Delicious Dairy

WCAX-TV
Strafford, Vermont - December 21, 2007
Original Article Here

Mother Nature saw to it that this will be a white Christmas, and Earl Ransom's cows are working to make it a tasty one, too. Ransom sighs, "December's always busy!"

The farmer milks more than forty cows at Rock Bottom Farm, turning some of that milk into egg nog. Ransom explains, "Ours is made from scratch just like you'd make it at home."

That means real sugar, real nutmeg, and real eggs, along with fresh cream and milk from the cows here. Farmer Amy Huyffer says, "It is a labor of love."

No one ever accused farmers of having an easy life, and the experience making egg nog is another reminder of the hard work that is dairy. The creamery cracks nearly 1,000 eggs at 4:00 in the morning, and has to pasteurize the nutmeg in a separate system, because the sediment would clog the works normally used for milk.

Huyffer chuckles, "In some ways, it's like our problem child. Because it requires a little extra effort, we love it a little more."

The creamery will bottle, yes, bottle, using glass, more than 1,500 quarts of egg nog, shipping it to co-ops and independent food markets from Brattleboro to Burlington, the Kingdom to Addison County. Huyffer beams, "It's so good with rum."

But egg nog is just a sliver of what this farm does. It sells milk, chocolate milk, and half and half. Those products, along with whipping cream and premium ice cream are hot holiday sellers.

Earl Ransom says, "This time of year is always fun because we can sell all we produce and the prices are good."

Ransom took over his family farm in the mid-1990s and was certified organic in 1997. He used to sell milk to another dairy producer, but when it shut down, Rock Bottom Farm started its own label: the Strafford Organic Creamery.

Ransom says, "I know that for this farm, with the limited acreage we have, to make money, I had to do something outside the box."

Organic farming is one of the few sectors of agriculture that are still growing, and the Strafford Organic Creamery says it can't imagine doing business anywhere but Vermont. Amy Huyffer says, "It's great to sell here. In another place, we might have to convince people glass bottles were a good idea."

Here, where reusable materials and farm-fresh foods are a way of life for many, the Strafford Organic Creamery has found a niche. They're content to stay small so they can know their customers, and control their product quality.

Huyffer smiles, and says, "We get notes in bottles from people thanking us for what we do."

They'll keep doing it, tipping a glass of their "Made in Vermont" egg nog to toast the diversity and strength of the state's agriculture industry.