Life on the Farm with Colleen Cruze

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Welcome everybody to another episode of Connect the Knox.

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I'm Julia Hurley, your host, Connecting Knoxville to the Nation.

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Today's episode is with Colleen Cruze, owner and creator of

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Cruze Farm, and I have so many things I personally want to

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share with you all across the nation about this organization.

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If you didn't see our TV series Selling Knoxville with them this episode,

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please visit our YouTube channel and take a look at that wonderful entry

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level conversation to Cruze Farm because it was only a five minute segment,

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but I've got her for 30 minutes, so everybody please welcome Colleen Cruze.

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Thanks, Julia.

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I think you're great.

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I think everything your family does is great.

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I think everything you all do is great.

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So please introduce yourself and start with the story of Cruze Farm.

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So my name is Colleen Cruze.

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Cruze Farm started with my parents, Earl and Sherry Cruze.

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They got married back in 1980, and my dad's a fourth generation dairy farmer.

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All the people in his side of the family milked cows.

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That's all they knew how to do.

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That's all they loved.

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And so they just kept milking cows and passing it down to the next generation.

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My dad had this dream to bottle milk.

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He really wanted to just take the business a step

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further, and put milk in a bottle with his name on it.

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And he met my mom, and she is the biggest cheerleader.

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And she said, "Hey, what's stopping you?"

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So they worked really hard together, built

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a bottling plant, just like brick by brick.

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He laid all the, the blocks built, built the building.

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Mom read all the rules and got the license,

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and they started bottling milk back in 1981.

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Yeah, so mom got the license to bottle milk.

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So it took them one year.

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They started bottling milk.

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What happened after that?

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They're like, okay, now how do we sell milk?

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So they've tried to figure out how to sell milk.

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They sold it door-to-door.

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They sold it in grocery stores, and it was a struggle.

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They ended up stop- they stopped bottling milk

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because they weren't able to really make ends meet.

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They always kept milking cows, and then eventually in 1992, they

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started making ice cream, and they were like, "Oh, this is great."

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Like people love ice cream.

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My dad made the ice cream, my mom sold at the market, and

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that's when I kind of was introduced to our business really.

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I was about five years old and grew up in an ice cream shop and loved it.

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Loved, um, making people happy with ice cream and meeting people

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from all over the world and really fell in love with that.

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My parents ended up closing the business

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because they didn't have a lot of employees.

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So it was like, my dad was at the farm all the time.

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My mom was at the store and it just wasn't the best for their relationship.

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They closed the store and just took it back to the farm and kept

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bottling milk, but really just, very, very small amount of milk.

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And I went to UT.

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I moved to campus and they would call me and be like, "Hey,

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can you come home on the weekends snd bottle of milk?"

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So I did, I'd come help them, and, you know, I had thought about maybe

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coming back after graduating, but thought the grass was greener out there

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and didn't really find any greener grass, but really I just missed it.

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I miss farm life.

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I missed the physical work of farming and just being around my

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family, and I also just getting to move to campus, I had- I was far

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enough away to really appreciate what my parents had built and done.

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They put a lot of work into this business and our family, a lot of love.

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Um, dairy farming is a really unique culture.

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When you grow up on a dairy farm, the cows are milked twice a day, every day.

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It's milked- their milked before you eat

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breakfast, before you open Christmas presents.

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It's like, this is, it's a great way to raise a family.

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It's a great way.

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I loved growing up on the farm and the values that taught me.

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I really wanted to continue what my parents had started.

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And so I entered a business plan competition my senior year.

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Well, that's exciting.

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At UT?

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Yes.

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And so, um, it's through the Anderson Center, the Graves

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Business Plan Competition, and I ended up winning $5,000.

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I got first place.

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And my dad was like, wow, he was really impressed.

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And so he said, "You should name it Cruze Farm Girl."

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And so I was like, okay.

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You know, he was like, you should do this.

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You should make ice cream.

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I think it really proved to him a little bit when I won the competition,

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and my mom was always cheering me on to do it the whole time.

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So, the day I was supposed to walk at UT, I was churning

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ice cream with my dad, and we made our first batch together,

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and I took ice cream to the farmer's market and sold it.

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And with that $5,000, I bought a pallet of

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branded ice cream pints that were Cruze Farm Girl.

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So that's a long story, but that's kind of how the

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business kind of transitioned from my mom and dad to me.

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Still, you know, it's a small business, but it's still changing and growing.

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And I ended up meeting my husband not, uh, pretty, pretty soon

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after that and he, uh, that was something I really wanted.

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I wanted to get married and have kids, and I didn't see

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how I was going to be able to carry on my dad's business,

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but also like, you know, bringing a man into the business.

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I just, it didn't see how it was all going to work together.

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And it was, it did better than I could have

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ever planned, and I really am thankful for that.

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So, um, and I ended up hiring Manjit.

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That's my husband, and he was my first cook in our food truck.

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So he cooked the food, and I scooped the ice

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cream, and we did that for several years.

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And uh, then we had a baby, and then before I had our

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second child, I was like, we've got to open a store.

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Like we can't be going to the market every Saturday.

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It's just, it's a lot to try to haul down and get, get it back.

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And so we opened a pop-up shop, and that's

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how we kind of learned how to run a shop.

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That was on Union Avenue.

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So downtown used to be just right, it's right next to JC Holdway Restaurant.

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That was our first pop-up.

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Yes.

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I know that everybody watching this to have a clue at all,

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what we're talking about, but I was like, I don't remember

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this, but when you said I know exactly where you are.

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Yes.

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Yeah.

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So we, I got a 10 week lease there to sell

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ice cream and had no clue how to run a shop.

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But it was like, let's just, I mean, I had been

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doing the food truck, but it's, it's different.

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And so I learned a lot and was able to kind of take what

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I learned and opened another pop-up shop the next summer.

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And then ended up opening a permanent store after the second pop-up shop ended.

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And now we have, we have four ice cream shops and

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a pizza place, and, um, and it's been a lot of fun.

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It's been, it's been a good journey.

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[laughs]

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One of the best stories that I think I have

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ever told about a business in Knoxville.

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Meeting your family was genuinely like past meets future, and I don't

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know if the experience that people across the country crave when

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they come to the South, they want to see authenticity, they want to

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see locality, they want to see people who are from here, stay here,

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and be here, and teach them something, and be part of something.

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And your family is one of those families that has literally been here

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and started something and closed something and started something and

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closed something and sacrificed to make sure that the rest of us,

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who wake up every day and put Cruze Farm in our milk, or you know,

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Cruze Farm milk in our coffee every morning, or we have a coffee

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milk, which I should not be drinking, but I probably have four a week.

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Um, it's [laughs] so good.

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It's so good.

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But the sacrifice that your family has made for the rest of us here to

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enjoy this local, this local product, and you've built something out of it.

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You've built a place that people can come and enjoy it.

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And now the pizza parlor that you've built onto, which by the

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way, is some of the best pizza I've had in Knoxville, and I

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know that I'm not going to mention any other businesses name.

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I know there's three here that other people swear by, but I'm telling

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you if you've not had Cruze Farm Pizza, y'all are missing out.

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So tell us a little bit about the growth of the farm.

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I know you had the story that you told about having the idea of having

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the store on the farm and how you actually listened to the locals.

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Tell us the story of how that got created.

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So one thing that's great about a farm is that you can't move it,

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you know, so like I think when you're saying like about us like

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staying in this area, it's like we're so rooted in this area we can

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never really move this business, but because we haven't moved the

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business I've really felt like the community has supported us so much.

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Like every time we open a store I'm always so surprised that when people show

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up on the first day like I'm like, overwhelmed with emotion, but it's like

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the community really does support us, and that's just an amazing relationship.

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So when I wanted to open a store, I was like,

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I just assumed I would open it on the farm.

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I didn't, I couldn't imagine anywhere else I would put a store.

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I also didn't realize our neighbors didn't want it.

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They were like, "Oh no, we don't want traffic.

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No, no, no."

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And so I was like, "Oh, I had no idea."

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Um, I was, you know, kind of sad.

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I was like, oh gosh, got my feelings hurt.

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Like, y'all don't want me to put an ice cream shop right here.

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We- y'all can come over and I'll make, you know, scoop ice cream for you.

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And uh, no, no, we just, we don't want any more traffic.

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So I was like, okay, I get it, and that, and I'm like, I, it is so important.

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It's more important to have a good relationship

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with your neighbors than to just do what you want.

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So I was like, all right, we won't do it there.

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That's really why I started in the farmer's market downtown

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Knoxville was I was like, okay, I'll just go to the market.

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And so I ended up building customers in downtown

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Knoxville, and that store in downtown is our busiest store.

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So I'm so thankful that our neighbors pushed me.

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They challenged me.

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I would have been really comfortable just opening a store on

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the farm, but I don't think the business would have been able to

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grow as it has if I hadn't, they hadn't pushed me to downtown.

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Which I was a little scared to go downtown to a

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new area, new community and sell ice cream to.

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And, and they've, Um, Downtown responded really well to

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us coming there and, um, met people from all over when,

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you know, now that we have that community in Downtown.

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So, we still don't have a store on the farm, and I don't plan to.

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I think it's, um, it's probably better that way.

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So, I'm, I'm glad that my neighbors challenged me, [laughs]

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and, um, I'm glad that we listened to them.

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Your farm, though, where the, where the ice cream shop is and the pizza shop.

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It's not that far away.

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It is not.

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So it's the closest location to the farm, and it's in the Forks of the River.

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So it's in an area that's very developed, but

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all of this development used to be farmland.

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So my dad actually grew up on this road, milking cows, and he would bring

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me here as a child and be like, you know, "Look at that pile of rocks.

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That's where I used to milk cows," and he would cry because he, like, missed.

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He just, like, wanted to be able to walk out

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there and show me exactly where he milked cows.

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And so, because he was so sad about, you know, not being able to go

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see where he grew up, he put a conservation easement on our farm.

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So, we have 550 acres that's conserved that can never be developed.

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And, you know, my parents hope is that we'll just

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continue, they'll pass it on to the next generation.

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They have 13 grandchildren, and they hope that,

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they don't expect everyone to love farming.

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It's not for everybody, but they assume someone at one of them, now 13,

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[laughs] might want to farm, and there's a farm there for them to, um, to do it.

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Because that is probably the biggest challenge of getting into farming is land.

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Land is so expensive, and, um, you know, my dad was- he sacrificed a lot.

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He, you know, he still, he just, he doesn't spend any money.

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He just doesn't want anything, and so every penny he's

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made, he saved and put it back into land, which seems

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like it would be, um, it's a great idea, but it's hard.

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It's harder to maintain land than people, it really is.

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It really is.

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So, but yeah, this location is really close to the farm and our neighbors.

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See, the neighbors still get the ice cream.

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00:11:08,165 --> 00:11:09,614
It's not right on the farm.

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00:11:09,844 --> 00:11:11,775
Yes, everybody's happy.

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00:11:11,885 --> 00:11:15,785
So, tell us about the new venture you all have a, uh, an event venue.

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Yeah.

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So, okay.

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My mom used to be kind of, I guess, I kind of took her job in a way,

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00:11:21,439 --> 00:11:24,489
I would say, where she was doing the marketing and bottling milk with

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my dad, and then I took her job and she needed her own thing to do.

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00:11:29,139 --> 00:11:29,479
So she did.

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00:11:29,619 --> 00:11:33,629
She opened like a wedding venue on the farm, and she

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00:11:33,629 --> 00:11:36,399
absolutely loves helping people get married at the barn,

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and I'm really happy for her that she's got this fun job.

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My parents just love to work.

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Work is fun.

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So that's what she's been doing.

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She's awesome.

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00:11:44,329 --> 00:11:47,089
She's been getting people married on the farm and it's real pretty.

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00:11:47,109 --> 00:11:47,819
You went there.

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00:11:48,129 --> 00:11:50,009
Yeah, everything about your farm is gorgeous.

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00:11:50,179 --> 00:11:51,079
The cows are gorgeous.

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00:11:51,549 --> 00:11:54,069
Everything, everything when we were there, I was just so impressed.

255
00:11:54,069 --> 00:11:54,899
It was so beautiful.

256
00:11:54,999 --> 00:11:58,719
The culture that your family has created in Knoxville and the way

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00:11:58,719 --> 00:12:04,669
that Knoxville has embraced your company has been really great to see.

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00:12:04,699 --> 00:12:07,479
Cause Knoxville's not always welcoming, you know, we don't love

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00:12:07,529 --> 00:12:11,939
everything, and watching Cruze Farm be a local farm, a local,

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00:12:12,049 --> 00:12:15,829
locally owned, locally farmed, everything is there, you create

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00:12:15,839 --> 00:12:18,949
all your own flavors, everything is so fresh, it's amazing.

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00:12:19,149 --> 00:12:21,029
Are you, are you gonna release a pumpkin?

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00:12:21,259 --> 00:12:22,369
Oh, absolutely.

264
00:12:22,369 --> 00:12:22,689
Yes.

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00:12:22,759 --> 00:12:23,259
I'm on it.

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00:12:23,329 --> 00:12:24,249
I'm coming to visit.

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00:12:24,300 --> 00:12:26,810
We got some really good pumpkin ice cream.

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00:12:27,159 --> 00:12:31,310
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269
00:12:31,959 --> 00:12:35,569
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00:12:36,259 --> 00:12:39,420
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00:12:40,509 --> 00:12:45,680
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00:12:51,279 --> 00:12:52,789
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00:12:53,879 --> 00:12:55,680
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275
00:12:56,979 --> 00:13:00,160
I loved when you mentioned authentic because, um, I didn't, I didn't

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00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:03,890
take any marketing classes, and I was talking to my mom, it was many

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years ago about, like, marketing, and she was like, "People just want

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00:13:07,319 --> 00:13:12,060
authentic, Carleen," like, "just be, do you and do our, our family

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00:13:12,060 --> 00:13:16,550
and farm and just always be authentic and people will respond to it."

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And she's right.

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People really do crave just authenticity.

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That woman has it together, let me tell you.

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So, and you know, you lived with her, but I met her for a day,

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00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:28,439
and one of the most hidden gems of Knoxville, I would say.

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00:13:28,439 --> 00:13:29,280
And you're not very hidden.

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00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:30,990
You do have four amazing stores.

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Tell everybody where those are.

288
00:13:32,300 --> 00:13:34,219
Okay, the one you mentioned that's near the farm is in

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00:13:34,219 --> 00:13:37,050
the Forks of the River in East Knoxville off John Sevier

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00:13:37,069 --> 00:13:40,439
Highway, and this was our first store that we opened.

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Then we opened a pizza place right next to it.

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And then we opened our downtown Knoxville location,

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00:13:46,134 --> 00:13:49,014
which is our busiest store right on Gay Street.

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We love being in the Miller's building.

295
00:13:51,534 --> 00:13:54,764
Um, it's got a real fun, fun atmosphere there.

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Then our, our third location we opened was Sevierville,

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and that's, yeah, right across from Tanger Outlets.

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00:14:00,634 --> 00:14:04,344
That was fun because my parents always dreamed of owning a shop in

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Sevierville, and we actually had a little store in the flea market growing up.

300
00:14:07,414 --> 00:14:09,954
I used to love scooping ice cream in that flea market.

301
00:14:10,414 --> 00:14:15,479
[laughs] and, um, so it's kind of cool that we now have a shop in Sevierville.

302
00:14:15,529 --> 00:14:17,419
And then our last one is in Morristown.

303
00:14:17,519 --> 00:14:18,939
You ever go up to Morristown much?

304
00:14:19,129 --> 00:14:19,489
I do.

305
00:14:19,489 --> 00:14:20,929
It is growing.

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00:14:21,089 --> 00:14:23,429
Morristown's got some really nice people.

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00:14:23,429 --> 00:14:26,789
We've got some really great employees up there that we just love.

308
00:14:26,899 --> 00:14:28,549
I just love, I love your story.

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00:14:28,579 --> 00:14:30,109
I love everything about your family.

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00:14:30,110 --> 00:14:30,889
I love the farm.

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00:14:30,999 --> 00:14:34,089
I'm a little biased because I got to be on the farm and eat the

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00:14:34,089 --> 00:14:38,604
food, milk the cows, and really experience it, but I feel like that

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00:14:38,604 --> 00:14:42,524
is something that more people in Knoxville experience every day,

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00:14:42,524 --> 00:14:45,185
and they get to talk about it and they get to share that experience.

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00:14:45,204 --> 00:14:50,024
They get to share this local commodity with people from out of the area.

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00:14:50,154 --> 00:14:53,004
And I think you would be very surprised when I ask people

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00:14:53,004 --> 00:14:56,364
on this podcast, where's the one place that you take people

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00:14:56,534 --> 00:14:59,674
when they visit here that they don't know about or that that

319
00:14:59,704 --> 00:15:02,704
is a secret, and Cruze Farm is always one of those places.

320
00:15:03,185 --> 00:15:04,214
It's always on that list.

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00:15:04,555 --> 00:15:07,524
So I think that's really cool to have like that top five

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00:15:07,524 --> 00:15:08,844
list that Cruze Farm is always

323
00:15:08,844 --> 00:15:09,444
one of those spots.

324
00:15:09,474 --> 00:15:10,194
I love that.

325
00:15:10,204 --> 00:15:11,034
Thank you.

326
00:15:11,194 --> 00:15:14,654
Tell us something about you or your family or your

327
00:15:14,664 --> 00:15:17,494
food or your ice cream that people may or may not know.

328
00:15:17,545 --> 00:15:20,709
One thing is um, That's kind of surprising, I think,

329
00:15:20,709 --> 00:15:22,869
is that we're the only dairy farm in Knox County.

330
00:15:23,039 --> 00:15:27,369
And so I hate that because it's, I'd love, I wish

331
00:15:27,369 --> 00:15:28,979
there was a bunch of dairy farms around here.

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00:15:28,979 --> 00:15:32,519
We would love to have a more of a community, really, of dairy farmers that we

333
00:15:32,519 --> 00:15:36,419
could even, you know, work with if we ever wanted to grow the business further.

334
00:15:36,419 --> 00:15:40,564
I've always, But the way to do it is not for us to milk more cows, but maybe to

335
00:15:40,564 --> 00:15:44,724
find other dairy farming families that we could buy milk from and support them.

336
00:15:44,724 --> 00:15:47,834
Because the issue with, you know, why dairy farms are

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00:15:47,834 --> 00:15:51,544
closing is they're not able to sell milk for enough

338
00:15:51,724 --> 00:15:55,714
money to make it a break even or profitable business.

339
00:15:55,724 --> 00:15:59,694
So you actually end up losing money dairy farming, and when you work that hard,

340
00:15:59,694 --> 00:16:03,394
it's just, uh, that's, it's just kind of crazy to work that hard and lose money.

341
00:16:03,394 --> 00:16:05,534
So I don't think a lot of people don't know that.

342
00:16:05,774 --> 00:16:06,834
What else would they not know?

343
00:16:06,834 --> 00:16:09,394
I don't know, but Jersey cows, we always do try to

344
00:16:09,394 --> 00:16:10,944
talk about it, but I still don't know if they know.

345
00:16:10,944 --> 00:16:15,804
Jersey cows are beautiful, like you said, beautiful brown cows, long eyelashes.

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00:16:16,255 --> 00:16:17,604
They're a smaller dairy breed.

347
00:16:17,625 --> 00:16:19,754
So I think when people think of a dairy cow,

348
00:16:19,765 --> 00:16:22,425
they think of the black and white, uh, Holsteins.

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00:16:22,704 --> 00:16:25,354
So like the Chick fil A mascot and they are

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00:16:25,354 --> 00:16:28,244
the most popular dairy cows in the country.

351
00:16:28,414 --> 00:16:31,774
Because they give more milk since they're larger that the milk.

352
00:16:31,864 --> 00:16:32,954
They just get more milk every day.

353
00:16:33,474 --> 00:16:38,094
But our cows give a higher butter fat percentage than any

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00:16:38,094 --> 00:16:40,914
other dairy breed, which is perfect for making ice cream.

355
00:16:41,004 --> 00:16:44,064
And so, and you can actually see the butter fat on top of the milk.

356
00:16:44,774 --> 00:16:46,059
So, if you let the milk sit, it'll give you a better taste.

357
00:16:46,209 --> 00:16:48,839
The cream floats to the top and you just shake it up.

358
00:16:49,030 --> 00:16:51,209
So that's a, it's not homogenized.

359
00:16:52,609 --> 00:16:53,640
I really like it.

360
00:16:53,790 --> 00:16:55,839
I'd like to pour it off into my coffee.

361
00:16:56,069 --> 00:16:58,179
Those are a couple of things I think people don't realize.

362
00:16:58,339 --> 00:17:01,589
I think that they may think we're a larger business than we are.

363
00:17:01,599 --> 00:17:05,520
We really are a small business and it's funny how I think you just don't

364
00:17:05,529 --> 00:17:07,819
realize how when you look at a business, you might think it's a really

365
00:17:07,829 --> 00:17:11,270
large business if they've got, you know, but we're just, we're pretty small.

366
00:17:11,270 --> 00:17:13,960
We've got a lot of employees because they work.

367
00:17:14,195 --> 00:17:15,304
A lot of part time employees.

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00:17:15,304 --> 00:17:18,525
They're students, so we've got a big team of over

369
00:17:18,525 --> 00:17:22,474
100, but um, not that many of us work in full-time.

370
00:17:22,625 --> 00:17:24,014
That's so many people to manage.

371
00:17:24,014 --> 00:17:28,295
I mean, that's, that's a, that's a decent size space right there.

372
00:17:28,364 --> 00:17:32,980
Yeah, and I love that we get to give people, a lot of people, their first job.

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00:17:33,130 --> 00:17:35,759
Sometimes we get employees who have worked somewhere else,

374
00:17:36,120 --> 00:17:38,580
but a lot of times we get people coming in brand new.

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00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:43,800
And my husband, Manjit, we like had talked about this year with our team and

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00:17:43,860 --> 00:17:49,475
our leaders, like we have a responsibility of really teaching our employees how

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00:17:49,475 --> 00:17:53,734
to be professional, how, when it's time to quit, how to professionally quit.

378
00:17:53,815 --> 00:17:57,375
Like, we really want to help set them up for their careers.

379
00:17:57,375 --> 00:18:00,334
Like, okay, they can, we know they're not going to work here forever.

380
00:18:00,334 --> 00:18:03,634
Like not everybody's going to swirl ice cream forever, and we want them to

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00:18:04,004 --> 00:18:08,334
have a good start and then go on and keep, you know, building on that career.

382
00:18:08,334 --> 00:18:11,745
So, um, we've really focused on that this year on how we could do a

383
00:18:11,745 --> 00:18:15,844
better job of really teaching and leading them into their careers.

384
00:18:15,925 --> 00:18:18,135
What's your most sold ice cream flavor?

385
00:18:18,275 --> 00:18:19,405
So actually sweet cream.

386
00:18:19,405 --> 00:18:23,764
So our vanilla, we call it sweet cream, and it's most popular.

387
00:18:23,795 --> 00:18:25,274
We, we have some crazy flavors.

388
00:18:25,275 --> 00:18:30,404
Like we had last week Thai tea and ube at the downtown shop.

389
00:18:30,815 --> 00:18:34,574
And you know, ube is like a purple, a purple yam.

390
00:18:34,755 --> 00:18:35,025
Okay.

391
00:18:35,185 --> 00:18:36,034
I'll try it.

392
00:18:36,034 --> 00:18:36,685
I'll try anything.

393
00:18:36,804 --> 00:18:37,715
I know it's delicious.

394
00:18:38,014 --> 00:18:42,174
But those are like really unique, and like, I love having really fun flavors

395
00:18:42,344 --> 00:18:45,205
that people can sample, but they'll end up just ordering sweet cream they love.

396
00:18:45,384 --> 00:18:47,585
The sweet cream is like the just the classic.

397
00:18:47,725 --> 00:18:48,054
Love it.

398
00:18:48,094 --> 00:18:50,934
What's the most sold pizza topping other than cheese?

399
00:18:51,895 --> 00:18:53,835
Definitely probably pepperoni, but I just,

400
00:18:53,884 --> 00:18:55,304
you gotta put hot honey on everything.

401
00:18:55,314 --> 00:18:55,974
That's what I do.

402
00:18:56,045 --> 00:18:56,584
It's my favorite.

403
00:18:57,045 --> 00:18:58,194
Delicious pizza.

404
00:18:58,194 --> 00:19:00,255
I cannot stress enough people go to this.

405
00:19:00,375 --> 00:19:02,014
Colleen, anything extra that you want to

406
00:19:02,025 --> 00:19:04,214
add to say hello to everybody out there?

407
00:19:04,355 --> 00:19:07,455
And especially again, this goes out to people across the nation.

408
00:19:07,745 --> 00:19:09,114
Relocation, especially.

409
00:19:09,114 --> 00:19:11,445
We've got about 3,000 new residents coming into

410
00:19:11,445 --> 00:19:13,645
this area to work on the new energy summit.

411
00:19:13,875 --> 00:19:15,545
So I know that they are going

412
00:19:15,545 --> 00:19:18,165
to need a Cruze farm specialty

413
00:19:18,165 --> 00:19:20,444
pop up maybe at the Oak Ridge Farmers Market, because

414
00:19:20,445 --> 00:19:23,355
all 3,000 people are going to need your product.

415
00:19:23,495 --> 00:19:24,760
Where can Find you.

416
00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:25,870
Where can they get a hold of you?

417
00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:27,170
Where can they, where can

418
00:19:27,170 --> 00:19:28,760
they get Cruze Farm products?

419
00:19:28,810 --> 00:19:32,590
We distribute to Nashville and Chattanooga and the Tri Cities.

420
00:19:32,730 --> 00:19:34,570
If they need to figure out where to find us, they

421
00:19:34,580 --> 00:19:37,629
should just email or send us a DM on Instagram.

422
00:19:37,630 --> 00:19:39,990
We'd be happy to help them find how to, how

423
00:19:39,990 --> 00:19:42,509
to get a hold of us and taste some yummy milk.

424
00:19:43,409 --> 00:19:44,669
I literally just thought,

425
00:19:44,789 --> 00:19:47,725
move into Cruze Farm.

426
00:19:47,725 --> 00:19:48,460
Oh,

427
00:19:48,510 --> 00:19:48,810
you're the best.

428
00:19:49,120 --> 00:19:51,639
I absolutely loved having you on the podcast today.

429
00:19:51,895 --> 00:19:54,605
Thank you for always taking time to promote your business and your

430
00:19:54,615 --> 00:19:58,225
family and being local, staying local and being authentic and being

431
00:19:58,225 --> 00:20:01,745
yourself and providing such an amazing product for everyone here.

432
00:20:01,745 --> 00:20:04,605
We really appreciate your family and everything that they do.

433
00:20:04,895 --> 00:20:06,355
Please hug your mom and dad for me.

434
00:20:06,355 --> 00:20:07,355
They are fantastic.

435
00:20:07,355 --> 00:20:08,384
Tell them I said hello.

436
00:20:08,665 --> 00:20:11,574
And all 13 grandchildren, tell them, please stay.

437
00:20:11,705 --> 00:20:12,215
Exactly.

438
00:20:12,294 --> 00:20:14,004
Please, someone, keep milking cows.

439
00:20:14,014 --> 00:20:14,615
Somebody.

440
00:20:14,715 --> 00:20:16,675
Yeah, for the next generation.

441
00:20:16,964 --> 00:20:20,975
Everybody, this has been an amazing episode of Connect the Knox.

442
00:20:21,205 --> 00:20:22,944
I'm Julia Hurley, your host, and this

443
00:20:22,945 --> 00:20:26,235
was Colleen Cruze, owner of Cruze Farm.

444
00:20:26,235 --> 00:20:26,705
Thank

445
00:20:26,705 --> 00:20:28,484
you so much for joining us today.

446
00:20:28,905 --> 00:20:30,125
Until next time.

447
00:20:30,235 --> 00:20:30,754
Bye!

448
00:20:30,784 --> 00:20:31,745
Thanks, Julia.

449
00:20:32,545 --> 00:20:34,305
Thank you for tuning into the show.

450
00:20:34,585 --> 00:20:36,695
Make sure to like and subscribe.

451
00:20:36,764 --> 00:20:39,774
Leave a five star review on your podcast player of choice.

452
00:20:40,034 --> 00:20:42,114
And if you would like information on moving

453
00:20:42,115 --> 00:20:44,665
to Knoxville, send me a private message.

454
00:20:44,944 --> 00:20:49,014
As always, this is Julia Hurley connecting Knoxville to the nation.