Jersey Cows are Green!

We read an article the other day that we’ll call interesting trivia.  A couple researchers compared Holstein cows and Jersey cows.  Holstein cows (the black and white ones) are by far the most prevalent in the United States in the production of milk, and of course all the products made from milk.  Jersey cows (originally from the Island of Jersey in the English Channel) are what we have at Young’s.  Jerseys are smaller and are a light brown color.

Jersey cows require 20% less total feed by weight and 32% less water to produce the same amount of milkfat and protein as Holstein cows.  That translates into less land usage, fuel consumption, waste output (!) and greenhouse gas emissions.  Per unit of cheese produced, the Jersey carbon footprint is about 20% less than Holstein cows.

So, in addition to making great tasting cheese, our Jersey cows are green!

Springfield Regional Medical Center Open House

We were privileged to be a part of the great open house on Saturday Oct 29 at the Springfield Regional Medical Center.  Young’s served samplers of our homemade farmstead cheese, apples from our neighbors down the road  (Piefer Orchards), hot and cold apple cider from Ohio producers, snacks and more.  There were over 5,000 people there at some point of the day.  We heard singers, bands, saw all kinds of characters and entertainment.  It was a fun event, with a lot of folks coming to see the new building and many of the people who will make the new hospital happen as it comes to life in mid-November.  Our Staff performed exceptionally well, led by Brian Patterson and Lynn Doohen.  We talked to hundreds of happy people today, saw lots of smiles and went away after a long day of work feeling like we were part of a resurgence of the mindset that maybe, just maybe, tomorrow can be better than today.  We can make good things happen when we take bold actions and steps, invest in and believe in ourselves and our future.

Springfield and Clark County can be proud of this new development in our community.  We are all part of making it happen, big and small, one way or the other.  There is good news in our community.  Good things are happening.  Thanks for taking the time out of your day to visit this fabulous new facility and the people who will work in it to improve our quality of life.

Thanks! We Appreciate Your Business

The 320 folks who work at Young’s experienced our busiest day in our history this past Saturday Oct 8. The weather was perfect, the Yellow Springs Street Fair was even better, the Clark County Retired Teachers Car show was fabulous, we have a record pumpkin crop (still plenty to choose from), and all the things Young’s and our surrounding area has going on in the fall all went together to make an amazing day.
The Young Family and all who work here thank you for visiting. You are why we exist. Your continuing support of what we do at Young’s keeps us going.
Our mission, in part, is “We Create Fun for Our Customers”. We have fun living that mission – ice cream is fun and it’s fun to dip ice cream when everyone is having a fun time!
We strive to make sure ‘every Guest leaves delighted’. We promise to do our best to keep earning your business.

When the sun does shine

I know you and I are tired of the relentless rain and cooler than normal temperatures we have experienced this spring.  Outdoor retail type businesses have really been affected the past few weeks – everyone from landscape suppliers, miniature golf, ice cream sellers, walk-around-the-town areas like Yellow Springs and more have seen less Customer traffic than the usual burst of springtime ‘get out of the house and do something’ activity.  Local farmers have not had the chance to get much done at all in planting corn and other crops – and the window of opportunity is getting tight.

When the sun does shine, we are ready to serve you and help create a good experience at Young’s.  We – Young’s, Yellow Springs, Clifton, local parks and other family fun places to visit would love to see you soon.  Here’s wishing for 75 sunny degrees in the very near future!

Young’s Farmstead Cheese is Underway!

We made our first batch of Young’s Farmstead Cheese on Wednesday July 8th!  It was a 140 pound batch of Jersey Jack cheese.  Jersey Jack is our version of Monterey Jack cheese, a mild cheese great for snacking and on sandwiches.

We’ve also made several batches of Colby, and Jersey Pepper Jack cheese – which is the Jersey Jack cheese with diced green, red and jalapeno peppers added.  We’ve also made some fresh cheese curds for home snacking.  The kitchen crew is working on the recipe for battered and deep-fried curds as a side choice in both restaurants.

We’re calling the fresh curds ‘squeakers’ because they squeak when you chew them.  It’s hard to describe, but you’ll see what we mean when you give them a try.  Squeakers are great for just snacking and are tasty on salads, soups or even right on a sandwich.

Both of our restaurants are already using the Jersey Pepper Jack cheese on various sandwiches.  By the end of August, all cheeseburgers will be made with Young’s Farmstead cheese.

We’ve made a few batches of cheddar cheese.  The Cheddar cheese has to age a minimum of 60 days so we plan to have it for sale by mid October!  We look forward to sampling Young’s Farmstead Cheese to our Guests!

We’ve received good feedback so far from our Guests — mostly good, but there is room for improvement.  It seems each batch of cheese we make we learn a little more about the art of handmaking cheese.  So far, Mike and Stuart have made about 2,600 pounds of cheese!  A great start to our newest enterprise.

Please let us know what you think — we aim to make the best cheese we can with 100% of the milk produced by our cows on our farm.

Young’s Farmstead Cheese Update

An update — the cheese making equipment is on the way. We have a cheese making vat and related equipment coming from a Netherlands company. We looked for a long time at domestic equipment, but at the the European equipment looks to be elegant and efficient and will help us make delicious farmstead cheese. It fits in a smaller space and looks to be energy efficient the way we plan to use it. After all, cheese makers in Europe had been at it for a few hundred years before our country even got started!

All the rest of the equipment — lab equipment, walk-in cooler, water boiler, display case, and so forth are either here or due to arrive in the next two weeks (and was sourced in the US). We plan to have the equipment all installed and ready for production by the middle of June.

The first cheese types we will make include fresh cheese curds, cheddar cheese, colby cheese, and Jersey jack cheese. The curds, colby and jack cheese will be first up for sale as they do not require much, if any, aging. The cheddar cheese will be ready by about Labor Day this year.

The Young’s Farmstead Cheese we make will be fresh milk 100% from our own Jersey cows. We do not treat our cows with rbST. Though no significant difference has been shown in the milk from treated and non-treated cows, we know our Guests expect us not to use rbST.

The Young family looks forward to this venture and can’t wait to start sampling our very own Young’s Farmstead Cheese to our Guests to get feedback and ideas.

 

Buying Local — We Get It!

We pretty much all get it.  When we buy local, we know our dollars stay more local.  That supports more jobs, more taxes paid locally, more economic activity stays local instead of going somewhere else.  That’s a good thing.  It makes sense.  It’s what we do when we can.

Today’s economic conditions make buying local more important than ever.  We also all know that buying local just to buy local doesn’t get it.  The business you buy from still has to give you value — at the end of the day, you have to get a good deal for your money or you won’t buy there again — local or not.  That’s just the way it works.  That’s what makes America great and what makes it work — every business has the opportunity to succeed and has the opportunity to fail.  If we’re local, we want a chance from our local Customers — we know we don’t have the right to their business — but we hope we get the opportunity to earn their business.

I was reviewing what Young’s buys — and who we buy from — as I was looking over our 2008 numbers.  All things being equal, Young’s has always chose to buy local.  But I’d never thought of looking at how much we buy local.  I knew our purchases are mostly local, but I was really amazed at how local.  I define local as within 60 miles of Young’s.  Almost 90% of all purchases Young’s made in 2008 were from local companies — and more than 70% of that was from companies within 25 miles.  This includes good and services.

Young’s will continue to buy local.  We know that 80% or more of our business comes from local Customers — it just makes good economic sense for us to support the business.

Below is a list of local businesses we buy from (in no particular order) — and this list is not all of them — I apologize to any I missed in making my list!  Yes, some of this list includes the local branch of a national or even international business — but they all have local employees and businesses that pay taxes — and I hope they all like ice cream and know of a good place to visit to get a dip or two of their favorite flavor!

I-Supply Company
Reiter Dairy
Hoskett Veterinary Service
Southwest Landmark
Smith’s Rolloff Service
A&B Asphalt
Gordon Food Service
A-C Service
Par Striping
Montgomery Insurance
Meadowview Growers
All-Phase Electric
Bowman & Landess Turkeys
Brown Publishing
Maine’s Towing
Mader Electric
Spradlin Bros Welding
Sysco Foods
Triec Electric
Bryce Hill
CED Electric
Catanzaro & Sons Produce
Champaign Excavating
Clark County Glass
Mad River Topsoil
Mike-Sells
Lavy Enterprises
Kaiser Fruit Farm
KW Burris
Janeco Janitor Supplies
Instantwhip Dayton
Home City Tent
Cox Ohio
Dayton Daily News
Custom Tire
Do It Best Harware
Holmes Printing
W.R Hackett Produce
Delille Oxygen
Dooley Septic Pro
Economy Linen
Ehman’s Garage
Electric Eel
Ellenbee-Leggett
Klosterman’s Bakery
Enting Water Conditioning
Ertel Publishing
Folck’s Country Cuts
Pepsi-Cola Bottling
Phares Pumps
RE Skillings
Blessing Water
Remington Steel
Rieck Mechanical Services
Schockman Lumber
Sherriff-Goslin Roofing
Farm Credit Services
WBZI Radio
Waterways & Pathways
White Glove Cleaning’
Woeber’s Mustard
Yellow Springs News
YMCA-Springfield
Carl’s Mustard
Coca-Cola
Berner Screen Print
Security National Bank

Buy local when you can.  It helps all of us.

Dan Young


 

Young’s Farmstead Cheese

This story falls under the category of I thought you’d like to know and I would like to hear your feedback.

The Young’s family is considering building a facility to make our own cheese using only milk from our cows.  We would make several kinds of cheese and sell it to our Guests and use it in our recipes in both restaurants.

This is an exciting idea, I think.  I keep imagining our own homemade cheddar cheese on our cheeseburgers!  Our our own pepperjack cheese on a hot spicy chicken sandwich.  Or really special grilled cheese sandwiches made with different kinds of farmstead, artisan cheeses.  I could go on!  But I think you get the idea.

So….what do you think of this idea?  Is it a good one?  Do you have ideas or suggestions?   What is your favorite types or flavors of cheese?

We are in the planning stages, so now is the time to speak up!  Let me know your thoughts.  The best way to let me know your feedback is to email me at [email protected].  Thanks!

Dan

 

We Have Plenty of Cats!

As you know we are a farm.  Many folks think that means we need cats.  I want to tell you we have enough cats, already!

Unfortunately, this time of year, every year, many cats are dropped off at our farm.  Right now, the cats outnumber the cows!  We feed them and care for them in our barn and show them where the food is and keep them away from the restaurant — cats wandering around the restaurant is not a good thing on most days.

I suggest if you have cats you do not want or can no longer care for, and can’t find a good home for them, then please take them to your local Humane Society or other animal shelter.  Better yet — please spay and neuter your cats (and dogs) to help reduce the problem in the future.    Cat overpopulation is a serious problem — it leads to lots of stray/feral cats and leads to animal hoarding in some cases.   I am a member of our local board of health and we have dealt with a few cases involving cat hoarding, and it’s not pretty.

Read more at the Humane Society’s website athttp://www.hsus.org/pets/issues_affecting_our_pets/pet_overpopulation_and_ownership_statistics/

Thanks for listening (or is that thanks for reading?).

Dan

 

Tropical Depressions and Young’s

Like most folks, we got Ike’d.  Lots of small damage to trees, missing shingles and some driving range netting.  The biggest loss was the metal roof on The Golden Jersey Inn that blew off.  Who ever knew we had to worry about that kind of wind from a hurricane in Ohio! Our new roof should be up in a cew days — not metal this time!

The good news for us was we only lost power for about 3 1/2 hours, so no losses on refrigerated foods, freezers, etc.  We only shut down Sunday evening and reopened 6 am Monday.   I know we were more fortunate than many in our immediate area.  I know I certainly hope we have no repeats of that for the next 100 years!