Trickling Springs Dairy: Chambersburg, Pennsylvania

Trickling Springs Dairy offers a line of organic grass fed dairy products from our regional community of family farms. Since their start in 2001, it has been Trickling Spring’s goal to offer a Certified Organic line of milk in returnable glass bottles. This was achieved in 2002 when they received organic certification and started selling milk throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. Trickling Springs Organic farmers hold high standards in the areas of animal welfare, land sustainability, and milk quality. Trickling Springs aims to minimally process all of their milk into great tasting artisan dairy foods that are sure to please your palette.

Highlights of Tricking Springs

• Organic Glass Bottled Milk
• Grass Fed Cows
• Non-GMO Project Verified
• Packaging highlights a strong community of family farms

What To Look For

• Organic Milk: whole, 2%
• Organic Chocolate and Dark Chocolate Milk
• Farm Friend Natural Milk: Whole Grass-fed, but not Certified Organic
• Farm Friend Goat Milk: Natural, goats on pasture
• Organic Cheeses: Cheddar, Sharp Cheddar, Jack
• Organic Chocolate Ice Cream

Farming with Trickling Springs

Currently, Trickling Springs purchases milk from 27 Organic dairies, 10 FarmFriend cow dairies, 10 FarmFriend goat dairies, and 1 certified organic goat dairy. They connect a community of family farmers and the products they produce with consumers who care about the source and values of the food that they eat.

In their own words, here are the values behind the bottle:

• We believe that as stewards of our environment, we must make food production environmentally sustainable from the animal to the table. Since our founding in 2001, we have required our farmers to have a pasture grass-based farm. Although this has been a relatively uncommon way to dairy, we know it is the way it should be. Over the years, the benefits of pastured-based farming have been shown in study after study. We are grateful today for the demand consumers have shown for sustainable healthy farming. We also offer our milk in returnable glass bottles. Estimates show that one reusable bottle saves approximately 40 single-use containers from being thrown away! Reduce! Reuse! Recycle!

• We believe animals should be cared for with a stewardship that respects the animal and their natural environment. We believe our cows should be treated as the mothers they are.  We ask our community of family farms to give their cows access to pasture year round so if the weather is nice they get to enjoy the outdoors where they love to be.  We set strict standards concerning what the cows are fed and their health.

• We believe our employees are an integral part of supplying quality food to our customers and should be valued highly and treated with dignity and respect.
  Whether it is family on the farm, a farm hand, or company employee, we believe each integral role should be respected for its contribution. Trickling Springs Creamery offers a vibrant, invigorating workplace with opportunities for growth and advancement. We highly value family and put family first by offering flexible schedules that allow our employees to be at home for the important events in their lives!

• We believe in simple, minimally processed dairy foods from grass-fed cows and goats that promote the health and safety of our foods from the farm to the consumer.
  From its founding, Trickling Springs Creamery has been committed to offering products with the most minimal processing possible. We have received the ” BEST FOR THE WORLD” designation by HowGood due to our minimally processed products. Trickling Springs’ whole milks have no added vitamins. All our milk is minimally pasteurized with a low-temp(161°F) pasteurization, and we offer our whole and 2% milk (CreamLine milk) without homogenization.

• We believe that farmers should be paid fairly, recognizing their contribution to our communities, and enabling their family operations to be sustainable and multi-generational. We believe our farmers should be paid well  for holding the high standards we have set for them and our consumers expect from them.We believe our farmers should be paid well for holding to the higher standards we set for them and our consumers expect from them. This higher compensation for our family farmers is tied to our suggested retail market price. We are partners with our farmers, and our customers can be sure that our farmers benefit directly from any increase in the store price of our products

History of Tricking Springs

Trickling Springs Creamery was founded in 2001 by two friends who aimed to produce fresh, exceptional- tasting dairy products while promoting local farmers doing an excellent job with their farms. The founders started by establishing strict guidelines for the family farms producing their milk. The farmers were required to maintain grass-fed, heritage breed cows, produce very clean milk (as measured by SCC & SPC counts), and use no synthetic hormones. The founders offered to pay farmers above average prices for maintaining these high standards. Trickling Springs Creamery would then process the milk as minimally as allowed by law. These principles are still followed and in many cases have been strengthened to more strict standards of feeding and sustainability.

Farm for Life Program

As Trickling Springs Dairy grows, they remain committed to growing sustainable organic farming in the Mid-Atlantic area. In 2015, they launched a Farmer-for-Life program to encourage farmers to make the transition from conventional farming to organic farming. This program incrementally pays farmers for each step they make along the journey toward being Non-GMO Project Verified and certified organic.

Cheese Awards

2002 Pennsylvania Certified Organic
2011 Made: In America
2014 American Cheese Society Competition
2015 Pennsylvania Certified Organic
2015 American Cheese Society Competition

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