Bushgarden Farmstead Cheese

05/01/2026

Poppy has us all set for outdoor market season. This Saturday in Brockville or Sunday in Kingston.

02/06/2026

Hibernation = over. Poppy has the cheese labelled and ready for in Kingston this Sunday. See you there!

01/14/2026

We will be fully embracing hibernation season by taking January off from the . If you, like us, depend on local dairy for your winter survival, please visit local independent retailers like , , or Gordanier's Freshmart. Full list of retailers and restaurants is on our website, www.bushgardenfarm.ca. Cheese from summer milk will get us all through the winter!

12/29/2025

What day is it? Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! The weather outside is frightful but it's the best time of year to be born in a barn. Thanks for your support as we head into our 14th year of farmstead cheesemaking, our 20th year certified organic, and 136th year milking cows in this barn. We couldn't do it without all you milk drinkers and cheese eaters. Love, the Smiths

10/17/2025

There is a sweet nostalgic charm,
About an old Ontario farm,
That pulls your heart strings all awry,
A clean breath taking sweep of sky
An old grey barn built on a knoll . . .

- Edna Jaques, The Golden Road (1953)
As it appears in The Bush Garden by Northrop Frye

10/08/2025

We are fortunate to rent land up Bush Road from the Bond's. We transitioned the perpetual hayfields to certified organic and Nigel worked the middle field and planted soybeans here after the weather finally dried up early July. They hardly got any rain after that but they turned out pretty well considering. This farm is kind of special because it was the land that John and Mary Smith first farmed when they came from Ireland around 1821. John also worked as a stonemason on the Rideau Canal. The house burned in 1890 at which time their son Charles Smith and his wife Agnes Cephronia sold and moved to the current farmstead down the road. Fun cheese trivia, John immigrated first and when Mary later arrived by ship to meet him she had to make a Pilgrimage on foot from Cornwall to what would later become Bush Road. The trees behind my car in the last photo are where the burned house stood, there is still the hole from the basement.

09/27/2025

Back in stock this weekend at the this morning and the tomorrow - Pilgrimage with nettles or tomato&garlic!

09/22/2025

09/22/2025

The corn is chopped, the aging room is filling up, the pastures are doing their best to give the last of the grass milk, and every drop of sunshine and warmth is so precious. Must be harvest season. I don't want to think about what season comes next...