MIDDLETOWN - Randy Sowers and his family are turning back the pages of history in an attempt to save their 200-acre dairy farm a few miles outside this Frederick County town.
In a throwback to what some would call the good old days, a time when country folk never locked their doors, the Sowers family offers farm-fresh milk delivered to the doorsteps of about 1,600 homes in six Maryland counties, Washington and parts of Virginia.
According to Ted Elkin, chief of the division of milk control at the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Sowerses' South Mountain Creamery is the only licensed dairy operation in the state providing home delivery of milk.
"It's a service that completely disappeared about 30 years ago," he said.
"I can remember when milk was delivered to your home, but I think it ended in about 1975," said Randy Sowers, 50.
Now he's seeing a new generation that seems willing to pay a premium price for fresh, high-quality and locally produced milk and other farm products.
A quart of South Mountain whole milk in a glass bottle, with cream on the top, costs $1.75. A quart of milk in a paper container at the Safeway in town was $1.39 last week.
A half-gallon bottle of the creamery milk costs $2.29, compared with $1.99 at Safeway.
"We offer a different product," Sowers said. "Our milk comes from the cow, is processed and can be on a customer's front porch in 12 hours. It's not normally more than 24 hours. At the grocery store, the milk might be a week-and-a-half old."
Says his wife, Karen, "We have about 1,600 customers and we're adding seven a day."
She said they deliver milk in Baltimore, Frederick, Howard, Montgomery, Carroll and Prince George's counties. Trucks also serve customers in Arlington, Martinsburg, Harpers Ferry and Leesburg, Va., and make stops in Washington.
A new route is scheduled for Reisterstown next month.
South Mountain also brings its products to the farmers' market in the Waverly section of Baltimore.
`Old-fashioned way'
The Sowerses say there is a touch of nostalgia to their business.
Their philosophy is stated in an advertising flier: "With all the hustle and bustle of today's world, we believe it's important to slow down and appreciate our families, our neighbors, our community. Sometimes the old-fashioned way is still the best way. Bringing back the milk man, glass bottles, and home delivery is our way of reminding folks of Maryland's rich agricultural heritage."
