Friday, January 11, 2008

Green Cheese from the Green Mountain!



As part of our commitment to Vermont agriculture and the landscape we have always made efforts toward creating greener products and an eco-friendly workplace. We believe that each small step contributes to a better environment and the preservation of the Earth.

At the farm we believe in sustainable practices:
Our farmers adhere to best practices for manure management and land application
Our farmers strive for optimum animal health and welfare
Our farmers do not use growth hormones to increase milk production
Our farms feed a mix of pasture, browse and harvested forage to maximize the use of their land base.
Our average farm has 150-200 goats. Our herds are as small as 25 goats and as large as 700.
Our cows’ milk and cream come from segregated herds who pledge not to use rBST.

Recycling:
Recycle electronics
Use recycled paper as much as we can
Maintain receptacle for plastics – paper – cardboard
Recycle ink jet cartridges
All our whey is collected and picked up twice a day by a local farmer to be used as animal for his animals

Reuse:
We reuse all the plastic bags that our packaging cups are sent in as garbage bags.
After making the cheese we CIP (cleaning in place) our pipes, vat and pasteurizer with a reusable caustic solution that is turned over once a week – this helps to reduce our water and chemical usage.

Reduce:
Working to eliminate Styrofoam, use recycled wood chips and recycled paper in shipping
Audit our practices past and present in an effort to build our new creamery as “green” as possible using “green power”
Paperless administration to reduce waste using emails – conference calls
Car conscientious: one of our owners drives a hybrid car; salespeople take public transportation when available.
Monitor power to reduce NRJ – almost all our machines are turned OFF during the night and each day we perform a progressive start-up (over 3 hours) to decrease the electricity pick demand.

A green creamery: We are an Efficiency Vermont Energy Saving Partner
During the construction design of our new aged cheese creamery we worked closely with Efficiency Vermont to lower our energy use and contribute to reducing Vermont greenhouse gases.
Examples: energy star transformers – pumps – lighting – occupancy sensors - air cooled chillers…
Efficiency Vermont to lower our energy use and contribute to reducing Vermont greenhouse gases.
Examples: energy star transformers – pumps – lighting – occupancy sensors - air cooled chillers…