Anyone who follows my blog knows how I feel about Radiance Dairy’s products – they’re healthy and incredibly delicious.  So when my family visited Radiance Dairy this Saturday afternoon, I was expecting to have a fun time, but I did not expect to feel good.   I’m talking about that deep down feel good, as in, being witness to and participating in a system that is inherently Good.

My family joined a dozen other people to take a tour of Radiance Dairy farm.  Owner and operator Francis Thicke led us on a 90 minute tour of the farm, explaining the process of how they make dairy products, care and manage their cows, and manage the land.

It was a fascinating tour.  After spending time walking through the several small rooms and learning how milk goes from cow to bottle or cheese; I climbed onto an old flat bed trailer with my wife and daughter, and Francis climbed onto a big red tractor to pull us out into his land.  As we drove down a bumpy dirt road while sitting on a collection of upside-down milk crates, I could see a herd of cows in the distance.

And that’s when it started – the Good feeling.

My family was finally meeting the source of a food staple we use and love daily in our home.  The gap that has existed so long in my life, between food source and food on the table, was being bridged.  And more importantly, my family was learning that the choice to buy Radiance Dairy is a Good choice.

It’s hard to describe, but while listening to Francis talk with well deserved pride about his organic dairy farm, I also felt pride in being a customer/consumer of the business he and his wife have built.   It’s because the model that the Thicke family has built with Radiance Dairy is a perfect example of why buying from local, organic, sustainable businesses is a Good thing; and not to be confused with the empty “green” status that is sometimes associated with shopping in the natural foods aisles.

Time To Meet Your Milker

Jersey Cows

Maybe you want to write me off as some city slicker who’s seen his first milk cow on a farm and is getting a little carried away.  But let me ask those living in Fairfield – have you met the cows that make the milk you drink daily?  My family just did and it’s a very cool magical experience.  I know it sounds corny, but after 30 minutes of touching these cows, looking into their eyes, seeing them out in this beautiful open grass field; I began to feel love for them and thankful for the nutrition they provide my family.  It was especially touching to be there with my 5 yr old daughter, who’s bones and body are growing like a weed, partly in thanks to the milk, cheese and yogurt we get from these cows.

The Good feeling I was referring to earlier stems from more than making a connection with one our source of dairy,  but also a result of the health of that connection.  I’ll summarize the health of that connection by highlighting how the Thicke family runs their Dairy.

1. Flies are controlled without pesticides, but rather with a variety of methods including:  spraying organic soybean oil onto the cows and having chickens on the farm which eat fly larva (and of course lay eggs that you can eat).
2. The dairy has 72 Jersey cows.  Cows are milked 2 times a day each producing 4 gallons of milk.
3. Milk travels from cow to bottle over a distance of tubes and tanks that takes up three relatively small adjoining rooms in a barn.


Kathy The Cow

4. Deliveries to Fairfield grocery stores occurs on Mondays and Thursdays, and depending on when you get your milk from the shelf, you could be getting milk that was in a cow several hours ago!  Everybody’s gets a delivery first thing Monday morning.
5. Nothing is added to the milk, although Francis explained that the State of Iowa is pressing for the addition of vitamins D and A.
6. Milk color can change with the seasons, due to changes in the color of the grass being eaten by the cows.
7. After each milking, cows are moved to a new section of pasture to provide them plenty of grass to graze on.   20-40 days (depending on season) will pass before cows are rotated back to a previously grazed pasture.
8. A solar powered pump keeps a 4000 gallon tank full of water year round.  Water is gravity fed from this tank to provide the cows drinking water.
9. The Radiance Dairy farm is 236 acres of beautiful grassy pastures.
10. 6 employees work at Radiance Dairy, including Francis his wife Susan.
11. Francis is looking to build a wind turbine to provide power to the farm.
12. On your typical dairy farm, a lot of energy is put into moving food into barns where the cows stay, and moving manure out to the fields.  But at Radiance Dairy the cows do the moving, putting the milk in the barn, the manure in the field and going where the grass/food grows.

Francis Thicke

The highlight of meeting Francis Thicke and getting to know his dairy, occurred when one of the other visitors on the tour kept suggesting to Francis that he expand operations to Iowa City and other points in Iowa.  What they failed to see is what Francis and more and more people in the sustainable movement already know: building a sustainable “green” business, and serving a local community, go hand in hand.  Radiance Dairy works because they supply local consumers and local demand.  Once Francis starts supplying communities like Iowa City, he needs to make more milk, get more cows, get more land, drive further and store longer.

Instead of Radiance Dairy sending milk to Iowa City or any other community, Radiance Dairy can inspire other dairy farmers, or future dairy farmers, to adopt the sustainable model they have successfully built.  If any local school teachers are listening this means field trip for your students.

Francis Thicke is my version of an American hero.  While other people are talking about change, Francis is working hard everyday doing change.   What this country needs are more Francis Thickes.  I encourage anyone who drinks milk, whether it be Radiance Dairy or something else, go visit your dairy.  Go meet the people and cows that feed you.  If it feels good to meet them, then you’re doing (by drinking) the Good thing.

Here is a slideshow of photos I took during my tour of Radiance Dairy farm.

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• National “Know Your Milk” Day (takepart.com)
• An Interview with Francis Thicke of Radiance Dairy in Fairfield, Iowa (foodandsocietyfellows.org)