by David Cecelski    

      This morning I happened on Homeland Creamery in the little rural community of Julian, in the southern part of Guilford County. I was on my way to see my son run in a cross country meet outside of Greensboro and had taken the old Greensboro-Chapel Hill Highway and US 62 so I could stay off Interstate 40. Those roads meander through lovely hill country dotted with diary farms and old Friends meetinghouses.

The Bowman family has operated this dairy farm in Julian since the 1930s. Nowadays the family turns out hormone-free, antibiotic-free milk and some of the best ice cream anywhere. With a herd of more than 200 Jersey, Holstein, and Jersey-Holstein mix cows, they distribute fresh milk and other diary products all over the Greensboro area. They also have a little ice cream shop on the farm, next to their grain silo and milking shed. 

In addition to ice cream and milk, the shop carries the Bowmans’ beef and a few products from other local farms, including sausage, eggs, and honey. There are picnic tables outside under a big shade tree, where you can enjoy your ice cream, and two fine-looking border collies keep an eye on things. One of them is sixteen years old and more than a little arthritic, but still nips at the heels of every car that leaves the parking lot.

The Homeland Creamery also hosts lots of school groups. Most come from kindergartens and elementary schools and many of the students are town kids that have never been on a farm before. The children get to visit the barnyard, watch the cows being milked, and sit in the shade and enjoy an ice cream cone. I know it’s a glorious way to spend a school day.