Black Swamp Gouda

Herb & Garlic

Center Cuts - 2lb bag or 5lb box

Cheeses also available in wheels, half wheels and quarter wheels. There is a $.25 discount per lb if purchased by the wheel, half wheel or quarter wheel.

Ready in August 2010

Lock 21 - Bloomy Rind

Charloe - washed rind

Ready in September 2010

Burr Oak

Wabash Erie Canal

Miami Erie Canal

Sharp mmBossie Cheddar

Italian Herb - September 21, 2010

Ready in October 2010

Flat Rock

Defiance Farmers Market - Nothing But Nature, Phil Sherry

Toledo Farmers Market - http://www.toledofarmersmarket.org/ 

Perrysburg Farmers Market - http://www.visitperrysburg.com/farmers.html 

2nd Street Market - E.A.T. Food for Life - Dayton, OH - http://www.metroparks.org/Parks/SecondStreetMarket/FoodBeverage_Shopping.aspx  

Lima Farmers Market, Ber-Gust Farms - Lima, OH - www.ber-gustfarms.net

Local Roots - Wooster, OH - www.localrootswooster.com

Stores that carry Canal Junction Farmstead Cheese

In Ohio

E.A.T Food for Life - Yorkshire, OH - www.eatfoodforlife.com

Sautter's Food Center - Sylvania, OH

Vino 100 - Maumee, OH - http://www.vino100maumee.com

Kazmaiers Market - Perrysburg, OH - www.kazmaiermarkets.com

Nourshing Provisions - Oxford, OH - www.nourishingprovisions.com

The Food Store - Bluffton, OH

Lucky Penny Creamery - Kent, OH - www.luckypennyfarm.com

Katzinger's Deli - Columbus, OH - www.katzingers.com

Curds & Whey - Columbus, OH - www.curdsandwheycolumbus.com

The Hill's Market - Columbus, OH - www.thehillsmarket.com

Sweet Meadows - Zanesville, OH

In Michigan

The Produce Station - Ann Arbor, MI - www.producestation.com

In Indiana

3 Rivers Food Co-op - Ft. Wayne, IN - www.3riversfood.coop

Back in Time Natural Foods - Avon, IN

In Illionis

Curds & Whey Cheese Company - Geneva, IL - www.curdsandwheycheesecompany.com

Great American Cheese Collection - Chicago, IL - www.greatamericancheese.com

Restaurants using Canal Junction Farmstead Cheese

Alana's Food & Wine - Columbus, OH - www.alanas.com

Lola Restaurant - Cleveland, OH - www.lolabistro.com

Vino 100 Wine Bar and Lounge - Maumee, OH - http://www.vino100maumee.com

Winerys offering Canal Junciton Farmstead Cheese

Troutman Winery - Wooster, OH - www.troutmanvineyards.com

Winery at Wolf Creek - Norton, OH - www.wineryatwolfcreek.com

Distributors carrying Canal Junction Farmstead Cheese

Cleveland area: Summit Select Provisions, contact: Dave Sharp - 330-606-9250

Columbus area: Insantwhip Foods, contact: Rusty Tuggle - 1-800-544-9447

Chicago area: Great American Cheese Collection, contact, Giles Schnierle - 773-779-5055

http://www.veggieu.org/index2.htm

12 Spring form style cheese hoops. These are custom made. They are 14" in diameter and 7" tall (make cheeses that are slightly over 20 lbs. They are screen on the side. The bottom comes off and there are top followers. These are heavy duty hoops that can be used for many different cheeses. $250.00 each or the entire lot for $2,500.00

A Kelvinator Ice Cream Dipping Cabinet. Inside dimensions are 22"wide by 63" long, hold 12, 3 gallon tubs of ice cream This unit runs and works fine. There are no ice cream tub holders with this unit. $750.00

Kussel Cheese Vat. Heated with steam, holds 5000 lbs milk (picture shows it with 5300 lbs milk) includes: paddles, harps, whey screen, forkers for stir curd cheeses. Electrical is single phase. It is used and like used equipment has its own personality. I am currently using it 5 days a week with no problems.$10,000.00

Hurst, four pass tubless vertical boiler and feed water tank. This unit was never used when I purshased it 3 years ago. It was used as a teaching model prior to that. Requires gas and electrical; single phase. This boiler works with the vat. $7,000.00

I will sell the vat and boiler seperate or together ($15,000.00). The vat must be removed before the boiler.

All items are sold as is where is. Shipping is available ($2.75 per loaded mile. Will deliver 10 hours from zip 43512). Email if you are intersted or have any questions.

On Sunday, we here at Canal Junction were featured in the local paper in the Living section. It was a great article done by a wonderful reporter. Thank You, Georgia for the article.

 From that article there have been questions as to why I am not selling at any local markets or stores. Before you go off on me let me say that I have to keep a business head on me. I can not let emotion rule me, or the business. Banks don’t care about emotion. But please don’t take this as all I am trying to do is make millions. If I wanted to do that I would have stuck with my original plan to work for the Wrangler clothing company in their marketing division.

 First in order for me to attend a market I have to be able to pay for the time that the person spends there even if it is me. My time cost something. If I am at a market there is something back at base that is not getting done. If I send someone there I pay them, a fair wage. Then you have to figure in the time it takes to get ready and also the cost of the product being sold. So would it be nice if I was at the local market? Sure, but I have to put the business brain on not the emotional one.

 Second, selling through local stores. I actually did when we first started. For those who are not into retail you may not realize this. A retailer is not about selling product, it is about moving a certain amount of product off that shelf to make money. Retailers are not product sellers, they are shelf space renters. Those who have product at eye level pay more for that shelf than those at the bottom or top of the shelving. Each linear foot of shelf space in a store is equal to a certain amount of money. If you (the one who is putting a product on the shelf) can not move the required amount of product through that shelf the retailer will replace it with something that will. This is the game that I am NOT in. I am not a big, standardized cheese plant.

 Am I against dealing with local retail? No, but understand I am not a distributor, I am not a huge corporation, I can not deliver to all your stores, my cheeses come in random weight packages, and it is a living product that requires more care than something in a vacuum sealed bag. It is alive and needs nurturing. Cheese tastes the best when it is cut right off the original chunk that it is in.

 Which brings me to my next item. We are now offering the cheese cut to order here at the farm. For those who have gone to a cheese counter where there are cheeses galore you know what this is like. For those who have not had that experience allow me to try and put it into words. At a cheese counter there are many different cheeses setting there. Displayed as the whole, maybe cut in half to see the interior, you can sample it before you buy it. When you want to purchase it you tell the cheesemonger how much you want. They cut is right off the chunk, wrap it up in paper that nurtures the living product inside it, weight it and then you get to enjoy the best tasting cheese around. This is what we are now offering. We still have the pre cut packages but for those that want it fresh, you have that option. My personal opinion is to have it fresh, it just tastes better.

Do not forget, we have retail here at the farm. Hours: Tuesday 1-6, Thursday 10-6, Saturday 8-noon

Helping you to understand more about what we do here,

The Head Cheese, Brian

That song started going through my head last week as things seemed to be running out of control. Like the saying goes, “when it rains it pours”. I had a new employee helping me in the cheese plant and aging rooms and one working on getting cheese cut-up for orders and markets. I felt like I was running in every direction at once making sure that the vat was on schedule, cheese was pulled for cutting, the checklist printed off to pack for market, and making sure that the cheese in the aging room was getting worked properly. So as I was running around worrying about everything and was it getting done to my liking the song “Breaking up is hard to do” started going through my head. In retrospect it was like breaking up with someone you have been dating for a long time. You were very comfortable with them, knew them, how they worked, their little quarks, how to make them shine at their best. This is what it was like for me with the cheese. I have been doing pretty much everything myself since we started in ’07. I knew how to keep the vat right on schedule and what to do if I was behind or going to fast. I was running the aging rooms making sure my “babies” were doing what they needed to be doing. I was then pulling cheese, cutting them and getting it ready for orders. Last summer I had someone cutting cheese but I was making sure that they were doing it properly. Now I needed to concentrate on the vat but needing everything else done because market was that afternoon along with orders that needed to be shipped. So that started my breaking up with everything that I was doing and letting someone else do it. There comes a time in every small business where outside help is needed to keep the owner from killing themselves. That time seems to have come for me here. It is nice to have someone else to rely on but I am still holding onto everything else. I am learning that breaking up is hard to do. I tend to run a little on the perfectionist side at times and this has me wondering if they are doing a good enough job. They are and I am very grateful for all that they do and help me with. They put up with my craziness and do a wonderful job with my instructions. It’s growing pains and hopefully that means good for us.