I haven't made cheese since October because I was scheduled for a deployment at the end of December. I found out a little over a week ago that my deployment has been cancelled. I'm excited to stay home with my family. I'm also excited to continue making cheese.
Because I won't be deployed, I also got permission from CINC home (my wife) to attend a cheese making class. There's really only 1 week during the spring semester that I can get off work, and the only course I can find that week is the University of Wisconsin-Madison Cheese Tech Short Course (https://www.cdr.wisc.edu/shortcourses/cheese_tech_spring). It runs 24-28 March and costs just under $1,000 including the hands-on lab. The content looks very interesting and I'm sure I'll learn a lot, but that's a lot of money for me (it's many months of my allowance...especially when I include travel and lodging). I was wondering if anyone knows anything about the class or can comment on its value. My goal is to get to the point where I can legally sell cheese within about 10 years if that's what I decide to do.
Thanks!
Mike
I saw that course too...and was curious. I hope someone on here has been to it.
Have you checked around for online courses , some of ours here in Canada can be taken online , such as the one I hope to start on after the new year , this one here.
http://www.bcit.ca/study/courses/food1151 (http://www.bcit.ca/study/courses/food1151)
Some of ours can be done online and others must be attended , but I plan on doing as much as I can online first , you might have other options in your state.
I contacted the Canadian Dairy Information Center and gave them an overview of my long term plans , they sent me all kinds of information , options and contacts , they were really helpful.
You must have a similar governing body you can contact , just a thought.
jwalker- Thanks for the suggestion, but I'd like to take a class where I can interact with someone in person. I'm pretty good at reading to learn things, and I've taken a number of online courses successfully, but, at this point, I think there'd be value for me in having the opportunity to discuss all that I've learned with an expert face to face and hearing a lecture where I can ask questions as they arise. I teach college classes and while I can explain concepts to my students through email and chat, I find that many comprehend more rapidly and fully when we talk in person--especially after they've put forth a lot of effort to learn the material on their own.
Mike - The Wisconsin Short Course is a wonderful theoretical base that helps prepare students for the Wisconsin Cheesemaker's License. As such it is not really designed as a practical hands on introduction. You will notice that they offer an optional "Cheese Lab" for an additional fee. Most states actually license the cheesemaking facility and NOT the cheesemaker. Wisconsin on the other hand requires the cheesemaker to be trained and licensed. The process also requires a formal apprenticeship. That's why the Wisconsin Short Course focuses on classroom lecture.
So, the Short Course is great if you really want to take your theoretical knowledge to the next level. However, if your goal is to make great artisan cheese and "legally sell cheese", then there are many other weekend classes, seminars and options.
Sailor-Thanks for the reply. I would enjoy gaining more theoretical knowledge, but right now, as you recognized, I'm more interested in hands-on, practical experience. I did see that they offer the hands-on lab on Friday and figured that I would find that most interesting. I agree that there seem to be better options for what I'd like, but this is the only class that I've been able to find that fits with my work schedule and isn't on a Sunday. I've got a calendar with all the classes I can find over the next few months penciled in. Perhaps I'll bring it up with my boss and see if he'll bend the rules and let me go to one during a teaching week.
Mike, check out courses in New England. Jim Wallace probably offers one....there are others too. If it helps at all you are welcome to stay in our guest room to avoid hotel fees. We're about an hour's drive from where Jim Wallace teaches I think. I've heard good things about his classes. THere are other classes too.....Cricket Creek does a hands on one near Williamstown MA I think and staying here would work for that as well. We're happy to help make your cheese class dream more affordable if we can. -Kathrin
Thanks for the offer, Kathrin. The classes offered by Jim Wallace are Saturday and Sunday, and we limit our activities on Sunday to family and church. I'll keep looking. If I find something near you, I'll certainly take you up on the offer.
If my boss will let me miss a day of teaching, then it looks like I could do WSU's Basic Plus Cheese Making Course, or Pholia Farm's Farmstead Cheesemakers Short Course. Most of the other classes I can find either make me miss 2 days of teaching (which he definitely won't approve), are only 1 day (not worth the travel expense to me) or are on Sundays.
If any professional cheesemaker wants to let me come work for them/shadow them for a the week of March 24-28, I'd be thrilled to do that, but from all the farms/creameries I've asked about doing so, it appears they generally aren't able to do so for one reason or another.