5-day Second Level Natural Cheesemaking Class at Glencolton Farms
October 6-10, 2025
Grey County, Ontario
We are partnering with Michael Schmidt and Elisa Vanderhout of Glencolton Farms, to offer a second level natural cheesemaking class (our first in Canada!) in Durham, Ontario, 2 hours north of Toronto. Leaders in the raw milk movement, Michael and Elisa are also pioneers of biodynamic agriculture in Canada, and are working to protect heritage breeds and conserve the working landscape on their beautiful 300 acres.
Course description:
This second course with David Asher focuses on more challenging cheeses; those that require more careful curd handling like Brie, high temperature cooking like Comte, or more complex ripening like Stilton. It explores the subjects of commercial adaptations of natural methods, the in-house production of rennet, and the diverse microbial ecologies of cheese to much greater degrees. The class also proposes a new theory of natural fermentation that envelops all modes of traditional food preservation including sourdough, natural wine, koji and vegetable fermentation.
The class will offer a review of natural methods before entering into the throes of natural cheesemaking. In five days we will cover a wide breadth of makes, including white rinded half-lactic cheeses, washed curd cheeses, two different milled curd cheeses, and a full alpine make, focusing on exciting styles that are only hinted at in the introductory course.
We will begin by preparing ladled Camembert and Brie, learning what makes these cheeses as creamy as possible. On day two, we will make a Stilton, exploring the curd milled method that gives the cheese its beautiful blue veins. On the fourth day, we will learn about firmer milled curd cheeses, preparing and pressing a truckle that will ripen into a cloth-bound Cheddar or naturally rinded Cantal. On the fourth day, we will wash our curds to make both a small & mouldy (cat fur-ripened) Saint Nectaire and a Gouda. And on the final day, we will conceive a traditional full-alpine cheese, cooking the curd to a high temperature before pressing it into a wheel of Comté.
This second level course explores how natural methods help evolve the best characteristics in all styles of cheese. This class is for the aspiring home-cheesemaker, fermentor or farmstead producer wishing to improve their game and make more traditional cheeses without manufactured cultures or even commercial rennet, that’s preferably previously taken an introductory class with David Asher. It’s sure to be an ambitious and delicious week!
The cost of the class is $1,100 CAD. Scholarships may be available to those in need. Work trades may also be a possibility.
The course fee includes mid-day meals, snacks, coffee, tea, cheese tastings.
Class will take place from 9:00am to 4:30pm daily.
Please contact davidasher@theblacksheepschool.com to register and make payment arrangements, or click on tdavidasher@theblacksheepschool.comhe link below
Simple cabin accommodations, yurts, and rooms available on the farm. Please contact Elisa at glencoltonfarm@gmail.com for details.
Bio:
David Asher is a Natural Cheesemaker. A former farmer and goatherd from the west coast of Canada, David now travels widely, sharing a very old but also very new approach to cheese production with his Black Sheep School of Cheesemaking. Through teaching about the use of in-house starter cultures and natural rennet, David helps cheesemakers around the world reclaim their traditional cheeses. He also explores the relations of all food fermentations, and the important role of small scale and traditional food production in our modern world. David is the author of 'The Art of Natural Cheesemaking' and the upcoming ‘Milk into Cheese’.