Celebrate our new dairy like they did in the old days
The soon to be operational Miller’s Dairy harkens back to a simpler time when, following the passing of a law in 1938 that made pasteurization mandatory in Ontario, most towns had a dairy (or two) all their own (including Creemore, which was home to both the Creemore Creamery and Hilltop Dairy). Back then, milk was deposited on doorsteps in glass bottles, to be retrieved with the morning paper while, on turntables in the living room, Chuck Berry riffs and Fats Domino melodies evolved over time into the psychedelic sounds of the Beach Boys and the Beatles.
Fittingly, the celebrations surrounding the opening of the facility will be awash in nostalgia, with antique delivery trucks and 50s and 60s themed music from Frankie D & the Dreamers providing the backdrop to the festivities.
What has been dubbed Creemore Dairy Day, taking place on Saturday, July 14, will also feature children’s activities, including a bouncy farm, face painting and balloon animals; themed meals offered by local businesses, including burgers and floats at the Old Mill House, “healthy milkshakes” from the 100 Mile Store and milk and cookies from the Bank Café (the latter two using Miller’s Dairy products). There will also be tours of the $800,000 Miller’s Dairy processing plant, with a bus being made available to carry passengers back and forth from town to the farm of John and Marie Miller each half-hour.
The facility, which is itself outfitted with retro equipment, will produce approximately 60,000 litres of cream, 1%, 2%, skim and chocolate milk each month, to be sold locally in reusable glass bottles.
“We are producing as much milk in a year as some dairies do in a day,” said John. “What we require equipment-wise is not readily available in Canada.”
Miller’s Dairy is the pilot project of the Dairy Farmer’s of Ontario’s Project Farmgate, which aims to encourage “on-farm fluid milk processing.” In setting up the business, they enlisted the help of a mentor, who advised the Millers against purchasing lower-quality offshore equipment and investing instead in refurbished equipment from the time when smaller dairies were more common.
In addition to the use of glass bottles, Miller’s Dairy will also make use of a water recovery system, which retains 80 per cent of water used when washing the bottles, in an attempt to reduce their carbon footprint.
Another environmentally friendly feature of Miller’s Dairy is the fact that deliveries will be made to only 25 (for now) local vendors, cutting down on emissions related to the transportation of products.
“The demand for locally produced food is strong in our area,” said John. “Large, corporate dairies impose disciplines and procedures on producers that are not sustainable, forcing us to sell our milk to them at lower and lower prices.”
Operating independently allows the Millers to retain control, and they believe the fact that they exclusively use Jersey cows – the farm has 120 producing milk – offers them an advantage: Jerseys have a 20 per cent smaller carbon footprint than any other dairy breed, and the milk they produce has higher contents of protein, fats, and calcium.
“The response from both the community and the market has been unbelievable,” said Miller, adding that Miller’s Dairy aims to sell 100 per cent of the milk they produce by the end of their second year of operations.
Creemore Dairy Day commences at 10 am with a ribbon cutting ceremony to take place on Mill Street, which will be closed to traffic.
All are invited to come out and “play, dine and dance the day away.”
