Proof Line Farm is no spring chicken when it comes to agriculture – the McNaughton family have been farming since the 1850’s – but the chickens purchased last year is the catalyst for the business’s next chapter.
Proof Line Farm is no spring chicken – the McNaughton family has been farming since the 1850s – but the chickens purchased last year are the catalyst for the business’s next chapter.
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After finding successful selling eggs at a roadside stand based on an honor system, brothers Mike and Steve McNaughton, and Steve’s wife Janan McNaughton, are opening a creamery and farm market on the 60-hectare farm north of London on Ilderton Road west of Richmond Street .
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“There was so much interest and people got really excited about the ideas that we had, and it just kind of fueled the plans,” Janan McNaughton said. “That was just sort of a stepping stone, (to) kind of get our feet wet, with the eggs.”
Although Mike and Steve McNaughton’s parents still are involved in Proof Line Farm, the trio are “pulling the reins a bit more,” Mike said, by expanding the farm’s product line.
Primarily a dairy farm since its inception, the farm sold milk it produced to the provincial pool, which would end their role in the process, Steve McNaughton said.
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But, a new 465-square-meter (5,000-square-feet) building, doubling as a production facility and retail space, will bring Proof Line Farm’s dairy closer to home.
The three are looking at gelato as their “flagship product,” which will be produced onsite by gelato maestro Steve McNaughton.
It’s hard to be a master in ice cream without a degree so, two years ago, Steve took a one-week course at the University of Guelph, and also trained under a gelato chef to hone his skills.
The new facility features a production area and kitchen, where visitors can watch Steve McNaughton make gelato.
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The eggs from the stand that inspired the opening of the creamery and farm market, will be available in the facility, and the milk they once shipped now will be bottled and sold as non-homogenized milk, among other products.
Janan said supporting other local businesses is important to Proof Line Farm, and products from other vendors will be available at the new facility.
“We’re trying to really focus on local businesses (and) supporting each other,” Janan said.
Proof Line Farm’s creamery and farm market will open Dec. 9 at 9 am
The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada
SOME PRODUCTS BY PROOF LINE FARM
- Gelato (chocolate, vanilla, chocolate hazel nut, tiramisu, stracciatella)
- Fresh eggs
- Farm-raised beef
- Sweet corn
- Maple syrup
- Raw honey
- Yogurt
- Smoothies
- Seasonal items
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