A time capsule in the form of a white frame building stands on the grounds of the National Historic Cheesemaking Center in Monroe, Wis. The structure once housed a cheese factory on an Illinois farm, a locally successful maker of Swiss and brick. Unable in the end to compete with Big Dairy, it closed in 1917 and was left more or less intact, with its kettle, pressboard and pulleys ready for some old fashioned cheesemaking. After discovering the building a few years back, the directors of the Monroe center excitedly laid plans to move it on a flatbed to their campus and open it to the public.
Eine Kleine Kaserei (A Little Cheese Factory) is the latest documentary by Bob Leff, a Wisconsin filmmaker whose series of heartfelt productions have peered into interesting corners of Badger State history. In this case, Dairy State is more apt. Although the cheese factory operated in Illinois, it was typical of an era when enterprising Midwest farmers (and their wives) brought cheesemaking out of the kitchen and into nearby sheds, where they purchased milk from their neighbors and churned out cheese on a larger-than-cottage-industry scale. Among the many facts brought up in the documentary is the era's lack of refrigeration. As a result, those little factories made cheese with milk fresh from the udder.
The DVD of Eine Kleine Kaserei is available for $22 (check or money order) from Video Art Productions, 2217 Goecks Court, Cottage Grove, WI 53527. Leff can also be contacted at vapbob@juno.com.
