Welcome to Blue Rose Dairy ...

Farm update:
We were involved in the Dec. 2007 flood in an indirect way. We were sharing the cheese cave with the Black Sheep Creamery in Adna, right next to the Chehalis River. So the cave got displaced and isn’t up and running yet. We are building a cheese cave at our dairy but it won’t be ready till mid Sept or Oct. And then we will start making aged cheeses, these will not be ready for sale until 2009. Our basement was flooded with about 10 inches of water from a clear cut behind us during that rainstorm. Fema came through and helped us re-carpet and fix our basement. Thank you.
On a goat note, we have reduced our herd to about 120. This is a much better number to manage and it’s also cost effective. We are milking about 56 goats this year and they are producing about 225 gallons of milk or 1935 pounds. We use about 100 gallons to make our cheese weekly and sell the rest of the milk to a local processing plant in Chehalis. We are making cheese two times a week

Our farm tours have been busy:
A grade school class from Longview WA came and had a great time.
A couple of Red Hat Society groups came and ate lunch and tasted cheese.
A 4-H club from Clatskanie OR came and spent the night; they have graced our farm for the last three years. We pick a theme and run with the idea. This year our theme was” Catch a Clue with Blue Rose Dairy”, the club milked the goats, slept at Hope Grange, made clip boards, and played the game of Clue – using our house as the game board. It was a big success.
We have also had drop in people just wanting to do something different – like see how you make cheese or milk a goat.
A senior citizen group also toured the farm and tasted the cheese, from Longview WA.

We are doing farmers markets this summer. You can find us at these locations:
*Cowlitz County Community Farmers Market – Longview WA – Sat. 9-2pm April – Oct.
*Des Moines Waterfront Farmers Market – Des Moines WA – Sat. 10-2 June7-Oct. 25
*Tacoma’s 6th Ave. Market – Tacoma – Tue. 3:30-7:30 July 15 – Sept. 30
*Tacoma Farmers Market – Tacoma – Thur. 9-2pm May 15 –Oct. 16
* Pikes Place Market – Seattle – Fri. 9-5pm All year

Some of the stores you’ll find us in:
**Eat Local, 2400 Queen Ann Ave. N, Seattle WA
**Olympia Food Co-op, 3111 Pacific Ave, Olympia WA
**Country Village, 711 Vandercook Way, Longview WA

I have taught two cheese classes this year. Each class was full and both were a success.

Family update:
Two of our daughters got married and we had a new granddaughter born. This makes three son-in-laws, and 7 grandchildren. We only have two daughters left at home and they are a big help with the dairy. I work with the cheese making and they do the milking. David does all the barn work, feeding, and watering of the goats.
We have discussed when the girls are gone that we would turn our dairy into a bed & breakfast. It would have three rooms. You will get to make cheese, milk goats, feed and care for the goats and relax in a hot tub, rose garden and the quietness of the dairy in a country setting. So much for the future. Back to reality – We are still doing foster care for needy children. We had our first baby; he was 24 hours old when we went to the hospital to get him. We were blessed to have him for four months. We won’t be doing that again though… that was too hard to let him go. We will do toddlers to teens.

Viewers! Thanks for stopping by!! Copyright © 2008 Blue Rose Dairy, All Rights Reserved David & Rhonda Rider ~ Winlock, WA