Hillsboro, Oregon -- Schoch Dairy & Creamery

 We have been out to Schoch Dairy three times now.

The first time was around Christmas, for egg nog.

It was very good egg nog.

On my first time, it was a little confusing. The farm store is largely self-service. There is a can for the cash, and a sheet where you mark down your items and our total.

The web page said cash and checks only, but I noticed some people had written down Venmo. It appears there are some digital options.

We had to go back, though, because that day they were out of the Schocolate milk. That is a thing I drink, and that is a really good name.

I didn't like it quite as much, but I think we get to something important here. This is whole milk. Store chocolate milks are usually low-fat. If you are used to that, it is an adjustment.

However, I also wonder if that is part of what made the egg nog so good. The glass bottle could also be a factor. Often egg nog is a little too thick, with the expectation that it will be mixed with rum. If you are not adding rum, it can be too much of a good thing. The Schoch egg nog had a really good flavor and consistency by itself. I suspect it would mix well too, but that's outside of my experience.

Of course the egg nog is seasonal, but at any time you can find whole milk in both white and Schocolate, as well as chicken and duck eggs, and sometimes there are cheeses and maybe honey.

On our last trip a new offering was live cultures for yogurt. It's fun to see what comes up.

Our third trip was to return the bottle. (We had already returned the egg nog bottle.) There is a deposit, but also it is helpful for the family. There was a notice about delays in getting new bottles from the manufacturer.

And of course, it is fun to see what is in. For returning customers it makes sense to check the Facebook page, which does a good job of updating with what has run out and when new batches will be out, but there is also some fun in just peeking in and seeing.

However, there was another reason that I really wanted to get back. Even though I had meant to, on our previous trips it was wet and I was shy and I did not visit the cows. What is the point of going to a real dairy if you are not going to see real cows?

This time could not have gone better. It was sunny so the cows were out in the pasture,  and we drove in right behind a hay truck. The cows found this very interesting.

A brochure I picked up listed some stores that carry the milk. I guess that can be convenient, but there is a whole experience in going out to get your milk right from the source.

This is farm-fresh, family-owned, and pretty fabulous.

https://www.facebook.com/schochdairyfarm

http://www.schochdairy.com/