Our New Local Organic Milk Mustaches from Green Mountain Organic Creamery
There’s mostly bad news these days when it comes to dairy farms in Vermont. Small dairies are selling off their cows and going out of business across the state. In the last two decades the state has lost almost 1,300 dairy farms and 2012 has already seen 14 farms go under. The economics of producing milk on small scale farms just aren't working – farmers have no control over the price they get for their milk and meanwhile their input costs just keep rising.
Kimball Brook Farm, a small dairy farm tucked into the Champlain Valley, is defying the trend. Seeing the writing on the wall from the poor ecomonic situation, farmers Cheryl and JD DeVos started dreaming of ways they could keep the small-scale dairy farm that had been in their family for over 50 years.
Their plan? Build a creamery where they could bottle their own milk and sell it directly to customers. After more than 5 years of planning, we’re so pleased to have their milk - from their new Green Mountain Organic Creamery on our shelves.
One of the Kimball Brook beauties.
JD and Cheryl milk 200 Jersey and Holstein cows down in North Ferrisburgh. The farm is certified organic and the cows are out grazing pasture all through the warm months of summer. Of course, as a certified organic dairy, the cows cannot be treated with antibiotics or hormones and must be fed organic grains, free of genetic modification, alongside their diet of grass.
The farm has been honored as one of the best dairies in the state – in 2011 JD and Cheryl were recognized for their stewardship of their land and their herd in receiving the 2011 Vermont Dairy Farm of the Year award.
The grand dairy barn at Kimball Brook Farm
If milking 200 cows a day wasn’t enough work, JD and Cheryl started working on getting Green Mountain Organic Creamery up and going in Hinesburg. To find equipment like pasteurizers, homogenizers, and bottling machines that were small-scale and appropriate for a small creamery meant traveling to Missouri. JD and his crew have put in countless hours with many hands to get the plumbing, electrical and mechanical systems running smoothly.
The (obviously complicated) bottling machine at the new creamery.
The side of one of the tanks at the creamery, and a good reminder of the importance of this project.
The new creamery is right on Rte 116 in Hinesburg. They share the building with Vermont Smoke and Cure, forming an important new center for local food infrastructure. So important, in fact, that the grand opening ribbon was cut by both Governor Peter Shumlin and Senator Patrick Leahy, alongside other dignitaries in mid-May.
Senator Leahy, Governor Shumlin, and other dignitaries cut the ribbon
with Cheryl and JD (on the far left)
From left to right: David Anderson, Store Merchandiser at City Market,
Clem Nilan, General Manager of City Market, Cheryl DeVos, and JD DeVos.
We were honored to get a sneak-peak at the creamery before they opened!
Cheryl and JD are excited that they’ll be the closest dairy and creamery to City Market, remarking that as local farmers they have an open door policy – any customer that wants to come visit will be welcome to stop by. Cheryl says, “It will be fun to have them!”
We've got Kimball Brook's whole milk (both homogenized and a cream-top non-homogenized), lowfat 1%, skim, heavy cream, and chocolate milk on our shelves right now!