SEQUIM — Dungeness Valley Farm, one of Sequim’s few remaining dairies, is ready to go raw.
Farmers Debbie, Jeff and Sarah Brown plan to cut their ties to Darigold, the company that has marketed Dungeness Valley’s milk since 1992.
The Browns are changing their operation’s name to Dungeness Valley Creamery in response to what they see as a growing thirst for unpasteurized milk.
“The organic food movement has really caught on in this part of the country,” said Jeff.
He’s already taken orders from Peninsula natural food markets and seen interest among larger stores in the Puget Sound region.
This week the farm, at 1915 Towne Road, will undergo another in a series of U.S. Department of Agriculture inspections required for licensure.
Washington state requires raw milk sellers to be licensed, and has stepped up enforcement after 18 people, mostly children, were sickened after drinking E. coli-contaminated raw milk at an unlicensed Woodland dairy last December.
Despite that incident, the Browns exude an optimism as bright as the spring sun in Sequim.
They’ve been working up to the raw transition for several decades.
