CRESTON, B.C. — Wayne and Denise Harris watched their three children leave their dairy farm near Creston in search of education and other experiences.
Then they watched two of them return, having found the home pastures green enough.
Daughters Erin and Nadine Harris now work on the farm with their parents in the dairy and cheese operation called Kootenay Alpine Cheese Co., nestled against the Thomson mountain range near the Alberta and Idaho borders.
“It’s a pretty fantastic lifestyle,” said Nadine, 26, who moved back to the farm from Vancouver after getting a teaching degree.
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“Erin always knew she was going to return to the farm. I took longer to figure out that this was a really good idea,” she said.
Their brother, Foster, works for the City of Vancouver.
Erin, 22, graduated from the University of Guelph earlier this year and is now integral to the dairy operation.
“I love the valley here and I love the farm, so it has just always made sense,” Erin said. “I just finished my degree in ag science at Guelph, and that really cemented it. It was even more interesting than I thought it was going to be.”
The dairy farm has been in the family for 18 years but the on farm cheese operation produced its first product in July 2007. Nadine joked that when she and her siblings left home, their parents found other distractions.
“They wanted a new project. They have a disorder, where as soon as they can get more than six hours of sleep a night, they have energy to start a new project.”
Wayne and Denise had been considering diversifying into cheese for a few years and saw a niche once the farm was certified organic in 2006. They were pleased when their daughters became involved.
“It shows that they’ve got pride in their home,” said Denise. “There was no pressure, but we certainly hope it works out.”
Nadine and Denise do more of the cheese making while Erin and Wayne look after the dairy and farming operations.
They have additional skilled help from local employees Trish Woodall and Hans Bossing.
The family milks 80 cows and raises all the needed feed on 650 acres in the fertile valley. They own 100 acres and lease the rest. Rotational grazing using portable fencing ensures the milk cows receive fresh grass every 12
hours, after each milking.
The heifers receive new pasture every day or two, depending on the season.
The dairy herd is a mix of Holstein, Guernsey, Normande and Swedish Red, which Wayne notes ruefully and Erin notes with delight, having introduced the latter breeds herself.
“We’ve got quite the multicultural herd out there now,” she said.
“There’s all sorts of colours and shapes and sizes. I got Guernseys for 4-H, and I just basically decided I liked brown cows.”
Kootenay Alpine Cheese Co. produces Alpindon and Nostrala cheese. Both are firm ripened cheese modelled after European alpine styles. Alpindon is the family favourite and Nostrala has a milder taste.
The cheese, all made and aged on the farm, is sold from their on farm store as well as in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario.
It can also be found in a New York outlet, which came about after the Harrises attended the American Cheese Society conference in that city last year.
The Kootenay cheese placed second in the competition, which encouraged Nadine.
“We have thousands of years of trial and error to catch up to the Europeans,” she said. “We’ve been really lucky so far. We’ve got really good milk. Erin and Dad produce really good feed and that produces really good milk, so you’ve got a really good start for really good cheese.”
The Harrises hired a consultant to help with initial recipes and facility design. Since then, they’ve made various refinements to the product and the operation.
Now they make 400 to 500 kilograms of cheese a week, using 25 to 35 percent of the milk that the dairy cows produce. All the farm’s milk is produced within quota and managed through the milk board.
The cheese is made with raw milk and aged a minimum of 60 days before it is sold.
“Mom and I do most of the cheese making and we couldn’t make a lot more, sanely, I don’t think,” said Nadine. “We’re pretty much at capacity.”
The farm-based business is well accepted, she added.
“It was really remarkable when we first opened the shop … people would buy cheese and thank you for starting a new business here. They appreciate it. You’d never hear that in Vancouver.”
