Bushgarden Farmstead Cheese
Bush Road k0g1e0 Elgin, ON, Canada

Gratuitous cheese video... the old, the new, and the carraway gouda.

Twilight: then and now. Same calf, same pen, still getting spoiled with pails of milk, getting chubby! From July to February. We kept so few calves this year she's still one of the babies. If you don't latch the gate while cleaning the pen, she immediately gets loose and has a free-for-all in the feed room and goes visiting with all her friends on the other side of the barn.

Congratulations go out to Seabiscuit on the birth of her 5th calf, Ian. Vera is a big help with the bottle calves.

Duncan the Angus and Boris the dog, photo credit Bob.

Then and now... Buttercup went from pretty heifer (who almost ran away to live in the Bush at one point in her crazy youth, stopped only by quick-sprinting Darlene) to mother of twins and celebrity milking cow. Stalled with fellow celebrity Red Emma, this team might not be the best millkers in the herd, but their calm disposition and good looks make them a favored duo. #holsteinxbrownswiss #redholstein #organicdairy

Well as usual we failed to make family Christmas cards/thankyous to customers/ social postings. We were too busy offline feasting and bedding down cattle. Here's to sitting down a little longer between chores with the ones you love, battening down the hatches and filling the larders, and noticing the beauty in little things. Thank you for your outrageous support for organic local family farming this year despite or because of everything. The Smith's of Bushgarden Farm wish you and yours a wonderful holiday. #organicdairy #rawmilkcheese #waxinggibbous #farmkidshavemorefun

The old Moroughan barn has a 5-star chicken coop in the milkhouse for Pretty John and his hens... but the tiestall barn is past saving. It was definitely one of the best dairy barns around back in its day but the cows left in the 80s and the hay in the mow is threatening to crash through the ceiling at moment.

Limestone Organic Creamery in Sydenham is stocked up with organic raw milk cheese again for shoppers. @limestonecreamery #organicdairy

Why are tiny hooves poking out of that heifer?

Pilgrimage is a gouda-style cheese made from the Bushgarden herd's fresh raw milk. The rice-sized curds are pressed into wheels, then they sit for a few days in a salt brine before going onto the shelves in the aging room for between 6 months and 2 years (the longest we've been able to wait so far). #organicdairy #rawmilkcheese #goudastylecheese #rideaulakes

Somewhere up here there is a new litter of kittens just waiting to be cuddled...

It's mid-November, so the leaves are off the trees, the bees are gone home for the winter, we're out cutting firewood listening to all the gunshots coming from unknown hunters in the woods..... and I guess changing to shorts! It's so hot out! Also check out the new barn we bought. Needs a bit of work...

Of course there would be loader tractor at the end of the rainbow. Bob has been on the phone to Minsk ordering hydraulic parts and trying to get the inside scoop on the revolution in between feeding the heifers. Not as fancy as the green tractors, but a quarter of the price with the opportunity to make friends behind the iron curtain. #minsktraktorworks #belarustraktor #organicdairy

Evening milking. #fridaynightin #organicdairy #rawmilkcheese

"Do I have time to chop corn before the bus comes?" #organicdairy #rawmilkcheese #harvestseason #winteriscoming

New cheeses drying out beginning to age. We've got 1 year old Pilgrimage available at retailers and @memorialmarket @ganfarmersmarket and coming soon to a Christmas near you... (2nd photo) Gouda with herbes de provence.

Cleaning crew at chore time. The cows are outside grazing and getting drunk on fermenting wild apples all day and night, just in the barn for milkings, so we dont bother with bedding on the stalls for now. Hopefully the gorgeous warm weather will carry on for a few more weeks and save us a lot of work in the barn! #organicdairy #rawmilkcheese #barnclothes

Twilight graduated from the calf pen to the small heifer yard yesterday. She promptly went through the fence, since we all know the grass is always greener there. #organicdairy #heiferlife

It's nice to have company in the garden... as long as they stay on their side of the fence! #organicdairy #grazing #fallcleaning

Finished evening milking, just a couple more chores before dinner. "Want a ride in the tractor?"

As a general rule, we don't take a 3rd cut of hay, preferring to let the plants put energy into their roots for winter and next year's growth. We might not be able to resist this luscious field of alfalfa and red clover (alright, and chicory), though. We think the cows will love it this winter and it looks like it's getting ready to go to seed! #puttinguphay #organicdairy #rawmilkcheese

Hot day for manually cutting curds. #artisan

I think the pastures have hit peak wildflower. #organicdairy #cowpath #butterfliesandbeeswelcome #rawmilkcheese

That feeling when you unload the last of the grain from the old #Gleaner combine, just before the rain, into the trailer to park in the shed because the bin is full to the top. #organicdairy

Reading the names on the pick list of orders makes us so grateful to the ones we recognize, and the cheese lovers we don't even know! Thank you to everyone who has the kept the cheese moving out of the aging room this summer by buying our cheese at the virtual farmers markets in Gananoque and Kingston. In case you didn't know you can get fresh, healthy, local groceries every week from farmers markets even in a pandemic. Put your order in today with the Memorial Center Farmers Market on on Sunday with Gananoque for contact-free pickup. Remember bumping into friends at market? Sigh.

Swathing peas and barley today. #organicdairy #openstation

Larry and the whitewashers came by today so everything was real fresh for evening milking when the cows came back in. And we finally got a heifer calf Daddy will let us keep - her name is Twilight. #organicdairy #teddybearinthebarn

The heifers come running out of the Bush when it's whey feedin' time.

Best looking cheesemaker in Ontario, as judged by his wife ;) #farmerhands

Virtual farmers markets - not as social but very convenient! Get your groceries bagged for you by awesome farmers for Thursday pickup in Gan.

Vera and the calves were wondering why the water dish wasn't working.... because Daddy and Bobba had to dig in a new water line between milkings today. #organicdairy #farming365daysayear

Everybody over on Instagram thought a reminder was helpful so I figured I should put one here too

Out with the old, in with the....similar vintage. Our milk tank was failing so we had to replace. You know, just to stay busy.

Organic weed control in the corn field and honeybees next door making sweetness from wildflowers in the milking cows' pasture.

Dairy farming: It's not for everyone. But hay, it's in our jeans.