Home dairy delivery back in Norfolk

I had a couple more posts all queued up two weeks ago until life interfered, as it sometimes does. Car problems, Computer problems, Theo problems, I couldn't find time to brew, then I did find time to brew...

... but enough whining. I guess I'm lucky I don't get paid to meet deadlines anymore. The good news after all these episodes is that the garage that messed up the car did the right thing and we will use them again, the computer is under warranty, Theo is over his teething or growing pains and even if my brew session wasn't perfect, it's still going to be beer.

We had more good news the past couple weeks, as not one, but two replacements for the late, lamented Yoder Dairies home delivery service came to Hampton Roads.

We already knew and liked Oberweis from our years living in Chicago. I was surprised to hear they'd expanded all the way to Tidewater, but on the other hand there's obviously a market here and quality companies are always looking to grow.

We'd never heard of the other new delivery service, South Mountain Creamery, but after some research it's the option we chose. They dropped off our first delivery of milk, butter, eggs and yogurt late this morning in our old Yoder dairy box -- SO happy the money we spent on that box didn't go to waste and loving the sound of the glass bottles clinking in the fridge again!

Both companies sell products from non-factory dairies that don't use growth hormones or unnecessary antibiotics. We figure that Theo is still drinking a lot of milk and eating a lot of cheese and yogurt, so anytime we can choose non-hormone dairy we do it. The same reasoning goes for buying non-factory eggs and meat: Happy, less stressed animals are going to taste better and make better products.

After thinking it over, we decided to go with SMC because the majority of their products come from close by at their family farm in Maryland and the source of anything they're reselling is clearly explained on their web page.

The problems with the factory farm model have been well documented. Even though it's probably not practical to feed the world exclusively from small sustainable operations, we think it's worth a little more money to support a family business trying to bring a higher quality product to a broader market. If you're living in Hampton Roads or elsewhere in South Mountain Creamery's delivery area, check them out.

Seeing two different companies arrive to replace Yoder also got me thinking -- there was a lot of wailing and teeth-gnashing about the demise of Yoder, the passing of a old tradition, blaming the economy and yadda yadda yadda.

Now two quality companies are looking for growth opportunities and jump into Yoder's old market, despite what Yoder and so many others said about how the lousy economy doomed their business model. The unemployed get similar, if not identical jobs and consumers get more choices.

Of course, it's possible only one of these companies, or neither of them, will survive locally; and I don't want to make this a big political point or question Yoder's business, because we were happy customers. But if I didn't know any better, I'd say that this is exactly how the market is supposed to work. Downturns eliminate weaker, complacent companies and gives the bolder, stronger companies a chance to grow, to compete in new markets and make everyone better off in the long run -- customers, employees and owners alike. Just a thought.