PUTTING THE COW IN COWICHAN: A milk run makes a delicious day trip
- Cinda Chavich
- Mar 23
- 10 min read
Looking for more Canadian content in your fridge? Look for the blue cow Canadian dairy farmers logo and buy milk and cheese from local farms.
Words and Photos
By CINDA CHAVICH
It’s mid-morning on a chilly fall day and Renee Davy has just emerged from her steamy little dairy at Cowichan Station Creamery.
I’ve arrived just as she’s finished cutting the curd for her latest batch of farmstead cheese, a menu that’s as eclectic as the small mixed herd of cows grazing outside.
A farrier-turned-cheesemaker, Davy is passionate about making farmstead cheese, but especially about caring for their happy cows on this small farm in the Cowichan Valley. And, yes, these animals are clearly living a good life—when Davy steps into the pasture and whistles, the cows literally come charging over a hill to nuzzle her side, ready for scratches and snacks.
Davy and her husband Henry Rekers are just a few of the island’s small farmers who are offering unique and truly local dairy products, with small scale and organic production methods, innovative direct marketing and farm-gate sales.
It’s a way to keep these family farms viable while offering consumers artisan cheese, yogurt and fresh fluid milk with local provenance, direct from pasture to plate.
So, the next time you take a drive into the Cowichan Valley, in search of all of the great local food and wine produced here, make sure make a milk run to these small farms, for a taste of delicious dairy and a chance to meet some passionate people.
SMALL SCALE, BIG HEART
At Cowichan Station Creamery, Rekers and Davy are truly doing dairy differently — with a focus on a motley crew of friendly milk cows, some rescued, and all aptly named, that live here in spacious comfort.
Whether a classic Holstein, flop-eared and humpbacked Gyr (the Indian sacred cow) or Bill, the water buffalo, there’s a menagerie of friendly, grass-fed livestock here, all with year-round access to the variety of grasses planted on their three-acre farm.
When a calf is born, it’s kept with its mother for months until weaned. Male calves, like the two big black twin “boys” in the pasture, have a home for life here, along with the “girls” who have retired from milking.
Cows have shelter in an airy steel and fabric building, offering natural light and ventilation, and there are three live “farm cams" that let you tune online to watch their lives unfold in real time, from morning and evening milking to cows hanging out in their airy open space.
It all makes for happy animals and high-quality milk for cheese, says Rekers, and it’s enlightening to see the amount of hands-on care these farmers provide to them while producing milk for their beautiful cheese.
Davy’s cheese creations run the gamut of classic styles, from fresh curds to whimsically-named Cheddah, Svizz, and grateable Farmesan, the tasty washed rind Norrie Creek and creamy Koksilah, named for the local terroir.
Most wedges are artfully encased in creamy wax and decorated with herbs and flowers.
And they’ve installed what may be the country’s first automated, refrigerated cheese vending machine outside their farm shop — The Shoppertron — to give customers access to their cheese seven days a week.
Visit the farm store on weekends or just tune in online to watch this transparent picture of animal welfare and farm fresh food. I guarantee you'll quickly become hooked on this beaucolic connection to the real farmers who bring us fresh, healthy, local food.
MESSAGE ON A BOTTLE
You’ll pass other larger dairy farms along Koksilah Road but one that’s taking fluid milk directly to the people is The Cowichan Milk Co.
This is the latest incarnation of the vanBoven family’s multi-generational dairy business, milking cows here since the early 1960s and now processing, bottling and delivering their own milk to retailers, restaurants and homes all around the Cowichan Valley.
There’s also a large refrigerator filled with their “cream on top” milk and 10% cream at the farm gate, for honor-system sales.
Ben vanBoven grew up on this farm and now runs it with his wife Margie and son Matt, milking 50 Holsteins.
“This started with Ben’s parents and now we have the third generation, our son Matt and his wife Darby who are half owners,” says Margie, explaining how they modified their dairy business model to support two families. “We wouldn’t have done this if it wasn’t for them.”
Their closed herd is fed on own grass (no corn or silage).The new robotic milking parlour, low temperature pasteurizing facility and bottling line makes this farm self-contained for direct milk sales.
Cowichan Milk began milk deliveries in four small vans in late 2019 and, when the pandemic shut down farmers’ markets, leaving small Valley food producers struggling with distribution, they set up an online store to deliver other local food products, too. Though deliveries are confined to the Cowichan Valley and both Margie and Ben say it’s unlikely they will expand their distribution to Victoria, there's an amazing array of local Cowichan Valley food products available to customers in the area.
But many city dwellers now make regular “milk runs” to the farm to buy fresh bottled milk from their self-serve farm stand. And you can now buy their fresh milk, in their distinctive glass bottles at Victoria retail stores including Peppers, The Market Garden, Michell's Farm and Dan's Farm & Country Market.
Even as many island dairy producers struggle with high land and labour costs, lack of processing infrastructure and low margins, Ben says their “grass-to-glass” model is keeping the family farm viable.
“Dairy farms on Vancouver Island are dying for economic reasons,” he says, “but if we produce value-added products we can stay in the game. We’ve chosen to stay and work through the hurdles.”
The message, emblazoned on The Cowichan Milk Co. glass bottles is simple — “Thanks for supporting your local family owned dairy” — something that’s essential, vanBoven says, if islanders want local milk producers to survive.
HOW NOW BROWN COW
At Promise Valley Farm & Creamery, a family dairy farm near Crofton, Mark and Caroline Nagtegaal are focusing on organic, regenerative farming and the heirloom Guernsey breed of dairy cows.
It’s the island’s first (and only) certified organic dairy farm and milk processor, farming using zero-till methods that improve the soil and sequester carbon. Their small herd of grass-fed Guernsey cows naturally produce A2 milk that’s high in butterfat and beta carotene, and it’s slowly pasteurized, but not homogenized, in their “micro-dairy”.
There’s a stylish little farm shop, too, where you can buy their golden cream top milk from a milk dispensing machine, farmstead yogurt and feta cheese, all in completely compostable plant-based packaging.
It’s a unique niche and a win-win formula that proves small-scale dairy farming is viable in the Cowichan Valley, says Mark, who hopes their example will encourage other young dairy farmers to enter the industry.
The couple began their dairy farming “journey” 16 years ago by buying the 25-acre farm and selling milk into the conventional system. As first-generation dairy farmers, with the high input costs of buying land and quota, dairy farming “wasn’t making ends meet,” Caroline says, and after a decade they decided to sell their cows and quota. Three years later, they learned about the Guernsey breed at a dairy farm in Washington and decided to jump back into the dairy business.
“On-farm processing and direct marketing of our organic dairy products became the key to establishing a viable dairy farm,” says the mother of four. “It’s what we’re feeding our kids, and people are getting it. The support has been amazing.”
You may even find their organic milk in local treats, including Kid Sister ice cream pops and Gondola Gelato.
Learning about organic food production has also led them to seasonal sales of their own pasture-raised chicken and plans for raising grass-fed beef in the future. They want to stay
small and help other small, island dairy farmers succeed.
“I’m not from a dairy farming family, and if I can prove a business model that works, it merits a huge shift from where the industry is going,” says Mark. “We want to prove that if we can change our approach, small can work.”
GOATS GALORE AND WATER BUFFALO, TOO
Milking goats are also part of the island farm landscape so look for goat cheeses for your local cheeseboard, too.
Sadly, the fine selection of raw sheep and cow's milk cheeses once made at Haltwhistle Cheese on a farm outside Duncan are no more. But I live in hope that these fine cheesemakers will be back someday with their impressive selection of fresh cheese curds and spreadable chevre, creamy blue Abergavenny, alpine-style Belmont (the rind washed in white wine), Tadwick cheddar, buttery Clevedon and the signature Tomme de Vallee (goat milk) and Thombury (cow’s milk), both versions of the farmer’s cheeses of the French Alps.
McClintock's Farm raises water buffalo on a farm near Courtenay and makes award winning yogurt, "in a traditional, small batch kettle using 100% grass fed water buffalo milk and culture." You can find their Water Buffalo Yogurt in supermarkets, from Red Barn to Thrifty's.
"Buffalo milk is very different from cow’s milk as it is naturally homogenized, higher in calcium and protein, and lower in cholesterol," says Gerry McClintock. "The fat molecules are much smaller, making it easier to digest."
Tree Island Yogurt is another island yogurt maker, using grass-fed BC milk to produce small batch yogurt at a production plant in the Comox Valley, "using a traditional, slow-kettle cooking method." It's also available in supermarkets, including Fairway, Thrifty Foods, Red Barn and The Root Cellar.
A DAIRY DAY TRIP
The Cowichan Valley is a short 30-minute drive away from the city. It’s a great destination for a day trip, and whether you plan to hike along the tranquil Koksilah River and picnic in Bright Angel Park or fill your paniers with cheese for a cycling day along the spectacular Kinsol Trestle trail, visiting local dairies makes a delicious diversion.
You can head to the source and the self-serve farm stands and farm shops at Cowichan Station Creamery, Cowichan Milk Co. and Promise Valley Farm & Creamery. Or shop at the independent rural markets and delis that carry their milk, cheese and yogurt, including Sweet Meadows Market, Great Greens Farm Market and Cure Artisan Meat & Cheese, all excellent retailers of local Cowichan Valley foods.
Dairy farming is difficult — an occupation that literally requires a 24-7 commitment to the animals that produce milk, so that you can enjoy great cheese on your charcuterie board and have the white stuff in your cereal or morning latte.
With many family dairy farms closing across Canada and dairy barns standing empty on Vancouver Island, these innovative farmers are working hard to find new ways to insure we have access to local dairy, even as big companies centralize production.
Putting local dairy products on your shopping list helps.
“Support local, small dairy and voice concerns to BC milk marketing board,” says Mark Nagtegaal. “Lobby for more small-scale processing and grants and incentives for young farmers.”
“Support those who are making changes.”
MORE CANADIAN CHEESE, PLEASE!
BEYOND COWICHAN
If your travels take you further up island or across the Salt Spring Island there are other great local and farmstead cheeses to taste.
An enlightening place to collect and connect with local food is Morningstar Farm, home to Little Qualicum Cheeseworks. Not only do they raise happy, free-ranging cows here on rolling pasture at the foot of Mount Arrowsmith, they make a variety of popular cheeses and have Canada’s first milk-on-tap dispenser on the farm, where you can fill up a jug with their own whole, non-homogenized, grass-fed milk.
This farm family welcomes visitors to tour the operation, either in for a guided or self-guided tour. It makes an educational stop —watch their cows being milked in the high-tech robotic milking parlour, peer into the cheese-making room, and sample a variety of their cheeses in the farm store, then stay for a picnic with one of their cheese and charcuterie boxes.
Make sure to try one of their aged raw milk cheeses (like Mt. Moriarty) and the award-winning Island Brie, spreadables like Herbie fromage frais and the addictive squeaky cheese curds.
BoMé Cheese Shop Café makes a wide variety of cheese and has offers homemade frozen soups and German cuisine (think spaetzle, schnitzel, meatballs in mushroom sauce, goulash soup) through an online shop, to take out or enjoy for lunch in their cafe near Coombs. Big windows let you watch them create artisan cheeses — whether quark, Mount ArrowSwiss, Coombozoloa blue or Hemp Cheese — with local milk from grass-fed cows.
In Courtenay, there’s Natural Pastures Cheese Company, complete with an artisan cheese shop connected to their cheese factory. Home to a variety of cow and water buffalo milk cheeses, Natural Pastures created the island’s original Buffalo Mozzarella, with local milk, and you’ll find their cheeses for sale at supermarkets, delis and at restaurants, pubs and wineries across the province. From creamy Fior di Latte and Comox Camembert, to sharp cheddar and Water Buffalo Paneer, there’s plenty to try from this longtime island cheese maker. Island milk, too!
And if you hop a ferry to Salt Spring Island, a trip to Salt Spring Island Cheese is a must — their little cheese shop overflowing with an array of elegant handmade goat cheeses. From the creamy chevre, packed in clear tubs with fresh flowers, truffles and other savoury stuff, to the soft Ruckles with herb pesto, washed rind Romelia and surface ripened Juliette (and the Blue Juliette version), they have been creating fine cheeses here for nearly 30 years. The farm shop is open daily, year round, and in summertime there’s a café serving pizza, salads and even goat cheese cake with fruit compote. You can even join their monthly Cheese Club and have a selection delivered to your door across Canada. Or find their fine cheeses in supermarkets and cheese shops
IF YOU GO:
Cowichan Station Creamery
Cowichan Milk Co.
Promise Valley Farm & Creamery
Sweet Meadows Market
Great Greens Farm Market
Cure Artisan Meat & Cheese
Little Qualicum Cheeseworks
Natural Pastures Cheese Co.
BoMe Cheese Shop & Cafe
Salt Spring Island Cheese
©CindaChavich
The story originally appeared in EAT magazine
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