Milk Home Delivery

While walking in my neighborhood a few weeks ago I noticed a delivery truck dropping off milk and eggs at one of my neighbor’s houses.  The name on the truck was South Mountain Creamery.  I immediately thought, if they are already coming to my neighborhood to drop off milk and eggs for other families it would be silly for me to pass up the opportunity to have them deliver to my house.

As of now I do my best to buy local milk and eggs, which sometimes requires me to drive to Sparks, MD (a 20-30 minute drive) to Springfield Farm to get these items.  Now that we are a family of three, we really burn through food much more quickly and I don’t always have time to find my local milk and eggs to restock my fridge.  Now I have my solution, fresh milk and eggs to my door once a week!

South Mountain Creamery is located about 70 miles from my home in Western Maryland.  South Mountain Creamery started in April 2001 as an attempt to increase our farms’ income from our milk cows. Over the past 6 years they have grown to servicing over 3000 homes in MD, DC, VA, and WVA. Since they started, they have added to our product line, both with products that they make, and products that they are able to find locally. They discovered many small operations that made a great product, but did not have a way to bring it to the area. So they started to add products from other farmers and other small family operations.

According to the Article Know your Farmer, Know your Food initiative by USDA “An American people that is more engaged with their food supply will create new income opportunities for American agriculture,” said Vilsack. “Reconnecting consumers and institutions with local producers will stimulate economies in rural communities, improve access to healthy, nutritious food for our families, and decrease the amount of resources to transport our food.”

The food products that I am purchasing from South Mountain Creamery are not only better for my family, the environment and the animals, but buying locally is a great way to help our economy, something that this entire country needs right now!  The milk and eggs that they produce are not labelled organic, but they follow traditional farming methods.

According to South Mountain Creamery, “We follow many of the same practices as organic farmers, such as we do not give our animals growth hormones or unnessesary antibiotics and we do not use pesticides on our fields. We give our cows free of choice feeding, which means they have a feed bunk in the barn, which has a mixture of corn, hays, soybeans, and minerals that they can eat from, or they have access to pasture where they can graze. What the cows are fed here, is raised here. We also work closely with local soil conversation groups to preserve the soil, and prevent soil errosion. We have many projects that we are working on regarding green energy, such as a methane digester (converting cow manure to electricity) and bio-diesel (converting soybeans to fuel) .”

I think it would be a wonderful idea, once my son is a bit older, to be able to take him to the farm to see where the milk he drinks comes from!  It is not only a lifestyle change, but a learning experience for our children.

The South Mountain Creamery does not only offer milk and eggs, but a whole list of locally farmed foods.  For my delivery next week, here is what they will be dropping off:

I have set up my delivery to bring the milk and eggs weekly, and I can pick and choose each week if I would like to add something else to my order.  They have an extensive list to order from including eggs, butter, cheese, yogurt, milk, coffee, tea, bread, granola, jams, honey, dinners, spices, and meats.

You can also check out their new website for South Mountain Veggies where you can go to purchase a weekly share of fresh organic veggies, delivered to your house!

Please support our local farms!

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