South Mountain Creamery is a magical place where cows roam free and the best ice cream you’ll ever eat is overflowing!
No, this isn’t Hip & Historic Downtown Frederick with all the unique restaurants, boutiques, and performing arts.
However, this is why we absolutely LOVE living in Frederick County, Maryland, because there’s truly something for everyone!
Being able to enjoy our Hip & Historic Downtown AND the rural, country, rolling hills and farmland of the outskirts of Frederick County, makes our town the perfect combination!
South Mountain Creamery
Recently, I took advantage of a beautiful ‘the-kids-are-out-of-school-what-are-we-going-to-do’ day.
So I took my son and nephew out to South Mountain Creamery for a (reserved ahead of time) tour of the farm.
Needless to say, the boys were so excited to take a short ride out to the country.
Not only to see cool farm animals, but also to eat some of South Mountain Creamery’s homemade ice cream.
What is South Mountain Creamery?
“South Mountain Creamery is Maryland’s first on-site dairy processing plant that delivers all-natural and farm fresh products to your doorstep!
We have been in the delivery business since 2001 and like to think we are the return of the milkman!
Delivery to 9,000 customers weekly, we have a radius that includes DC, Baltimore, Arlington, and many other areas in the four state region!
We also have a store on our farm that sells our products to those local customers that don’t have our delivery service……yet!
South Mountain Creamery’s goal is to be a completely self-sustaining company.
That means we use our own resources to power the farm!
We like to call it, “from field to fork.”
South Mountain Creamery Has Come A Long Way
The boys and I were in awe of how far South Mountain Creamery has come over the last few years.
They’ve always been our creamery of choice.
However, we were beyond impressed to see how automated they are with every process involved in managing the dairy cows.
The Cow Milking Process
They have the entire cow process down to a science.
First, we brought to the area where cows line up and come in through a door for milking.
It’s so cute to see how the cows know the routine and do it in an orderly fashion.
The milk goes through tubes to this large milk tank for proper temperature storage.
Then, the cows are led out of the area to a water trough outside and to a place they lovingly call the ‘car wash’ where they get a short massage.
In between processes, the cows get to hang out and socialize amongst themselves in the gorgeous South Mountain Creamery setting of rolling hills and country breezes.
Also, the cows have separate areas where they eat and where they sleep.
After seeing how well they take care of these cows, I’ve decided I would like to be a South Mountain Creamery cow in my next life!
Dairy cow, that is!
How The Cows Are Fed
When we were done walking through the cow process, we were brought over to the corn and soybean silos.
The corn and soybeans are used as feed for the cows.
It’s amazing to see the technology that goes into it all.
Kids Activities
We then walked over to the play area.
Although my boys are at that ‘in-between age’, they really enjoyed the cow themed playground.
The only way I could pry them away was to tell them that we were walking over to see the baby calves.
Needless to say, this was my favorite part of the tour.
You Can Feed The Baby Calves
The baby calves are just gorgeous with their big eyes, long eyelashes and soft fur.
In fact, I wanted to take them all home with me.
South Mountain Creamery has contests on their social media channels to name the newborn calves.
In addition, every day at 4pm is Calf Feeding Time.
The public can help bottle feed the calves for free.
How cute is that!
I absolutely loved this cow with his little freckles.
The Maternity Ward
After we finally finished oooooing and ahhhhhing at the baby calves, we walked over to what South Mountain Creamery calls their ‘maternity ward’.
As you can see in the below picture, this is where the pregnant momma cows are taken special care of until they give birth.
South Mountain Creamery Ice Cream
After our tour was over, we decided to walk over to Karen’s Kountry Store to get some ice cream.
They don’t just sell ice cream!
For example, they also sell glass bottled milk, eggs, meats, seafood, butter, yogurt, yogurt drinks, produce, dog treats, sauerkraut, popcorn snacks, spices, cheeses, juices, teas, dips & spreads, bread, local honey, granola, cookie dough & brownies, coffee, and more!
The ice cream was delicious.
Very creamy and they had a nice variety of flavors.
And now you can even see South Mountain Creamery’s babies on the big screen.
Animal Planet Live has a live baby nursery cam so you can watch the cute little baby chicks and calves up close and personal 24/7.
So what are you waiting for?
This time of year is the perfect time to take the kids on a ride out to the country and see what South Mountain Creamery has to offer.
Oh, and don’t forget to bring a cooler for all of your chilled goods you’ll want to bring home with you!
For other fun things to do in Frederick County, read our posts on
10 Reasons to Visit the Great Frederick Fair
Free Things To Do In Frederick, Md During The Summer
Catoctin Zoo: How To Have An Awesome Day Trip
- 30 of the Most Iconic Maryland Food and Drink - March 9, 2024
- Baked Crab Casserole Recipe - February 6, 2024
- 44 Epic Summer Camps in Frederick MD (2024) - January 27, 2024
They indeed are very generous. I used to work at the Frederick Men’s Shelter and they used to donate a lot of fresh eggs and milk when I was there. It was all fresh and was not due to expire soon. Their driver would bring it all the way into the kitchen (where I worked) and would load it into our cooler for us. Especially around the Holidays! They never asked for anything in return and never wanted any publicity for it. They had a deliver manager George who was really a nice guy and would answer questions for us and even deliver to us sometimes himself. Overall a great company and great products!
What a great story Andrew! We had no idea they donated so much. Thank you for sharing!
They are also very generous. Last year, they came to Wolfsville Elementary School and gave every child (and teacher) ice cream for free! It was a great day.
That is very generous! Love us some South Mountain Creamery!