Vendor Spotlight: Mistyglen Creamery

Since 1816, the Pettit family has been farming in the Belmont area in Elgin County. Initially starting off as a mixed farm, through the years dairy farming became the staple for the family. Tom grew up on the Belmont farm with his parents Murray and Betty, and with his sister Suzanne. Eventually, Tom and Suzanne wanted to continue the family farm and traditions; attending Ridgetown College, returning home to continue the farm, and later meeting his now wife and farm/business partner Kris. “Tom wouldn’t want to do anything else,” Kris said with a smile. “This is what he’s wanted to do his whole life.” Tom and Kris then had two daughters, Maddie and Kadie, and together they all work hard to continue the dairy family farm and traditions through Mistyglen Holsteins and Mistyglen Creamery. ​

Mistyglen Creamery officially opened in June of 2022, after almost 10 years of dreaming and planning. Their farm is considered small, with 50 to 60 active milking cows on the property, along with a small number of chickens and beef cattle. Tom and Kris were working on their farm succession planning, and were brainstorming about how to diversify their offerings while planning for the potential continuation of the farm with their girls. Kris, a geriatric nurse, wanted to eventually be on the farm full time, but she needed to be around people and have socialization, and that’s where the creamery idea came to fruition. “We started to think about on farm processing,” Kris explained while walking down the gravel driveway back to the cow barn. “It was fairly new when we first started thinking about it.” 

Initially the idea was to create a small building, about the size of a shipping container, to mirror what other on farm processing was being done in the United States. But Kris said as they thought about the space needed for a store, shipping, cooler, and more, a larger building was needed. Now, they have a beautiful farm store where they do their own on farm processing, and where they carry other local small business products as well. “We are unique because our products are minimally processed and vat pasteurized,” Kris said. “We want to preserve our high quality milk as best as possible during pasteurization and chose low temperature pasteurization in a vat, dating back to a nostalgic feel to the way milk was processed many years ago. We eliminate any processing step that isn’t necessary to make the product.” 

They offer whole milk, chocolate milk, fresh cheese curds (which come in many delicious flavours) and yogurt. The cheese curds came from an idea Kris had for fresh curd Friday’s, and their yogurt came from the desire to offer a healthy old-school fermented dairy product. The curds have exploded in popularity to the point where they are made twice, sometimes three times a week to keep up with demand. Kris said they are looking into how to make a really good strawberry milk, and maybe some flavoured yogurts. Mistyglen Creamery also carries a small amount of homegrown chickens and beef. “We try to make sure that we don’t keep too many animals on the farm because we obviously want their housing to be appropriate,” Kris said while giving a tour of the barn.  

Because they do small batch, artisanal processing, their products are a bit more premium than what you can find in the grocery store, but Tom and Kris strive to make their products accessible to their community. “We want the majority of people to be able to afford what we are making to support the local community, but it also has to be feasible [for us],” Kris explained. “It’s almost against every bone in my body to charge the most, it isn’t who we are. It’s a healthy product, we want people to eat it, and so we want to provide that to our community, so we make a fair price.” 

Mistyglen Creamery also uses glass bottles and packaging to further tie in to nostalgia, and work towards better sustainability. “Our milk is more nostalgic, so it’s cream top milk the way it was done in years passed,” Kris said. “So [the glass bottles] match the product that’s inside it, but at the same time milk tastes better out of glass and stays colder, so [the decision to go with glass] was a combination of things.” The glass bottles and yogurt jars may require additional storage and work on the farms part, but they equal less package wastage and better product storage, and look beautiful. Their milk and yogurts have a bottle deposit fee as well, so that the cost of packaging isn’t placed onto their products. The glasses must be cleaned (which is as easy as running it through your dishwasher) before they are dropped off, and returns are accepted at any location that Mistyglen Creamery products are carried in. 

In 2012 Mistyglen built a new facility which housed a milking robot, which allows their cows to go in and be milked whenever they want (with some parameters of course). Kris pointed out the cow collars, which the robots read. Each collar brings up a 3D lens and internal map of each cow and their udders, so the robot is able to attach the cups to the cows teats individually and remove them individually; something which was not previously possible with older milking equipment. The robot also monitors the cows milk production levels, and sends alerts to Tom and Kris if it senses any differences, or if a cow won’t leave the robot. Their robot is named Dorthy, after the Wizard of Oz, in homage to the two (yes, TWO) tornadoes that hit their barn in 2020 less than two months apart. Thankfully all of their cows were safe, and were graciously moved to a neighbouring farm until the barn was ready for them to move back home. Alongside Dorthy, the tornadoes inspired the Mistyglen motto of “Homespun Milk”; a joint nod to their on farm minimal processing. 

In addition to hoping to increase their product range and continue offering nostalgic and healthy dairy offerings, Kris hopes that one day she will be able to offer on farm programming and care farming for Alzheimer’s and dementia groups. Kris works as a nurse in an Alymer long term care home, and specializes in behavioural support work. Growing up her grandmother had early onset Alzheimer’s, which first sparked Kris’s interest in nursing. “Every memory I have of her was with some kind of memory loss, and then when she got to the later stages there were more behaviours that came with it,” Kris explained. “I found it fascinating, and I still do. Everyone is different and ever dementia is different with what they need.” It is clear that alongside the farm and creamery, this is a passion for Kris. Her eyes lit up as she explained how farmers and people who grow up in rural areas have a unique culture, one which doesn’t always fit the typical long term care home day programming activities. “When you develop dementia you really need to speak to those [cultures],” Kris said. “Not everyone wants to sing songs, or play bingo, and not everyone wants to go into the city for a day program, so this [farm programming] would be unique. I feel like if they come to the farm they are being active, they’re still engaging their brain.” Unfortunately there is currently not much offered for programming that speaks to rural culture, but Kris hopes that more passionate people like her will continue to work towards it. Kris has already started doing farm tours, for the public and for long term care homes, classes, and clubs, where you can ask questions, meet the cows, and watch the milking robot. They have times and tickets available on their website, but you can also reach out to Kris to inquire/book larger class/group tours. 

Mistyglen Creamery has been coming to the Horton Farmers’ Market since the opening of their creamery in 2022. “It was actually the first market we had experienced, and it’s funny because when we went to another market we realized how spoiled we were with the family atmosphere at the Horton Market,” Kris said with a smile. “First of all it’s a farmers’ market, which is fabulous, but there’s a family feel to it that you can’t really get in other places.” Kris said that getting to know other farmers and vendors at the market has been a huge positive for them, and has led to some collaborations as well, like their limited edition cottage cheese pierogie with fellow Horton Farmers’ Market vendor Yashkas Pierogies. Most Saturday’s you will see Tom and Kris’s oldest daughter Maddie manning the booth, with an incredible selection of their curds, milk, yogurt, cheese, and premade products.

​Kris said the community support for Mistyglen Creamery has been “fabulous”. She spoke about how thankful she is for the Horton Farmers’ Market as a place where customers can get to know their family and their farm. “The Horton Market has allowed us to basically become very well known in the St. Thomas community, and I don’t think we would have gotten that without Horton,” Kris proudly smiled. “St. Thomas is our community along with Belmont.”

Paige Palmer

Paige is happy to be joining the St. Thomas Economic Development Corporation as their 2024 Summer Marketing Assistant. She is completing her undergraduate degree this summer with a double major in Media and Communications Studies and Thanatology at Western University and King’s University College. She is excited to help to promote local vendors and businesses this summer, and is looking forward to trying all the delicious and unique produce and products at the Horton Farmers’ Market this summer! Outside of work and school she loves spending time learning about nature, animals, and gardening.