The Farm House Natural Cheeses: Circle Farm Tour

Continuing the Circle Farm Tour series from my adventures last week in the Harrison/Agassiz region, our next stop was The Farm House Natural Cheeses.

“The family farm is a great thing,” said owner Debra Boyes when we had our tasting. The farm hosts a retail shop so people can come and buy their cheese directly from Farm House and Debra says meeting the people who enjoy their product is key when it comes to being part of the community (and running a business).

The Farm House offers up hand-made cheeses made from goat and also cow milk and we were informed about procedures, milking, the differences in the cheeses, and were able to get some tasty samples.

I have to say that the Farm House Cheddar was definitely my favourite but the Alpine Gold isn’t too far behind in my books and I know John would love their Gouda.

We were also told that the Yew restaurant in downtown Vancouver’s Four Seasons Hotel make their macaroni and cheese with the Farm House Cheddar — something I would be very interested in trying now that I’ve seen where it all comes from… and had a taste from the source. Debra also told us that her La Pyramide was also recently served at the White House.

One of the best parts about The Farm House was not only to see how passionate and professional the owners are, but to also be able to walk around and see the animals themselves. Debra said her cows and goats are very “stress free” and given the lovely setting and the great facilities I can see why. We had the chance to meet some of the goats and they seemed very friendly.

You can stop by The Farm House [Google Map] to pick up your cheese from their store or for one of two tours: a cheesetasting with the cheesemaker, or for an interactive farm tour plus tasting.

Debra is also set to do an event with Books to Cooks next week but I believe it’s already sold out. You can however pick up her book 200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipes from your nearby book store.

You’ll also notice that when you do the Circle Farm Tour and stop by all of these unique places filled with talented and passionate community members that they’ll reference each other or each others products. The support system for the farms out in this area seems really strong and it just made my experience that much more enjoyable.