State #5: This week on Cutting the Curd Anne continues her State of Cheese series with New York State. Dean Sparks from Empire Organics joins Anne on air to talk about how to keep the quality of dairy high and the wages fair for everyone from the farmer to the distributor. Speaking on everything from simple eggs to value added dairy products, Dean stresses the importance of making sure everyones markup is fair, so the farmers make a reasonable wage and the consumer pays a reasonable price. This episode was sponsored by Whole Foods Market.

State #4: This week on Cutting the Curd Anne continues her State of Cheese series with Connecticut. With her Ma and Grandma sitting in, Anne speaks to Mark Gellman of Cato Corner Farms in Colchester CN. Tune in to find out how Mark went from a dozen cows to over 40 in his career as a dairy farmer, and about the depth of flavor that raw milk adds to cheese. This episode was sponsored by Hearst Ranch. Photo: Mark Gellman on his farm in Connecticut

State #3: This week on Cutting the Curd Anne continues her State of Cheese series with Virginia and Helen Feete of Meadow Creek Dairy. Feete sells delicious Grayson, Appalachian and other wholesale cheeses from the mineral-rich pastures of the mountains in southwest Virginia. Tune in to hear about Helens Jersey herd, raw milk cheeses, and why Virginia makes delicious cheese. This episode was sponsored by Hearst Ranch: purveyors of grass-fed beef from the California coast. Photo 1: Grayson cheese from Meadow Creek Dairy, Photo 2: Virginia map

State #2: This week on Cutting the Curd Anne continues her state-by-state breakdown of cheese in the US with a look at Georgia cheese and Sweet Grass Dairy. Georgia is not the most traditional place to make cheese, but as we learn from the folks at Sweet Grass its a great place to raise happy goats, fight for your right to age cheese appropriately, and generally create positive cheese culture. This episode was sponsored by Edwards of Surry Virginia.

State #1: This week on Cutting the Curd, Anne starts her State of Cheese series: a 50 part show series highlighting each state in the US and its cheese culture. She begins with California, and is joined by guest Peggy Smith of Cowgirl Creamery. Peggy tells us how to make cottage cheese, and tells the story of the Straus Family Creamery, the first organic dairy west of the Mississippi. This episode was sponsored by Acme Smoked Fish. For more information visit www.acmesmokedfish.com Photo 1: Peggy Smith, Photo 2: Cowgirl Creamery

Patricia Michelson, owner of the famous La Fromagerie in London, and author of Cheese: The Worlds Best Artisan Cheeses. Patricia compares her humble beginings in a shed in her garden to HRNs current shed-like status, and describes the defining moment when she fell in love with cheese during a skiing trip (she literally tripped while skiing) in the French Alps. Some delicious farmstead cheese was her pick-me-up after the tumble, and the rest is history. Tune in to find out why Patricia is bothered by Europes ignorance of Americas best cheeses, and how cheese lovers from both sides of the world would be better off investigating delicious cheeses at home AND abroad. This episode was sponsored by Tekserve.

This week on Cutting the Curd Anne and special guest host Samia Khan spoke to Andy Hatch of Uplands Cheese, a seasonal grass-based dairy farm. Uplands is unique in a number of ways: it follows the Alpine pattern of milking, and its a place where cows harvest their own feed, spread their own manure, and give the farmer a bit of a break in the hard labor department. Theyve even crossbred nine different breeds of cows together to create their own breed of cow perfect for their style of farming. Tune in to hear the creator of Pleasant Ridge Reserve, easily one of the most famous farmstead cheeses, talk shop on HRN!

This week on Cutting the Curd Anne spoke with Kate Arding. Kate runs Culture Magazine, one of the only cheese-exclusive monthly magazines in the world, and discusses how she went from the world of cheese mongering to the high-stress world of publishing, and her process for creating an issue of Culture. This episode was sponsored by Hearst Ranch: purveyors of fine grass-fed beef.

This week on Cutting the Curd Anne spoke to Sasha Davies to speak about the American Cheese Society Conference, aka Cheesetopia. Sasha spoke about how the conference helped small business owners tackle problems--liability insurance, succession planning--that they might never be able to fix on their own.

Robert LaValva stopped by for a chat. Anne asked Robert about the days of the Agora, when markets and government shared the same hall, and how his experience as an architect has helped him build the New Amsterdam Market.