There’s a New Milkman in Town

My friend Matt asked me if I have had the milk from Milk Thistle Farms dairy at the Union Square Farmers Market and if I hadn’t to get down there asap.

The Milk Thistle Farms Dairy is selling their goods on Fridays at the market and I assume that they’ve replaced Ronnybrook Dairy which used to have that spot. Ronnybrook, meanwhile has opened a shop at Chelsea Market which used oddly enough used to be The National Biscuit Company where everything from Saltines, Barnum’s animal crackers and Oreo’s were produced.

The Milk Thistle Farms are located in Ghent NY and I chatted with the owner while I surveyed his goods. They sell whole milk, skim milk and half and half. The milk is sold in glass bottles, quart or pint sizes and have a dollar deposit which you get back when you return them. There is a quote on each bottle by Rudolf Steiner, “In its essential nature, a farm is a self-contained individuality” the father of the bio-dynaminc movement.

The milk is delicious, rich full of flavor and a little grassy in fact. Even the skim milk tastes rich. I wanted to try the half & half but it was sold out, I was told I’d have to come very early to have a chance to get a bottle. I asked if they had butter and he told me he doesn’t want to produce butter because they is so much left over skin milk he has no use for it and he could not waste it. He said maybe one day if there were a way he could use it, maybe a pig farm or something he might consider it. For now I can do without the butter and am just so happy to have this new source of milk.

Milk Thistle Dairy
Ghent, NY
www.milkthistlefarm.com