Photo above courtesy of South Mountain Creamery/Facebook
Cows, Ice Cream, Cheese - Yes, Please!
One of the reasons I love living in the DC suburbs of Maryland is because we get to enjoy it all! I love being just a short metro ride into DC to the city sights. But more so, I love that it only takes me 15 minutes to be in the country. I grew up riding horses and spent all of my afternoons at the barn in rural horse country. I miss it! I crave a slice of the country every month. One of my favorite destinations is Frederick County because there is so much to do. Between fresh produce at the local farms, hiking in the mountains, dining in historic downtown - it seems like we make a trip to Frederick a couple of times each month.
My niece is an animal lover like myself. So when she visited us for the weekend earlier this month, we made the short drive to South Mountain Creamery on a warm Spring day to feed the baby cows and enjoy some of their homemade ice cream.
What is South Mountain Creamery?
It’s best described from their own website: “South Mountain Creamery is Maryland’s first on-site dairy processing plant that delivers all-natural and farm fresh products to your doorstep! We have been in the delivery business since 2001 and like to think we are the return of the milkman! We deliver to 8,500 customers weekly and have a radius that includes DC, Baltimore, Arlington, and many other areas in the four state region! We also have a store on our farm that sells our products to those local customers that don’t have our delivery service……yet! South Mountain Creamery’s goal is to be a completely self-sustaining company. That means we use our own resources to power the farm! We like to call it, “from field to fork.”
We started with a self-guided tour of the creamery. Just stop into Karen's Kountry Store and donate $1 for the self guided tour flyer.
They have the entire milking process down to a science! First, you are enter where the cows line up to get milked. They know the routine and line up patiently.
The milk is sent through tubes to a large milk tank for proper temperature storage.
Once the cows have been milked, they are led back outside to a water trough. Here, they enjoy getting a massage.
Photo above courtesy of South Mountain Creamery/Facebook
Photo above courtesy of South Mountain Creamery/Facebook
When they are not "working", the cows get to socialize amongst themselves in the beautiful rolling hills on South Mountain. They were roaming the fields when we visited. It was such a pretty sight to see them all sunning themselves on the hill. I couldn't quite get a picture of them from the road as we were driving by though.
Next on the tour is my favorite part and the reason I keep returning every few months - the adorable baby calves! The baby calves are the cutest with their fuzzy ears, big eyes, long eyelashes and little voices ("moooooo!"). They are all between just born and a month old. They are SO darn cute! Every time I visit them, I wish I could take them all home with me.
We got to meet these twins at our previous visit over the winter - they were only 1 day old. So precious!
I hate to see the babies weaned so early, but I do understand that it is a dairy farm after-all and their mammas need to be milked. The calves are well cared for - they get lots of pets and love from the staff and visitors and they are blanketed to keep warm in the cold.
I mean, just look at these adorable little babies! How cute are they?!
I loved the spots around this one's eye. However, I don't think she was too happy with her roomie trying to nurse off of her. These little ones were only a couple of days old. I am sure they were missing mama.
The public is invited to come feed the baby calves every day at 4pm. In fact, they really need the help with all those babies to hand-feed by bottle!
In the warm weather, it can get busy. You'll definitely want to get there early to check out and pet the baby calves beforehand. If you have a favorite calf you want to feed, you may want to stand in front of their stall around 3:45 p.m. to wait for the bottles to be distributed. On a weekend, I would aim for even earlier.
Feeding them is an awesome experience! They are much stronger than you think! You can tell the older ones from the younger ones as they finish their bottles pretty quickly and they pull HARD! It can get messy, so be sure to wear clothes that you don't mind getting dirty.
Check out this video below!
Look at these sweet milk mustaches. How cute!!
The older ones were smart enough to lean over to their neighbors and kiss them to get the rest of their milk off their milk mustaches. Pretty cute!
After we finished feeding the baby calves, we walked over to the last stop on our self guided tour - the "maternity ward". This is where the pregnant mamma cows are taken special care of until they give birth.
Before we left, we stopped into Karen's Kountry Store for some delicious home-made ice cream and to purchase some other farmer's favorites. They sell an impressive variety of items, such as eggs, milk, meats and sausages, cheese, butter, produce, juices, local honey, chocolates and of course the ice cream!
The homemade ice cream is delish! And there are lots of flavors to choose from.
I am fond of the white, red, and blueberry. And, of course, you could always choose a different flavor to bring home...
We always leave with a glass jug of fresh milk and eggs.
If you keep the glass milk bottle, you can turn it in when you return for your next jug of milk and get a discount.
Or you can sign up for home delivery and they will deliver fresh milk, eggs, produce and meats to your front door like the old fashioned milk man did.
South Mountain Creamery now hosts contests on their social media channels so that you can participate in the naming of the newborn calves. How fun!
This week's 80 degree weather would be the perfect time to take the kids on a ride out to the country and see what South Mountain Creamery has to offer!
Oh, and don’t forget to bring a cooler for all of your chilled goods you’ll want to bring home with you!
Have you been to South Mountain Creamery before? What was your favorite part about visiting?
xo,
Meredith