Story time..
Like a wildflower germinating in disturbed soil Cothelstone micro-dairy was born out of my own personal frustration & confusion with our industrial food systems.
After all, it is 2024 shouldn’t we all be drinking oat milk now?
My 20s were spent somewhere between vegan & vegetarian. Both uninterested in the hard-line vegan narrative yet completely confused about how to be a responsible person who cared both about the environment & the health of my family. Guided by the shiny promise of a better world I opted out of consuming most meat & dairy.
Until one day, an walk took me across the organic farm I grew up up on. Knee high grasses & herbs of every variety were humming with the sound of insects. Butterflies & birds dipping & diving amongst the native cattle that where grazing these historic pastures. The air was thick with pollen from the hedgerows & ancient trees that hummed with life.
Next door a stark contrast, a conventional arable farm growing commodity crops (the type that would often grace our fridge & table: i’m looking at you oat milk!) Peeping though the fence that was once a historic hedgerow I realised, where was the life? Where were the dung beetles, where were the swallows, the skylarks, the butterflies & bees? This sure doesn’t look like the better world I was promised.
Instead, each season brought a new round of pesticides, herbicides & fungicides clearing the ground of all life : big to small, mammals to mycorrhizal. Making room fo the next mono-crop, taking but defiantly not replenishing.
& so with that, a lightbulb moment & the beginning of a journey where there was one* answer: yep, cows!
*within the complex ecological web that they so humbly inhabit.
Est. 2022
Well, what’s next? A house cow of course! Soon the milk began to flow and upon seeing anyone; friends, family, neighbours, strangers the question was always the same..
..When can we buy some milk?
In 2022 Cothelstone micro-dairy was born. I’m lot less judgemental these days, I’ve realised farming decisions are nuanced, complex, sometimes heartbreaking & often difficult. I think that farmers are almost always doing their best. There is no single tick box solution to doing a good job. Yet I always come back to those initial commitments;
To have the absolute highest levels of animal welfare. To manage the land ‘from the soil up’ in a way that prioritises biodiversity all while producing the highest quality milk.
The morning ritual of nestling my head into the side of a warm cow at sunrise just as the world awakes will never loose its joy & priviledge. True nourishment & reciprocity with these animals who give so much more than they take.
I’m so happy to be able to share it with you.
“Rebellion doesn’t have to be loud & violent, it can happen in quiet grassy fields filled with gentle cattle”
— Edmund Sutcliffe of @conscious_cattle on visiting Cothelstone