For those of you who purchase organic milk at the grocery store, I have a question: Why do you do it? And what expectations do you have for the farming practices where the cows are raised, bred, and milked? I don’t know about you, but I’ve always assumed that organic dairy = the humane treatment of dairy cows and the ability to have pasture land on which to move about and graze.
Well, if that is your vision then you’ll be happy to hear that last week the USDA passed some new regulations that will help maintain the integrity of organic dairy family farms. After years of abusing the term “organic,” larger factory farms will have to comply with new rules that are being cheered on by family farmers who have long believed in and practiced allowing their cows to roam and consume a significant portion of their food from pasture.
Why is Del Marie Creamery happy about this? Most importantly, because we believe that happy cows provide the best milk, as Laura Chisholm says. And secondly, because the milk for all of our dairy products is produced from cows at Chisholm Family Farm – a farm on which the cows are allowed to roam and are on a rotational grazing system. The cows are 100% grass-fed. No grain, soy or corn. Ever.
Real food. Michael Pollan is known for talking about it. Alice Waters, Frank Stitt, Thomas Keller and others are known for cooking it. And lord knows I certainly hope to be known for eating it.
Every single day each of us eats something but for many of us the question is – is it real? And what does that even mean? First of all, I’m definitely not Michael Pollan and will not for a moment pretend to be. And I am no chef. But I do love food. I mean … I really, really love it. And since I have to eat it, it sure as hell better taste awesome.
So, by my definition, real food means food that tastes good. But then, before buying or cooking something, how does one know for certain that food is good, that it is real?
Michael Pollan has it broken down into some fairly simple rules that can be easily summed up by:
Don’t buy it if your great-grandmother wouldn’t have recognized it, if you can’t read the ingredients or if it has more than five ingredients
Stay away from the middle aisles when grocery shopping
Don’t eat it if it won’t eventually rot
Eat with people you love
I might add two more rules: find it locally and eat it seasonally. Very simple. Pretty straightforward. But more importantly, it’s realistic and applicable.
So many amazing chefs have followed such rules for years and years. But what about the rest of us? How do we get started on this path of purely awesome (and healthy) food? Try starting with these:
The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters – Ms. Waters beautifully helps a novice cook along in eating seasonally and keeping meals simple.
Know your farmer – farmers, such as the Chisholms, would be happy to give you a tour.
There is so much out there that we can chew on, swallow and fill our bellies with – why not make it the best thing you’ve ever tasted every time you sit down to eat?
It is because I absolutely love good food that I follow these rules. It is because so many chefs have taught me to take different real food ingredients and turn them into magic that I want to be a chef groupie. And it is because I want to pass that magic onto others that I have partnered with Daphne to start Del Marie Creamery.
There is wide, open space in my head for dreaming, these days. I often catch myself thinking, “Is this really my life?” Annemarie and I are actually starting a business! Progress is steadily being made with Del Marie and each day our goal of opening a creamery is one step closer to becoming a reality.
Last night I made 2 gallons of yogurt. Before going to bed I put jars of cultured milk and some warm water bottles in a 30 gallon ice chest to incubate. I set my alarm for 2:30 am to switch new hot water bottles into the cooler. I let it go another few hours before putting it into the fridge to cool. In the morning, voila! Delicious yogurt. But that’s nothing – in a few weeks we’ll have a 52 gallon pasteurizer for making yogurt commercially. A big step up from 2 gallon batches!
Saturday morning I’ll have my usual yogurt and homemade granola for breakfast then drive out to the farm. I’ll enjoy the scenery, buy more milk, chat with the Chisholms and melt when I see those gorgeous jerseys’ eyes.
It feels like a charmed kind of life – doing what I love to do every day. I am inspired, and just so happy that we’ve decided to take this big risk to start Del Marie. I want to remember this feeling forever.
What inspiring, risky thing do you really want to do today?
ABC News is getting ready to do a report on Nightline which features undercover videos of “factory dairy farms.” I’ve not yet watched the videos, and to be honest I don’t believe I will – the photos in the report are enough.
Thankfully, not all dairy farms are factory farms.
Visiting Chisholm Family Farm on a weekly basis means knowing the family, the farm and the cows that supply our milk.
The Chisholm’s cows are happy cows with names (not numbers) and a whole lot of love. On our very first visit in August, we stood in the pasture and watched the sun set while the cows munched on grass and glanced at us with curiosity. And every Saturday, when in the milk parlor, we open the window and talk to the cows as they slurp up water from the trough right in front of us. Last week, we mostly talked to “Kathy” who was very pregnant. She just gave birth to her bull calf yesterday. Congrats Kathy!
We are glad that the Chisholms and Del Marie Creamery agree on the fact that “happy cows make great milk.”
