Whenever I eat ice cream, I almost always get a sundae. That's because, much to the chagrin of you ice cream fans out there, I don't usually find the taste of ice cream on its own to be all that appealing. No lie. To make up for it, sundaes have the added ingredient of hot fudge and whip cream, tastes I can enjoy, while the ice cream itself more of an afterthought. This seemed like a fine practice to maintain, until Errol and I went to Chesapeake Bay Farms. After tasting a bite of their smooth, milky, homemade ice cream, I found it was so good, putting any random topping on it would've been a cardinal sin!

Chesapeake Bay Farms has everything dairy. They need to, being the only dairy farm in Worcester County, but as an added bonus, they like to do things the natural way. Their raw-milk cheese is never heated to the point of pasteurization, thus preserving the natural enzymes for a healthier, cheesier product. Then, their butter, European style, contains no hormones, preservatives, chemicals – pretty much nothing that shouldn't go into butter – and it's 4x richer than what you get in the store. Even their beef (yes, they have steaks at the dairy) comes from au naturel grass-fed cows. And that ice cream we talked about? It contains 16% cream. Most ice creams contain 8-10% cream, making CBF the ultimate creamy champ.

"Best ice cream I've ever had," agreed Paul Mauser and cousin Elise, "and we've been to the Hershey Creamery!" Out of their 35 varieties at CBF, the best seller is coconut joy. You can also find Blueberry Crunch, Caramel Fudge (my choice), and White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake, to name a few.

Aside from simply being a store where customers can buy dairy products, CBF likes to give the full-fledged farm experience. To achieve this effect, their cow pens are situated adjacent to the shop, bringing the customers into a rural atmosphere where they can pet the cows and watch them feeding. What a great way to expose people to the wholesomeness of farm fresh food.

Finishing the list of fine fresh products available at Chesapeake Bay Farms are the truffles, made by Chef Paul Suplee, and seafood bought from local watermen. So when we say "support local cows," what are you going to do? Stop by Chesapeake Bay Farms for more ice cream than you can shake a scoop at!

Written by Erik Yount. Photography by Errol Webber.