A Message from James Farmer at Twin Springs Creamery

A Message from James Farmer at Twin Springs Creamery

Pause on Pasteurized Milk – Raw Milk Continues

Dear Friends and Partners,

Milking cows and dairying have been a lifelong passion and dream of mine. My family and I began this journey in 2017 with a single cow — one cow milked simply because we believed deeply in local dairy and the connection between farms and community. Since then, Twin Springs Creamery has grown through many seasons of experimentation, learning, and persistence as we worked to find a sustainable way to produce and bottle local milk here in south-central Indiana.

There is a reason very few people choose this path. Dairy farming carries a level of daily commitment unlike almost any other form of agriculture. Cows must be milked every day, regardless of weather, holidays, or circumstances. Beyond caring for animals, producing bottled milk for human consumption involves significant regulatory responsibility, infrastructure, staffing, and constant operational precision. It is meaningful work — but demanding work. Adding a creamery that needs to run nearly daily presents a slew of rewards, yet compounds the complications that will always arise on a dairy farm alone. 

As many of you know, our pasteurizer recently experienced a significant mechanical failure and requires extensive repair. During this period, while continuing to milk cows, we were faced with difficult realities about sustainability and balance. Dumping tens of gallons of milk each day (sometimes sixty gallons) while equipment sat idle, clarified how fragile the system had become and how little margin remained for our family and operation.

I remain incredibly proud of the milk we produced together — milk that so many people rediscovered, enjoyed, and in many cases found they could digest again after years away from dairy. Seeing customers reconnect with real milk has been one of the great honors of this work.

With the pasteurizer offline, we made the difficult decision to pause pasteurized milk production and distribution and instead streamline the farm by reducing herd numbers and focusing on the raw milk pet food distribution channel that we were already operating. This transition allows us to keep the farm viable while restoring some sustainability to daily life and labor demands.

This was not a decision made lightly. In many ways, building a creamery had been a personal goal since my time as a student at Indiana University in the 1990s. However, attempting to simultaneously be a present parent and partner, dairy farmer, creamery manager, employer, and full-time professional proved increasingly difficult — especially when unexpected challenges such as equipment failures or staffing transitions arose.  

I want to express my deepest gratitude to each of you for believing in Twin Springs Creamery. Your willingness to carry our milk, advocate for local agriculture, and support us as we built the creamery from the ground up made this journey possible. Local food systems only exist because businesses like yours choose to invest in them.

I am especially thankful to my partner, Sara, and our children, whose sacrifices, patience, and hard work made every bottle possible, as well as to our dedicated dairy and creamery team members who showed up day after day in the parlor, the processing room, and the field.

While pasteurized production is now on a long pause, this experience has only strengthened my belief that our community needs a shared, community-scale creamery — one capable of processing milk from two, three, or four local farms rather than relying on a single small operation. Demand consistently exceeded what our farm alone could provide. Even as we expanded herd size, processing days, and product offerings, requests continued to grow for bottled milk, flavored milk, cream, butter, cheese, yogurt, and kefir.

Excellent models already exist — such as Columbia Community Creamery in Spokane, Washington — demonstrating how shared infrastructure can keep dairies viable while meeting community demand. Bloomington and south-central Indiana deserve the same kind of permanent processing solution. If local dairying is to endure, we must rebuild systems to put dairies back on farms while sharing the processing and distribution system- a system that shares the collective vision and voice. 

For now, Twin Springs Creamery will continue supplying raw milk pet food through existing channels and direct farm sales. More importantly, we hope this pause represents not an ending, but a transition toward a more durable future for local dairy in our region.

Thank you again for your partnership, encouragement, and belief in what we were trying to build together. We are deeply grateful and will be in touch. 

With appreciation,

James Farmer
Twin Springs Creamery
Bloomington, Indiana

PS- Don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly with any questions- twinspringscreamery@gmail.com.

Extended Out-of-Stock Items

We continually work hard to make sure our shelves are fully stocked with the high-quality, nutritious food that you expect from us. In spite of our efforts, we are still waiting longer than normal for some of your favorite brands to be delivered. In an effort to keep you updated with the latest information, we’d like to share some of the primary factors that are currently preventing us from stocking some popular items.

The following are a few of the brands and types of items experiencing longer-term stocking challenges. 

• Frontier Coop cannot fulfill much of our bulk herb/spices orders.

• There is a nationwide shortage of pumpkin and right now we can't find any canned pumpkin. We do currently have fresh pie pumpkins available in produce.

• Fresh produce is impacted because of the fires in California and the resultant bad air quality that is keeping agricultural workers away.

• Many well known brands are severely challenged with production delays: Amy's, Pacific, Bob's Red Mill, Simply Organic herbs and spices, and others....

• Some canned food items such as tomatoes and beans. 

• Most items from India (Tasty Bite).

We will continue to monitor product availability and do our best to provide alternatives for long-term out-of-stock items.

We appreciate your patience and understanding during this time. We will have all of your favorites back in our stores as soon as we possibly can.

In Memory of Caroline Beebe

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Caroline Beebe on August 1st. A devoted Bloomingfoods supporter since the early days of the co-op, Caroline received the Bill Krejci Award in 2018 after her recent tenure on the Board of Directors. She was an inspirational leader and teacher and fondly remembered by many.

Click here to read Caroline’s obituary.

Where Did All The Groceries Go?

DEAR BLOOMINGFOODS OWNER-MEMBERS & SHOPPERS,

Although concerns about the overall health of the US food supply chain have mostly subsided, we are still experiencing longer-term out-of-stocks with some of your favorite brands. In an effort to keep you updated with the latest information, we’d like to share some of the primary factors that are creating these out-of-stocks. Additionally, we’d like to share a few of the brands and types of items with which we’re experiencing longer-term stocking challenges. 

The primary factors that have affected the availability of some of your favorite grocery items are:

• The initial stockpiling and panic buying led to “pipeline” shortages

• Transportation & distribution disruptions and delays

• Production and facility capacity is greatly reduced (production hours have changed, physical reconfiguration of some facilities for safer work experiences has slowed production and employee health concerns have altered shift work)

• At home cooking and eating while restaurants operate at reduced capacity results in increased consumer demand for in-store groceries

• Travel restrictions and agricultural distribution disruptions have curtailed the supplies of imported products (i.e. canned tomatoes)

• Shortage of raw materials (i.e. rice is harvested once annually and with the spike in demand, some reserves have been depleted until the next harvest in the fall.)

• Weather: the regional apple crop that we expected later this summer has been destroyed by late spring frosts

• The surplus of produce (fruits and vegetables) that would normally be sold to shuttered schools and restaurants is causing quality issues in warehouses across the country

• The whole agricultural sector is being affected by a shortage of seasonal workers

• State regulations regarding Hot Bar/Salad Bar/Buffet style services have dictated what we can and cannot offer (our Kitchen and Deli staff have implemented some creative solutions!)

These are a few of your favorite brands that are experiencing availability challenges:

• Amy’s Frozen foods

• Amy’s Canned soups

• Field Day (all categories)

• Seventh Generation cleaning supplies and paper goods

• Many varieties of tofu 

• Bob’s Red Mill

• Lundberg Family Farms rice

• Bubbies pickles (some varieties) and horseradish

• Applegate Farms frozen sausages

• Follow Your Heart Vegenaise

We are frequently communicating with representatives from our distributor, United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) and will continue to monitor product availability and do our best to provide reasonable alternatives for long-term out-of-stocks. In spite of the difficulties of this pandemic, our mission still remains the same. We will continue to do everything we can to provide healthy, high quality, sustainable, and environmentally-sound products at a fair price to our community.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. 

Sincerely,

The Bloomingfoods Team

Return of Reusable Bags

During this pandemic we have focused on continuing to provide our community with local, fair, and healthy products as safely as possible. As restrictions ease and new information arises, we will continue to modify our own safe shopping measures in response. Today we would like to provide you with an update on a changing measure -- the use of reusable shopping bags. 

Effective immediately, you can bring reusable shopping bags back into the co-op. We had been restricting their use. However, recent information released by the CDC suggests that surface to person contact is not thought to be the main way COVID-19 is spreading. This new information, combined with the negative environmental impact of using more paper bags, has prompted this change.

If you do elect to bring in reusable bags, we ask that you please plan to bag your own groceries.

We will continue to remain diligent in cleaning and sanitizing surfaces in our stores, and still highly encourage our customers to frequently wash and sanitize their hands. We also recommend wiping down your reusable bags after each use. 

Thank you again for your support and understanding. 

Response to Social Injustices: Starting the Dialogue

BLACK LIVES MATTER.

As a co-op, Bloomingfoods has a commitment to the cooperative values of equality, equity, and solidarity. We also believe in our 7 Cooperative Principles, which includes ‘Concern for Community’. Along with so many others, we want to share our collective voice and support for the Black community. Social injustice and racism continue to fester in towns across the country, including our own. This has gone on for far too long. We stand by our commitment to our values and principles. We stand with our community. We recognize that we’re not perfect individually or collectively, but we must continue to do more towards the fulfillment of our values and principles. We also recognize that we don’t have all the answers. We have started and will continue to reach out to various Black leaders, partners, and organizations within our community with the aim of listening, learning, and identifying ways we can provide support. We are also committed to providing diversity and inclusion training for our staff. We will share more details about additional ways we intend to provide support as they become solidified. We’re also open to suggestions from our community. 

This post will serve as a resource for our community to become further educated on racism and social injustice. This is a live page that will continue to be modified over time. 

What Can YOU Do to be Allies of the Black Community?

• Educate yourself. Read books and articles, watch movies and documentaries, and listen to Black and Brown people to hear their stories to better understand what racism is, it’s effects, and how you can help dismantle it. Check out the resources below for steps you can take to improve racial justice and equality in the Black community.

• When you hear or see injustice or racism occurring, ask your friends of color how they’re doing? Just that question goes further than you know.

• Donate or volunteer for an organization led by people of color that is committed to advancing social change in Black and Brown communities. Some examples below.

RESOURCES:

Books: 

Coretta Scott King Book Award Winners: books for children and young adults

31 Children's books to support conversations on race, racism and resistance

Articles:

PBS’s Teaching Your Child About Black History Month

Food and Land Justice for Black Americans

Local Links: 

Minority & Women Owned Business in Bloomington

Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center

Where to donate:

Black Lives Matter - Bloomington

American Civil Liberties Union

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund

And so many more! Please reach out if you would like to share more resources for us to post to this list.
info@bloomingfoods.coop

A Note from our Owner-Member Connection Committee

The Owner-Member Connection Committee’s purpose is to ensure that the board of directors remains connected to the values, goals, and interests of the Bloomington Cooperative Services owner-members. This committee is open to any Owner-Member in good standing. For questions or more information on the OMCC please contact Corbin Baird at corbin@bloomingfoods.coop.

Missing Bloomingfoods
by Maggie Sullivan

I think March 13 - April 12 was the longest stretch of time in the last five years that I did not go to Bloomingfoods. Given all the disruption and weirdness of living through a global pandemic, it is a minor detail and yet staying away from the co-op was one of the biggest changes I made. No lunchtime hot bar trips? No meetings in the cafe? No "quick" stops for an onion and a carton of eggs that somehow took an hour because I had to catch up with four different friends? No embarrassing struggles to keep my five-year-old out of the bulk bins?

I missed it.  And when I finally ventured in, I was both comforted and saddened. So much is the same and yet so much is different. I am grateful that both staff and customers are wearing masks to protect all of us, and yet it is a change that is hard to embrace. At least I can still see the eye crinkles when people smile. There may not be hugging in the aisles these days but I still heard laughter and saw gestures of love and community. 

Several articles have come out recently about the importance of casual encounters and weak connections. The barista who greets you by name. The co-worker who compliments your shoes. The neighbor who smiles and waves to your children. We tend to overlook these moments and take them for granted. Now many of them have disappeared from our lives.

For me, Bloomingfoods is a place where for many years I have refilled my tank with friendly smiles and nods but also a place where I have experienced deep connections. Running into an old friend and laughing about the "good old days." Getting a hug that I didn't know I needed. Venting about the stress and chaos that is life. Listening to a story of struggle and despair that reminded me of all the blessings in my life. Yes, these conversations can happen anywhere but for me they happen frequently at the co-op.

While I can still count on having my spirits lifted when I visit Bloomingfoods, I don't pop in as often as I used to. To make up for the missed opportunities for connections, I'm trying to make community connections in other ways. A fun new game is to contact people beyond my circle of close friends just to say "Hey, I'm thinking of you. Hope you are well." Often I reach out via e-mail or on Facebook. I am also rediscovering the joys of phone calls, chatting with my neighbors (from a distance), and old-fashioned letters.  

These days I find it hard to think about the future. I can not wish for a return to a "normal" life when it has become clear that our old "normal" was a disaster of inequity and precariousness. I can not quite muster up the energy to envision a new and improved future when so much of my attention is focused on survival. So I do what I can to stay sane and play my very small part in helping others do the same.

I hope that some day I can return to sharing a meal from the hot bar with a group of friends, old and new. Until then, I invite you to join me in rebuilding community however feels safe to you. If you'd like a letter or postcard of encouragement, please let me know. Seriously.  

Maggie Sullivan

maggie@greencouple.com