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Fresh From the Dairy Farm: South Mountain Creamery

May 9th, 2008 · 10 Comments

Milk was the first step in our transition to organic foods, as I first learned about bovine growth hormones (rBGH) shortly after getting knocked up way back in 2006. As I had given up soda and all but the bare minimum of caffeine (1 small coffee), I was drinking a lot of milk and it didn’t take much to convince me to switch to organic milk. At first, the husband objected to paying twice as much, and challenged me to tell the difference in a blind taste test. When I correctly identified the organic by looks alone, and then by taste, he started to believe there may be a difference.

Soon after the toddler’s first birthday, and transition to cow’s milk, someone sent a message on our neighborhood listserv that a Maryland dairy would consider starting home delivery to our area if 72 families signed up. Apparently I was not the only one to jump at the chance, as they surpassed that number in two days! In October, the milkman made his first delivery to our front porch, and we couldn’t be more in love. Coming from free-ranging, grass-eating cows, bottled on site in real glass bottles, and appearing on our porch every Monday – could we be any luckier? The toddler is addicted to their milk, and checks the cooler nearly every day to see if the new bottles have been delivered. A few weeks ago, we headed up to the dairy for their Spring Cow Caper Festival. The toddler was mesmerized by the “mooo!” cows, talked to and fed the baby calves, and played for hours on the farm. They had barbecue, made from their beef and local pork, milk and cheese samples, and tasty ice cream.

While the farm is not certified organic, they allow their cows to eat grass or a corn/soy feed that is grown on the farm, are antibiotic and growth hormone free, and use no pesticides on their fields. (I inspected some bags of grain seed in the barn and was pleased to see not a Monsanto label in sight!) Watching the cows graze peacefully in the bright green hollows, it was hard to imagine that most dairy cows live very differently.

Perhaps the most exciting part of our experience is seeing my husband converted into a Creamery disciple – frequently pouring glasses of milk for friends and visitors. Almost without fail, their first reaction is “Wow, that tastes like milk.” I also get a kick out of seeing new customers gush over their rediscovery of what milk really tastes like. Here are some other new customers’ reactions:

Local? South Mountain delivers all over Northern Virginia, DC, Baltimore and Western Maryland. Check it out!

Updated 7.16.08 to add Baltimore, per Mike’s comment below. Thanks, Mike!

Tags: fresh from the...

10 responses so far ↓

  • 1 JennDZ_The LeftoverQueen // May 12, 2008 at 10:22 am

    I am so with you on the milk thing and you are so lucky to have this available to you! I used to live in MD – I grew up there! Nice to see this happening there!

    Welcome to The Foodie Blogroll! 🙂

  • 2 Val // May 12, 2008 at 1:41 pm

    Hi! I found your site thanks to the Foodie Blogroll! It’s great! I like seeing that all over the world there are so many people interested in eating organic and local food. I’m Italian and I always try buying food only at local markets and at organic farms near the place where I live. Food is not only more healthy but more tasty, as well. I’ve a food blog where I also try to translate my recipes in English. See you! Val

  • 3 foodietots
    Twitter: foodietots
    // May 13, 2008 at 2:38 pm

    @JennDZ – Thanks! Glad to be on the list. You should stop by the farm if you ever visit the area, good stuff.

    @Val – Thanks for visiting! You Italians are lucky to have such great local food to choose from. I’m part Italian, so you’ll see a lot of pasta recipes on my blog. Will stop by and visit yours soon!

  • 4 Mike // Jul 13, 2008 at 9:06 am

    Stumbled onto your site looking for something else related to South Mountain Creamery. We know Tony and the gang from the Waverly Farmer’s Market in Baltimore City. We used our neighborhood listserv just as you did to compile a list of folks interested in starting home delivery, so add Baltimore City to locations where South Mountain Creamery’s trucks are seen!

  • 5 FoodieTots.com » Blog Archive » Support Healthy Milk for Schools // Oct 10, 2008 at 10:22 am

    […] written before about our quest for artificial growth hormone-free milk that led us to sign up for milk delivery […]

  • 6 FoodieTots.com » Blog Archive » Dope-Free Dairy // Mar 24, 2009 at 12:31 pm

    […] the matter with rBST? I’ve written before about how my path to natural and organic food began with a look at milk. When I became pregnant […]

  • 7 FoodieTots.com » Blog Archive » Real Milk as a Luxury Food? (and Homemade Butterscotch Pudding) // Apr 8, 2010 at 4:46 pm

    […] of the most important purchasing decisions I make for my family. I’ve written before about how milk was the gateway food into more natural/organic eating when I was pregnant with my son. During pregnancy and when […]

  • 8 mary // Jul 4, 2010 at 3:23 pm

    I love south mountain creamery. I go once a week to get milk and other dairy products. the milk there is so good.I will never go back to getting milk at a grocery store.
    I cant wait to be on a delivery route for smc.
    Telling all my neighbors and friends .so smc will delivery to my area. but until then I continue to drive the 1 and 1/2 hr drive each way. while there try the ice cream,unbelievable

  • 9 alexa008 // Oct 4, 2011 at 8:08 am

    oh i wish we have this kind of dairy farm near out place too. i love fresh milk.
    alexa008´s last blog post post ..Save time and Money with our Purex Laundry Detergent Coupons

  • 10 Lucy // Oct 31, 2011 at 11:01 pm

    i love milk! i never fail to drink every morning and before i go to bed! 🙂
    Lucy´s last blog post post ..How to get Rid of Black Mould