What is tallow? Tallow is rendered suet (aka leaf) fat of ruminant animals like sheep and cows. Suet is the nutrient dense fat that surrounds the animals organs, typically harvested from the kidneys and loins. Tallow has a multitude of benefits, and many people like to use it as a balm or moisturizer. It’s really easy to make tallow, it just takes time! Here’s how we make our Tallow Balm. How to Render Tallow I usually start with 2.5-3.5 lbs of cold beef suet. You can get beef suet from a butcher or locker, or even from a local beef [...]

Touchberry Farm + Garden is very proud to present our newest farm fresh product: tallow balm! So I know what you are thinking, what the heck is tallow balm? Tallow is rendered suet (aka leaf) fat of ruminant animals like sheep and cows. Suet is the nutrient dense fat that surrounds the animals organs, typically harvested from the kidneys and loins. If you are curious as to tallow’s benefits and what it can do for your skin, let’s get into it! Tallow is an amazing moisturizer for your skin. It is naturally high in saturated and monounsaturated fats, which helps [...]

Hi -- It's Josie! You’ve probably heard from me before if you’ve read our blogs but in case you haven’t: My parents are Dan and Debbie, the same Dan and Debbie that the creamery is named after. I am one of six kids who grew up on our family dairy farm just outside of the small town of Ely, Iowa. It wasn’t until I was in elementary school that my family started dairy farming. My parents are actually first-generation dairy farmers. Which is incredibly rare to hear -- a first-generation farmer, it doesn’t happen much anymore. So many farms have [...]

Over the winter months, the concept of the flower farm was born. Location, time-frame, and any real specifics remained up in the air. We've always wanted to have fresh-cut flowers in our creamery store to give it even more of a farm store feel. The recent addition of the Touchberry Farm has allowed us to diversify and do something like this. If you didn't catch the recent blog about acquiring the Touchberry farm check it out here. In early 2021 we were hard a work researching, planning, and gearing up for the flower farm. In fact, the first of March [...]

The historical Fuhrmeister Farm on the south side of Ely, Iowa becomes a permanent part of our family's journey to sustainability on our dairy farm and creamery. People come in and out of our lives everyday. And every now and then, the people we meet impact our lives in unexpected ways. Sometimes that impact occurs at the moment we meet them; other times it happens long after our paths cross; and occasionally you don't even realize the impact until that someone is gone.   Our farming story is one where numerous people have impacted our lives. Two of those people [...]