Milk Mystery Solved

One of the biggest challenges in sourcing local food has been to figure out milk and dairy products. We even went to the Inland Northwest Dairies processing plant and spoke to the people there. But we still have been confused about which milk brands are from Inland Northwest farmers and which are being shipped over the pass from the Seattle area. Yesterday, I went to Behm's Valley Creamery and got the definitive word on sourcing Spokane dairy products. Before I explain, let me put in a good word for buying your milk from Behm's in Spokane Valley. They used to process milk at that location. You can peek in the window and see all the idle stainless steel equipment from a bygone era when they bottled the milk and delivered it to your door. Now they run a small distribution operation for restaurants and hotels, and they have a small retail storefront with the cheapest milk prices in town. Mr. Behm will also answer any question you have about milk and dairy products.

OK, so here's the scoop on knowing where your milk comes from in Spokane and why you should be interested in making sure it's from Inland Northwest farmers...

Mr. Behm explained that all the milk in Spokane that is packaged in plastic containers is from Inland Northwest Farms, except the milk from Albertsons and Safeway brands, which have their own operations on the coast. So Home Dairies, Yoke's Brand, Broadview Dairy, Sunshine Dairy, and Rosauers Brand are all from the area. I'm not sure about Costco. Wilcox brand at Costco is also locally sourced from the Cheney operation (update May 2008- Wilcox is closed and no longer available at Costco). Everything that is packaged in paper is from the Seattle area. Most notably this includes Darigold. It gives a whole new meaning to Paper or Plastic.

Mr. Behm went on to give me some reasons why we should be interested in getting our milk from the Inland Northwest. He explained that every dairy farmer in the Inland Northwest signs an agreement not to use hormones to pump up their cows. The hormones some farmers do use are already naturally occurring in the cow so there is no real way to test for it. The best we can do is have the word of the farmer, and the knowledge that if they are caught doing it, they will be kicked out of the system and literally lose the farm.

He also went on to describe the systems that are in place to ensure antibiotics don't get into the milk supply. When farmers have to use antibiotics like penicillin, they are required to take that cow out of the supply lines for four days. When the tanker truck goes to the farms, they take a sample of each farm's batch of milk, and then dump it into a common tank with all the other milk from all the other farms. When the truck arrives in Spokane, the whole batch is tested for the presence of antibiotics. If they are present, that batch is not put into the milk supply, and they go back and test all the samples from the farms to find out who is responsible. He said they can even narrow it down to the specific cow.

There is a lot of accountability, and a good set of safety restrictions that gives me a lot of confidence in our Inland Northwest milk supply. Mr. Behm said he's not sure about the regulations that govern milk from the west side of the state. But one way to think of it is, would you rather have WSU Cougars or a UW Huskies managing your milk supply. As a Husky, I can say without any shame, that I would pick the Cougars, with all of their great ag programs, any day. 

Comments

[Craig Sr.]

No doubt that milk from the inland empire beats our own out here on the west side. Too many pressures to cut corners from envirnomental constraints (very real problems) to high real estate values and cityfied regulators that don't know milk from butter. So, let's get that inland empire milk, yogurt, cottage cheese headed this way. Cougars of course top the UW in anything other than ---- can't think of anything for the moment where UW best, but maybe we could arrange for a trip to Cougar country and the ag dept. to show us their program and facilities. As alum, am sure I can arrange so maybe a field trip to Pullman would be fun. Could even show you where you were born. Anyway, can't wait to use our Rocket Bakery Cards.

[Keith]

Cougars and Rockets. Sure this isn't South East?

Had some "Nubian Goat Milk" last week. Is this a Texas thing? http://www.purelucktexas.com

I'd love to speak with Mr. Behm. I'd like to just tag along and listen.

[martha]

Thanks for this info. Since I do my grocery shopping at Rosauers, this will be an easy change to make.

[Craig]

We'll take you up on the Pullman field trip. Sounds great.

[Auntie Lynn]

How interesting is this?! Your adventures have me thinking that getting local cream cheese or Ricotta cheese would be a challenge. I have recipes for making both. May I put together a cookbook of "homemade" recipes (such as honey mustard, graham crackers, garlic powder, ice cream sugar cones, maraschino cherries, Cracker Jacks, etc.) for you? And how about one on the veggies you will be growing and/or have access to at your local Farmers' Markets? I've already pulled and printed several fruit and veggie recipes that add some variety in the ways you might normally prepare and serve them. I'd love to make small cookbooks for Noel and Lily, too. What are their garden favorites? Just let me know how I can help. :)

Your blog is inspiring, fun, informative, honest, and more...I'm hooked!! Can't wait for the next post.

With love,
Auntie Lynn

[nancy]

Auntie Lynn! What fun to hear from you. YES we could love one of those cookbooks! The "homemade" and the fruit and veggie recipes sound intriguing. I really need some help over here- I keep making the same things over and over again so your cookbook would provide some needed inspiration. The girls favorites from the garden are carrots, raspberries, green beans and cucumbers. Most of these they like fresh, but they're getting more flexible with their eating these days, thank goodness. Thanks again for thinking of us!

[Auntie Lynn]

My pleasure, Nancy! Figuring out this food prep thing is a real time commitment requiring lots of ingenuity and creativity, isn't it? I forgot to ask you what you will grow in your garden this year - knowing that and what you enjoy eating, will help me with the contents of your books.

And a PS about milk producers. I really like Wilcox Dairy Farm (in Cheney) products. Their stuff is rBST-free. I'm bummed because they are closing their Roy (Pierce County) operations in Aug. Odly enough, I found their products at the one and only full-size grocery store here on Camano Island. Their milk, sour cream, half/half, and buttermilk have been my favorites since moving here. I'll miss their buttermilk the most because I use it a lot in scones and muffins, and it's a good lo-cal, tasty/tangy item to use in mashed potato and re-stuffed baked potato dishes instead of regular milk or cream.

Love to you and yours,
Auntie Lynn

[Jacque Hendrix]

Have you tried raw dairy products?

[nancy]

Jacque, I'd love to know of any raw dairy products that are local, especially sour cream and/or cottage cheese. Thanks!

And Lynn, we checked out Wilcox brand, too, and are so happy to know their milk is out of Cheney. Unfortunately we can't buy any of the Wilcox sour cream and such out of Roy because it's West of the Cascades (beyond our boundary!) Any chance they're moving closer east? So far, the only Wilcox brand item we can buy is their milk.

[Jacque Hendrix]

Well, http://www.freshabundance.com or one of the stores at 25th and Monroe (South Hill) or 32nd and Best (Valley) has it.

*Or* you can go directly to the farm at Methow Creamery in Okanagan (I don't believe they have a website and a farm visit sounds like it's right up your alley). Methow Creamery produces butter, milk and creams. For cheeses try Saunders Cheese company downtown on Washington between 2nd and 3rd.

Oh, and it's certified organic.

jacque

[Auntie Lynn]

Hi Nancy,
I didn't realize that you could only get Wilcox milk. I can't remember if it were a newspaper article or the Wilcox website that told about closing the Roy operations. The reason they are closing Roy is to fully devote efforts to Cheney. So hopefully you will be able to find their other products and not just regular milk in the near future. I didn't mention that they make organic products, too. The only thing I wasn't too keen about was their regular cottage cheese.

[Auntie Lynn]

Hi Nancy,
Not to belabor the subject, but I know you want accurate info on your blog, even if it doesn't affect your 'buying locally' quest. The Wilcox Farm website says they are closing their dairy facility in Roy, but are expanding their organic and cage-free egg product line on their farm in Roy. Cheney milk production remains the same.

[nancy]

Thanks Jacque and thanks Auntie Lynn. All this is valuable information to us! I have found Fresh Abundance to be a great resource, and I'm really curious about the Methow Creamery. We checked out Saunders Cheese- what a cool store. Unfortunately the only local (E. WA) cheese they carry is the goat cheese variety. We would've bought some but they won't have any for a while. Not sure when goat cheese season is but it's not now!

[Kar]

Thanks for the info. We went out to Behm's today. I had forgotten about it, we always used to get our milk there when I was a child. They are so kind - it really feels good to support the locals!!!

[JM]

Thanks so much for all this info! Incidentally, I'm in Pullman and thus have easy access to all the WSU cheeses in the _small_ wedge versions ($4!) as well as the spreads (I remember reading another post in which you rightly lamented the cost of the large tins). If there's anything I can pick up for you I'd be glad to do soI'll be making some trips to Spokane throughout the summer.

[craig]

Thanks JM for the offer. I'll keep that in mind if we run low. Right now we're well stocked from a recent trip to Pullman for a meeting. It was fun to see that the cheese is made from the milk produced by the WSU cows.

[E]

Now we know it's local. Can you tell us if it's humane?

[nancy]

Hi E,
We never got back to you on your question, "is it humane?" Such an important question, and our hope is to find out ourselves by taking a field trip to one or some of the big farms that supply Inland Northwest Dairy. Our field trips have been a little slow going this summer- I blame it on the garden. When we have more first-hand info, we'll let you know...