Ricki hugging her fabulous creation It’s a creative frenzy! The Cheese Queen is at it again. It seems like every year, beginning when the sap starts flowing and the snow has melted, Ricki gets an energy charge and hundreds of new projects are begun at the Royal Palace. OK, maybe not hundreds, but quite a few… Most of them revolve around the “barn” Ricki and
PART 2 – The Cheese Queen’s Story: The First 3 Years
What had they gotten themselves into?! That’s their Jersey, Nellie in the middle By the end of our first episode (Part 1 – The Cheese Queen’s Story), Ricki and Bob had pretty much made their decision to go into the cheese making supply business. Only one problem – they had a stack of requests for catalogs and no catalog! So, they quickly put together a
Our Partnership with Local Veterans
They’ve become invaluable to our business … There are approximately 120,000 veterans in the area of western Massachusetts where our business is located. They are all served by the Veterans Affairs Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare Center in Leeds, Massachusetts. Three years ago, Ricki heard about a program there to provide some of these veterans with work. Businesses could contract with the center to have some
PART 1 – The Cheese Queen’s Story
A Little Bit of the History of New England Cheesemaking Supply Company Ricki, from “Mother Earth News,” March, 1986 Many folks ask Ricki how she got started in the cheese making supply business. Even today it seems like a somewhat unusual enterprise … The Good Old Days In the 1970’s when Ricki and her husband, Bob began making cheese, there were no businesses where they
Singing with the Cheese Queen
Ricki and Jamie are Raising Their Voices in Song! Everybody knows that the King and Queen of Cheese LOVE to sing-in fact, they have mandated that everyone in their kingdom must sing while they are making their cheese and thus all their cheeses will be blessed with joy and harmony. When the royal couple are not making cheese, they are frequently hosting in-house singing concerts
Ricki’s Visit to a Small Dairy in South Africa
A Destination Spot for Organic Cheese and Produce Our intrepid traveller Last January, Ricki and Jamie went to South Africa to participate in a Village Harmony singing camp. (We admit we are running a little late with this article but it was worth the wait because we now have a cute video of Ricki and Jamie trying to dance at Prestige College in Hammanskraal- click
Ricki at the 8th Annual Sonoma Valley Cheese Conference
Ricki holding Cobb Hill Cheese (Hartland, VT) at the Cowgirl Creamery A great experience for our well-travelled Cheese Queen! Ricki came back from this year’s Sonoma Valley Cheese Conference in Sonoma, CA (February 27-March 1) with lots of stories about the fabulous people she met, the workshops she attended and the field trips she took. She gave talks, got interviewed, did demos and participated in
Pictures from “Cheese-A-Topia”
Look Here to See Why You Must Come Next Year! The American Cheese Society’s Annual Conference was in Seattle last week, and NESC had a table there. Ricki, Jamie, Ricki’s youngest daughter-Sarah, Ricki’s oldest daughter-Jen, Jen’s boyfriend-Jason and I-Jeri flew from Massachusetts to attend the 4 day event. The Trip to Seattle At the airport, Sarah showed us the packets she had made for new