Havens Down Home Dairy

Found myself in rural Lucedale, MS for the second time this year. I always enjoy these short day trips past the old fields and farms. It reminds me so much of what my childhood in south Baldwin County looked and smelled like in the 70’s.

Today we took our FFA and a few other students to Havens Down Home Creamery, one of the few remaining small dairy operations left. What grew from a one-cow operation making milk for a lactose intolerant child is now milking around 23 cows a day and still can’t keep up with the community demand for low temp pasteurized milk products – especially the ice cream!

We learn that, unlike the ultra pasteurized milk we buy at the grocery, the milk is processed on site and at a much lower temperature than large dairy operation products. According to our tour guide, Amanda, the high temp process that results in our common homogenized milk creates a product with molecules too small for our body to process properly, often resulting in a list of health complications. This milk is also high in protein, natural vitamin A, and the cream acts as an Omega 3, reducing cholesterol.

These three things, Amanda claims, we aren’t getting from the milks we are buying at the town grocery. Amanda walks us through the process for collecting, pasteurizing and storing the milk and we end our tour in the small store where everyone is treated to one of 20-25 different ice cream flavors.

We also sample a few cheeses, butter, and the milk, chocolate too!

They make ice cream 3 times a week from 120 gallons of jugged milk to which they then add the extra flavors that my students struggle to choose from.

Meanwhile, I’m grabbing one of each type of cheese from the small cooler and wondering how I’ll hide it from my own kids at home. I get one of each, and two of the fresh mozzarella.

However, what I am most excited about is tomorrow morning’s coffee with fresh cream and their neighbor’s honey.