June Dairy Month featured at Fontana Public Library program; Cheese, cheesemaking headlines June 6 program with Highfield Farm Creamery

Dovetailing with Wisconsin’s annual observation of June Dairy Month, the Fontana Public Library will be presenting “Cheese, Please,” a free dairy-themed adult education class on cheese and cheese-making in Wisconsin.

“Cheese, Please!” will be held on Tuesday, June 6 at 1 p.m. in the meeting room at Fontana Village Hall, 175 Valley View Dr. (State Hwy. 67), Fontana.

“I chose the topic because June is Dairy Month,” said Fontana Public Library Adult Program Coordinator Sally Lee. “Denise and Terry Woods, of Highfield Farm Creamery, will talk about their cheese and the cheese-making process. They are passionate about cheese and they love their cows. Denise and Terry were here probably four years ago or so and they did a really nice program. They’re very knowledgeable about cheese and the cheese-making process. It seems fitting to ask them again, especially in June.”

Highfield Farm Creamery is located at W4848 State Line Rd. in the Town of Linn.

Terry Woods, who became a licensed Wisconsin cheesemaker in 2015, works alongside his wife Denise running the state’s smallest milking parlor and crafting and selling handcrafted artisinal farmstead cheese curds and cave-aged cheeses, which are available at The Green Grocer & Deli, 24 W. Geneva St. (State Hwy. 67) in downtown Williams Bay; Pearce’s Farm Stand, W5740 N. Walworth Rd. in Walworth; Royal Oak Farm Orchard, 15908 Hebron Rd. in Harvard, Ill.; online through Alden Hills Organic Farms (aldenhillsorganicfarms.com); and on the menu at farm-to-table restaurant Fire 2 Fork, 2484 County Hwy. O South in Delavan.

After closures in 2020, 2021 and 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Highfield Farm Creamery’s popular small farmshop retail store is slated to reopen sometime in June, the date still to be announced.

As part of the June 6 program at the Fontana Public Library, samples of Highfield Farm Creamery’s artisinal cheese products will be offered to attendees.

“There will be cheese tasting, which will be special,” Lee said.

Denise Woods said she and her husband plan to bring three different Highfield Farm Creamery cheeses, produced in 10-pound wheels, for sampling — aged cheddar, a Colby-style cheese called “Stir Crazy,” and a semi-soft cheese called “Snowflake.”

An informative and educational program is planned.

“We’re the only cheese-makers in southeast Wisconsin,” Woods said. “We milk our own cows and make our own cheese. We’re a very small farmstead operation. We’ll be talking about being cheesemakers, a little bit about the history of the farm, why we chose the kind of cows we have, how Terry started his training in Scotland to become a cheesemaker and all the hoops we had to go through with the state to become cheesemakers, how our year goes and what kind of cheeses we make … and answer a lot of questions. There’ll be some recipes available and information on how to store cheese, how to buy cheese, how much to buy to for an event or gathering, and how to pair it and serve it.”

Other upcoming free events at the Fontana Public Library, announced by Lee, include the following:

Memory Screening — Memory screenings, a wellness tool that helps identify possible changes in memory and cognitio,n will be offered on Friday, June 16 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the library’s board room, courtesy of the Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC) of Walworth County. To make an appointment, contact Jake Sawyers at 262-741-3273.

Harmonica 101— The program “Harmonica 101” will be presented by Dale Boschke, of Milwaukee and Tucson, on Wednesday, June 28 from 1-3 p.m. in the upstairs meeting room at Fontana Village Hall, 175 Valley View Dr. (State Hwy. 67). If participants want to fully participate, they should bring a 10-hole diatonic harmonica in the key of C. Otherwise, it’s acceptable to just come and listen. If there is enough interest, Boschke will come back and teach another class. Boschke has been playing harmonica for more than 30 years. He has taught harmonica classes and has played in Milwaukee’s South End Blues Band for 13 years. Badger Talks: “What Does Lake Ice Seasonality Tell Us About Climate Change” — Scheduled for Tuesday, July 11 at 1 p.m. in the Fontana Village Hall meeting room, University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor Emeritus Dr. John J. Magnuson, an aquatic ecologist and limnologist with a special interest in fish and fisheries ecology, will discuss what lake ice records reveal about how Wisconsin’s climate has changed.

For more information on Highfield Farm Creamery, call 262-275-3027 or visit facebook.com/HighfieldFarmCreamery.

For more information about the Fontana Public Library and its programs, call 262-275-5107 or visit fontana.lib.wi.us.