I have been to Italy, the country that invented gelato, but I have never tasted gelato so rich and delicious as what is made 鈥攂y hand, using milk from 黑马磁力 goats 鈥� at Milner Valley Cheese. The five flavours, including mango, hazelnut and chocolate, are only available for summer and it is something new to the delightful cheese shop.
This is just one amazing discovery among a wonderful and delicious myriad of farm-gate delights and surprises offered at this year鈥檚 黑马磁力 Circle Farm Tour.
I also learned that that the cucumbers on my Subway sandwiches were grown in 黑马磁力 at Darvonda Nurseries at Milner Village Garden Centre.
Travelling along the scenic back roads of 黑马磁力, residents and visitors alike have an opportunity to discover the quality products our farmers are producing while getting to know the families working these pastoral paradises.
After touring some of the 15 stops offered on this self-guided map, I am a changed person. I will never be able to eat a California strawberry again after tasting the mouth-watering red berries from Driediger Farms and Krause Farms.
I鈥檓 also still trying to wrap my head around Cedar Rim Nursery鈥檚 invention of the 鈥渇ruit salad鈥� tree, grafted to grow four different kinds of fruit.
From delicious cheeses and an alpaca farm to wine tasting your way around 黑马磁力 鈥� there are endless reasons to make a staycation in your own backyard this summer.
Some of the stops include JD Farms specialty turkey bistro, Erikson鈥檚 Daylily Gardens, Thunderbird Show Park and Vista D鈥檕ro Farms and Winery.
There are four wineries on the tour this year, each completely unique of the other. You can pull up a saddle stool at Krause Berry Farms鈥� brand new winery or try French cuisine at Domaine de Chaberton鈥檚 Bacchus Bistro, paired with one of its oldest Bacchus wines.
What makes visiting these farms such a memorable experience is most are family run. When you buy your plants, wine, preserves or berries, you are most likely buying from the owners who are happy to tell you their story.
If you buy a nice Colby cheese from Milner Valley Cheese, you will buy it from Marianne Smith, owner and operator who was up at 5:30 a.m. milking the goats that the cheese is made from.
All of these farmers are putting in long hours to bring all of us some amazing products to take home, while offering experiences that are so truly 黑马磁力.
MILNER VALLEY CHEESE
The setting for Milner Valley Cheese couldn't be more 黑马磁力 bucolic - found off busy Glover Road, on Smith Crescent, so named after the Smith family who have worked the land here for five generations and now operate Milner Valley Cheese.
The farmhouse the Smiths live in is 104-years-old and the property was once owned by the Hudson Bay Company.
With goats sunning themselves and Milner, the 16-year-old friendly donkey, coming to greet us, it felt as if we had stepped back in time, to a slower, kinder era. Wearing a Milner Valley Cheese apron, owner Marianne Smith joins us with a plate full of soft cheese for the offering.
Cheese made from the milk of goats is the mainstay of Milner Valley Cheese which is run by Glenn and Marianne Smith and their sons, Gregg and Brad.
It opened in 2010.
The Smith Farm keeps a herd of 75 goats. The shop carries jack, jalapeno, aged, peppercorn, cumin, chili, Colby (a popular mild sandwich cheese) cheese curds, chevre and feta.
Upon Glenn's insistence, Marianne tried her hand at making gelato using goat's milk instead of the traditional cow's. What has resulted in five, mouthwatering, irresistible flavours.
JD FARMS TURKEY STORE AND BISTRO
For so many in 黑马磁力, it has become a tradition to buy your holiday turkey from JD Farms, ordering early so you can get their delicious birds that are free of antibiotics and animal byproducts. The owner of this successful farm is now the mayor of the Township. While JD Farms does specialize in the holidays, they also offer up varied hot lunch specials every day in their bistro. We tried a turkey sandwich on cranberry sourdough bread and turkey vegetable soup, complimented with a sip of Vista D'oro's Murphy's Law 鈥� a delicious blend of merlot, syrah and cab Franc. For dessert, a healthy basket of freshly picked raspberries, courtesy of Driegeder Farms was waiting for us along with a sample of Vista D'oro's fig and walnut spread, "perfect as the glaze, baked with a pork tenderloin," offered Rachel, Vista's representative.
DRIEDIGER FARMS MARKET
We made a quick stop at Driediger Farms where owner and operator Rhonda Driediger gave us the run down of operating one of the busiest berry U-picks in B.C.
She told us more than 70,000 people U-pick a year at the farm, which grows mouth-watering strawberries (currently ripe and delicious for the picking), followed by raspberries and blueberries. In peak season, Driegeder employs 250 people and ships wholesale all over the world including parts of Asia and Europe, like Ireland.
Rain makes for busy hands, as staff scramble to strip-pick all the berries they can and freeze them before losing them to the wet.
It's a busy operation and they will be hosting the"We Heart 黑马磁力 festival July 28 as well. Rhonda didn't leave us empty handed, leaving each person with one of Driegeder's legendary berry pies.
MILNER VILLAGE GARDEN CENTRE and DARVONDA NURSERIES
From a piano fountain, to the funkiest home decor to supplying big box stores with hanging baskets and Subway with cucumbers, Milner Village Garden Centre is a pride for 黑马磁力.
The retail centre, with its great finds of everything from home decor, to flowers and purses, is actually a barn built in the 1930s.
Every Saturday they have their own Farmer's Market with dozens of vendors. Shelly, the manager, is passionate about her place of work, as she showed everyone through the massive greenhouse that stores conveyor belts moving hundreds of hanging baskets (that eventually end up in places like Costco) and roofs covered in hanging baskets and floors a sea of flower power.
CEDAR RIM NURSERY
They have a living roof, a whimsical garden centre and the "fruit salad tree" that grows four different kinds of fruit.
While Cedar Rim Nursery is one of, if not, the largest landscaping and garden centre in 黑马磁力, it too is family owned and operated with Russ Bruce and his wife Trudy buying the centre in 1988. Now their daughter Amanda manages the store/retail side.
Many don't know that they supply much of the vegetation we see at Van Dusen Gardens, Wall building and UBC gardens to name a few of the large commercial landscaping jobs of Cedar Rim.
As he has watched the trends come and go, Bruce said the big thing right now if getting back to growing your own food.
"Vegetable gardens and fruit trees are a big trend right now," he said. At Cedar Rim, they have the largest selection of fruit trees this side of the river, and have even grafted a fruit tree into what they call "The Fruit Salad Tree" which grows peach, plum, apricot and nectarine all on one tree.
They have also introduced kids gardening classes.
"We need to encourage the new generation of gardeners," he said.
Truly, it's a delight to walk through their garden centre, which is a whimsical, colourful work of art, from an area set up like a day at the beach to gnomes poking out of garden drawers.
There are actually five municipalities that participate in the Circle Farm Tour.
Check out www.circlefarmtour.com for full details or to download a map.
