Although this program has been going on for a couple of years, this is the first time I've visited one of the farms in the Tioga County Sundaes on the Farm program.
Yesterday's farm was a dairy farm - and to our surprise and pleasure, when we drove up the driveway we realized we were about to visit an organic dairy.
This farm is a member of a cooperative called Organic Valley. Besides our sundae, served with a generous portion of yellowish whipped cream (meaning it was real! and delicious!) and fresh local raspberries from another local farm, we were able to sample some organic cheeses from Organic Valley. There was also fresh roasted corn but since we had bought corn earlier in the day, we passed.
We took a self guided tour of the barn, the milking area, the slurry pond (processing all that manure in an "organic" way), saw some heifers (young cows), some farm equipment, and fermented hay bales. I have never been a true farmer, so am no expert on silage. These large fermented bales have replaced silage on this farm, and others. It certainly smelled fermented.
This is a very hard life and I applaud these family farmers for staying in the business, and doing it organically. Now I know when I drink Organic Valley milk, I am drinking local.
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