ABOUT US
Promise Valley Farm is a family dairy farm and creamery located in the beautiful Cowichan Valley on
Vancouver Island.
At Promise Valley Farm and Creamery, we are passionate about land, cows, and nourishing dairy products.
We use regenerative farming practices, aspiring to improve the soil over time without the use of chemical fertilizer or pesticides.
Our heritage, grass-fed Guernsey cows roam the hills of Promise Valley Farm bringing you milk that is rich in taste and quality.
The whole milk is small-batch pasteurized, but not homogenized, so the golden cream rises to the top for your enjoyment.
Stop by our milk dispenser and visit our farm store for more of our delicious products.
OUR STORY
We have been on a journey! The desire to milk cows has run strong for us for as long as I can remember, but opportunities in the dairy industry can be difficult to find. Our first experience milking cows on our own was a small herd on a rented farm filling rented quota. This lasted for a couple of years at which time we had the opportunity to purchase a recently empty dairy farm on Richards Trail in the Cowichan Valley, on Vancouver Island. Little did we know at the time that this would become Promise Valley Farm. We spent the next decade milking a small herd of Holsteins under the very ingenious prefix Carmark. At this point the farm itself lacked a name and we just operated simply as Carmark Holsteins. First generation dairy farming can be very difficult and eventually took its toll leading to the decision to liquidate the cows and quota and reevaluate. This took place in the summer of 2015.
The idea of processing our own dairy products in order to make dairy farming possible had come up a number of times over the years but never really took hold. This all changed when we were first introduced to the Guernsey breed of cattle. There is a dairy processing company in Custer, Washington called Grace Harbor Farm and they produce yogurt and kefir made from milk from a local Guernsey herd. After visiting Grace Harbor Farm in Washington, and tasting their products, we asked if we could see the cattle that produced the milk to make these products. This was our first introduction to the Guernsey breed. This took place in the fall of 2018. Upon seeing guernseys up close we immediately knew that this was going to be the future for us. It was also around this time that we named our place on Richards Trail ‘Promise Valley Farm.’ So after spending some time away from dairy farming we were now planning how to reenter the industry in a completely new way.
On-farm processing and direct marketing of our dairy products became the key to establishing a viable dairy farm. This decision began the process of developing an on farm processing plant. Plans for the processing plant to be built inside the existing building that houses the milking parlour and dairy were approved in the fall of 2019. And so began the construction of what is now Promise Valley Creamery, a small on-farm processing plant that produces fresh whole milk from a self serve milk dispenser as well as small-batch, cup-set whole milk yogurt.
During the time that we have been developing the processing plant we have been learning a lot about food production. There is so much to learn but through this process we decided to pursue converting Promise Valley Farm to certified organic. Currently we are in the final year of transition and will be eligible for organic certification in August of 2022. This means that the dairy products available from Promise Valley Creamery will also be certified organic in the summer of 2022.
We look forward to opened our creamery and store in January 2022 and can't wait to welcome you to the farm!
