From Dufferin Grove Market - Get to Know our Farmers and Vendors
Next in a series of "Get to Know our Farmers and Vendors' posts is Monforte Dairy:
One of the convictions held by Monforte Dairy is that agriculture is best practiced on a human scale. The human who started it all is Ruth Klahsen, a warm and wonderful force of nature (and the only person I know who will talk politics in the middle of a windstorm). Ruth is someone you just have to meet. Fortunately, Monforte is all about connections, and the market is, too. To quote Daniel (Dairy and Sales Manager, and one of Ruth's three sons), "In a world where you can buy everything online including groceries, and where for the first time never leaving your home is a real possibility, the idea of farmers' markets and the relationships behind them become more and more important."
Visit the Monforte table to taste delicious cheeses with names like Golden Child, Big Momma, and Hodge Podge, and to learn about what it takes to be a small-scale cheese producer in Ontario. Your curiosity is welcome.
Here's an example:
Q. Tell me about where you source the milks that go into the cheeses.
A. Monforte tries to source from farms with sustainable milking practices.
Q. How do you define that?
A. Animals should not be fed fermented feed or GMOs, and they should be allowed to rest between milking cycles.
15 years is the length of time some experts say it takes for a business to figure itself out, and that is how long Ruth has been making cheese. In honour of that milestone, Monforte's 2019 Coming of Age CSA is now open. That means that you can invest your dollars in the production of delicious, local, passionately-made cheese and be paid back (handsomely and toothsomely) in bonus cheese! Give Monforte some of your money now, and you will be rewarded, with interest, in cheese bucks, beginning in January 2020. Visit monforteonline.cafor more details and to sign up!
15 years is the length of time some experts say it takes for a business to figure itself out, and that is how long Ruth has been making cheese. In honour of that milestone, Monforte's 2019 Coming of Age CSA is now open. That means that you can invest your dollars in the production of delicious, local, passionately-made cheese and be paid back (handsomely and toothsomely) in bonus cheese! Give Monforte some of your money now, and you will be rewarded, with interest, in cheese bucks, beginning in January 2020. Visit monforteonline.cafor more details and to sign up!
Ruth, are you the lady who was interviewed on the news last night? If, so, what you said was bang on! Good for saying that. We love old cheese, the older the better and we’re originally from Ontario. Our son lives in Georgetown where there is a lovely cheese shop and the lady knows us when we come in to buy our cheese to take home. Unfortunately we have not been east for a year because of the pandemic. Thanks again for your comments . I hope your business survives this situation.
Louise
Do you have a retailer in the niagara region where I could buy your cheese.
Hang in there guys, this too shall pass. Love you all.
Pat