Alumnae helps family dairy expand
Nipissing University alumnae Marianne den Haan and her family recently opened Sheldon Creek Dairy, producing non-homogenized, pasteurized milk which is like no other found in the area. Sheldon Creek Dairy was initiated after several members of the community expressed a desire to purchase whole milk from a local farm. Luckily for the community, den Haan’s family has been in the dairy business for as long as they can remember and were ready to rise to the occasion. The den Haan grandparents owned a dairy in Rotterdam, Holland. After World War II, they moved to Canada where they worked on a dairy farm in Thorton, Ontario. After years of saving, they purchased their own farm in 1953, which the family still owns and operates today.
Operating the dairy provided a new venture for the family, where they could oversee processing as well as farming. By processing their own milk they can ensure that the milk they provide is of the highest quality and is in its whole form, no preservatives, just milk.
“Our cream-top milk products are the most supremely natural and nutritious dairy products on the market because we believe in doing less, not more, when it comes to milk,” says den Haan.
They process the milk at the lowest temperatures possible, 73 degrees Celsius for just 16 seconds then bottle it in glass bottles. The milk is not homogenized. Homogenization is a mechanical process, where the milk is pumped through a tiny orifice under high pressure thus destroying the original shape and size of cream molecules. This process disables the cream molecules from rising to the top and makes the milk harder to digest. The whole farm fresh milk naturally separates into milk and cream.
They also provide chocolate milk using their own whole milk mixed with all natural cocoa and cane sugar.
The milk for the Sheldon Creek Dairy comes from the Haan view herd that graze in the valley. The name Sheldon Creek Dairy is from the creek that runs through their farm.
A graduate of the Schulich School of Education, and Nipissing’s Geography department, Den Haan, is planning to bring local students to the farm to show them how milk is made and teach them about agriculture in Canada.