Jessie Dowling Presides Over The Maine Cheese Guild

Whitefield farmer and cheesemaker Jessie Dowling was elected president of the Maine Cheese Guild last November. The owner of Fuzzy Udder creamery jumped right into the political side of the job, speaking on behalf of the guild at State House hearings on two controversial food sovereignty bills (including one that is now law). We called her up to get her take on everything from food sovereignty to the climate change-themed names of her cheeses to what her plans are for the future (big).

Dowling grew up in Arlington, Virginia, but came to Maine for high school in the 1990s. “I didn’t do well,” she said of school in Virginia. “So I ended up at Hyde,” which is known for helping struggling teenagers turn their lives around. Back then, Dowling said, tough love was part of the cure. “It sure made me strong and good at doing physical labor.” It also set her up for acceptance to Scripps College, one of California’s Claremont Colleges, where she was involved in two things that changed her outlook on everything.

To read the rest of the story, please go to: Portland Press Herald