“Good Morning, SMC:

Yesterday I purchased 2 containers of your apple cinnamon yogurt at the Farmers’ Market downtown. As I type this, I’m halfway through a bowl of the yogurt with sliced apples and some granola, and Oh. My. Goodness. This is the best yogurt I’ve ever had. I just had to let you know. Dannon pales, I mean pales, in comparison. Actually, there IS no comparison. This is delicious. You guys absolutely rock.

We had your heavy cream back in July with fresh peaches from the market and it was heavenly. Whatever you’re doing, you’re doing it right. I’ll be back for much more. “

“Please send my thanks and appreciation to all your staff, with a special pat on the nose to all your cows! “

“I wanted to thank you, and in particular Dorothy, for going to such lengths last week to correct a mistake with my order.  South Mountain Creamery is clearly different and puts customers first.  For this you have earned my appreciation and loyalty.  “

“My thanks to everyone involved, and to SMC for bringing milk and other great stuff right to my door. “

Scientists from Oxford University in England have discovered that going strictly veggie could be bad for your brain, with those on a meat-free diet six mores times likely to suffer brain shrinkage.  Vegans and vegetarians are the most likely to be deficient because the best sources of vitamin b12 are meat, particularly liver, milk and fish.  Vitamin B12 deficiency can also cause anemia and inflammation of the nervous system.  Yeast extracts are one of the few vegetarian foods that provide good levels of the vitamin.  The link was discovered by the scientists using memory tests, physical checks and brain scans to examine 107 people between the ages of 61 and 87.  When the volunteers were retested five years later the medics found those with the lowest levels of vitamin B12 were also the most likely to have brain shrinkage.  It confirms earlier research showing a link between brain atrophy and low levels of B12.   Source:  American Sheep Industry Association.

October is just around the corner which means home-delivered cider will be coming soon to your doorstep!  Distillery Lane Ciderworks, located in Frederick County just outside of the town limits of historic Burkittsville, supplies all of the cider sold by SMC.  Our family-owned and operated farm specializes in growing unique apples that are perfect for cider, baking, and eating

The 2000+ trees in our orchard were custom-crafted and planted in 2002.  We selected our trees because of their extremely high consumer ratings in three important categories:  fresh eating, baking, and cider making.  You’ll find that eating a variety such as Liberty, a semi-tart, crisp variety, or baking with Bramley’s Seedling, an American classic, really does make all the difference.

Rob and Mike produce all of the cider in our just-built processing facility, which is shown on the pictures below.  The dairy receives our juice in bulk, then pasteurizes, and bottles it in ½ gallon glass bottles, which are available for home delivery.  We culture-blend our cider to balance sweetness, tartness, and acidity.  Each batch is unique because of the apples that go into the mix.  We are positive that you’ll agree that we produce some of the country’s best cider once you’ve tasted an ice-cold glass.  Our first batch of cider this season will be a blend of “Red Gravenstein” and “Bulmer’s Norman.”

Call us for information on varieties and pricing or visit our website: www.ciderapples.com

You have probably notice a change our website order interface.  This website has been a hard journey for us.  When we first launched the new site, we were flooded with phone calls and e-mails.  I believe for a week straight, we were receiving 100-200 e-mails a day, plus the phones were ringing off the hook.  although we thought that we had found all of the ordering issues, we obviously missed a lot. 

So we begin to go to work with the programmers to try to make improvements.  many changes came during the weeks that followed…. but things seem to stay the same.  some folks were getting there deliveries fine, while others were plagued with problems. 

Around the end of July, I thought that I came up with a solution to the problem.  after about a week of programming changes, that was launched.  Things defiantly got better.  Still not perfect, but better. 

So after about two weeks, I went back to the programmers, this time determined that we were going to simplify this, and make this easy to use.  Plus I was determined that we were not going to launch the new update, until I was confident that everything was working the way we wanted it, and that everything worked. 

So today is the big day.  Finally after 3-4 weeks, or discussion, programming changes and testing, the new update is released.  Overall, I think everyone will be impressed, and pleased with the new set up. 

Now when you log in, you are only dealing with one order.  if you log in before your delivery, then you are dealing with the order coming up.  if you log in after your delivery, then you are dealing with next weeks delivery.  Sounds easily enough, I hope …. 

I truly appreciate everyone’s help, business, patience, and support through this process.  I believe the worst is behinds us now and we can now turn our focus to the future…. apple cider….turkeys… and egg nog.    

At lunch today we got to talking about the crops and how truely blessed we have been this year with all the crops.  We have gotten rain at the right times, and the heat has not been as drastic as in years past, it has been a relatively “cool” summer.  It is not even September yet and the corn is already ready to chop and put away for winter feeding.  With corn you can either chop it all up and put it away as corn silage, in an upright silo or on the ground in either ag bags or in a trench silo, or you can shell it and store it as high moisture corn and let the stalks lay in the ground to help build up the soil for the next crop.  In this photo we are hauling corn silage from a farm about 4 miles from the main farm and storing it in the upright silos that sit just outside the creamery.  The tractor drivers will pull the wagons up to the unloader that sits at the bottom of the 80 foot silos, and begin unloading the silage out of the side of the wagons, the unloader will chop the pieces of silage up into even smaller pieces and shoot it straight up into the pipe leading into the top of the silo where it will be stored until it is ready to be fed to the cows this winter.

Often during our festivals, or while folks are out here on a farm visit or tour, I hear many comments about how great it was to see a calf being born.  Obviously, this is not something that we can schedule, and is as much a happy surprise for us as it is to our visitors. 

A dairy cow is pregnant for 9 months (just like people).  Two months before they have a calf, we move them to our dry lot.  This means that the cows will be eating, resting, gaining weight, and generally preparing for their labor.  When they are 2 weeks before their expected due date, we move the cows to our maturnity ward.  This is located across the road from the creamery.  We do this for a couple of reasons, but the main one is so that we can keep an eye on them.  Every once in a while, a cow will run in to a problem while calving, and we will need to help. 

When the calf arrives, it is able to walk with in about 15 minutes and it typically weights about 100 lbs.  We normally will leave the calf with its mother for about 12 hours, giving it time to nurse.  After about 12 hours, the cow is brought into our dairy herd, and the calf is moved to our calf barn.  The calf is then feed milk from the herd for about 8-10 weeks.  ** you can help with this at our calf feedings, every day at 4pm. 

Below our pictures of a cow giving birth.  The miracle of life is so awsome and amazing…..

Yes!, the calf arrived healthly, and is doing great !!

One of the first things many visitors to our farm asks us is “do you have any kittens?”  Although we don’t have nearly as many as we had years and years ago before the creamery came to be, there is usually at least one “batch” of kittens around to play with at any given time!  Just as soon as they are old enough to eat on their own we try to get them adopted by hanging a sign on the creamery door, and as cute as they are it doesn’t take long for all of them to disappear…

There is something about a baby kitten that just pulls at my “heartstrings” even after playing with and raising probably 100’s of kittens, I still find so much pleasure in just sitting around and watching them play and find their way in the world!

This litter of kittens shown above were found weeks after their birth in the basement of my mom’s house, just the perfect size to play with!  I know there is yet another litter of kittens at the chickenhouse and although I had my hands on them one evening and knew where they all were “momma kitty” took it upon herself to hide them very well, and I have not been able to locate them again since…

Anyone looking doe a kitten, these NEED a new home!!!:)

Attention everyone….

I am looking for some good milkman stories.  Does your milkman do anything unique?  or something that you really appreciate? …let me know. 

example’s might be:

• Saved me and my children from a burning house (unlikely, but it has happened)
• helped me bring my groceries in the house
• always takes the time to talk to my children, and play with our dog. 

Thanks in advance for all your input !!!

One of the many things that happen on a farm in the summer is the harvesting of hay.  This is very important for us, because grass makes up 97% of what our cows eat.  Hay to a cow is like salad is to us.  There are many different varieties, with each having unique qualities.  For example, Yesterday we mowed Sudane grass.  This grass is very high in protein, and is great for dairy cows.  it has simular nutrition value as corn.  This is the first year in a while that we have planted this type of grass.  We tried it in a couple of fields where the deer typically are a problem for growing corn.  So far things look really good, and if we get some more rain, we might be able to get a second cutting off this hay.  

Yesterday we mowed the grass, the sun has dried the grass as it lays on the ground, and then today we will use our chopper to pick the grass up and chop it up in to smaller pieces.  The chopper throws the pieces of hay in to large wagons.  We then take the wagon load of hay back to the farm, where we will store it in a silo or ag bag (large bag that works like a silo). 

 It is important for farmers to work during this season, to build preparations for the winter.  On a Dairy farm, that means lots of hay for the cows, some corn, soybeans, and other grains.  We don’t always feed all of the grains, but they come in handy to trade with vendors for things you do need.   

A yummy, easy mid-week meal made from products from South Mountain Creamery…what could be more perfect?! (bolded items can be purchased from SMC)

12 oz of ground dark or white turkey meat (SMC)

3 ears of fresh cooked corn on the cob stripped or (1 9 oz can of whole kernal corn, drained)

8oz of sour cream (SMC)

12 oz of shredded lightening jack cheese (SMC)

2 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

10 corn tortillas

1 can (10 oz) enchilada sauce

1 cup mild Salsa (SMC)

Pre-heat oven to 400, spray 13×9 baking dish with non-stick spray.

Brown the turkey and drain off any fat.

In large bowl combine ground turkey, corn, sour cream, half of cheese and half of cilantro.  Stack 5 tortillas on a damp paper towel on a microwave safe dish; top with another damp paper towel.  Microwave on high 30 seconds to soften.

Place about 1/3 cup of turkey mixture into each tortilla and roll up tightly and arrange in baking dish, seam side down.  Repeat process with remaining tortillas.

In bowl, mix enchilada sauce and salsa, then pour over top of tortillas to cover.  Top with remaining cheese and bake 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted and enchiladas are cooked thru.

Sprinkle with remaining cilantro.  YUMMY!!!