NORTH SMITHFIELD, R.I. — Wright’s Dairy Farm cows are milked twice a day, 365 days a year. That’s how the multigenerational farm ensures fresh and accessible products whether it’s Christmas Day or the Fourth of July.
The state’s oldest dairy farm is tucked in the rolling hills of northern Rhode Island and has been pasteurizing and bottling its own branded milk since the 1930s, when an on-farm processing plant was built.
The ability to process milk from the farm’s 105 cows, bottle it, and then sell it directly to customers in the market only feet from the milking parlor is key to the farm’s success, said Ellen Puccetti, whose great-grandfather George Wright originally bought the land in 1896.
What began as a simple milk home delivery route has now vastly expanded, with Wright’s products sitting on shelves across the state, and sprawled inside the on-site market that offers more than 500 dairy products, from whoopie pies to wedding cakes. A step inside the shop reveals an assortment of aromas like freshly baked bread and sweet cupcake frosting.
The farm’s business saw rapid growth from the late 1990s to 2010, when the store was renovated and buildings on the farm were updated, said Puccetti’s daughter, Cate Kennedy. Kennedy grew up across the street from the farm and has seen it grow and evolve. So, too, have multigenerational customers, who Kennedy said remember her as a child playing hide and seek with cousins in the upstairs of the old store.
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Kennedy’s daughter, Flora, now spends her days playing with her cousins on the farm grounds. On a recent afternoon, Flora skipped around with a red basket, stopping to inspect blades of grass.
Kennedy said the farm is about “providing a genuine service to people and bringing them joy.”
After studying food science and sustainable agriculture at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, she took over as dairy manager at the dairy plant. But being a “small, petite person working in a dairy plant can be exhausting,” she said. She decided she needed something else to do.
Kennedy has never forgotten the experience of going to get an ice cream cone on a hot summer night, so she began selling ice cream made with a Wright’s dairy base out of the back of the farm. The idea was popular enough that Wright’s decided to make it permanent by renovating a 1960s streamline trailer at the farm, which now functions as a creamery.
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The concept of The Wright Scoop was founded on the idea of the ice cream being “cow-to-cone.” On day one of the four-day process, the creamery staff fills 10-gallon milk cans with pasteurized milk and cream to send to the bakery. On day two, staff create the “mix” by blending sugar, corn syrup solids, eggs, and a stabilizer into the milk and cream. On day three, once the mix is chilled, it is churned into ice cream and customized with flavorings. On day four, it’s ready to be scooped.
Today, there are three creamery locations. Trailer locations are parked at the farm in North Smithfield and next to the Blount Clam Shack in Warren, and a brick-and-mortar location fills a space in the Farm Fresh RI building in Providence.
Kennedy said the quality is fresher than most other homemade ice cream shops. Some of Wright’s ice cream inclusions are extra delicious, too, she said, coming from crumbles of bakery items like congo bars and pecan diamonds.
June marks National Dairy Month, a time to celebrate dairy farms and especially family-owned ones. The Dairy Alliance found that 98 percent of dairy farms are family owned and operated.
Wright’s has persisted through many challenges throughout the years, and the recent uptick in bird flu cases in dairy cows across the country is simply another battle for the family to get ahead of.
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“Because the public is right there, we’ve been talking about this for months,” Kennedy said. “It’s a fluid situation that’s continually changing, but we’re keeping an eye on it.”
Experts said the public health threat of contracting the bird flu is low, and the food supply is largely not affected, especially when products are pasteurized — which all of Wright’s are. The retail sale of raw milk is illegal in Rhode Island, and all milk that hits store shelves is required to be pasteurized.
And because Wright’s sources all of its products on-site, Kennedy said they are less concerned about the virus infiltrating their cows. As a precautionary measure, they have kept the door to the milking parlor shut and have stopped taking tours through the barn. The small herd is closed off to the public, which keeps Kennedy and her family feeling at ease — for their personal safety, too.
Indulging in Wright’s ice cream and bakery items or taking a trip out to the farm continues to bring light into Rhode Islanders’ lives, Kennedy said.
“It’s a time to take a breath and enjoy some good food as the world goes crazy around them,” she said.
Alexa Coultoff can be reached at alexa.coultoff@globe.com. Follow her @alexacoultoff.