Thursday, May 8, 2008

Milkman

Last year our family tried out a weekly organic fruit/veggie delivery program through one of our local CSA farms. It was great, although service was continuous even if we were out of town, and some of the crops were difficult to use (how many weeks in a row can I creatively serve rainbow chard?) so it ended up being a bit of a waste. I'm glad we tried it out, but this year we'll just be hitting our local open air markets on the weekends (we're in town). This will keep us in touch with our local growers and provide the opportunity to purchase the in-season produce I already know how to work with.

That said, yesterday I was out getting the mail and a milkman drove by! A milkman! This is a dying profession. I ran around the side of the house to catch the web address and then headed for the computer. I'm really interested in trying this out. Their website leaves a bit to be desired but their recent feature on a local news broadcast was endearing and offered a little more information.


But I still had a few questions that needed answering: a) Even though their milk is hormone free, is all of their dairy products? b)Can we afford paying a little more on some of the identical products (Tillamook cheese for example is listed as twice what I pay at Costco) to support a local company? These are strained economic times for many, and really making sound choices on what we choose to spend our money on does make a difference.

Well, my hormone free question was answered promptly after I submitted my e-mail earlier today on their site: Everything is hormone free! So that, I suppose just leaves D and I to hash it out and crunch some numbers. Maybe we'll try it for the summer, just like the veggie box and see where we stand in September. I'll keep you posted.

1 comment:

  1. you know, i've been smitten by the "milkman" bug for a long time; we got milk delivered to us when we lived in england, and i would, for the sake of nostalgia, and old times, and supporting the local milkman, love to do this. i've tried contacting Smith Bros. on multiple occasions, however, never hearing a word back. i see the milk truck go by on our street even, so i've let it go because i just don't know how to do it. i'd be happy even to just do milk. that is always what we run out of mid-week, and going to the grocery store just for milk is a drag. i'd be interested to hear what you find out!

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