Lakin's Gorges Cheese

06/05/2026

6/5/26

The National News has been all a-flutter about the possibility of strong auroras this weekend. I know people were disappointed that nothing was visible in North America last night.

I use an app called Space Weather Live and it has been pinging me with amazing alerts all morning - which do me no good since it’s noon and the sun is up.

Find yourself a reputable source for aurora information- in Maine the Facebook group Maine Aurora Borealis Watch (https://www.facebook.com/share/g/18gjsAAaZR/?mibextid=wwXIfr) posts at 7 pm on days that there’s a possibility of a show.

Then there’s NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center https://www.swpc.noaa.gov

When you’re following graphs, you want the Bz to be in the negative, like in the image here.

If it’s a super strong storm, you might see something with the naked eye, but it is the rare storm in the continental US that naked eye looks like photographs, or someplace north of the Arctic Circle.

Which means a camera, or your phone camera, are REQUIRED for viewing. The way your eye processes light waves is different than a camera which can be adjusted for a long exposure, allowing more of the light to be captured.

While the sun is still up, find a reputable app/website/fb group and grab your camera/phone and familiarize yourself with the settings. Also, learn how to identify the Big Dipper in the sky. It is a large enough, northerly landmark to get you looking in the right direction.

A warning. YOU MAY BE DISAPPOINTED. Even if all the conditions are right, it’s Not like curtain time is called and the actors come on stage. There are also waves that happen. It could be hours of a pale green but then a substorm starts up and the sky dances with blues and pinks and column of white light. Or a REALLY strong substorm that becomes visible to the naked eye and turns the cows PINK.

Be patient. Stay hydrated. Keep your lights off. And remember that we’re coming out of 2 years of extraordinary solar activity that has treated countless people to once in a lifetime experiences, repeatedly. But it is a matter of “right place. Right time.”

Keep your eyes on the northern sky.

06/05/2026

Pork is in the house!!
Pork chops
Ground pork
Ham steaks
Hams
Smoked hocks
Baby back ribs

And we have large cuts available:
Whole pork shoulder: 15lb, 14lb, 12lb, 11lb
Pork butt: 11lb, 9.5lb

Our pigs have been raised on pasture; vegetable scraps; whey from the cheesemaking; and non gmo grain.

We charge a flat $8.50 per pound for any cut.

We’re open daily 10-6. Located at 2361 Friendship Road, Waldoboro, ME 04572. Just 5 miles south of Route 1 on Route 220 south. Turn in at the red open flag and come all the way up the driest driveway to the Cheese Hut.

06/04/2026

Two new customers!

First, the restaurant , in Portland, Maine.

The up the other end of the state at .

Looking for Lakin’s Gorges Cheese? Visit the website and check out the “Where to buy” tab https://www.lakinsgorgescheese.com/where-to-buy

06/04/2026

It’s all about the grass.
www.lakinsgorgescheese.com

06/03/2026

First Cowside Lunch of the Year is this Sunday, 6/7 at 2:30 pm. There are a limited number is seats available- but we need your reservation by THURSDAY.

This menu highlights our farmstead cow’s milk cheese, pork, beef, cream, butter, and rhubarb, with other ingredients sourced locally and prepared by Chef Lexy Ellis of . This is a fixed menu, but we can accommodate vegetarians and food allergies, with knowledge at reservation time.

Limited to 20 guests and held upstairs in the barn’s hay loft, these are convivial meals with the sound of cow bells from the field.

$75 plus tax, BYOB, we provide non alcoholic beverages. Held at East Forty Farm in Waldoboro, Maine.

Click on the EVENTS tab on the website. Reservations at https://www.lakinsgorgescheese.com/events-eff

06/02/2026

Happy Quit-versary to me! Are you afraid of doing the thing that scares you? Here’s a story of how I took a “leap of faith.”
On this day 15 years ago, I looked at the soul sucking job that I was at and realized that this is my one life and why would I spend another minute just earning a paycheck instead of living a full life.
And so I quit.
Flashback to 2002 when I made a lateral move from my museum career to making cheese, a role which fit like a glove, but a glove that needed some tailoring to be the best fit and after a few years I found myself in the non profit arts world again.
But not on that day in 2011. That day I took the leap of faith in myself and walked toward an uncertain and much riskier future….Starting my own cheese company.
Through the graciousness of Cathe at State of Maine Cheese Co in Rockport, I was able to lease space and use their smaller equipment and launched the business with next to no overhead. It was such a gift.
I had outgrown the space by 2014, but it wasn’t until 2017 that I relocated the operation to the farm that I had recently acquired, along with a husband.
And now, I look out my creamery window at a beautiful field being grazed by a lovely herd of Jersey cows who produce all the milk for the cheese.

Nationwide cheese shipping at www.lakinsgorgescheese.com

06/02/2026

I am so honored that I was nominated for recognition as a woman farmer in Maine.

This is an amazing group to be a part of, and I hope you take some time to read about the other highlighted farmers.

At East Forty Farm in Waldoboro, Allison has earned recognition for her award-winning Lakin's Gorges Cheese, including a Silver Medal at the 2025 World Cheese Awards. But what truly sets her apart is the way she brings people together around Maine agriculture.

From her “Cowside Suppers," where guests enjoy meals crafted by guest chefs alongside curious Jersey cows, to the everyday care she gives her animals, land, and customers, Allison creates meaningful connections between people and the farms that nourish them.

Thank you, Allison. We’re proud to celebrate you during the Year of the Woman Farmer in Maine 2026.

06/01/2026

Lakin’s Gorges Cheese.. what’s in a name? Well, in this case,

1. Located in Ithaca, NY, the tagline is “Ithaca is gorges” and I can’t resist a pun
2. Cascadilla Bleu is named after one of the gorges

Inconceivably, this coming weekend will be the 35th reunion. I will not be going, but it’s very much on my mind.

I had a truly amazing time there, in large part because I lived in Risley, and every friend I’m still in contact with I met there.

Some stand out experiences:
Going head to head with Carl Sagan about microphone levels (I was running the a/v).
Performing my own one-woman show.
Developing a deep love for David Bowie and Brian Eno.
Meeting the Dalai Lama.
Getting the administration to install more blue lights (I was Chair of the Women’s Issues Committee).
TBBC
The dendrochronogy lab; the microfiche library in Olin; there Risley Mail room; the math department- my work study jobs.

It was an amazing education where I had opportunities I cannot imagine having had access to anywhere else. And, no, my degree had nothing to do with cheese. I studied Anthropology and had a museum career before turning to a life of cheese.

If you get to reading bios, you will discover there are a lot of Cornell graduates making cheese.

Give a shout out my fellow Cornellians!

And note that my award winning, farmstead cow’s milk cheeses can be shipped nationwide at www.lakinsgorgescheese.com

05/31/2026

After a lovely afternoon spent together talking about butter, cheese and growing grass, it was such a delight to read Substack today.

Thank you for your kind words!

And now I think I need to get some alewives to eat on buttered bread.

https://nancyj.substack.com/p/and-just-like-that-39c

05/30/2026

Saturday, May 30,

The cows have been out eating grass here about 2 weeks now. Why is this important?

It not only has a of positive impact on nutrition, but also on the taste of the milk. You can actually smell in the milk if they have eaten wild onions!
When cows graze on dandelions, vetch, field peas, alfalfa, orchard grass ,rye grass, clover, alfalfa, timothy, and fescue you can watch the milk take on a golden hue as the season progresses, as the beta carotene is processed by the cow’s stomachs. The impact of this is most evident if you compare the color of an aged cheese (like Opus 42) made in the winter to one made in the summer. Or the butter being made now.
The winter, hay fed milk, is paler in color. Hay is still grass, but it is missing some of the components of summer milk.
Did you know that on average it takes about 10 pounds of cow’s milk to make a pound of cheese. Cow’s milk is also about 85% water, the rest being lactose, fat, protein and minerals. Where does that water go when you make cheese? That’s where whey comes from.
When you make cheese you are converting the lactose (milk sugar) to lactic acid. When the whey is extracted, calcium, minerals and protein are suspended in it and it’s a great supplemental feed for the pigs here on the farm.
Cheesemaking is part science, part art, and part magic. And for someone like me who loves the taste of milk, it is great fun to do regular taste comparisons as the seasons and the forage changes and note the subtle changes in the cheese.
Historically, soft ripened cheeses were made in the winter because there is a higher fat percentage in winter milk, so the cheese is richer. However, in today’s markets, customers buy more soft cheese in the summer.
My cheese and butter is made in small batches, from our herd of Jersey cows. My husband Neal has been working at building the best soil to grow the best grass to make the richest milk to turn into dairy goodness.
Buy local. Eat seasonal. Taste the difference.
Nationwide shipping via website, and a list of stockists. www.lakinsgorgescheese.com