When spending the 4th of July at Josh and Leah's this past week I overheard him talking to his parents about their trip to Country Dairy, a family owned processing and bottling plant nearby that produces milk, cheese, ice cream and other dairy derivatives. So naturally I piggy backed onto his family plans and invited myself along!
I shall call you "Bessie"
Before the official tour began it was required of us to attend Moo School, where we learned about this history of the farm, the dairy business and how their myriad of products are produced.
FYI: Milk comes from cows. <----- VALEDICTORIAN OF MOO SCHOOL! (Other acceptable names could have been Halstein Moo-niversity, the Michigan Moo-ntesory School or Bovine Cow-llege.) Myself with Josh's parents and some random family who totes failed Moo School.
In true farm fashion we were carted about in a trailer pulled by a tractor from location to location. At least the breeze was nice!
Our first stop was the bottling plant, which also housed the cheese aging room. Before we were allowed to enter, however, it was incumbent upon us to wear hair nets… I'm pretty sure I rocked the look as best I could.
Primpin' for some cheese with Josh!
Learning about homogenization and the bottling process from our guide, whose name I can't recall. Let's name him "Pepper" Jack, shall we? Side note: my one complaint about the tour was that he kept on pronouncing milk as "melk." WTF dude, this is your industry!
The aging room… with cheddar so sharp they might as well call it "Joseph's Wit" (wah wah)
Country Dairy takes great pride in the fact that all of their products are completely bovine growth hormone free!
Puns are both my most and least favorite form of humor
Our next stop was to visit the baby cows… I mean, seriously! Luckily, with the help of Josh, you get to see the same view from two different angles.
Yes, that is the most attractive photo I could take of the calf
And finally, we were able to visit the milking room itself in all it's mechanically induced glory!
Yeah, so let's be honest: I'm a little less interested in the process than the final product :-/
After the tour was completed we were given free cheese samples and a "bottom-less" cup of milk/chocolate milk. (Not to mention that giant cup of the freshest of fresh ice-cream … sorry body!)
Artist: Cooder Graw / Album: Live at Billy Bob's Texas
That pretty much sounds like the best tour ever. EVER!
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