It was an exciting day. We finished morning chores and hauled milk from the barn over to our new bottling plant for the first time in the spring of 2002. We knew we’d made a fundamental change in how we farmed. The days when someone else came to pick up the milk were gone, and the years of wondering where our milk went were behind us. Suddenly our milk wasn’t going into a pool with hundreds of other farms – it was going into our own glass bottles, and very quickly customers weren’t strangers anymore.

We began to recognize you when you dropped by the farm store to pick up some milk, and you said hello when you saw us pouring samples at the farmers market. If your favorite store didn’t carry our milk you wrote to them and asked the manager to carry Cedar Summit Farm, and we were grateful.

There were frustrating days when the bottling machine didn’t work right, and cold mornings when the delivery truck wouldn’t start, but most days we got a thrill just watching the fresh milk flow into our beautiful glass bottles. Now, ten years later, we still wonder sometimes how we got so lucky, and we marvel at the hundreds and hundreds of customers who have become friends.

Ten years ago we knew a lot about farming and grazing, and we learned quickly about bottling milk. What we didn’t realize was what an impact we would have on our community and the environment around us. People started talking about healthy fats and the benefits of pasture-grazed, traditional dairy. The University came out and tested the water in our creek and found that it was cleaner flowing off our farm than it was coming in. But most of all we heard people talking about how delicious Cedar Summit Farm milk tasted. You told us over and over – this is how milk should taste – and this is what makes us eager to jump out of bed early every morning.

Please help us celebrate our first ten years and the beginning of the next ten! Cedar Summit Farm Milkapalooza celebrates ten years of farm-bottled, certified organic, 100% grass-fed milk at the farm 25830 Drexel Avenue, New Prague, MN 55047, June 23, 2012 from 10 – 3. You and your friends are invited out to the farm in New Prague for a day of free family fun, music and farm tours. Watch the video from Milkapalooza 2011 here.

The party is on from ten AM to three PM. The farm store will be open and lunch will be served outside under the big tent. We will have our own burgers for sale, along with drinks, chips and a couple vegetarian options. Come join the fun and help us look forward to the next ten years!

Cedar Summit Farm – 25830 Drexel Avenue, New Prague, MN 55047 (click here for a map)

FARM INFO

Cedar Summit Farm was founded by the Minar family in 1926. Dave and Florence Minar began transforming their confinement dairy farm into a grazing operation in 1989. The dairy processing plant was built in 2001, and the Minars began bottling organic milk from their herd of 100% grass-fed cows on March 11, 2002.

Cedar Summit Farm has received strong praise in the past 10 years, from the ”Best Dairy Products” award in 2003 from Minneapolis/St. Paul magazine to being named the winner of The Milkweed’s 2008 testing of organic milk. The Milkweed tested 10 organic milk samples for levels of Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) and Omega 3, both considered beneficial essential fatty acids.

Cedar Summit Farm milk, cream and drinkable yogurt are available at Twin Cities natural food cooperatives, grocery stores and restaurants in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, and in many other locations throughout the Midwest. Cedar Summit Farm organic dairy products, and Cedar Summit Farm grass-fed beef and pork, as well as a variety of locally-sourced chicken, turkey and additional products are available at the Farm Store, located at 25830 Drexel Avenue, New Prague, Minnesota.

Download a PDF of the press release here.