Feature photo: Nigel inspects cheese in the aging room.
ELGIN - Young entrepreneur and farmer Nigel Smith has found a way to enhance operations on his family's century-plus dairy farm by re-introducing cheese making, a craft his great grandfather once excelled in.
"The more I researched it, the more fun cheese became," Nigel says of his decision to launch Bushgarden Farmstead Cheese a few years ago on the farm where he grew up. The Smith family has farmed on Bush Road in the heart of Rideau Lakes Township for five generations dating back to the 1820s.
Nigel had been searching for a way to diversify at Bushgarden Farm, a certified organic Holstein and Brown Swiss farm led by his father, Bob Smith. Once Nigel had made the decision, he studied at the Institute of Artisan Cheese, University of Vermont, and with cheese maker Art Hill, of the University of Guelph.
The Bushgarden creamery, located near the dairy barn, is provincially licensed and inspected by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). Raw milk cheese is safe to eat when it meets the legislated requirements (provincial and federal) for manufacturing and aging. At the Smith farm, raw milk runs from the milk house directly into the creamery on cheese making days. Cheese is aged from 60 to 120 days depending on the type.
Nigel's specialties are Pilgrimage, a Gouda-style cheese, and Nauvoo, a cheddar cheese. He makes flavoured Goudas, including wild nettle, cumin, hot pepper, chive and garlic. His cheese is sold locally at Wendy's Country Market near Lyndhurst, Gordanier's Grocery in Elgin and Mrs. McGarrigle's in Merrickville. Bushgarden cheese is distributed by Findlay Foods in Kingston and retailed from Tara Foods and Limestone Creamery. Cheese is sold as far away as Ajax, Trenton and Peterborough. Nigel's wife Claire helps with marketing. The couple plans to widen their distribution as more and more people try their unique products.
To learn more about Bushgarden Farmstead Cheese visit their website and their Facebook page.
Story and photos courtesy of the Leeds Grenville Economic Development Office.
