#70 Buy Milk You Can See First, in a Glass Bottle - Janina VanDam, Rising Sun Dairy

If you're old enough you remember milk in good old glass bottles. If you’re not, you’ve probably seen pictures. The Rising Sun Dairy has brought back those days with their family run dairy delivering fresh, pasteurized milk in a bottle to people in Oregon’s mid-Willamette Valley. Husband and wife couple Janina and Mark VanDam first met at a Bible retreat, Mark from Oregon and Janina from Canada. Both grew up on family run dairy farms so they had an immediate connection. Mark told Janina he wanted to do dairy farming with milk packaged in glass bottles, not the conventional dairy distribution methods. And so the journey began. The couple put two years of research into the idea and in June of 2019 produced their first bottle of milk on a farm they rent from a family member. Milking is done all by hand and each day Mark packs the coolers and delivers the milk bottles to two public markets, one in Corvallis, Oregon and the other in Salem, Oregon. However, they have been expanding their business. In addition to the public markets, they have landed accounts at a local coffee house and at a bakery. Plus, they have added flavored milk to the product mix, including seasonal flavors such as eggnog. They also are doing deliveries, but only in Corvallis because of their limited level of production and staffing. Because their philosophy is fresh, local and responsible, the company also has its own bottle deposit and return system. They charge a $2 deposit per bottle. When people bring the empty back and purchase more milk, there is no charge. And if they simply bring back the empty, their $2 is refunded on the spot. Besides being environmentally responsible, glass also preserves the flavor better than conventional methods, according to Janina. With two children and 15 cows that must be milked twice a day, it’s a full schedule. But they are living their dream and loving it.

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