How fascinating is Google? Not just the standard Google—but Google Maps, that astounding amalgamation of pictures snapped from the heights of satellites continuously traversing our day and night skies. It lets us pinpoint any old place and zoom to a bird’s eye perspective. Suspended not far above, we can vicariously travel down memory lanes or streets we have never tread.

If you’ve never tried it, give it a go. Try 9101 Moore Road, Zionsville, IN. You’ll land at the northwestern edges of a radiating, gray Indianapolis. Upon zooming in as close as you can, you will fly high above a dairy farm where, after a quick search of its 120 acres, across the way from a suburban development of large homes with large pools, you will find some spattering of dots. Make sure you select the Satellite setting though, or else you’ll only see a gray hyperbole with blue sweeps much like Joan Miro’s.

Now if we could fly down closer we would find these dots are really Brown Swiss Cows lazing about, swatting their tails, and feeding upon a delicate salad of clovers, dandelion, chicory, bluegrass, alfalfa, forbs, timothy, and plantain. One is named Lulu, she was the first one. It is high noon. Around five that same morning, herdsmen had started out towards them, bringing half in to be milked at a time. They will be milked again around four before being let back out to graze. They will graze out there, rotated among plots of land, for almost all of the year. Through the wonder of the internet, we can see Traders Point Creamery.

Six years ago this land had been converted from a corn and bean farm, inherited by Peter (Fritz) and Jane Kunz. Fritz, a medical doctor concerned about the negative impacts of industrial foods upon our health and the environment, had decided upon a dairy farm, but not just any dairy farm. He and his wife wanted to process the milk themselves and so they set out to develop a creamery. With no experience in dairy farming, they hired some of the best people from all around the world; people who knew how to farm like their great-grandparents had farmed, without chemicals.

For three years they rebuilt their soil, converting the land to meet organic standards. They then launched a product that flaunted glass containers of chemical-free, full-fat milk, to note—the smoothest, richest, and healthiest chocolate milk. It is grass-fed, which means a couple things. Number one, Traders Point dairy is packed with Omega-3’s, a “good fat” our body does not produce naturally. Research claims an ample amount of omega-3’s in our diets will lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of cancer, and alleviate depression, schizophrenia, hyperactivity, and Alzheimer’s disease. Two, CLA or conjugated linoleic acid is found in the products of grass-fed ruminants in amounts three to five times more than animals fed with conventional diets. CLA may be one of the best defenses against cancer. Finally, the vitamin linked with lowering the risk of heart disease and cancer, a powerful antioxidant, vitamin E is found in pastured cattle at four times the amount of feedlot cattle.

The catch to all these salubrious effects is that they are all concentrated in the milk fat. Besides making their cheeses, ice creams, yogurt, and milk taste so good, full milk fat from Traders Point Creamery is good for us, an unfamiliar idea in most contemporary diet trends.

It is a health phenomenon that is catching on fast. From Traders Point’s first year, starting in the summer of 2003, the organic dairy market in Indiana has changed drastically. Currently there are six other dairy farms and by the end of this year there will be a total of twenty-six, though none of these farms will process their own milk. The unique demand for Traders Point Creamery is growing nation-wide. “Our business will grow to about 45 times the volume we do now. But we do not compromise on the quality of our products to get this growth,” says Fons Smits, the Creamery Manager, originally from Holland. He tells me a new facility is being planned for 2007, along with the production of a variety of new selections of yogurt, aged cheese, and the addition of cottage cheese.

To offer a wide selection year-round, Smits said they have set a limit on how big their sales can grow. Their organic, grass-fed farming system experiences significant, natural fluctuations in milk production. This means sometimes their yield is high, like in April, May, October, and November, while in other months it is low, especially during the hot months of July and August. To handle this, they decided to offer aged-cheese, their Fleur de la Terre the first. Smits and his team are constantly refining their process so they might prove how sustainable farming works.

I asked Smits the secret of their Brown Swiss Cows, those flecks of brown on our Google maps. Why not the classic American Holstein whose white and black coats are the symbol of milk? “For our products, we need high protein levels in the milk, and Holsteins produce high volume but not enough protein. Plus,” he adds, “The character of the Brown Swiss is very friendly.” An important quality for a farm visited daily by people curious to see how it works, zoomed in.

If the state of Wisconsin had a physical dairy heart, pumping milk from the happy cows roaming its land to the people just as pleased living nearby, milk trickling into the capillaries of the entire Midwest, it would be a smiling heart—I kid you not. This has everything to do with the fact that the dairy heart of Wisconsin is located in Clark County’s city of Thorp, the headquarters of Wisconsin Organics. This heart is fed by a handful of counties around it, along with arterial ones along the Mississippi River and north of Milwaukee next to Lake Michigan. The best of Wisconsin dairy is some fifty farms exceeding the standards of their organic label.

Unlike the policies of a conventional label, Wisconsin Organics knows more than just the names of contributing farmers. They are the farmers. They ensure respectful treatment of their animals. The land and feed the cows graze upon is carefully inspected. And the farmers themselves enjoy an economic security that reduces excess hauling, fossil fuel emissions, and the sprawl of urban developments.

Chad Pawlak, President of Organic Farm Marketing, owners of the Wisconsin Organics brand, grew up in Thorp. In the 1970’s the city’s 1,600 residents’ employment and lifestyle revolved around a century-old tradition of producing milk, cheese, and butter. Around the same time, local dairy farms and processing plants began to disappear under the industry’s nation-wide consolidation. Many independent processors lost their jobs, including Chad’s father. Near the turn of the millennium and the dawn of a consumer-driven, sustainable market, Chad decided to get his dad’s job back. When he began collaborating with other farmers, he discovered opportunities to rejuvenate entire rural communities in the Dairy Heartland.

“We’re about sensible sustainability for you, the consumers, the cows, the farmers, and the rural communities,” Chad told us. He looks at their certified organic label as proof: “Certification is important because it gives us a third party review that each year reinforces the positive environmental impact we are making. It lets us know how our local economic development is impacting a milk supply consumers demand.”

Chad does not shy away from boasting about the fresh and local qualities of their dairy products. “We think you’ll find the best dairy products coming from the soils, grasses, and seasonal temperatures of our small, family farms.”

The manufacturing process, he told us, is marginally different from conventional. Milk is picked up from local, certified organic farms and delivered to the bottling plant. After being placed in a silo and transferred to various parts of the plant, it is cleaned with high temperature, short time (HTST) pasteurization. This is significantly different; it means milk is heated to a moderate 165 degrees that kills harmful bacteria without “killing your milk’s flavor.”

“What makes our dairy exceptional is our farming method.” Organic milk means no pesticides, herbicides, artificial hormones, or antibiotics. No bio-solid-based fertilizers are used on the farms, keeping heavy metals away from our streams and vital waterways. They grass-feed their cows and supplement with certified organic grains. On these small farms, cows are loved, named, and given ample fresh air. Simply put, they are happy.  
 
Their high quality milk is churned to butter (with or without salt), bottled as whole, 2%, skim milk, and voluptuous heavy whipping cream, and cultivated into nine varieties of cheese—Mild and Sharp Cheddars, Colby, Mozzarella, Reduced-Fat Farmer’s, Monterey Jack, Pepper Jack, Bleu, Feta, and Parmesan. Goodness Greeness carries them all. The future of Wisconsin Organics includes more varieties of cheese and a yogurt line.  
  
This is a whole different kind of dairy. The contented cows and rejuvenated communities of farmers and dairy processors at Wisconsin Organics are the heart of what dairy should be. Their quality of life is somehow transmitted into their work. It is milk with a contagious smile. 

Mercedee Renz, Goodness Greeness