Snowville Creamery has a modest goal: save the world By Eric LeMay | Photography by Sarah Warda
Pouring milk from Snowville Creamery feels blissful. When you pick up the carton, you’re greeted by a lovely dairymaid who seems to embody the countryside, with its green pastures and rustic fences. She wears a white fluffy bonnet and wholesome dress. At her bosom, she cradles a pitcher, as though she were Mother Earth pouring out the milk of human kindness. Behind her, the sun rises, encircling her with its hopeful glow. This is milk made mythic, and it’s one of the reasons I wanted to meet Warren Taylor, owner of Snowville Creamery. The other is the milk itself, which is thick and frothy and delicious. The first time I tried it, I drank a quarter of a gallon, glass after glass. I thought it was a milkshake. How, I wondered, did a small diary nooked in the hills of Southeast Ohio produce milk this good? Who was this man behind the maid? Now, having spent some time with Warren, I see that maid differently: She’s wearing a red bandana around her forehead and raising a revolutionary fist in the air. She’s marching down Independence Avenue, passing out leaflets on the dangers of genetically modified foods and hydraulic fracturing. And she’s smiling, because she’s looking forward to a fight. She’s going to take on huge corporations who want to strip our food of its nutrients and flavor. She supports our local businesses serving our local communities. She wants our kids drinking healthy milk from healthy cows raised on a healthy soil. “Love your food,” she cries. “Love each other.” She wants us to join a revolution. “This isn’t about this,” says Warren. We’re outside, standing on the slope of a hill, looking up at what’s essentially a pole barn. It’s the milk plant that Warren designed from the ground up, and he’s telling me how it takes advantage of gravity: Every time Snowville processes and packages milk, they have to flush the plant’s metal pipes with hot water and cleaner. This happens multiple times and Left: Warren Taylor of Snowville
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winter 2011
edible COLUMBUS