Friday on the farm...

Yesterday, I had to take an unexpected trip up to Spokane... My espresso and granita machines needed a little bit of a tuneup. So since a tuneup takes more than just a second, which was just fine with me this time, I got to go on a field trip!

I'm getting the milk for my espresso stand from Spokane Family Farm. A small family run operation, like the name implies. They have about 25 cows (don't quote me on that number) that are born and raised right on the farm. One of the great things about their milk is that it will come fresh to my espresso stand, straight from the cow, within 72 hours.

And besides being the freshest milk you can get without having to keep your own cow in the back yard, they also use a super low temperature to pasteurize their milk, killing the bad bacteria, but keeping the healthy bacteria that's good for our stomachs. The closest thing to raw milk available, without the health risks.

Check out their website (at the green link above) to find out more about how amazing their milk is.



Here's Trish, she not only loves her babies, they love her back.




This special little heifer, is the pride and joy of Mike and Trish's barn. She comes from (let's see... I'm going to butcher the details I'm sure) a prize dairy bull from England. If I recall correctly (and if you know me well you know that it's most likely I'm going to get this wrong), the bull sired the top producing dairy cows across the pond. You'll have to ask Trish for details to get it all straight when you get the chance to go up and visit the farm.



That there is Mike, the "best farmer in the US", according to Trish. And after seeing all the amazing attention to even the most minute of details on the farm, I'm inclined to agree with her.



This is the milking parlor. You could literally eat off this floor it's so clean. Makes me very confident that every jug of milk I get from them will never be questionable.



Besides cows, they have miniature donkeys! I fell in love. This little cream puff is Cookie. I wanted to stuff her in my pocket and bring her home with me. In fact, I might in a few months. Trish and Mike do sell their foals, and in a few months Cookie will be old enough to be weened and sent to a new home. I call dibs on this one. You can have the other one she has... or wait for a new one to pop out.



Apparently, miniature donkeys have all the good qualities of a goat and none of the annoying habits... You can even teach them to drive little carts! I'm sold. I'm such a push over for small fuzzy animals.