The Milkhouse

03/18/2026

We so admire and appreciate the work of the Winthrop food pantry!

Thank you to The Milkhouse for another generous donation! We appreciate you!

03/18/2026

Today we served frozen mango chunks on our salad bar. What surprised us was how excited students were to be getting frozen fruit! They loved the bright flavor AND the icy coldness of it! Here's a Pro Tip: Frozen fruits are just as healthy as—and sometimes more nutritious than—fresh produce. They are typically flash-frozen at peak ripeness, locking in vitamins and antioxidants. While fresh produce loses nutrients during transportation and storage, frozen options remain stable, often proving more economical, convenient, and available year-round.

Here is a great recipe for a Mango Smoothie, which we served last year, made with The Milkhouse Maple Yogurt. So yummy! Use still frozen mango if you like a thick & creamy smoothie! Let the mango thaw, or use fresh if you like your smoothies a little less icy! Chose plain yogurt & sweeten the smoothie to taste with a little maple syrup or honey or even extra fruit (banana!), or use vanilla yogurt & no sweetener will be necessary at all! 🥭

03/13/2026

Half and whole pigs are available for reservation! The pork is custom cut to your specifications, vacuum sealed, and frozen to ensure a long shelf life. Email, call, or check out the website for more info, or to reserve your pig now.

01/26/2026

Windham Raymond School Nutrition Program is amazing!

Storm day tomorrow, so we are postponing our Mainely Local Monday! On Tuesday, at all of our elementary schools, we will be "Mainely Local" with Macaroni & Cheese made with Pineland Farms Dairy Company Cheese, and accompanied by local broccoli from Harvesting Good!

Tuesday's Mainely Local Menu at our middle & high schools will be Chicken Tortilla Soup made with Cluck Ya Poultry, and cheese quesadillas made with Pineland Farms Dairy Company cheese.

All schools will enjoy The Milkhouse yogurt served with Wild Blueberries!

Stay safe & warm through the storm!!! We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday!

12/22/2025

Belated Happy Solstice!

For among these winters there is one so endlessly winter that only by wintering through it will the heart survive
-Rainer Maria Rilke: The Sonnets to Orpheus II, 13

& a cow poem for your consideration, by Patricia Fargnoli:

Will the Cows Come Home? 

When the river freezes over and the pot boils
When the cat leaves the corner, when the tulips leave the bed

After absence has made your heart grow fonder
After the apples have fallen far from the tree

Where the village is sleeping, the cows will come to the barn
Swishing their long tails, nodding their heads

If you have been waiting too long, the cows will come for you
If you believe in cows, they will come to your hand

If you hold out sweet grass in late afternoon’s last hour
From the greener pastures, they will surely come to you

When you say the right sounds, they will hear you
When your house is made of glass and stones, they will see you

When what has gone around must come around,
They will come home

Be careful what you wish for; if something can go wrong it will
But where there’s a will there’s a way

After the cat’s nine lives are through and the dog’s bone is buried
After the wishbone’s been broken and the turkey’s been eaten

Go with the flow of the river. The cows will come home
After your actions have spoken louder than words

Before all good things have come to an end
Before all the bridges have burned

The cows will come home

If the rolling stone has gathered its moss and is still
If the salt has been thrown over the barn’s shoulder

All things come to those who wait
Cometh the hour, cometh the cows

Better late than never, everything in its own good time
The cows will come home

To your barn shaking their bells
They will come home to you.

12/01/2025

The Pig Palace is complete and inhabited by pigs! You can see in the video on the last slide what a cozy, bright space it provides for the animals. For years we’ve housed winter pigs in the old manure pit on the farm. We put down dry composted bedding from the winter cow housing for a base layer and it functioned relatively well as a sort of bedded pack style management system. However, the manure pit had no roof, which meant that the pigs bedding would get very wet in inclement weather, we had to dig fence lines out of the snow, and we wanted to eliminate potential manure runoff. So we applied for and were awarded an NRCS cost share grant to put a roof over the pit, and it was completed in November thanks to Joe and Keith and their excellent, efficient barn building skills. Thanks go also to the staff at the Kennebec NRCS office, true civil servants, every one of them. And last, thanks always to our Milkhouse farm crew for the many hours of work they crammed into the last couple months to keep all the fall projects moving along and just about completed before the snow flies on Tuesday. We’re very grateful to have gotten this grant and we will continue to advocate for the existence of these programs. A fully funded and staffed NRCS will help current and future farms protect soil and water resources through nutrient management systems, boost ag productivity, and ensure the long term sustainability of ag in the US. In particular it is really critical for small and mid sized farms to have access to these kinds of programs that in some cases fund infrastructure projects which would be otherwise financially infeasible.
🐖

12/01/2025

Moving the group of heifers and steers always involves a little mayhem, but this one went relatively smoothly despite Linus thinking it was gonna go sideways 🙃
This was the last move of the year, the heifs and steers grazed til Nov. 30, which is the latest we’ve ever had cows on grass. That being said, they were eating stored feed for about a month earlier this season because of the drought. We tried to make the most of the wild weather thrown at us this season. A hard year to be sure but we’re still here.

10/23/2025

Sending up some love for the Farmstore today! We had many record breaking weeks in a row this summer. Everyday we’re so grateful for the new and ongoing support. We’ve got the usual staples in the farmstore plus a few new items like teas and herbal body care products from Zoe .moth.herbs , and lamb and mutton from Heidi . See more in the highlights. Long awaited beef and bacon restock coming Friday!

07/17/2025

Pancakes for dinner on the farm tonight, courtesy of Linus 🥞

Made with Malted Pancake Mix, eggs, and milk.

On Saturday from 9-11am will be at the Milkhouse farmstore doing a pancake demo. Join us for samples and leave with a box so you too can have pancakes for dinner - or breakfast, or lunch!

05/14/2025

Join us for an early lunch hour pasture party on Thursday 5/15!

We’ll be turning out the cows at 11:30, so arrive a bit before then to park and take a short walk to where the cows will be going. The Milkhouse crew will be on hand to point you in the right direction.

It’s a bit messy around here, we have not yet picked up the farm after winter and mud season tousled its hair, so to speak. Things are drying out but bring footwear that can stand getting dirty.

If you happen to have the time, stop by to see this sweet seasonal moment of cow joy. And I do mean moment - the cows will romp around for a bit but then get to work on the grass!

04/21/2025

Our sign got rocked in the wind on Sunday but the pretty part is intact, and will be back in action in a few days. Just wanted to let you all know we’re open per usual - Daily 7-7