Whether in a few sentences or a couple paragraphs, the language and imagery the trails use to describe cheesemakers becomes a large part of their product marketing. In the case of the cheese trails studied, cheesemakers are portrayed as valuing family and tradition, their animals’ health and wellness, and the surrounding landscape. Examining the emphasis cheese trails place on certain aspects of their cheesemakers’ operations can help inform attributes of Western PA cheesemakers that should be highlighted (or not) in the creation of a new cheese trail.
Family and Tradition
In the member profiles found on cheese trail websites, cheesemakers’ family histories of farming or cheesemaking are often the first thing mentioned. About a third of all of the cheese trails’ member profiles mentioned their farm or business as being family owned. Profiles frequently noted how long, in years or generations, a family has been dairying or cheesemaking.
It was not uncommon to see profiles describing third, fourth, or fifth generation dairy farmers who added cheesemaking to their operation when selling fluid milk became unprofitable, like von Trapp Farmstead, a third generation Vermont dairy. Beginning as a fluid milk producer,
“each generation has called for a fresh approach to keep the family business viable; Sabastian’s
[the current owner] parents gained organic certification for their milk, and his on-site creamery adds even more value to their excellent-quality raw material” (VT Cheese Council 2015j).
Alternately, the profiles note a European, South, or Central American family tradition continued in the United States. For example, the Barinaga Ranch is described as carrying on “the shepherding traditions of…Basque ancestors in Spain” (CA Cheese Trail n.d.b).
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Some cheesemakers do not have a family tradition of cheesemaking, but have restored
old farms, keeping alive the history of the farmland, like Harley Farms which restored a 105 year
old dairy farm that is now home to 150 goats, and Taylor Farm, a 180 year-old farm operated by its current family for the past 14 years (CA Cheese Trail n.d.b, VT Cheese Council 2015e).
Many old cheese factories on the cheese trails, such as the Marin Cheese Factory in California and the Crowley and Plymouth Cheese Factories in Vermont, are still producing cheese using the artisanal methods that were used more than 150 years ago, continuing some of the oldest cheesemaking traditions in the country. One town even reclaimed its cheesemaking tradition that
had disappeared, supporting the creation of Face Rock Creamery in Oregon which brought
cheesemaking back to the town of Bandon after the last of its 19th century cheese factories closed
(OR Cheese Guild n.d.a). This emphasis on history illustrates that cheese trails believe this
aspect of the cheesemakers’ work is (or should be) important to the consumer. For consumers
discontented with an increasingly industrial and anonymous food system, profiles that clearly
illustrate artisan cheese’s connections with a time where food was made by people, not
machines, and tied more closely to the land, appeal to their longing for food with an identity.
Along with the mentions of family and farm traditions, the products made and
cheesemaking techniques used are also described as traditional. Often what exactly traditional
means, or in what sense it is traditional, is not explained, like when Twig Farm is described as
making its cheese “by hand, using traditional techniques and equipment for farmstead cheese
production” (VT Cheese Council 2015g ). Vague phrases like this reflect the appeal (and one might argue, typical overuse) of terms such as “traditional” and “artisan” in today’s society. For consumers who may not know very much about cheese, these kinds of descriptions can be
intriguing, whereas too much detail might be too complex. However, for those who are
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knowledgeable about cheese, more detailed descriptions of what “traditional” means to the cheesemakers set them apart from one another. The term traditional, for example, can call attention to the cheesemakers’ use of techniques that were historically American or to techniques that were once more common in Europe. In an exception to the norm of vague descriptors, the
Vermont Cheese Council emphasized this aspect of Thistle Hill Farm’s cheese, Tarentaise, in the farm’s profile:
Tarentaise is made in a copper vat in the tradition of the Savoie region of the French Alps. The copper vat which is essential to the development of the proper flavor…was custom built for Thistle Hill Farm in Switzerland. Following the traditions of the Savoie, the Putnams use cultures imported from France and make their own rennet using whey from the previous cheese making. Unlike many commercial cheese operations which use pumps that harm the curds, the curds used to make Tarentaise are taken from the vat by hand in a large cheese cloth to the various presses (VT Cheese Council 2015f).
In the case of Plymouth Artisan Cheese, tradition is used to emphasize the age of the cheese factory and declare to consumers that the cheese is still made as it was in the 1890s,
Plymouth Cheese is being made by hand to the same exacting standards which a pedigreed American heritage cheese demands….Our Granular Curd cheese is a true American original made using the same techniques practiced in Vermont in the 1890’s. The art of achieving the rich and distinct flavors of our cheese is through the skillful cutting and continuous stirring of the curds – a process that takes hours and is a defining feature of this historic American cheese (Vermont Cheese Council 2015c).
Whether highlighting a family’s dairying history, or a cheesemaker’s use of artisanal cheesemaking techniques, trail profiles of cheesemakers appeal to a more customary definition of tradition, rather than Paxson’s “tradition of invention” discussed earlier. This appears to be done out of convenience or to appeal to cheese trail consumers presumed preference for tradition over innovation; after all, the trails only have so much space and time to attract and retain the attention of the consumer. However, there are hints of cheesemakers’ “traditions of invention” in the profiles as well. Thistle Hill Farm’s Tarentaise is undeniably influenced by European 36 cheesemaking traditions; however it is also “unique to Pomfret, Vermont – its soil, geography, climate, and flora, all of which combine to give Tarentaise its characteristic [flavor]… which changes subtly with the seasons and weather” (VT Cheese Council 2015f). Thistle Hill Farm is not simply copying European traditions, but adapting them to their family and farm, and in the process connecting people, food, and the land. By tying their producers to the history of dairying or cheese in the region, as well as to the land, cheese trails are not only tapping into feelings of nostalgia, but also focusing consumers in on attributes such as innovation, adaptation, and terroir.
Nonetheless, in order to keep these traditions (both old and new) alive, cheesemakers need to stay in business - not always an easy task. According to a survey of farmstead cheesemakers conducted by Heather Paxson in 2009, 46% of farmstead cheesemakers reported not turning a profit in the previous year, and even cheesemakers that do turn a profit still struggle to stay in business (Paxson 2013). This said, the Western North Carolina Cheese Trail is one of the only trails that openly addresses the difficulties of artisan cheesemaking on their website. The website states,
Artisan cheesemaking is a life lived on the edge. Margins are thin, the work is long and hard, and small family businesses are struggling to resurrect a craft and keep farmland open through the operation of small independent dairies (WNC Cheese Trail n.d.). This is one of the major reasons this organization, as well as the other cheese trails studied were created, to help strengthen the cheesemaking community and support cheesemakers so the industry can thrive rather than deteriorate. However, cheese trails don’t market their cheesemakers as struggling and needing the support of the consumer, but rather focus on other aspects of the cheese, such as its agrarian roots and methods of production. By “telling and selling a selective story of a cheese’s coming into being” cheesemakers are choosing to convey
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to their consumers how the values of their cheese – small batch, “traditional” methods, family
history – improve the quality of the cheese, and therefore its economic worth (Paxson 2013,
p.88). Advertising struggle may draw in people who want to eat local and support farmers and
small businesses, but more consumers are probably “attracted to a romantic notion of artisanship
and small-scale family farming…the idealized postcard image of agrarian living,” and this is
more of the vision of cheesemaking that the trails seem to market (p.55).
Animal Husbandry
The importance of treating their animals well was another common theme in
cheesemaker profiles. Having “happy” cows and goats was repeatedly credited for producing better milk, and in turn creating better cheese. Cheesemakers’ definitions of “keeping the animals happy” included pasture grazing, natural practices, being loved and respected, having clean living conditions, having access to the outdoors, reducing stress, and playing classical music for the animals. This devotion to their livestock has led many farmers to describe their animals as extended family or even children, like Dutch Hill Creamery which treats their animals
“as if they are their kids, taking extra care to make sure they are healthy, happy, and comfortable”( FL Cheese Trail 2015b). Other cheesemakers think of their livestock as coworkers, making their living with their animals rather than from them. Mama Terra Creamery in Oregon even goes as far as to say, “Sometimes it feels strange taking credit for our cheese, because it truly comes from them” (OR Cheese Guild n.d.c).
Through cheesemakers’ descriptions of their animals, it is clear that their livestock is not simply the source of their raw material, but rather an integral part of their family. While farmers may produce cheese, they do not make it alone; “ruminant animals, herding and guard dogs, and bacteria, yeasts, and molds also contribute” (Paxson 2013, p. 31). Paxson calls this “assemblage
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of organic, social, and symbolic forces” that work to create artisan cheese the product’s “ecology
of production” (2013, p. 31). Bringing attention to the nonhuman elements of cheesemaking
gives consumers a more complex view of their cheese, which Paxson believes “challenges consumers’ naïve assumptions about the economic and practical realities of farming and craft food-making” and adds to the agrarian ideal described in the previous section (p.62).
Artisan cheesemakers’ belief that happy animals make higher quality milk, resulting in better cheese is not unfounded. Stress, caused by poor handling and lack of appropriate feeds
(grass for cows and sheep, and shrubbery for goats), can lead to illness such as udder infections
and poor quality milk (Caldwell 2012). Grazing herds often leads to healthier animals, and
therefore better quality milk for cheesemaking (Undersander et al. 2002, Goldberg et al. 1991).
Marketing cheesemakers’ care and attention to their animals not only illustrates their dedication
to producing high quality products, but also further highlights farmstead and artisanal cheese’s
separation from industrial production. To these producers, their animals are an integral part of
their operation and the “food with a face” that they provide consumers reflects not only
themselves but also their livestock. Cheesemakers are directing “attention to how various forms
of labor and life…come together on a farm to generate the particular qualities of a cheese”
(Paxson 2013, p. 32). Thus while marketing the tradition and history of cheesemaking may rely
on feelings of nostalgia for the idyllic countryside, by portraying the importance of their animals
and land (discussed below), farmstead cheesemakers are also capitalizing on Paxson’s more
forward-looking idea of post-pastoralism, making clear the collaboration between themselves,
their animals, and their land, and how these factors intertwine to create great cheese.
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Landscape
Descriptions of landscapes and landmarks were also common in Cheesemaker profiles,
alluding to the importance of terroir in creating particular cheeses. But when this concept of
terroir was invoked by cheese trails, it was in its more literal definition, “taste of place.” Andante
Cheese, a California artisan cheesemaker, was described as highlighting “the essence of the
terroir, or microclimate, in which the milk and cheese are produced,” (CA Cheese Trail n.d.b).
Vermont Creamery was the only other cheesemaker profile that explicitly used the word terroir,
but didn’t really explain the concept, simply mentioning under the subtitle “Defining Terroir” that their milk came from “the Green Mountains of Vermont, where our family farmers are tending the goats and cows” (VT Cheese Council 2015i). Without mentioning terroir, however, many other cheesemakers did reference their “place’s” influence on the cheese they made. For example Goldin Artisan Cheese mentions that the “quality of the milk is influenced by the local soil and climate of the Pacific Northwest” (OR Cheese Guild n.d.b). Spring Brook Farm’s profile states that their cheese exhibits a “distinct flavor unique to the Vermont pastures in which the cows graze” (VT Cheese Council 2015d). While describing how place influences cheeses’ taste, these cheesemaker profile excerpts also highlight other practices associated with terroir that bring value to the cheese, such as pasture grazing.
Combining the use of terroir or sense of place with both the agrarian and post-pastoralist values discussed above, such as history, tradition, and animal welfare, reflects the more holistic version of terroir discussed, where “the gustatory values that make artisanal cheeses taste good are fundamentally rooted in craft practices that are themselves valuable…[T]he commercial value of their cheese derives from the same underlying assets that it protects: unconfined dairy animals, family farms, revitalized rural communities, working landscapes” (Paxson 2013, p.
40
189). These are the values of artisan cheese that are so important to make visible to consumers through venues such as cheese trails, because they are not easy to convey on packaging. Rather, by visiting farms, talking to cheesemakers, seeing the communities and landscapes surrounding the dairy farms, a cheese trail provides a broader sense of where the cheese is coming from and the values it supports.
Mentions of place, in addition to adding value and conveying the uniqueness of artisan cheeses, were also likely used to entice visitors to travel the cheese trail as a whole. This is especially apparent in the cheesemaker profiles of the Oregon and Vermont Cheese Trails.
Examples include Pholia Farms, “located on 23 acres at the base of Elk Mountain,” Boston Post
Dairy “across from the scenic Missisqoi River with a view of beautiful Jay Peak,” and Bridport
Creamery, “nestled near the shores of Lake Champlain” (Oregon Cheese Guild n.d.e, VT Cheese
Council 2015a, VT Cheese Council 2015b). While cheese trails may use these descriptors as
“value added marketing labels” boosting a cheese’s price by “promoting place-based distinctions,” they are also selling the broader landscape as a tourist destination (Paxson 2013, p.
188). In his study of the changing image of place portrayed by state tourism booklets, Steven
Schnell describes tourism guides as portraying an “idealized vision of place, a consciously created appeal to the traveler that promises adventure and relaxation, cosmopolitan urbanness and rustic rurality (2011, p.281). Thus while the cheese trails’ descriptions of the landscapes of farms may have associations with terroir, they also highlights that these farms are not “mere scenic backdrop[s] to active landscapes” but rather are “destinations in their own right that travelers would actually want to visit,” important when trying to attract attention and visitors to these small farms and communities (Schnell 2011, p. 294).
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On the Cheese Trail
While cheese trails provide the important service of marketing cheesemakers via
cheesemaker profiles, they are also providing consumers with an agritourism product. By acting
as a tour guide to help tourists plan their visit, connecting cheesemakers with other local
businesses to create a rural destination, and organizing events that both entertain and educate
visitors, cheese trails create opportunities for consumers to experience and see firsthand the
aspects of farmstead and artisan cheese that set it apart from its industrially produced
counterpart, all while increasing awareness of the region’s cheese.
The Cheese Trail as Tour Guide
As an agritourism attraction, all of the cheese trails studied go beyond cheesemaker
profiles to take on the role of a regional cheese tour guide. They do this by inviting tourists to
“explore” their state or region’s cheese, or to go on a cheese adventure. Notably, the language used in this role of tour guide strongly evokes a sense of discovery and exploration. For example, rather than simply being described as a day trip destination, Harley Farms Goat Dairy, a stop along the CA Cheese Trail is described as a “spot for day trip adventurers” (CA Cheese Trail n.d.b). Valley View farm is described as “tucked away in picturesque Essex County” in
Massachusetts (MFWGA et al. 2012, p.6). The North Carolina Cheese Trail describes its cheesemakers as “scattered across the entire state,” and the Hillsborough Cheese company is
“hidden in the heart of…Orange County, NC” (NC Cheese Trail 2015a, NC Cheese Trail 2014).
One might consider this phrasing simply a marketing ploy. However, these cheesemakers
really are “tucked away,” “scattered,” and “hidden” throughout the countryside, making them
difficult to incorporate into a vacation without “inside” knowledge and prior planning. The North
Carolina Cheese Trail Map illustrates just how spread out trail members can be (Fig. 6). As a
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result, cheese trails provide access to the
countryside, encouraging tourism in areas
that tourists may not normally think to
visit, benefitting cheese trail members as Figure 6. The NC Cheese Trail map illustrates how far well as their larger communities. reaching a cheese trail can be. (Source: NC Cheese Trail, 2015a) These cheese adventures thus require some “inside” knowledge, provided by the cheese
trail, and some pre-planning. Because the physical trail maps and brochures are not actually intended to be used as the sole tool for navigating the trail, tourists need to either plan their trip very well before traveling, or have a smart phone/GPS with them in order to actually find cheesemaker stops. While cities and major highways are labeled on every map, the real focus of
the brochures is on the placement and information about each cheesemaker, rather than the detail
needed for navigation. The cheese trails acknowledge this, directing readers of their maps and
brochures to their websites, which for this very reason, have interactive and detailed maps. The
interactive maps are all custom made using Google Maps, which allows prospective visitors to
access directions and map their own trip. The websites also contain, as described previously,
more information on cheesemakers and other attractions, acting as an additional planning
resource.
As the Finger Lakes Cheese Trail’s brochure advises, “the best way to travel the trail” is
to “choose 4 or 5 creameries that are near each other, and download their addresses to your
mobile device or GPS” (FL Cheese Trail 2014a). Thus, rather than being stand-alone or authoritative resources, the cheese trails are designed to help tourists plan their own trips along the trails, with some even suggesting tourists use the brochure or website as a resource for making a customized or individually-tailored trail. This idea of tourists planning their own trails
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makes the cheese trails flexible as destinations for an
afternoon, day, weekend, or a longer excursion. Also,
since the trails cover an extensive area, planning
ensures that “you don’t find yourself on a longer
journey than you had planned” (WNC Cheese Trail
n.d.). For those visitors not interested in planning, Figure 7. A suggested driving tour from the CA some trails have created set driving tours. The CA Cheese Trail Map (Source: CA Cheese Trail 2014)
Cheese Trail map gives day trip examples right on the map (Fig. 7), while the New Hampshire
Wine and Cheese Trails outlines the stops on each sub-trail, how many days it will take to
complete the trail, and the distance from start to end (Fig. 8). While these directions are not Figure 8: A quick description of the travel meticulously detailed, they still provide visitors with a details from a NH Wine and Cheese Trail (Source: NH n.d.) specific prototype for their trip. As a visitor to a new area
it may be intimidating and difficult to plan a trip. Mapping out details such as how long the route will take to complete or even
how far it will be to travel require trip planning experience. Day
trip suggestions, such as those in the Marin County Driving Tour
(Fig. 7), and multiple day tours, like in the New Hampshire
Trail, make the planning process less daunting and make
possible the notion of rural tourism, especially for less
experienced travelers.
Creating a Rural Destination
The cheese trails act not only as trip planners but also as
networks connecting tourists, cheesemakers, restaurants, attractions, and lodging. These
44 connections among local businesses appeal to a wider range of tourists than just the cheese lover, as well as provide resources for lodging and meals, which can be especially helpful in rural areas where there are typically fewer options. As there is more to a trip than just one (or several) tourist destination(s), suggesting “fine restaurants and lodgings along each trail” helps tourists plan their trip, making the cheese trail a more viable travel guide (NHDRED n.d.). Connecting with other popular attractions such as wine and beer trails brings more attention to the cheesemakers as well. Massachusetts and New Hampshire both recognized this, as their trails are combined wine and cheese trails. By promoting other local businesses alongside cheesemakers, cheese trails help provide tourists with a unique trip, pointing them to restaurants and shops with local products, and unique or historical hotels and bed and breakfasts. At the same time, by working cooperatively, cheesemakers and other associates of cheese trails recognize that they can see greater success when working together than if they were in competition (Che et al. 2005).
One might think this is counterintuitive and that a small business would want to protect its market share; however “successful entrepreneurial agritourism developers work cooperatively, not individually and competitively” (Che et al. 2005, p. 225). Thus it is groupings of similar businesses in close proximity, like cheese trails, that actually attract and bring in visitors.
With the independent cheese trails, in particular, partnerships with non-cheesemakers often take the form of inviting the business to become a member of the trail. To become a member, the business must apply to the cheese trail. If accepted, they pay a yearly fee (around the same amount as the cheesemaker) to be a part of the cheese trail. However, each cheese trail structures this arrangement differently. For example, the Finger Lakes Cheese Trail offers an associate membership for businesses that support the cheese trail. Associate members include farms, vineyards, restaurants, bed and breakfasts, cheese shops and breweries. As an associate
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member, the businesses are a preferred vendor, promoted on the cheese trail’s website and social media, and their literature is available in the shops and farms on the trail. The Finger Lakes
Cheese Trail markets these businesses as the “perfect places to stay, eat, and play while you’re visiting” (FL Cheese Trail 2015a).
The North Carolina Cheese Trail calls its non-cheesemaker partners “affinity members,”
and describes them as businesses that “sell, distribute, market or otherwise support North
Carolina made cheese” (NC Cheese Trail 2015b). Each affinity member has a profile on the
Cheese Trail’s website with a description of the business, pictures, contact information, and the
cheeses from the trail sold there. Affinity members that allow visitors are also marked on the trail
map. Interestingly, this is the only trail that has non-cheesemaker members on their trail map.
Finally, the Western North Carolina Cheese Trail divides its non-cheesemaker members
into associate members, affinity members, cheese enthusiasts, and corporate sponsors. Associate
members are businesses that sell, support, or distribute WNC artisan cheese. WNC affinity
members are businesses that complement the cheese trail, such as breweries and wineries.
Cheese enthusiasts are entities that love cheese and want to support the trail, and corporate
sponsors are organizations or businesses that provide funding to the trail. All three of these trails’
memberships come with an annual fee ranging from $50 for NC memberships to between $250
and $2,500 for a WNC corporate sponsor membership. Thus, by creating connections between
cheesemakers and local businesses, cheese trails are both promoting cheese as well as the
communities surrounding cheesemakers.
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Cheese Trail Events
The majority of the cheese trails studied use events as a tool to raise awareness of the trail and member cheesemakers. Events strengthen community partnerships, educate the public about artisan and farmstead cheese and dairy farming, and introduce consumers to member cheesemakers. Cheese Trail websites and social media keep visitors up to date on event information, either by creating monthly calendars, or by simply posting about events, keeping the trail, and cheese, on consumers’ minds.
As mentioned earlier, cheese trails are often based on community partnerships. Events provide an opportunity to showcase these partnerships. For example, the Finger Lakes Cheese
Trail runs a series of wine pairing events in conjunction with the Finger Lakes Wine Trail. The
Trail considers “linking producers to events in the area” as one of its main roles (cheese trail interview, 3/25/2015). Nearly all of the trails have an annual cheese/cheesemakers festival to celebrate the cheese trail and member businesses. These festivals bring all of the cheesemakers involved to one spot, making it easier for visitors to meet more cheesemakers and try more cheeses than if they traveled parts of the trail on their own. Visitors have the opportunity to talk directly to cheesemakers about their products, cheesemaking process, and history, right from the source, providing a personal connection to the cheese and cheesemaker. These events help raise awareness of the trails (the Finger Lakes Cheese Festival attracts nearly 3,000 visitors), and if consumers meet cheesemakers they like, it may inspire them to travel to their farm and to others like it (cheese trail interview, 3/25/2015). These events can mean big business for cheesemakers, with some “selling out of their entire supply in one day” (personal communication, FLCT,
3/25/2015). Thus these events can be an important means of boosting sales.
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Another kind of event that creates personal connections between cheesemaker and
consumer, increases cheese sales, and draws visitors to cheesemakers’ farms is open houses. The
Finger Lakes Cheese Trail, as well as the North Carolina Cheese trail, hosts these types of
events. The FLCT once hosted four open houses during the year, two weekend long events on
Memorial Day weekend in May and Columbus Day weekend in October, and two single day
events in August and November (FL Cheese Trail 2014b). All of the cheesemakers on the trail
participate, with almost all of them opening their farms to visitors, and with the few that do not
open hosting guests offsite (such as at a vineyard or farmers market). These events allow families
to tour farms and participate in hands-on activities such as bottle feeding baby goats, or milking
a cow. They provide, in other words, more extensive interactions with each cheesemaker than
what would happen if a consumer simply visited an on-farm store while driving the cheese trail.
Visitors also get to see what happens behind the scenes of the production of their favorite cheeses on open-house days. By visiting the farms where trail cheeses are made, consumers can
experience firsthand that farmstead cheesemakers are not only making cheese, but also raising
and taking care of livestock. The pace of open houses on the Finger Lakes Trail has since slowed
down, and now the trail only hosts one open house event on Columbus Day weekend, but
cheesemakers note that “their sales have quadrupled as a result of the event” (cheese trail
interview, 3/25/2015). Such memorable experiences provide consumers with personal
connections and firsthand knowledge that artisan cheese is different and worth its higher price.
By bringing visitors to the farm, open houses are also tapping into the populations that are more
likely to buy their cheeses, namely wealthier urbanites. Thus, these open farm visits help connect
these consumers to the land and to the farmers that produce their food. They provide consumers
with memorable experiences, while increasing the visibility and sales of the cheesemakers.
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The educational components provided by cheese festivals, open houses and other events are invaluable to cheesemakers. By providing consumers with seminars, tastings, demonstrations, games, petting zoos, and the ability to learn from the cheesemakers themselves, cheese trails help to create knowledge and excitement around artisan and farmstead cheese. They also generate sales opportunities and advertising for the farm’s products (Major 2005). More importantly, for some, these opportunities provide consumers with in person, hands-on education on cheese in general, with some farms even teaching visitors how to milk by hand or make their own dairy products. Cheese trail websites similarly offer additional educational resources to consumers. On their websites, cheese trails define the differences between artisan cheese and cheese readily available at the grocery store, describe what it means to be a farmstead producer, and offer recipes and tips for storing cheese. The CA Cheese Trail even lists links to cheesemaking classes in California and websites with home cheesemaking supplies, giving visitors the resources to try their hand at crafting cheese themselves. Consumers can take their increased cheese knowledge and better appreciate the hard work it takes to create artisanal cheese or raise dairy animals.
Besides entertaining attendants and providing education, these events also create personal connections between cheesemakers and consumers. Meeting cheesemakers and touring farms gives the consumers’ food a “face.” One of the main promotions on the websites and brochures of the various cheese trails studied is the opportunity to “meet the cheesemakers.” Some cheesemakers, such as Goat Lady Dairy of the North Carolina Cheese Trail believe that “when you know your food, your farmer, and your cheesemaker, you make choices that care for the land and change the world for the better” (NC Cheese Trail 2015c). Along with this belief that knowing where your food comes from is better for the environment and for communities,
49 cheesemakers on other trails shared similar beliefs that their work is important because they’re contributing to a safe and nutritious food supply. For many, engaging consumers to support these contributions is crucial to their success.
Increasingly, people want to know and understand where their food is coming from. In this case, consumers value knowing where and how cheeses are made, as well as hearing stories about cheesemakers and their farms. In a focus group conducted among specialty cheese consumers by Reed and Bruhn (2003), 38% of participants stated that it was very important to them that the specialty cheese they purchased was locally produced, and 14% believed that it was very important to buy specialty cheese direct from the farm. Thus, by visiting and meeting farmers, consumers are gaining the opportunity to get their information firsthand, and may be more likely to therefore purchase specialty cheese. Cheese trails and the events they sponsor are committed to helping consumers with this education.
Thus, comparing the cheese trails studied to one another, and thinking about how to draw from them to create a Western PA cheese trail, common aspects emerged, revealing the values that cheese trails consider most important in setting their members apart from their non-artisan or non-farmstead counterparts. These values include the importance of tradition, family, animal health and wellness, and the farm landscape. In addition, by setting their members’ cheeses apart from the orange blocks of cheese lining grocery store shelves – through personal connections, marketing, educational events, and logistical assistance – cheese trails attract not only cheese lovers, but also consumers interested in learning more broadly about where their food comes from.
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Recommendations for a Western Pennsylvania Cheese Trail
While analyzing existing cheese trails is important for understanding what works (and doesn’t work) for other cheese trails, and for gleaning what might work for Western PA, it is also important to include Western PA cheese stakeholders themselves in the discussion of what should be included in a Western PA trail. However, stakeholders interviewed for this study were extremely reluctant to answer the question, “What would you like to see in a cheese trail?” Even with a description of what the purpose of a cheese trail would be (to increase awareness of
Western PA cheese), as well as descriptions of the roles and activities of other cheese trails, I believe that it was difficult for the stakeholders interviewed to answer the question in specific terms without access to all of the information accumulated above. So, while stakeholders were not specific in what they would want to see in a Western PA cheese trail, they did see value in a cheese trail in general, and gave me some broader ideas of what they would hope to see or gain from it. Primarily, stakeholders saw a need for a cheese trail that accumulated information about producers, provided educational opportunities, and created new business opportunities.
One dairy owner specifically noted that she would hope a cheese trail would help inform consumers on where they can find local cheese because “what people struggle with is they know they want it, but the next thing is they don’t know where to get it. And it’s hard because how do you know?...The problem is there’s really no collective one kind of, like, for lack of a better term, library of information.” She also noted that cheesemakers “come and go [out of business] and that’s a little bit of a problem. So I think that’s the other thing, keeping the library current”
(dairy owner interview, 3/26/2015). For consumers interested in seeking out alternatives to industrially produced foods, researching local foods and farmers can be extremely difficult and 51 frustrating when there is no group that aggregates information on all the producers of a region.
Cheese Trail websites alleviate some of this frustration. Their websites pull all the information on the cheesemakers of the trail into one space, relieving the cheese lover of often fruitless
Google-searching for small producers who may or may not have an effective web presence.
Cheese stakeholders also saw a cheese trail as a potential source of educational opportunities. Farm visits and cheesemaking demonstrations were both mentioned as potential attractions. One cheesemonger mentioned that the experience of “stepping on the farm and seeing these are the animals and these are the people taking care of them, and then the same people make the cheese” is an important learning experience (cheesemonger interview,
3/13/2015). Educational opportunities could help consumers learn more about the values that contribute to the expense of artisan cheese, and learn more too about dairying and cheesemaking in general.
Finally, the one cheese purveyor interviewed simply wanted a cheese trail to create new business opportunities. If the Finger Lakes Cheese Trail is any indication, cheese trail events can be extremely profitable for those involved. By hosting events and acting as the source for information on the region’s cheese, a Western PA cheese trail could help attract business for both cheesemakers and other stakeholders.
The first step in creating a Western PA cheese trail would be to decide what type of trail fits the region best. While a state organized trail would likely have the resources and funding to reach a wide range of people, a trail existing simply as a brochure and website produced by a much larger entity, rather than as an organization in its own right, often loses the flexibility of keeping up to date on current members and putting on trail events. An independent trail, in
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contrast, would have the flexibility to keep information up to date and to focus solely on the trail,
but could be challenged by a lack of resources. As such, being a part of a cheese guild may be
the best option for a Western PA cheese trail. A cheese guild trail combines the best aspects of state and independent trails: it is part of a larger organization that is already focused on
advocating for artisan cheese, and if cheesemakers are members of the cheese guild they can be
involved in the cheese trail’s creation and management. While there is not currently a
Pennsylvania Cheese Guild, there is some indication that there will be either a PA or Mid-
Atlantic guild created in the near future (cheesemaker interview, 3/20/2015).
Given that the Western PA artisan cheese scene is still fairly small, its cheeses are
relatively unknown, and its cheesemakers still face obstacles to distribution and sales of their
cheeses, a cheese trail could be a particularly effective promoter of artisan cheese in Western PA.
While the North Carolina Cheese Trail, at just under one year old, couldn’t answer definitively
whether their goals of “education and, hopefully, helping our cheesemakers sell more cheese!” or
“helping smaller cheesemakers by putting them up front in the public's eye through online
promotion of their products” have been met, but in just one year the trail has grown from two
cheesemakers to twelve, with “lots of supporters of cheese” (cheese trail interview, 3/22/2015).
The trail’s longer, more informative cheesemaker profiles meet these goals through education on
the cheese of the region, as well as providing cheesemakers with an online presence. The Oregon
Cheese Trail is young as well, launched in fall of 2013, so it does not have concrete evidence on
the success of the trail, but a representative stated,
I think the way we’ve organized the trail, splitting the state into regions and highlighting not only cheesemakers, but restaurants, wineries, breweries, and events in the regions… it highlights the cheesemaker, but also makes them more attractive to visitors because… there’s more to do. So yeah I think we have met our goals of helping consumers discover
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cheesemakers that could be right in their backyard… and it helps them plan their trips too (cheese trail interview, 3/20/2015). This quote clearly articulates the cheese trail’s importance in not only increasing consumer awareness of artisan cheese, but also acting as a “tour guide” and directing consumers to dairy farms, cheese factories, cheese shops, and other businesses in their vicinity.
As the oldest trail interviewed (the organization began to organize around 2006), the
Finger Lakes Cheese Trail had more of an idea of how their trail has successfully met the group’s goal of “promoting our local artisan cheesemakers to increase their sales” (cheese trail interview, 3/25/2015). The cheese trail’s events have been especially successful at drawing in consumers. Their annual festival has been “really successful, [attracting] 3,000 visitors, and some folks [cheesemakers] end up selling out of their entire supply in one day” (cheese trail interview, 3/25/2015). As a result of their other main event, an open house weekend, “some producers have told us their sales have quadrupled as a result [of the event]” (cheese trail interview, 3/25/2015). From the success of the Finger Lakes Cheese Trail’s festival and open houses, it is clear that yearly or even monthly events have the power of attracting an enormous amount of consumer attention, resulting in higher sales for the cheesemaker and greater awareness of the cheese trail and its members. Thus, while cheese trails are still new as organizations or as methods of promoting artisan cheese, interviews with cheese trail representatives indicate that the trails seem to be successful at attracting and educating consumers, and even increasing cheese sales to some extent.
Due to these early successes of these cheese trails, I recommend that the Western
PA trail follow some of the same models I studied. Specifically, a Western PA cheese trail should feature longer informative cheesemaker profiles, host events, and provide consumers with
54 a resource that helps them find where Western PA cheeses are sold. I would also argue that the promotion of Western Pennsylvania cheese should be the main priority of any future cheese trail.
A website, social media accounts, and brochure/map would be important sources of information for consumers. One of the main aspects of the cheese trail website would be the cheesemaker member profiles. In particular, I recommend more detailed profiles, similar to those of the NC
Cheese Trail (Fig. 5). Less than half of the Western PA cheesemakers studied actually have their own websites, and a Western PA Cheese Trail website could make important information, such as where to buy the cheese, as well as broader information like a cheesemaker’s unique background easy for consumers to access. If there is something that sets the cheesemaker, their cheese, or their farm apart from other cheesemakers, this should be highlighted in the profile as well.
While common themes of the cheese trail profiles studied included history and tradition, animal welfare, and terroir in particular, I would not recommend that Western PA maker profiles be limited to these themes. Rather, they should focus foremost on telling the cheesemaker’s story, and raising the cheesemaker’s visibility in the marketplace, ultimately focusing on what makes the cheesemaker, their cheese, or their farm unique and attractive to the consumer. The profiles will likely touch on the common themes listed above because personal and farm history, cheesemaking techniques, livestock, and the landscape play important roles in any cheesemaker’s operation, and they are intriguing to consumers, but again, the profiles should seek to be broader than this. Western PA can strive to market itself as a cheese destination, but in order to do so it needs to make the case that it has cheeses and a rural landscape worth traveling for. Including enough detail in the profiles to create a cheese trail that would be of interest both to cheese novices and to more knowledgeable cheese aficionados is one way to do this.
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Important features of the profiles should include pictures (of the cheese, dairy animals, the cheesemaking process, the farm), varieties of cheeses made, where cheese can be purchased, and directions to the farm (through Google Maps) if it’s open for visitors. By including all of this information, the profile’s goal is to help tell the story of the cheesemaker, help consumers find where to purchase their cheese, and help direct them to the farms. See Appendix 4 for helpful information on creating profiles as well as some examples for a Western PA trail, created based on cheesemakers’ websites and interview information.
Other important aspects that should be included on the cheese trail’s website, given the successes of other cheese trails, include an interactive map, educational material (such as cheese storing tips, pairing ideas, and recipes), and a calendar of events. As in the cheese trails studied, an interactive map provides the ability for cheese trail travelers to plot their trip and receive directions from their starting point to farms and back again (See Appendix 5 for a map prototype of a Western PA cheese trail). Educational material such as tips for storing cheeses and recipes will help consumers get the most out of their cheese. And the calendar of events will keep cheese enthusiasts up to date on events hosted by the cheese trail, cheesemakers, or member businesses.
A paper map or brochure could also increase the visibility of Western PA cheese. In particular, an interesting and fun map, similar to the Vermont or California Cheese Trails’ brochures, could help attract attention while at the same time conveying a fun and welcoming attitude. As artisan cheese often has elitist connotations, which can keep some consumers away, a Western PA cheese trail could try to avoid such feelings and cultivate a broader base of consumers by being both warm and welcoming, and by encouraging fun, creativity, and education in all things Western PA cheese related (see Appendix 5 for a map prototype).
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Events should also be a major focus for a Western Pennsylvania cheese trail. Their ability to appeal to a wide range of people, educate and entertain consumers, and help create connections between cheesemakers and consumers make them an important part of promoting artisan cheese. Based on other cheese trails’ successes, events that a Western PA cheese trail should consider include a yearly cheese festival, farm open houses, and educational workshops.
A big, yearly event such as a cheese festival has the opportunity to attract a large number of people. Besides providing the cheesemakers an opportunity to sell their cheese, the festival can include activities for children, as well as a local beer, wine, and spirits garden, attracting families, cheese lovers, and local food/drink aficionados alike. While farm open houses may be difficult to plan due to farmer unfamiliarity with having visitors, the lack of time they have to devote to planning for visitors, and the lack of amenities on the farm for visitors, they offer consumers a very educational opportunity to see what happens behind the scenes on a dairy farm or in a cheese factory. That said, farmers are very busy and their farms may not be inherently welcoming to visitors without added resources or consideration. To help take pressure off of the farmers or cheesemakers, one innovation of a Western PA cheese trail could be that the cheese trail can provide tour guides, who are preferably knowledgeable about cheesemaking and farming, to help the farmer (see Appendix 6 for resources on welcoming visitors to farms).
Finally, the cheese trail can work with local partners to provide consumers with educational workshops. Groups such as Slow Food Pittsburgh, and businesses like Wheel and Wedge (a
Pittsburgh cheese purveyor), already have cheese workshops, and the cheese trail should work with these stakeholders to promote these events, i.e. they should be featured on the website’s calendar of events. The cheese trail should also put on workshops on topics that aren’t already
57 offered by these existing organizations, or should host events that take place outside of
Pittsburgh in order to draw urban cheese lovers into the countryside.
The first step in getting the cheese trail started would be to secure funding. Sources of funding procured by existing cheese trails include grants, trail memberships, and sponsorships.
For example, the Oregon Cheese Trail obtained $50,040 through the USDA’s Farmers Market
Promotion Program (Profita 2013). For a list a grants to consider see Appendix 7. As discussed in the Creating a Rural Destination section, some cheese trails fund themselves through a membership structure with a yearly fee. Cheesemakers, businesses, and cheese enthusiasts could all purchase memberships providing the trail with funds for its operation. Membership organization can be as simple as the Finger Lakes Cheese Trail’s two level structure consisting of member farms (the cheesemakers) and associate members (any other associated business). Or as complicated as the Western North Carolina Cheese Trail’s four levels. Their structure consists of member cheesemakers, associate members (business that distribute, sell or market Western
North Carolina artisan cheese), affinity members (business that is open to the public and relates to the trail), and cheese enthusiasts (anyone who loves cheese and wants to support the trail).
Finally, sponsor- or partnerships offer another funding source. Sponsors and partners of the cheese trails studied include: state dairy promotion boards, state wine associations, state departments of agriculture, state departments and regional councils of tourism, sustainable agriculture groups, popular tourist attractions, and even Whole Foods Market.
Once the structure and funding of the trail has been determined, I recommend that the first year of the Cheese Trail be devoted to planning and organization. Cheesemakers and complementary businesses (accommodations, restaurants, markets, wineries) should be contacted to start organizing members and gauging interest. Interested members’ profiles can then be
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written, possibly with the help of students in Chatham University’s Dairy class. The prototype
map can be tweaked and updated, possibly with the help of a graphic designer. Once the profiles
and map prototype are ready, the Cheese Trail will either need its own website, or a
complementary group to host the trail on that group's website. I would also recommend that
social media, specifically Instagram and Facebook, accounts be created to raise the visibility of
the Cheese Trail. Finally, to raise capital necessary for the Trail’s start costs, the Trail could host
fundraising events such as a wine and cheese pairing, or partner with a restaurant to host a local
cheese dinner. In the second year of the Trail, the focus can shift to Trail events such as tours,
open houses, tastings, and a festival. To assist with tours and open houses, I suggest hiring tour
guides to ensure a high quality experience for visitors and to place less pressure on the
cheesemaker. Finally a brochure with the trail map, cheesemaker information, and trail events
should be created for distribution at member businesses.
Conclusion
The analysis of existing cheese trails and the interviews conducted with cheese trails and
Western PA cheese stakeholders suggest that cheese trails can be effective promoters of artisan
cheese. Cheese trails market the values of artisan cheese that truly set it apart from industrially
made cheese. These aspects, for example, physically demanding cheesemaking techniques and dedication to the health of dairy animals, can be hard to convey to consumers without them visiting a dairy farm or talking directly to a cheesemaker. Along with this educational component, trails provide entertainment, making cheese-related activities, or even visits to farms, an exciting, unique, and fun adventure. Finally by aggregating information on many or all of the cheesemakers in a region, cheese trails provide a resource for consumers interested in finding
59
local cheesemakers or cheese related resources, while at the same time increasing the web
presence and visibility of cheesemakers.
While Western PA cheese stakeholders were not very vocal about what they would like
to see in a cheese trail, issues facing them were made clear in their interviews. For instance,
cheese stakeholders interviewed expressed the belief that consumers were unfamiliar with
Western PA cheese. Thus, it would be important for a trail to make Western PA cheese more
visible and provide added opportunities for direct sales. Taking into consideration these
challenges along with the information about the more successful activities of existing cheese
trails, I would recommend that a Western PA Cheese Trail pull the best elements from several of the cheese trails studied to create a tailored cheese trail for this region. First, an attractive, information, and interactive website, brochure, and map would help consumers notice Western
PA cheese, become informed about cheese events, and learn where to purchase Western PA cheese. Second, building events, such as a yearly cheese festival, farm open houses, and educational workshops would be another key way to increase the visibility of Western PA cheeses.
Along with increasing Western PA cheese’s visibility, a cheese trail should also provide specific opportunities for cheesemakers to make on-farm direct sales. By hosting events, or advertising cheesemakers’ roadside stands or farm stores, cheese trails can help increase these cheesemakers’ sales. Direct sales come with a double bonus of generating a higher profit than wholesale sales while also eliminating the need for organizing distribution channels, helping connect often rurally-based cheesemakers with their more urban consumers. By providing cheesemakers with more opportunities for direct sales, a cheese trail could thus help make cheesemakers more profitable, more prevalent, and more sustainable.
60
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Appendices
Appendix 1: Cheese Trail Websites
California: http://cheesetrail.org/
Finger Lakes: http://www.flcheesetrail.com/
North Carolina: http://nccheesetrail.com/
Oregon: http://oregoncheeseguild.org/oregon-cheese-trail/
Vermont: http://www.vtcheese.com/vermont-cheeses/vermont-cheese-trail/
Western North Carolina: http://wnccheesetrail.vpweb.com/
Appendix 2: Cheese Trail Maps and Brochures
California
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Finger Lakes
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Massachusetts
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Discover Wine and Cheese Makers in Massachusetts ~~ -c- d~~
0 Wineries and Vineyards 1\ Farmstead Cheese Makers
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74
table of contents
~'{eater boston
boston winery ; central massachusetts greater boston north of boston & crym! b.-ocl< farm II ffealer menimad< vaJiey hardwick vineyard & winery II I. BOSTON WINERY nashoba valley winery I I WWW".bostonwinery.net 6 17·265·H63 «'falfa farm winery ; nob$cot artisan ~e 12 26 Ericsson Stn-et. Bo~on, MA 02122 mill ri•.'er winery ; Tas:t:ings: Sat I pm • 4 pm obadiah mci\tyre farm winery 12 russell orchards 6 robinson farm 12 Sitoato:d in a Civil W ar-era brick and steM- buiding oo the Neponset rurtf.e creek winery 6 River. knowle<:l~ab~ winemakers provide a \rique opportunity t o ;oin ru;les hi creamery 13 in the cenruies.otd craft of fine wine making - ma.de yourself or with va~ >M:w £arm 6 Stl'ldl 's COU\tl")' ~e 13 iiiends and f~ ~op by to pur
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76
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Riesling. Ma:c"en, 's BWsh. Sem.~w'*t Blueberry. Up.'cnd Whit: ,A,pp.1e 1. RUGGLES HILL CREAMERY Wine. Cyser. dess.ett end :Ortified wines; G"'fc beer. disti1.1ed spin·ts wwN.rvgg!eshill.com 371!-287-5005 670 R;dge Road. H I 062 Edma.!'lds Road.. Fram ingham. MA 0170 I Roo:;!es Creamer y. formerly Carli~ Farmst:ad Chee* . has a 38 .tere dairy famWtg opera.tioo in centr.J Mas.~--chu*tts.just east of the Quab The farm sto.-e is op.en :hity from 12 - 7 pm b:n F'..eservor.nws multi •.;; w ard w inning creamery produces a di~~e Nobsc-ot artisan ~ is 'andcnfted 6'orn n:N c<:J>Ns mik from sele ' ·ROBINSON FARM •.STILL RIVER W INERY WWW".robinsonf-dfm org 413-477-6388 WNN.stiUtiverMnery.com 371!-4 15-H >3 42 Jackson Road. Hardwick MA 0 1037 I 04 Bo~on Road. H 12 13 79 80 Cricke~ Creek Farm has be M.eod~ ~rieties: Uquid Sunshine. Ginger Ubotion. .A.pp.1~ Cyz~r. Charnom11e. Wim~r Warmer; Bourbon Suckw+i-eot ond mo.-e_. 1o.LESTROIS EMMEWINERY VYVvW.ttewinery.com 413-528-IOIS 81Cnight Ro~d,. New Mad borough. MA 0 1230 Open v.-e e-ktyThurs - ~o. 12 - 5 pm:dosed late Dec - early Apr. caDto co nftrm houl"'S '· FURNACE BROOK W INERY Les Trois EI'Y\I'Y'Ie is tucked ilto the pictl.l'esque Berkshire Mounu'ns in AT HILLTOP ORCHARDS rural New Marlborou~Th e winery is named for Wayne .mel Mary www.fumacebrookwinery.com 413 -6~8 - 330 1 J~ne Sine's first th~ g-..ndd~l.Jgh:ers:: M~an. M~dison .mel Mary Ka~ erine.TOU" the winery and picNc while alorins aw-..rd.wiMi'tg wines. Rt 2~51508 Canaan Road. R Ro~dside store a."ld C~fe.: 413 -528-2633 The winery. r.amed for me Mineral Hils loca:ed ne~rby. is a pan: of Go. dard's Red Hen hrm, ~farm swa:hed with app.~ trees. g-..pe vines.and Ro~dside store a."ld C~fe. ope."l daily. 7:30 a.m • I :30 pm 16 17 81 ~etable sard~i'M wtrery protb:es m array of Freoch American os. SANGHA FARM CHEESE and vini&rous grapo- wines. fn.it wines .mel mead from honey SOU"Ce< \III\MN.sangl1afarm.com 41) .6)4.0016 &-om ~ farm. 134 W ert Hill Rd. Plainfie ld. MA 01070 Honey Wine (Me'J t> MOUNT WARNER VINEYARDS \111\MNJlWrNiney- The Northfield Mcu-a Hermon School farm is a small, di~-gsified NeH En(and farm. Maple syrup, raspberries. pumpkns-,1&-.'ehder. rosemary. aspar~ s. and ftowrs are available in season, as well as !J)eeiahy prod ucts. A small diry· Jperatioo produces rril< and cheese. (q,./ s m11k Monurey jock and Cheddar 11. UPINNGIL FARM www.upim§ l.corn 41) .863 -11~7 I<. PIONEER VALLEY FARM &VINEYARD 411 Main Road. GiD. MA 01354 www.pioneerva!leyvineyardcom 41) .147. )007 Op.en da.ity: 8 am • 7 pm 41 School Street Ha.tf~eld. MA 0 1038 U~l r~m... in ~e nor-them Cenn ~i.:ut 1\iverV~!Iey, :pec:i~s in Oct · De-c Sat · 51¥1 12 • 5 pm. cal for appointment h sh ra.w ~ and farmstead che .=rom~nac (dry ord semi-dry). and .=rvit (sa"TTi S'w'e!-t: apple.. blue (q,./ s m11k fannstead che-ese berry. rospberry, ~berry and SW''*t' b.'ockberry and cranberry) 18 19 82 COOPERS HIUTOP DAIRY www.coooersliilltopjb:m.com 5 J5 l-';eoshaw Street Rochdale.MAOI5i2 508~2-3720 MAPLfLINE FARM www..map.'efuefiinn.ccm 57 Comins Road Ha These dairy farms ha"" year-round farm stores where you can buy a delicious variety of Massachusetts dairy products including PEARSON'S ELMHURST DAIRY FARM Bay St STILLMAN DAIRY FARM wwv.:so'U.or.cndo.vy.co.-n 991 la.."lcasW" Avenue Lune!lbtxg MA 0 1462 ~78- 582-5533 20 83 84 New Hampshire 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 North Carolina 93 Western North Carolina 94 Vermont 95 Appendix 3: Interview Guides Cheesemakers • Basic farm (or milk source) information: size of operation, breed of animal, history of business, etc. • Basic cheesemaking info: types of cheese produced, cheesemaking experience, distribution • How they market and advertise their cheese • Agritourism experience, interest, knowledge, partnerships • Group memberships: PASA (Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture), ACS (American Cheese Society), etc. Non-cheesemakers • Basic business information: how long the entity been in business, why it was started, goals • Cheeses sold or distributed: where they come from, how many are PA made • Agritourism/event experience, interest, knowledge • Group memberships: PASA, ACS Cheese trails • History: why trail was created (were tourism or business groups involved?), who created the trail, website maintenance, growth • Trail function: agritourism, marketing, community, etc. • Membership structure • Goals of the cheese trail • Successes and failures Appendix 4 Profiles Profiles should clearly state the cheesemaker’s “story,” making sure to highlight their unique attributes and what sets them apart from other cheesemakers. This can include, but not be limited to: • Farm or creamery property/location: it’s history, any conservation projects • Owners/staff: interesting backgrounds or former careers, generations on the farm or farming/cheesemaking, how/why they started farming or making cheese • farming or cheesemaking practices: sustainability initiatives, alternative energy use, organic, biodynamic, or other practices • Animals: heritage breeds, pasture grazed • Special Events, activities, or traditions hosted on the farm 96 • Other products produced (fiber, maple syrup, pastured beef, etc.) A focus on how the animals are raised and how cheese is made is also important to help inform the consumer on how milk is produced, and cheese crafted. The profile should also clearly state the varieties of cheese made and where consumers can purchase the products. The Cheese Trail should have cheesemakers write their own profiles so that they are personal and represent the cheesemakers appropriately, and the trail should edit or add information as necessary. Alternately, if cheesemakers feel unequipped or lacking in time or resources to write their own profiles, the Cheese Trail should write a draft profile to send to the cheesemaker for editing. Profile Outline Dairy Name Farmstead Animal’s Milk Cheese or Artisan Animal’s Milk Cheesemaker Cheesemaker name Address Pictures are important! Show your Website (facebook symbol is a link to facebook page) farm, cheesemakers or milkers in action, farm store, animals, and Open: hours farm or farmstand is open your product, logo etc. Tours: info on tours, if they’re by appointment, etc. About Focus on what makes you and your cheese unique (as discussed above) Our Cheese List your cheese varieties with some description of cheese type, i.e. hard, fresh, semi-soft, mold -ripened. If a cheese has an unusual name, let the consumer know what style cheese it is using familiar cheeses, i.e. Parmesan-style, cheddar-inspired, our take on havarti, etc. Where to Find Our Cheese Is cheese available for purchase on the farm? Say so. List all retail outlets that sell your cheese. If you sell at farmers’ markets, list them. 97 Western PA Examples These examples were created with information from interviews and the cheesemakers’ websites or social media. If the trail creates profiles for the cheesemakers, they should have the cheesemaker approve them for use to ensure they are being portrayed accurately. Clover Creek Cheese Cellar Farmstead Cow’s Milk Cheese David and Terry Rice 5161 Clover Creek Rd Williamsburg, PA 16693 http://www.clovercreekcheese.com/ Open: By Appointment Tours: By Appointment About A family owned and operated dairy farm for over 20 years, we finally launched our long dreamed of cheese line in 2005. Our cheese is made from fresh raw milk straight from our farm. Our cheesemaking process is very hands-on, from carefully hand stirring cultures into our milk, to cutting the curd, to pressing the curds into molds. Aged in our cellars on locally grown sugar maple shelving, we carefully monitor and hand-turn the cheese to foster natural rind production and flavor development. Our dairy is grass based, and we like to keep our cows outside in the fresh air, grazing all summer and eating dried hay in the winter. We take our grazing seriously, and cows are moved to fresh pasture at least two times a day. Because our raw milk cheese is made with unpasteurized milk, the cheese has more beneficial bacteria, resulting in cheese with a more nuanced flavor. And the flavor of pasture-raised milk is influenced by the plants the cows munch on which changes throughout the season. Taste the difference of pasture-raised raw milk cheese! We hope you enjoy eating our cheese as much as we enjoy making it! 98 Our Cheese Smoked Galen’s Good Old: Our Gouda-style smoked! Scary Monster: Our take on a French Munster recipe, soft and stinky Wild Mt. Mushroom: Morel mushrooms and spring onions plus creamy cheese make for a deliciously earthy treat Uncle Joe’s: Washed with a Pennsylvania vineyard’s Niagara grape wine, this cheese is truly a taste of Pennsylvania α & Ω (Alpha & Omega): A Greek-style cheese brined for 60+ days. Sharp, salty, and crumbly Honduran Harvest: Our take on a pepper jack. Creamy cheese loaded with local hot peppers Tussey Mountain: Emmenthaler Swiss with a Clover Creek twist Pirate Blue: A smooth and hearty blue cheese Wild Mushroom: Our collaboration with Wild Purveyors. Wild mushrooms and chives lend a meaty, earthy flavor, complementing the melt-in-your-mouth creaminess of the cheese Bruscedda: Chock full of garden fresh tomatoes, homegrown basil, and a touch of garlic Royer Mountain: Our take on an Alpine style cheese. Sharp and tangy, yet smooth Cheddar: Not your average cheddar. Our pasture-grazed milk, mixed breed herd, and natural rind development set this cheese apart from the rest of the pack Galen’s Good Old: Playing with a gouda recipe from Amsterdam we created a gouda to call our own! Winemaker’s Select: We took our basic recipe for Uncle Joe’s and saturated it with Cabernet Sauvignon, allowing the flavors of both the cheese and wine to complement one another Where to Find Our Cheese (these locations should be hyperlinked to the business’s website to make it easier for consumers to find the cheese) Cheese is available for purchase on our farm as well as these retail locations: Bending Bridge Farm, Boalsburg Farmers’ Market, Briar Valley Winery, Cream and the Crop Cheese, East End Food Co-op, Fair Food Farmstead, Family Farms Creamery, Farm Fromage, Flavors Café, Friends Farm Market, Friends and Farmers Cooperative, Forks Farm Market, Juniata Farmers’ Market, Ligonier Farmers’ Market, Marty’s Market, Metropolitan Bakery, Mt. Nittany Winery, Nature’s Pantry, Towns Edge Farm Market, Valewood 99 Farms, The Village Bakery, The Vineyard at Grandview, Way Fruit Farm, The Wellness Store, Wheel and Wedge Cheese Shop, Wholesome Living Marketplace, Wild Purveyors. Cherish Creamery Farmstead Goat’s Milk Cheese and Yogurt Paula Keswick 2771 Paradise Road Reynoldsville, PA 15851 Open: By Appointment Tours: By Appointment About After learning from an experienced cheesemaker, Paula, her husband Don, and friend Pennie Christie moved to Pennsylvania after finding the perfect farm, already equipped with goats and a cheese room, to live their dream of raising goats and making cheese. While Paula and Don continue to drive trucks to support their business, their real passion is making delicious fresh feta and chevre. Milk travels mere feet from udder to the bulk tank, where it is rapidly cooled, resulting in milk that has almost none of the “goaty” flavor that many associate with goat cheese. The milk travels only a few more feet to the solar-powered cheese room where it is crafted into fresh cheeses. This is the cheese for people who think they don’t like goat cheese. One taste and you’ll be hooked! Our Cheese Feta: Our take on a Greek classic Chevre: Our chevre makes former goat cheese haters fall in love! 100 Available in plain, basil and garlic, chives and garlic, cranberry chipotle, crushed red pepper and minced onion, Where to Find Our Cheese (locations should be hyperlinked to the business’s websites) East End Co-op, Farmers at Firehouse Market, Biggie’s Quality Meat and Deli, Marty’s Market Further Resources Share Your Farm Story http://sustainableagriculture.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Media-101-Farmers-BN.pdf Telling Your Farm Story http://www.mofga.org/Publications/MaineOrganicFarmerGardener/Spring2014/Focuson Marketing/tabid/2747/Default.aspx Appendix 5: Western PA Map Prototype Interactive Google map: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zAmhhCy0SFwg.krmaGyBjphVo&usp=sharing 101 Appendix 6: Resources for Preparing Farms for Open Houses Some resources to help farmers prepare for a safe and interesting experience on their farm: Are you ready for visitors? Agritourism Checklist http://www.uvm.edu/tourismresearch/agritourism/saregrant/agritourism_enterprise_self_a ssessment.pdf Best Management Practices in Agritourism http://www.agmrc.org/media/cms/AgritourismBestManagementREVJune201_6F229759 5C6F1.pdf Risk Management Checklist http://www.agmrc.org/media/cms/AgritourismRiskMgmtLiabilityREVJune_CD6605798 C893.pdf Agritourism Health and Safety Guidelines for Children https://www3.marshfieldclinic.org/proxy/MCRF-Centers-NFMC-NCCRAHS- AgritourismHealthandSafetyGuidelinesforChildren2011.2.pdf Health and Safety Checklist 102 https://www3.marshfieldclinic.org/proxy/MCRF-Centers-NFMC-NCCRAHS- keyprojects-PolProcedures2-10.1.pdf How to Develop a Farm Tour http://www.uvm.edu/vtagritourism/files/agritourism-guide/howto-develop-farm-tour.pdf Creating a High Quality Farm Experience http://www.uvm.edu/vtagritourism/files/agritourism-guide/bestpractices-highquality- experiences.pdf Further Sources for Safe Agritourism http://www.safeagritourism.com/Resources.aspx Further Information on Opening Farms to Visitors https://vermontopenfarms.wordpress.com/ Appendix 7: Grants to Consider Local Food Promotion Program (LFPP) http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/ams.fetchTemplateData.do?template=TemplateA&n avID=FindmoreinformationontheLocalFoodPromotionProgram(LFPP)&rightNav1=Find moreinformationontheLocalFoodPromotionProgram(LFPP)&topNav=&leftNav=AMSGr ants&page=LFPP&resultType=&acct=fmpp Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP) http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/FMPP 103