Early in 2001, about a dozen cheesemakers from North Carolina and Virginia formed the Southern Cheesemakers' Guild. Three meetings were held during that year -- at Goat Lady Dairy and Shelton Cheeses in North Carolina, then at the American Cheese Society Conference in Louisville. Then in January 2002 Celebrity Dairy hosted another general meeting, and another was held near Asheville NC in 2004. These early meetings were mostly for organizational purposes and to hash out what the Guild could and could not do as a group. Members agreed that future meetings would include an educational component, usually in the form of a workshop, whenever possible. Past workshops include:

February 2003 - advanced cheesemaking workshop with consultant Neville McNaughton at Sweetgrass Dairy in southern Georgia.

January 2004 - workshop at Sweet Home Farm in southern Alabama with Italian cheesemaker Andrea Barmaz, in conjunction with Slow Food.

November 2005 - three-day workshop at Celebrity Dairy and Goat Lady Dairy, including a Blue Cheese tutorial with Alyce Birchenough of Sweet Home Farm, Sensory Evaluation with Dr. Mary Anne Drake of NC State, and a discussion of cultures with consultant Peter Dixon.

January 2007 - general meeting was held near Asheville VA. For a copy of the minutes, please contact Karen Mickler.

Because of the huge geographical distances involved, we have concluded that it is not practical for Guild members to participate in cooperative buying of supplies or cooperative marketing (other than this web site). The main function of the group, therefore, is for mutual support and knowledge exchange, mostly through the e-mail list.

We have a great time at our meetings, sharing knowledge, cheese, wine and lots of laughter.

The group is open to commercial cheesemakers in any "southern" state (our lines are a little loose). We also encourage membership of non-commercial cheesemakers who are seriously working toward a cheesemaking business, as our resources may be useful to you. By 'seriously' we mean in the process of building a facility, gathering equipment, working with inspectors, etc. Guild members within the range outlined by our map are invited to have a web page on this site. While there is no formal structure and currently no dues, a nominal annual fee is collected from all members with active web pages to support the web site hosting. There is a $25 setup fee charged for each new web page.

Most communication takes place via our e-mail discussion group, SCGuild at Yahoogroups, which has a wider membership. The e-mail discussion group is open to similarly qualified cheesemakers outside the southeast, in order to facilitate dialogue between cheesemaking professionals everywhere. These "honorary" members are generally invited to our workshops but do not have a vote at meetings.

Members of the core group who don't have computers can be notified of developments by letter or phone, but this is less reliable, and we would urge you to find a "buddy" who will keep you filled in if you aren't on the e-mail list.

To join the e-mail discussion group, please contact Karen Mickler or apply to join the SCGuild group directly at Yahoogroups.

If you would like to attend meetings and/or have a web presence associated with the Guild, please contact Vicki Dunaway.