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About Us
The founding of Monroe CreameryThe founding of Monroe Creamery is the culmination of many years of planning, dreaming, and expanding on our plans. In other words, just when we think we figured out the direction we were going, stuff changed and we replanned. Monroe Creamery is part of our farm, Leaping Lapin Farm LLC (pronounced lEE-ping luh-pahn faHRM).
From the very beginning, our family has worked and strived to have a balance or a strong level of sustainability in our life. We have worked to utilize what God has given us to work as stewards of the land and resources. This journey led us to our property in Monroe, WA.
In 2017 we purchased 18 acres of neglected pasture and ranch land. We have always strived to make sure we live as sensibly as possible by utilizing our land and resources to provide for our family by growing a large percentage of our food, raising animals for joy and consumption, and generating income. We always strive to not overwhelm the land and resources we have been charged with caring for.
But why call ourselves a Creamery?
The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) classifies dairy operations as a Dairy Producer and a Dairy Processor. A dairy producer produces fluid milk that is stored and sold raw to commercial facilities and can also be sold direct to the consumer as regulated by the WSDA.
A dairy processor is a facility that takes the fluid milk, either from bulk purchasing from other farms or from their own animals (like we do), and processes it further. There may be homogenization, pasteurization, or the making of other dairy products like whipping cream, cheese, or yogurt to name a few.
In other words, dairies are producers and creameries are processors. So, a dairy is the farm where you keep cows or other animals for milking purposes and raw milk sales. A creamery is where you would produce and/or sell dairy products like milk, cheese, butter, sour cream, buttermilk, and other fluid milk products, but not necessarily off of a farm.
Taking it a step further: we are a Craft Dairy
A Craft Dairy is a small to medium sized farmstead operation that utilizes the property to pasture raise dairy animals and utilize the fluid milk to direct market milk products or process further into butter, creams and cheeses.
Most consumers may be surprised to find out that a gallon of conventional milk purchased in a grocery store is a mixture of milk from many different animals and many different dairies sometimes from different states.
A Craft Dairy produces products from a single dairy farm: their farm.
Clean, Natural Flavor Starts at the Farm
We take many steps to ensure natural clean products. Healthy animals produce healthy milk. From clean bedding to clean healthy udders, we consistently monitor our animals and our equipment to ensure clean, safe production of raw milk.
Our milk comes from the cows, through our stainless pipelines into a chill tank and bottled, without ever being exposed to outside air. It is milked, chilled and bottled with care to ensure the naturally sweet flavor of our
milk.
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Clean dairy starts with how we treat our cows.
We follow organic-style practices and never use hormones like rBST. If a cow ever needs antibiotics to get well, she’s treated—and then removed from the milking program.
We don’t hand-wave safety—we test for it.
Raw milk carries inherent risk (like other higher-risk foods). That’s why we take strict steps to prevent contamination and test our raw milk for pathogens every week. We also offer pasteurized options for anyone who prefers lower risk.
A2/A2 for a gentler protein, with seasonal flavor
A2/A2 refers to a natural milk protein type. Some people who don’t feel great with conventional cow’s milk find A2 dairy more tolerable—especially if they’ve historically done better with goat milk. And because our milk reflects what the cows are eating through the seasons, you’ll often notice a richer, more vibrant taste as pasture and feed shift throughout the year.
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