{"id":35602,"date":"2018-10-30T07:45:31","date_gmt":"2018-10-30T11:45:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/?p=35602"},"modified":"2018-10-25T12:25:56","modified_gmt":"2018-10-25T16:25:56","slug":"this-pennsylvania-cheese-csa-is-woman-powered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/this-pennsylvania-cheese-csa-is-woman-powered\/","title":{"rendered":"This Pennsylvania Cheese CSA Is Woman-Powered"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manhattan cheesemonger Anne Saxelby<\/a> has famously proclaimed that <\/span>the future of cheese is female<\/span><\/a>. If so, three Pennsylvania women may be the forerunners that define that future.<\/span><\/p>\n

Standing amid the sloped acres of <\/span>Birchrun Hills Farm<\/span><\/a> in Chester Springs, the ground heavy from rain, farmstead cheesemaker Sue Miller is in her element. Her herd of Holstein and Jersey cows is near, grazing or strolling to their robotic milker. Also at the farm are her cofounding members of Collective Creamery: Stefanie Angstadt of <\/span>Valley Milkhouse<\/span><\/a> in Oley, and Philadelphia food writer and cheesemonger Alexandra Jones.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Woman-Powered<\/h3>\n

As a female-powered cheese collective, these three women run a regional CSA that focuses not only on education but also on sharing small-batch cheeses with an indelible sense of place. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDairy is feminine in so many ways,\u201d muses Jones, operations manager for the Collective and a regular host of cheese classes in Philly. \u201cCows are female, and dairying was traditionally the province of the farm wife<\/span>\u2014s<\/span>he milked cows and made cheeses to supplement the family’s diet.\u201d American dairy businesses came to be male-dominated following the shift to factory production in the 1800\u2019s. Centuries later, Collective Creamery honors and reclaims the female roots of the industry.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jones also links the Collective to a movement wherein women are reclaiming<\/span> their place in the culinary spotlight. \u201cOur ethos, supporting women in this industry, is something that many eaters want to support.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t to say that the Collective is closed to male partners. Anchored by selections from Angstadt and Miller, its seasonal shares showcase like-minded producers from Virginia to Vermont. \u201cMany of our trusted colleagues and longtime friends in the cheese world are men, or have men in key roles in their operations,\u201d Jones says. <\/span>\u201cWe’re just as interested in supporting other small, pasture-based cheese businesses and dairies making amazing products using traditional methods as we are in supporting women in agriculture.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

In doing so, the Collective tells a larger story\u2014heralding cheese as an agricultural product. This, Miller says, is critical with the dairy industry in crisis and family farms shuttering. She would know. Following the milk price collapse in the early aughts, her pivot to cheesemaking in 2006 saved her farm. Her first foray into cheesemaking was a tenacious one: a natural-rind Birchrun Blue. Now, it is a PA classic.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>The fact that Sue Miller is such a skilled farmer, a community-builder, and just such a dynamic personality has done a lot for the community,\u201d Jones says, noting that Miller and Angstadt were instrumental in reviving the <\/span>Pennsylvania Cheese Guild<\/span><\/a>.<\/span> \u201cFolks don’t realize that until 10 or 15 years ago, cheese around here was pretty much all commodity scale or Amish cheddar.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Angstadt agrees, citing Miller\u2014aka \u201cthe godmother of Pennsylvania cheese\u201d\u2014as a mentor. A 2015 Zagat 30 under 30 honoree, Angstadt is also making her mark. Called back to her ancestral land in the Oley Valley after a stint in Manhattan finance, she launched Valley Milkhouse in 2014. Where Miller is bold and animated, Angstadt has the countenance of an artist, crafting soft-ripened and fresh cheeses like her aptly named Witchgrass. A cow\u2019s milk homage to Valencay, its blue-gray rind is tinged with charcoal ash. <\/span><\/p>\n

Her muse in cheesemaking? The washed-rind cheeses she recalls from childhood trips to Belgium, her mother\u2019s homeland. <\/span><\/p>\n

Since the Collective\u2019s formation in 2016, the trio has created a mutually reinforcing support network despite differing personalities and styles<\/span>.<\/span> \u201cI think a lot of small-scale cheesemakers share the challenges that we have, which is why it\u2019s good to commiserate and talk about it,\u201d Angstadt says. <\/span>\u201cThere are no secrets,\u201d Miller agrees. \u201c<\/span>We could each make the exact same cheese and it would come out different, because of the milk, because of the hand of the cheesemaker, because of the environment. That is the beauty of what we do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Collectivism Creates Possibilities<\/span><\/h3>\n

Shared passion for celebrating pasture-based milk also inspires synergies. This fall, Angstadt launched a gouda made with milk from Miller\u2019s farm, with a clothbound cheddar in the works. Miller, in partnering with Angstadt, is discovering new love for her \u201cquiet\u201d cheeses like Equinox, a Swiss-style cheese with an underpinning of toasted caramel. \u201cThat support factor has been really instrumental,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Aside from membership, the best way to keep up with Collective Creamery is to subscribe to its podcast, <\/span>a Culture top-ten pick this summer<\/span><\/a>. Enticing to cheese lovers, it creates shared space for dialogue among American cheesemakers. \u201cWhat we kept coming back to when we were examining the purpose of all of this was trying to be as inclusive as possible,\u201d Angstadt says. \u201cIf it\u2019s not possible for somebody to buy our cheese or join the club, they can still be a part of the conversation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo Credit Jenn Hall<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The future of cheese is female. These three women are making it happen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":35605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[589],"tags":[6254,6247,6250,6248,6253,6252,6251],"coauthors":[6249],"class_list":["post-35602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cheese-talk","tag-alexandra-jones","tag-birchrun-hills-farm","tag-collective","tag-csa","tag-stefanie-angstadt","tag-sue-miller","tag-valley-milkhouse"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThis Pennsylvania Cheese Collective is Woman-Powered<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/this-pennsylvania-cheese-csa-is-woman-powered\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This Pennsylvania Cheese CSA Is Woman-Powered\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The future of cheese is female. These three women are making it happen.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/this-pennsylvania-cheese-csa-is-woman-powered\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"culture: the word on cheese\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-10-30T11:45:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Collective-Creamery-is-made-up-of-Stefanie-Angstadt-lefr-Alexandra-Jones-middle-and-Sue-Miller-right..jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"682\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jenn Hall\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jenn Hall\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/this-pennsylvania-cheese-csa-is-woman-powered\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/this-pennsylvania-cheese-csa-is-woman-powered\/\",\"name\":\"This Pennsylvania Cheese Collective is Woman-Powered\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/this-pennsylvania-cheese-csa-is-woman-powered\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/this-pennsylvania-cheese-csa-is-woman-powered\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Collective-Creamery-is-made-up-of-Stefanie-Angstadt-lefr-Alexandra-Jones-middle-and-Sue-Miller-right..jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-30T11:45:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#\/schema\/person\/30fc6044fab0b74e560168ba536a6a5a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/this-pennsylvania-cheese-csa-is-woman-powered\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/this-pennsylvania-cheese-csa-is-woman-powered\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/this-pennsylvania-cheese-csa-is-woman-powered\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Collective-Creamery-is-made-up-of-Stefanie-Angstadt-lefr-Alexandra-Jones-middle-and-Sue-Miller-right..jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Collective-Creamery-is-made-up-of-Stefanie-Angstadt-lefr-Alexandra-Jones-middle-and-Sue-Miller-right..jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":682,\"caption\":\"Stefanie Angstadt (left), Alexandra Jones (middle), and Sue Miller (right).\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/this-pennsylvania-cheese-csa-is-woman-powered\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cheese Talk\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/category\/cheese-talk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"This Pennsylvania Cheese CSA Is Woman-Powered\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/\",\"name\":\"culture: the word on cheese\",\"description\":\"Culture, America's magazine for cheese lovers, delivers stories about cheeses, cheesemakers, travel to gorgeous cheese regions, and practical tips on buying, presenting, and cooking with cheese.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#\/schema\/person\/30fc6044fab0b74e560168ba536a6a5a\",\"name\":\"Madeline Upson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/34795e3cc114ec648072d160b80e9a77\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Madeline-Upson-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Madeline-Upson-150x150.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Madeline Upson\"},\"description\":\"A longtime lover of cheese and wine nights, Madeline finally got to use her love of cheese as former Editorial Assistant at Culture Magazine.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/author\/madelineculturecheesemag-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"This Pennsylvania Cheese Collective is Woman-Powered","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/this-pennsylvania-cheese-csa-is-woman-powered\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"This Pennsylvania Cheese CSA Is Woman-Powered","og_description":"The future of cheese is female. These three women are making it happen.","og_url":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/this-pennsylvania-cheese-csa-is-woman-powered\/","og_site_name":"culture: the word on cheese","article_published_time":"2018-10-30T11:45:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":682,"url":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Collective-Creamery-is-made-up-of-Stefanie-Angstadt-lefr-Alexandra-Jones-middle-and-Sue-Miller-right..jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jenn Hall","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jenn Hall","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/this-pennsylvania-cheese-csa-is-woman-powered\/","url":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/this-pennsylvania-cheese-csa-is-woman-powered\/","name":"This Pennsylvania Cheese Collective is Woman-Powered","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/this-pennsylvania-cheese-csa-is-woman-powered\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/this-pennsylvania-cheese-csa-is-woman-powered\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Collective-Creamery-is-made-up-of-Stefanie-Angstadt-lefr-Alexandra-Jones-middle-and-Sue-Miller-right..jpg","datePublished":"2018-10-30T11:45:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#\/schema\/person\/30fc6044fab0b74e560168ba536a6a5a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/this-pennsylvania-cheese-csa-is-woman-powered\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/this-pennsylvania-cheese-csa-is-woman-powered\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/this-pennsylvania-cheese-csa-is-woman-powered\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Collective-Creamery-is-made-up-of-Stefanie-Angstadt-lefr-Alexandra-Jones-middle-and-Sue-Miller-right..jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Collective-Creamery-is-made-up-of-Stefanie-Angstadt-lefr-Alexandra-Jones-middle-and-Sue-Miller-right..jpg","width":1024,"height":682,"caption":"Stefanie Angstadt (left), Alexandra Jones (middle), and Sue Miller (right)."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/this-pennsylvania-cheese-csa-is-woman-powered\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cheese Talk","item":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/category\/cheese-talk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"This Pennsylvania Cheese CSA Is Woman-Powered"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#website","url":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/","name":"culture: the word on cheese","description":"Culture, America's magazine for cheese lovers, delivers stories about cheeses, cheesemakers, travel to gorgeous cheese regions, and practical tips on buying, presenting, and cooking with cheese.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#\/schema\/person\/30fc6044fab0b74e560168ba536a6a5a","name":"Madeline Upson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/34795e3cc114ec648072d160b80e9a77","url":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Madeline-Upson-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Madeline-Upson-150x150.jpg","caption":"Madeline Upson"},"description":"A longtime lover of cheese and wine nights, Madeline finally got to use her love of cheese as former Editorial Assistant at Culture Magazine.","url":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/author\/madelineculturecheesemag-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35602"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=35602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}