July 30, 2004
New silo at Stonyfield nearing completion
Last week it was just a spot on the parking lot. Today our new silo at the Yogurt Works Visitor's Center is nearly complete! (See July 27 entry.) The silo is attached to our Visitor's Center and will be used as a theater. People coming to take a tour of our yogurt production plant will sit in the silo to watch a video. No silage storage is involved!
July 29, 2004
Ice Cream Sundaes celebrate Stonyfield's safety goals being met
It was just an average Tuesday at Stonyfield Farm, but this week we turned it into Safety Sundae--a celebration of meeting our production plant's safety goals for the first half of 2004. The goal was to have no more than two "OSHA-reportable" accidents in the plant, and we did it! So, we hauled out some 3-gallon tubs of--what else?--Stonyfield Farm Ice Cream and handed the scoop to Jim Olsen in Purchasing. Employees lined up for a scoop or two with all their favorite toppings.
July 27, 2004
We're renovating the barn at Stonyfield Farm
On one of the hottest days of the summer so far, workers arrived last week to start building our new silo. We won't be storing and actual silage in it, however. The new silo is attached to our Visitor's Center, the Yogurt Works, and its lower level will be used as a sort of Theater-in-the-Round in which visitors will watch our video about the history of Stonyfield Farm and how yogurt is made.
Watch this space for updates on the construction and news of the Grand Opening. (Our Visitor's Center remains open for tours during this renovation.)
Visit our other blogs and join the discussion:
On enviroNmental issues: The Dairy Planet
News from an organic dairy farmer: The Bovine Bugle
Get junk food out of schools: Creating Healthy Kids
Tips for becoming a strong woman: The Strong Women Daily News
July 26, 2004
Former worker at the farm come back to visit
Back in 1987, in the early, early days of Stonyfield Farm, Christopher Erdody was one of two workers at the plant mixing yogurt. (Today we have more than 100 people in our plant and another 100-plus in our offices!) He was working his way through Keene State College in Keene, New Hampshire and needed a job to fill his Christmas break. He landed at Stonyfield Farm. Today's he's a teacher and father of two. Christopher, left, and his whole family stopped in to our Yogurt Works gift shop last week to say hello and show the boys where dad used to work. The boys are loyal YoBaby eaters.
July 23, 2004
Yogurt eaters are our lifelong friends
Summer is a time for family reunions and here at the Yogurt Works, we get plenty of our loyal family of yogurt-eaters stopping by just to reminisce. Lisa and Tony Astrouski, left, formerly of Londonderry, NH--where our plant is--used to come into our factory store three times a week and buy cases of our yogurt. (We loved them.) They would also get our soft-serve frozen yogurt that we had on hand. Lisa was the youth director at her church and when her children, Darragh and Chris, were young, the church youth group would clean up the streets near Stonyfield Farm and then have a cookout in our parking lot. Now the family has up and moved to Tuscon, the kids are 18 and 15, but they're all still eating our yogurt. Lisa claims to eat it three times a day. (Look how good she looks--she must be doing something right!) They stopped by this week to try out our new products and say hello. Here they're posing with Carol, our Yogurt Works tour guide, in our gift shop and gathering place, which is in the midst of a remodeling project.
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Take a tour of our Yogurt Works and Gift Shop
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Visit our other blogs and join the discussion:
On enviromental issues: The Dairy Planet
News from an organic dairy farmer: The Bovine Bugle
Get junk food out of schools: Creating Healthy Kids
Tips for becoming a strong woman: The Strong Women Daily News
July 22, 2004
Confessions of a former addict
I have a history of French Fry abuse. For years I was powerless over the greasy, salty little things. I know this addiction is rooted in my childhood, taking hold the day a McDonald’s opened up one block from my home. When I realized I could get an entire meal for less than my weekly allowance, I was hooked for life. Soon the hamburger, French fries and chocolate shake became a Big Mac, large fries and the largest coke I could find. And that was just an after school “snack.” I’ve tackled this disease now. I’ve given up my junk-food eating friends. I’ve worked the program to the point where a Big Mac would make me sick. Thirty-five years later, I can safely drive by a McDonald’s without pulling up to the drive-up window. Usually. Those French Fries still call my name. When they do, I give in to one Hamburger Happy Meal. (Hey, there’s no law that says adults can’t order those, you know.) A Hamburger Happy Meal small fry was enough to get my French Fry fix. And now, all that’s changed again. Last week, for the first time, I noticed the Happy Meal now comes with sliced apples and caramel sauce. I had to try it. Next to French Fries, caramel is one of my favorite things. I’m hooked again. French fries may truly be a thing of my past. And, no, this is not an advertisement for McDonald's (like they need help from me)--just an observation.
--Chris, Chief Blogger
Current yogurt obession: Caramel Underground
Visit our other blogs and join the discussion:
On enviromental issues: The Dairy Planet
News from an organic dairy farmer: The Bovine Bugle
Get junk food out of schools: Creating Healthy Kids
Tips for becoming a strong woman: The Strong Women Daily News
July 21, 2004
We dare to gather 12 almost-teenagers in one room!
Recently CE’Yo Gary played host at his home to 12 kids (including his own) invited to participate in a blind taste-test of one of Stonyfield Farm’s coming new products—a juice smoothie. The kids got to try four samples that were generically labeled, and then compare them to a "leading kid’s drinkable yogurt." Ratings were given for each based on overall taste, sweetness, thickness, and creaminess. Afterwards everyone got to say what they did and didn’t like. Come September, we’ll be able to tell you all about this new product, created with real-live kids like yours in mind!
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Visit our other blogs and join the discussion:
On enviromental issues: The Dairy Planet
News from an organic dairy farmer: The Bovine Bugle
Get junk food out of schools: Creating Healthy Kids
Tips for becoming a strong woman: The Strong Women Daily News
July 20, 2004
Smoothies are smashing records
We’ve only been producing smoothies here at Stonyfield Farm since January 2002, but they’re rapidly becoming a big part of our product line. We’ve just broken all records by selling 48,000 cases of them (that’s 576,000 bottles!) in a week! Our newest smoothie, the vanilla one, is leading the way because folks who love our vanilla cups of yogurt are flocking to the smoothie.
July 19, 2004
Future architects of America tour our Visitor's Center
In our Visitor's Center, yogurt lovers get to put their building skills to work while they wait to take a tour of the The Yogurt Works. Here Rickie and Mary Cate, from Long Island, join Nathan, from Maine, to build Yogurt Cup City or, as they called it, "A Really Big Thing."
July 16, 2004
What are these people doing?
Our graphic designers, Kevin and Keith, give our mascot, Gurt, a little fresh air. Gurt is made entirely of Stonyfield Farm yogurt cup lids and usually hangs out in our conference room. On Tuesday of this week, she got to join the entire Stonyfield staff for a group photo in honor of CE'Yo Gary's 50th birthday. She was thrilled, and so was Gary.
July 15, 2004
Our Smoothies win in "The Munchies"
Okay, we’re not really advocating this, but we were pleased in June when Men’s Health magazine nominated our Smoothies as among the “Best Stand-Ins for a Square Meal” in its 2004 Munchie Awards. The article focuses on what’s best to eat if you’re a guy and eating packaged foods on the run. Awards went to foods which offered good fats, protein and complex carbohydrates. Psssst: Beer is no where on the list.
July 13, 2004
Our CE'Yo Turns a Nifty Fifty
CE'Yo Gary received a special 50th Birthday hat today as he came in to work.
Back when Gary first thought of running
the largest organic yogurt company in the country.
Proving that yogurt keeps one
young and active, that's Gary on the left in an ultimate frisbee tournament.
Gary's pride and joy when he was 18. It's NOT true that he delivered yogurt in this car.
July 09, 2004
Stonyfield's CE'Yo Turns 50!
Our CE'Yo Gary Hirshberg turns 50 next week. (Ssshhh. It's a secret.) The best birthday present he could get is to hear from loyal yogurt eaters and readers on our web site. Use the comment box below to send Gary your birthday wishes, or any advice you might have on turning 50!
July 08, 2004
Stick a stick into yogurt and freeze
It's the peak of summer so folks around the country are noticing that our healthy yogurts for kids can be turned into healthy frozen treats. Here the Detroit News explains how to turn six yogurts into six popsicles! Try it before the snow flies.
July 07, 2004
Soy is one part of a healthy diet
On June 3 in the Daily Scoop blog, we had a comment questioning the health benefits of soy. We thought all of our blog readers could use a primer on soy products, so we enlisted the help of our Stonyfield Farm Nutritionist, Vicki Koenig. Here's what Vicki has to say:
As Stonyfield Farm’s Nutritionist, I have written about the known benefits associated with soy in a previous Wellness Moosletter. Here’s a link to that newsletter.
Soy as part of a varied diet is certainly not harmful and has been shown to have some health benefits. (This includes tofu, tempeh, edamame, cultured soy--like Stonyfield’s O’Soy--and soymilk.) There are a lot of studies that are being published from reputable centers, like Baylor’s Children's Nutrition Research Center, on soy and menopausal symptoms, or the British Journal of Nutrition, on the protective effective of soy on endometrial cancer.
This is not to deny that there is some controversy. For example, soy contains phytates, which are known to decrease the absorption of iron and zinc. However, phytates are also known to have anti-cancer and antioxidant properties.
Overall, soy should be incorporated with other foods in a balanced diet, as soy definitely provides a number of healthy benefits. Here are a few more websites to review for their soy research and content.
Soy Info Online
Healthcastle.com
The Soy Daily Club
Talk Soy
You can also scan the Mayo Clinic’s review of a number of clinical trials involving soy or soy products.
Please fee free to blog any nutrition questions you might have and I'll do my best to get an answer to you.
--Vicki, MS RD CDN
Subscribe to Vicki's Wellness "Moosletter".
July 06, 2004
The things we do for our fellow employees
One day last week I had to lend my shoes to a fellow female employee. No, she hadn’t forgotten to wear shoes. She needed to lead a tour of visiting dignitaries through our yogurt production facility here in Londonderry, New Hampshire. She had forgotten about this assignment that morning when she was getting dressed and she showed up on this lovely summer day wearing open-toed sandles! Gasp! Okay, it doesn’t sound that bad to you, maybe, but no open-toed shoes are not allowed, for sanitary and safety reasons, near the Yogurt Works! Luckily, we wore the same size, though unfortunately she wanted her shoes back.
--Chris, Chief Blogger
Current yogurt obsession: Lowfat Caramel Underground
July 02, 2004
Happy 4th of July from Stonyfield Farm
Here at our Londonderry, NH headquarters, we have a special display of relatives and friends of Stonyfield employees who are on active duty in the armed forces. Here's the bulletin board which stands proudly in our reception area.
July 01, 2004
Red Hats stop by on their way to world dominion
We were privileged to be visited by the Londonderry, New Hampshire Chapter of the Red Hat Society on Monday this week. The Red Hat Society is for "fun after fifty (and before) for women of all walks of life. We believe silliness is the comedy relief of life and, since we are all in it together, we might as well join red-gloved hands and go for the gusto together. Underneath the frivolity, we share a bond of affection, forged by common life experiences and a genuine enthusiasm for wherever life takes us next."
Seems like we've been seeing these red hats everywhere, and no wonder! Here's what the official website of the national Red Hat Society says: "We have now held two successful Red Hat Society conventions- entire hotels filled with women of a certain age wearing red hats and purple outfits! Could world domination be far behind?"
Inspired by a poem called "Warning," in which an older woman threatens to wear a red hat with a purple outfit even though it clashes, Red Hat Society chapters are sprouting everywhere. We're glad they could fit a tour of our Yogurt Works into their busy schedules.
Below: Stonyfield Tour Guide Carol (left, without a red hat) plays hostess to the Red Hat women.
