The Story of Mount Rainer Creamery
March 2012
The first herd of jersey cattle joins the farm
October 2021
Renovations begin on the Market Property
June 2024
The Plant is completed
June 2024
The Market “Soft Serve” opening
October 2024
The Market celebrates its grand opening
Our Story
In 2012, Ryan and Haylee Mensonides decided to go all in, and cashed in their 401ks to secure a USDA “new farmer” loan in order to purchase their very first herd of Jersey cows and rent farmland in Enumclaw, Washington. In the years that followed, they watched neighboring dairies close due to decreased profit margins and industry consolidation, and farmland being lost.
Ryan and Haylee decided to do things differently, but integrating the farm vertically. By building a creamery on the farm property, and then opening the market a few miles away, Mount Rainier Creamery is able to manage every single phase of the process, from the feed that the cows consume, to the time between milking and when the bottle lands in the hands of the customer.
Our dream is to connect people with the food they consume and the place it comes from. By creating the infrastructure we have, we can serve you ice cream from cow to cone in 48 hours or less.
We started the farm! We took an FSA Beginning Farmer loan and bought 140 cows and rented the farm in Enumclaw with two toddlers!
March 2012
After getting our feet underneath us and fixing up the dairy as much as possible (and adding our last two brothers to the family!) We finally bought the farm! It was ours now and we started dreaming about producing our own product.
July 2017
While being a member of Organic Valley Cooperative, our dream of providing a local product to our community was getting stronger. We made plans to build a creamery on the farm and started throwing around ideas on purchasing this perfect old auto repair shop in the best location 5 minutes away to sell our product! We drew on napkins, we had vision boards and goal posters on the walls. It was time to jump and see if we could land! Our journey from dreaming of an idea, to actually implementing it is a novel for another time. Let’s just say the forrest of red tape, failed contractors, bankers, and regulation left us in a whirlwind. But dairy farmers are nothing if not gritty and a little stubborn! We kept fighting until opening day!
January 2019
June 2024
The store renovations were complete before our processing plant. We decided not to let that stop us! We opened Log Show weekend for ice cream and coffee with trusted Edaleen Dairy soft serve and Dillanos coffee! We started selling bread, eggs, and cheese from local vendors just like we had hoped! We continued to grind on getting the plant ready to go that entire first summer.
October 19th, 2024
We consider this our birthday! The plant was completed and we bottled our first drops of milk just the day before we cut our red ribbon surrounded by family and friends! It’s a day we will never forget. We’ve continued to grow and adapt since then, but the journey to get there was one for the books!
About The Cows
It all starts with grass.
Ryan thinks a lot about grass. Like… so much.
You see, when we put love into the grass we grow, we know the exact nutrients our herd is consuming. Having control over our feed supply means that we have spoiled cows, which produce a superior, organic product that changes naturally with the seasons. You can see the quality right in the layer of cream that floats on top of every bottle of our milk.
Our girls live the good life, so you can enjoy dairy products like you’ve never tasted them before.
