We've had the same question in our inbox all week, phrased a dozen different ways: is the goat and sheep milk workshop still happening? As of today, yes — Workshop: Lark Goat & Sheep Milk is still on the calendar for late May, still in-person, and still open for registration. We're not going to pretend that answer feels as solid as it would have two months ago.
Most of you already know why we're being careful about how we say this. State reopening timelines are unsettled, several of our members are under stay-at-home orders with no announced end date, and at least two regional cheese festivals we'd normally cross-promote with have already been postponed or canceled outright this spring. We watched those decisions get made under real pressure, not out of caution for caution's sake, and we don't want to make ours any differently.
What we're actually watching
Three things will decide whether this workshop runs as planned, moves to a smaller format, or gets pushed to the fall:
- Where the venue's state lands on gathering limits by early May. A workshop built around shared vats and a hands-on affinage room doesn't translate to a video call the way a lecture does, so "smaller and later" is more likely than "virtual" if we have to change anything.
- Whether our instructors can travel. Two of the three teaching this session are affineurs who'd normally fly in; if either can't, we'd rather reschedule than swap in a different curriculum at the last minute.
- What registrants tell us. If enough of you decide six weeks isn't enough runway to feel comfortable traveling, that's real information too, not just logistics. We're reading every reply to our check-in emails, not skimming them.
We'll make a call no later than three weeks out and email everyone currently registered the same day we decide — not a week later, not buried in a general newsletter. If you're on the fence about registering, that's a completely reasonable place to be right now, and holding off a little longer costs you nothing; we're not enforcing early-bird pricing on this cohort.
What doesn't change either way
The content itself isn't going anywhere. Whether this particular cohort runs in May, in the fall, or gets split into a smaller format, the workshop still covers the same ground: managing lower butterfat and different curd structure across goat and sheep milk, troubleshooting the softer sets that trip up cheesemakers moving over from cow's milk, and building a make schedule around seasonal lactation curves rather than fighting them.
We also want to be honest about the industry backdrop this decision sits inside. Cheese and milk markets have been unsettled for weeks now, with wholesale demand for the kind of aged, higher-end wheels our members make dropping sharply as restaurant accounts went quiet almost overnight. That's part of why we're leaning toward keeping the workshop small and flexible rather than canceling outright: for several of you, a hands-on session like this one might be the closest thing to a normal working day you get this spring, and we don't want to take that away lightly.
If your own operation is juggling the same kind of "still on, still watching" uncertainty with events, staffing, or your production calendar, you're not alone in it, and you don't need a definitive answer today. If you'd like a hand thinking through your own contingency options for a spring or summer event, our Events Committee is fielding exactly those calls right now — reach out through the member portal and someone will get back to you within a couple of business days. And if you've already decided you're not comfortable traveling in May no matter what we announce, tell us that too. It's useful information, and it changes nothing about your standing with us.
The International Cheese Federation (ICF) and More Cheese are entirely fictional. This post is demonstration content created for MemberJunction. All people, organizations, events, courses, certifications, figures, and quotations in it are invented, and nothing here represents a real association, a real business, a real person, or real professional advice.