This has been the most satisfying DIY I've done in a long time and it would have gone over HUGE in the 1930s. But the milkman - is making a comeback.
That's right, I have a milkman. I get milk dropped off, frothy and cold, to my doorstep once a week from a local dairy. Why yes, it is in glass bottles.
Home milk delivery was a Christmas gift from Betty. A dairy in my area introduced the milk in glass bottles service last fall and I started begging for it for Christmas like a petulant child every day for the next 3 months.
Baby wants her bottle.
The dairy (Summit Station Dairy & Creamery) drops my selections off and picks up my washed bottles once a week bringing me closer and closer to my dream of morphing into Laura Ingalls one old timey step at a time.
Here's the milkman's trajectory over history.
Table of Contents
Late 1700s: Family Cows
- If you were a family, you had a cow. That's the way you got your milk - from the cow in your front yard.
- People started moving into urban areas to work in the late 1700s. There was no room for the family cow, so people started getting their daily milk from other people who had cows - the dairy farmer boom began.
- In 1785 the first home delivery of milk took place; it was delivered in metal barrels. Customers would run out with their pitcher and the milkman would ladle milk into it.
1878: Invention of Glass Milk Bottle
- Milk was sold in glass bottles for the first time a year later, in 1879.
1884: It Took Another 6 Years to Invent the Cap
- Henry D. Thatcher introduced a glass milk bottle design with a cap.
- It was named the "Common Sense Milk Bottle". Ever so appropriate.
1930s-1940s: Decline of Home Milk Delivery
- You probably think of the 30's and 40's as the prime milk delivery era but this is when things started to look grim for the milkman.
- Homes and grocery stores now had their own refrigerators that could keep milk cold. This reduced the need for daily milk delivery because households could keep milk cold on their own.
1950s: Plastic & Wax
- Glass milk bottles were replaced by plastic containers and wax paper cartons.
Now: The Milkman Resurrection
- The local food movement, nostaligia and the convenience of online shopping have helped start a resurgence of milkmen & local dairies providing the service again in North America.
Which brings us to right now and my milkman.
At the moment it's still cold out, especially in the morning when the mysterious milkman drops milk off on my porch. But soon it will be warm. And then hot. And then it'll be milk curdling weather and my porch milk will be chunky.
So I made an insulated milk box for my porch and it went a little something like this.
Insulated Milk Crate
If you are one of the 4 people who will make this, note it can also be used for Uber Eats, Skip the Dishes or other food deliveries that need insulation.
If you aren't familiar with Skip the Dishes, you can learn all about their hide and seek dinner delivery service.
Get the crate. I used one of the many wood butter boxes I own and it's the perfect size for a milk crate.
Get the styrofoam. Get the vacuum.
Fit one piece on the bottom.
Height check to make sure the bottle has room to stand up.
Add a baby bottle just for fun.
Cut styrofoam to fit the sides, leaving enough room at the top edges to accommodate insulation on the lid.
Add in extra insulation I found in Betty's garage from some meal prep service.
Cut it level with the styrofoam.
Cut another piece of the meal prep insulation to cover the top of the crate.
Cut and measure scrap wood for a lid. Glue and clamp it together. Leave it for the day to dry.
Experiment with making leather hinges. Decide against it.
Try hinges in whatever way they'll work. Yes. Even if that means installing them incorrectly and upside down like this.
Apply white or wood glue to the top piece of cardboard insulation.
Spread it right to the edges.
Close the lid and let it sit for a few minutes until the glue sets a bit.
Open the lid - the insulation layer will now be glued in the perfect position under the lid. Flip everything over so you can add weight to the insulation layer and leave it so the glue can dry for a few hours.
Add a chest chain to stop the lid from opening so far it puts strain on the hinges and soft wood.
Ready to party like it's 1929.
Final Step
The last thing I did was condition the wood with my beeswax & mineral oil Board Butter. You can see the difference it makes on the wood.
It's my preferred finish for raw wood.
The first delivery went off without a hitch. Or a hitching post.
I plan to continue working my way backwards through time with the pinnacle being this Christmas when I ask Betty for a cow.
Now if you'll excuse me I have to go calico shopping. Bonnets don't just make themselves.
When I was a kid growing up in Scarborough all the houses in my area had milk boxes built into them next to the side door. The milk man would deliver the milk putting it into the milk box. There was a door on the exterior and another door on the inside with a locking hasp (that way intruders, if small enough, couldn't crawl through and rob the place) so you could access your milk from the inside. We often stored items like ball gloves and other stuff in there instead of opening the door. Our milk box was right where the basement stairs were and if you forgot to turn the hasp to lock the interior door sometimes the milk bottle would get pushed through and tumble down the stairs, breaking glass and spilling milk everywhere.
We also had a bread man who delivered bread and an egg man who delivered, you guessed it, eggs. Those were the days!
I find it so strange that everyone remembers the milkman as being extinct since the 60's! I had a milkman until at least 1982 possibly a few years later. I Live in Brantford, ON., and I got milk delivery from Brant Dairy. My son was born late 1981 and the last thing I needed was to bundle up a newborn and head out in the winter for fresh milk. I remember leaving a note for him and he would leave everything between the storm door and inside door. I could get milk, eggs, bread, butter, juice cream etc...And get this part...they billed you once a month and you mailed in your cheque or left it for the driver. Awww the good ole days.
Love the box! And your commentary at the end was priceless! LOL!
We had a 'milk box' built into the side of our 1963 suburban home. I remember milk being delivered there until I was 7 or so (66 now). We also had chips, pretzels, treats (delivered by Charlie Chips) for years. And dry cleaning came via 'Mr. Ed' (no relation to the famous horse). By the time I was 14 most all of these services were gone. My mom and dad still used the cans the chips/pretzels came in for their own storage. Great memories!
Oh my gosh, I remember deliveries from Charlie Chips! I couldn’t wait til the truck came every week (or was it every other week??). I loved those chips! 😊)
Oh my goodness....Summit Station Dairy is THE BEST. My brother brought over cream, chocolate milk, and strawberry milk "samplers".There are no words for how good it is.
By January 2025 will Philip be pulling a cart delivering your cow's milk to the neighbourhood?
I live a couple of blocks from Times Square, so I don’t think I’ll be needing a milk crate any time soon, but this post brought back wonderful memories, as I grew up in Connecticut and we had a milkman well into the 1960s when I was a child. We had a metal milk box (provided by the dairy, I think) and had milk delivered every two days. My mother would leave a note in the box with the empties (which the milkman would collect on his next delivery) with special requests — ice cream or chocolate milk (the best!!) — or to let him know if we would be away for a week on summer vacation. I remember being so sad when home milk delivery stopped. I love your milk box!
I'm old enough (66) to recall having milk delivered to the house. We also had eggs and bread delivered as well. I imagine it was a function of so many stay at home moms who didn't drive or have a car available.
The house was actually built in the late 50s with a milk hatch by the back door - which was pretty impractical since milk was delivered to the front door and not the back. The hatch did come in handy on an occasion or two when my parents inadvertently locked us all out of the house - it was the perfect size for a thin child to get in and unlock the door. LOL.
I remember milk deliveries in Michigan in the 60s. We were too poor, but our neighbors got them. The had an aluminum insulated box on their front porch.
Back in my undergrad days in the mid West (Lincoln, Neb. to be exact), I stayed for a bit in a house with a box built into the wall. It had a door on the outside and on the inside, both with latches. I was very skinny then, and the box was big enough that I could just wiggle my way through. Fast forward decades, when our older boy bought his first house in Hamilton, he sent a pic of a small iron door on the the side of the house that opened to an indentation in the wall and asked about it. I instantly recognized a built-in milk box, bricked over on the inside.
I love the box! Now I know what I want to do with an vintage bottlecap crate I have.
Don't have any need of it yet I want one anyway....
So, this reminded me of a decade ago story:
My (French--not that that has anything to do with anything but somehow seems like something you should know) sister-in-law was so excited when they began to (once again) deliver milk in her neighborhood. She immediately signed up AND also immediately forgot to tell anyone in the house about it--including my brother/her husband.
You all know where this is going--picture the darkness of pre-dawn early morning, dog growling, prolonged rattling at the front door. Yup, my brother offered the new milkman a cave man, bare footed, wild eyed, hair on fire, baseball bat wielding, greeting made up of threats and words that would make even a sailor blush.
Betty would have loved it.
Milkman unexpectedly changed delivery route next day.
Sheesh, some people have no sense of adventure.
I didn’t think I was that old until I read your post (almost 69).
I vaguely remember having our local milk delivered by a small covered wagon pulled by a horse, before it was replaced by a strange truck with no doors. We had a little cupboard beside the door where the milk was placed, there was a door on the inside of the house to retrieve it. Unfortunately, my fond memory of this is marred by the fact that the milkman also took the mother cat and kittens that appeared at our house. I’m sure I received a logical explanation, as the cat was not ours, but obviously I am still scarred.
I love this! I remember when I would visit my grandparents in northern WI and their milkman would even leave ice cream. Thought it was so neat and I called it yellow ice cream - obviously because it was the real thing. This DIY box is really special - great job!
Remember how you got started with chickens? Maybe be careful about wishing for cows…Though if you’re walking distance to a town common, there are usually ancient by-laws allowing the grazing of livestock in such places… though you might have to be a white man owning specific types of property like half a goat and a pitchfork.
Can I come and rummage in Betty’s garage too?
Sure! Her garage has one of everything no matter what you need. ~ karen!
Ooh, one day do a field trip to, or scavenger hunt in, Betty's garage!
So cool 😎!
Back in the 1960's I remember hearing the milk man's truck stop at our house. His truck had squeaky brakes. I also remember the gentle thud of him dropping the lid to the milk cooler. I never saw him because he came so early. Good memories!
I have a family cow, and am too far into the middle of nowhere for any food delivery, but I definitely need to make one of these- it's fabulous! Definitely better than a boring plastic cooler!
If you have a family cow you may need another 100 or so of these. :) ~ karen!
I remember getting milk delivered as late as mid to la
te 1960's but this was Roswell NM, so perhaps we had a Milkalien, rather than a Milkman
If you grew up with alien milk you'd probably glow in the dark. Do you glow in the dark? ~ karen!
Back in the 50's when I was naught but an innocent 'yoot' growing from ages 1-10, we received regular glass bottle milk and cream deliveries here on the S/W Side of Chicago. Life-long memories are made of such as this. Kudos on a practical and clever repurposing DIY that reflects the charm of days gone by. And IMHO NO, your yard is too small to graze even one cow. lol
I'll just need to resod every night. No biggee. ~ karen!
Order some hay/straw so you and Pa can do those fancy hay twists to burn in the stove for warmth. That is the coolest milk box ever! The board butter is magic. I love that your entire box is made of upcycled materials! As my mama said “Use it up, wear it out. Make it do, or do without.” Wise woman. Thanks for linking to your horror story of food delivery, too. That was a very good, and very true, story. 👏👏❤️✌️
If you want your own dairy, consider Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats... They are so personable and we get two quarts of milk a day from our two lovely ladies... They are happy in a pen in our backyard of our 1/4 acre suburban property. The butterfat is so high in their milk that we get twice the size cheese from our girls as we get when we use the same amount of milk from Nubian goats. We added our two lovely ladies after we brought laying hens to our yard after seeing your lovely chicken setup. Thank you for the inspiration.
Thanks for the goat suggestion. I was thinking of having goats for milk, also after being inspired by Karen and her chickens.
Lovely, functional box Karen. Keep being the inspiration we need.