Inspiring Conversations with Morgan Flowers of Flowers Creamery

Today we’d like to introduce you to Morgan Flowers.

Hi Morgan, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
My name is Morgan Flowers and my husband, Brian, and I own and operate Flowers Creamery and Flowers Dairy Farms in Giles County, Tennessee. I was born and raised in Nashville. Growing up, I always loved animals and spending time outdoors enjoying beautiful Middle Tennessee.

I met Brian in 2013 while I was in law school and he was farming full-time. When we began dating, Brian joked that I would be a cheesemaker someday–I laughed. However, I quickly fell in love with dairy farming and soon began working on adding a value-added business to the farm. I left my corporate legal job and we began making farmstead cheese in 2020 and bottling cream line milk in 2021.

Now, I love spending time working toward our common goal of keeping our small dairy in operation, while still enjoying the beauty of Middle Tennessee. I am extremely passionate about our beautiful state, and nature, caring for our animals, farming, and sharing all of it with the public through offering local food products to the community and by offering farm tours and education about humane animal husbandry and farming’s impact on our local environment.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Starting the Creamery has not been a smooth process, but it has been rewarding. We began construction on our facility in 2019 and almost completed construction right as the pandemic hit in the US. We had significant delays since everyone was initially very cautious about sending out installation crews. As people resumed working (outside and/or socially distanced), supply chain issues arose.

We waited on food-grade metal pipes, fittings, controls, etc. Finally, in July 2020, we did begin production and offered our first products to the community. Fortunately, one benefit of social changes brought on by the pandemic is the increased demand for local food products with limited supply chain vulnerabilities. People also love to know their farmers, to know how the animals are treated, and how their food is made.

Also, during the pandemic, commodity prices for our farm goods and inflation, therefore increased input costs, made typically slim to nonexistent profit margins into losses on the farm side. Many American farmers, especially dairy farmers, felt the same strain during the pandemic. Many farmers sold out or retired but the Creamery helped us capture retail and wholesale dollars instead of just the commodity prices on farm goods. This aided in our farm’s survival.

On a lighter note, some other challenges were staffing our new business during a labor shortage. We are very fortunate to have an amazing team of people to work with every day. I am very grateful for them and we could not do it without them.

We’ve been impressed with Flowers Creamery, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Our world-class 6000 sq. ft. small batch artisan cheese and cream line whole milk production facility sits on our small family-owned dairy south of Nashville in Middle Tennessee. We are certified humane, win awards for our environmental sustainability practices, and offer all-natural gourmet products while utilizing cutting-edge technologies and procedures.

Brian and I are both native Tennesseans. Brian grew up learning to farm with his dad here in Lynnville while I grew up close to Nashville and went to law school before deciding I’d rather be on the farm. Brian bootstrapped Flowers Dairy Farms from the ground up in the 1990s and the Creamery has gone from startup to being a vendor at Nissan Stadium, Geodis Park, and wholesaling to over 30 retailers across Tennessee in three years. Giles County is known as “the land of milk and honey” but there are only two surviving dairies, down from hundreds of generations ago.

Despite the disappearance of the American dairyman, October will be our farm’s 27th anniversary! We farm 1,000 acres and milk 150 cows—a herd of Holstein and a herd of Jerseys.

That may sound like a lot, but compared to most remaining dairies, we are very small. This means we can personally care for each cow every day. We offer retail space to other local producers in our on-farm store. We also offer farm tours to show people how and why we farm the way that we do, and to educate people about agriculture and where their food comes from.

We also love to be transparent and accountable to our community and our customers. People travel to our farm to visit from all over the US. We have been on many local and national television programs and in local and national publications. We are a USDA-permitted facility, so all of our products are top-quality human-grade food. We only use Tennessee Milk from our on-site Grade A Dairy.

We are very proud of partnering with two Tennessee companies, Goo Goo Cluster and Twice Daily, to make Goo Goo flavored milk. We are also involved in Pick Tennessee Products. This initiative highlights products made in our great state. They maintain a directory with an interactive map of all the Tennessee producers who sell directly to the public.

Any big plans?
Plans include periodically adding products as we can add equipment and staffing to develop new processes in our plant.

Our long-term goal is to offer a much wider range of dairy products made with our milk to our community and increase retail and meeting space on the farm to support other producers and host agricultural and educational events more comfortably.

Contact Info:

• Website: flowerscreamery.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flowerscreamery/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flowerscreamery