customers moved to the Pittsburgh area, and asked Shank if he could
start a drop point in the area for her family.
“I told her what I told my other customers,” he explains. “If you can
get a group of friends together, I’ll make the drive.”
She did, and before he knew it, Shank’s family and employees
were delivering to nearly 20 more drop point locations throughout
western Pennsylvania, including Greensburg, Butler, Cranberry, Ross,
Sewickley and the South Hills. In all, The Family Cow now services
54 drop points across the state; one of its newest drop points, located
at the Irwin Wal-Mart, was just added this past summer, thanks to the
tireless efforts of Jen Wirsing, owner of The Green Berry juice bar in
downtown Irwin.
“I wanted the community to have access to pastured, organic meats,
raw milk and butter,” says Wirsing, who met Shank at Pittsburgh’s
Farm-to-Table convention. “It’s a farm that’s doing everything right. I
love everything that they stand for.”
Drop point deliveries are made biweekly, Wednesday through
Saturday, year-round. Customers are required to place their orders
by a specific deadline in advance of the delivery. Transactions are
completed online, and no food is sold at the time of delivery.
The Family Cow’s raw milk is a best seller, but the farm also sells its
organic, pastured eggs, chicken, turkeys and woodland pork.
“I had always been a dairy farmer, but when customers started
asking if we could also sell eggs, I bought a few chickens and hens and
started selling pastured eggs,” said Shank. “Then, they started asking
if we could raise organic chickens. I had never been a chicken farmer,
but the demand was there, so I started raising chickens. The same thing
happened with the turkeys and the pigs.”
The farm has seen 40 percent growth year over year since 2009, he
says.
“Everything we offer is entirely customer driven and based on
customer demand. I’m not going to produce something and convince
my customers that they want it,” he adds.
The Family Cow also works with other local organic farms to sell
various natural products, such as cheeses, produce, syrups and canned
goods to drop point customers. All of the farms and family enterprises
Shank works with embody his “real farmers, real caring, real foods”
philosophy.
“As Mennonites, one of our highest values is to recognize the
contributions of others to our lives,” Shank says. “We wouldn’t be
able to do what we do without the support of the other families and
enterprises we work with, or without the support of our customers.
Our customers are an absolutely integral part of our success.”
Shank fully recognizes consumer fear surrounding raw milk, so his
farm goes above and beyond industry standards to fortify its safety.
While the state requires that the milk be tested twice a month, the farm
voluntarily tests the milk three times per week at its on-site laboratory.
This system is neither easy nor inexpensive, but the farm conducts
these extensive tests to ensure customer peace of mind.
“Once we run a test on the milk, it doesn’t get sold for 24 hours. Our
milk doesn’t leave the property until it has passed the tests,” he says.
In the rare case that a batch of milk doesn’t meet the farm’s
standards, it’s sent to a processor to be pasteurized and sold as organic
milk.
As a father to six children ages 9 through 23, Shank says he and his
wife Dawn have no plans to add more drop points to their alreadybustling schedule.
“We certainly welcome more customers to our existing drop points,
but we don’t want to grow to the point where we’re going to have to
compromise quality,” he explains. “Right now, we’re going to focus on
the needs and services of our existing Family Cow drop points.”
Shank and his family are committed to the health and well-being of
their customers, and, as organic farmers, appreciate the “tremendous
awakening” that is occurring among consumers with regard to the way
they buy and eat food.
“Technology is great when it comes to cars or computers, but not
when it comes to food,” he states. “Our customers don’t want GMOs
or chemicals or sprays in the foods that they’re eating. Customers
are powerful. They realize that they can change the world, simply by
changing their buying habits.”
For more information about The Family Cow or to join a local drop
point, visit yourfamilyfarmer.com. n
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