dairy « Food and Farming Canada

Monforte’s local cheese renaissance

Montforte cheese sampler

The story of Ruth Klahsen and her dairy are well-known in Ontario’s local food world.

Montforte Dairy has a loyal – and growing – following of fans devoted to the agricultural values it espouses and the cheeses it produces.

So devoted, in fact, that they have raised about half a million dollars as members of a Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) project to help Montforte find a new home when an expired lease on its previous location in Millbank left the dairy suddenly homeless.

I had the chance to visit Montforte’s brand new facility in Stratford earlier this month as part of a food writer tour in Perth County and listen to Ruth talk about her business and her passion for making truly outstanding cheese.

Oh, and sample some of the delicious cheeses too. They were rich in flavour and a real pleasure to taste…but back to the story of the dairy. Continue reading Monforte’s local cheese renaissance

Cows of many colours

Here’s another guest blog I wrote for Canadian Beef Blog recently:

A cow is a cow is a cow, right? Not exactly.

Yes, they’re all the same type of animal but there are many different breeds. For example, even though they’re both dogs, there aren’t a lot of similarities between a small white Bichon Frise and a large German Sheppard! The same principles apply to cattle.

To complicate things further, did you know that different breeds are used for different things on the farm? Continue reading Cows of many colours

Fabulous farming fotos

For anyone writing or blogging about farming, here’s a great resource for you.

One of my biggest struggles is always trying to find current, accurate and available photos to go along with articles or blog posts.

The Ontario agriculture photo library has a wide array of available photos depicting many of the different aspects of farming in our province. Continue reading Fabulous farming fotos

Dispelling dispair about the future of food and farming

In Western Canada, student enrolment at various agricultural colleges is on the rise. And an increasing percentage of students flocking to programs in animal, food, life and environmental sciences are coming from urban areas, which spokespeople at these institutions attribute at least partly to the growing public interest in agriculture and food.

Guelph’s Ontario Agricultural College hasn’t yet released its enrolment numbers for this year so I don’t know if this is purely a western phenomenon. I’m intrigued by it, however, especially in the face of a commonly used agricultural statistic — the average age of Canadian farmers. Statistics Canada tells us it’s approximately 52 years of age, which elicits hand-wringing and worry from some corners about agriculture’s future.

Yes, it’s a high number, but at the end of the day, it’s just that — a number. On its own, it does little to tell the real story of what’s going on in food and farming. So who is the farmer of the future? Continue reading Dispelling dispair about the future of food and farming

Niagara’s golden cheese

Upper Canada Cheese Company I am absolutely in love with cheese. Maybe even more so than with chocolate, although that can be debatable depending on the day.

So it was a good day this past Saturday when I discovered a little piece of cheese heaven – Upper Canada Cheese Company.

The tiny artisan creamery is located in the village of Jordan Station in Niagara Region and their claim to fame is a line of spectacular cheeses made from the milk of Guernsey cows. Continue reading Niagara’s golden cheese

Tasty and delicious asparagus pork tenderloin

I’ve already talked about my love for fresh Ontario asparagus in a post a couple of weeks ago…but it’s still in season and I’m still enjoying!

Tonight I combined it with another favourite – Ontario pork – and ended up with a delicious meal. It was surprisingly easy to make and great to grill on the barbecue, which was a must for me in today’s heat. Continue reading Tasty and delicious asparagus pork tenderloin

Plea from farmers: Save our farms

Ontario’s farmers are using a town hall meeting in Stratford today to reach out to the public. The Save our Farms forum will focus on the beleaguered state of Ontario’s farming sector and on what the future of an Ontario without farming could look like down the road if nothing is done. Continue reading Plea from farmers: Save our farms

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