Laurel Valley Creamery Visits Rotary Club
Gallipolis Rotary Club hosted Celeste Nolan and daughter, Lilah, from Gallia county’s own Laurel Valley Creamery. Rotarians learned about some amazing facts about the demands of the family farm and cheese making. Celeste brought along some samples of product for Rotarians to taste, and they were a big hit! Another big hit at Rotary was Lilah Nolan! Lilah is the youngest guest that Gallipolis Rotary has had and she seemed to enjoy the club meeting. She wasn’t the least bit scared of Gordon Amsbary!
Celeste described the dairy operation which sets on 100 acres on Laurel Road. The farm is licensed through the state of Ohio to produce Ohio farmstead artisan cheese. The dairy produces a number of special cheeses—havarti, cheddar, cheddar curds, and Cora, which is a colby style cheese. Since Colby is named for its Wisconsin origins, why not rename this local product in honor of the Cora settlement in Gallia county! The milk for the cheese production comes from Laurel Valley’s herd of Jersey cows which contains 3%-5% butter fat which is ideal for cheese.
It takes approximately one gallon of raw milk to produce a pound of cheese. Excess milk is sold to United Dairy Dairies. Celeste and husband, Nick, practice sustainability with their family farm and avoid the use of hormones and chemicals as much as possible. Their cheese is gaining in popularity and is available at the Merry Family Winery, The Corner in Bidwell, and at the Athens Farmers’ Market.
Blue Badge For Melissa—President Bonnie presented Melissa Kimmel her permanent Blue Badge to retire the old Red Badge. Melissa has been a great asset to our club, often working behind the scenes for us. She has grown up around Rotary as her Dad, Marshall Kimmel is the Secretary of the Jackson Rotary Club. Congratulations, Melissa!
Valentine’s Dinner—President Bonnie reminded everyone that our meeting next week, February 9th, is our club’s Valentine’s Dinner. There will be NO MORNING MEETING that day as members will be escorting their Valentine or guest to a special evening meeting at Dave’s American Grill starting a 6:00 pm. Just so you’ll know the plan, we will be ordering from the menu and a 20% gratuity will be added. See you next week!
Rotary Literacy Month—President Bonnie announced that March is Literacy Month and our club has continued to support a number of literacy projects in our local community. We read every month in the schools, have donated books to all elementary schools in our county, and have championed efforts to provide the new high schools with reference materials for the new school libraries.
Ambassadorial Scholar—Secretary Chuck Clark informed the club we will be having a special speaker on February 23rd. Ms. Elaine Householder, a student from OSU and an candidate for a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship, will be our speaker. Elaine is applying for the scholarship through our club and District 6690 to study in Ireland. This is a great honor for Gallipolis Rotary to sponsor such a candidate.
Split-The-Pot—Jim Morrison ran STP for the club meeting and our small pot was $8 and the large pot has grown to $97. Jim asked our speaker, Celeste Nolan, to draw the winning ticket which was held by VP Lou Ellen Werry. In the draw for the big money, Lou Ellen drew the Jack of Hearts, just missing the big one! She assessed the Foundation Fine against anyone ‘who will NOT be attending the upcoming PETS training’ in Columbus. Good one!
Rotary Reading This Week—Project Chair, Emily Dailey, reminded Rotarians this week is our date to read to the first grade classes in the county schools. We need someone to step up and fill the remaining slots for Addaville Elementary. Please contact Emily.
Fellowship—Gordon Amsbary led club fellowship for the meeting and reminded members that today is (was) Groundhog Day. This is also ’National Children’s Dental Health Month’, ‘National Return Shopping Carts To The Store Day’ and ‘Bonzi Bobbler’s Day.’ (Where does he get this stuff?) Gordo mentioned a few important historical facts and collected a late fee penalty from Chris Marazon. Gordon concluded with a few words of wisdom.
Remember, NO MORNING MEETING NEXT WEEK! See you at the Valentines Dinner meeting at Dave’s American Grill, 6 pm!