More than 100 Ontario-based farms and makers featured in Udderly Ridiculous Farm Market

The Alpaca and Donkey Picnics at Udderly Ridiculous Farm Life offer a picnic basket full of Ontario-made food to enjoy. (Cheryl Haskett photo)

Emily Stewart, Echo Correspondent

Udderly Ridiculous Farm Life’s Farm Market Store is a one-stop shop for Ontario-made food and gifts.

The store, part of the agri-business in Bright, carries preserves, cheeses, meats, snacks, and gift items like scrunchies and woodworking from more than 100 Ontario businesses, including many in Oxford County. Products from Hope Eco Farm Store in Aylmer, St. Marys’ Stonetown Artisan Cheese, Barrie’s Asparagus in Cambridge, Majestic Water Buffalo in Erin, and Oxford County’s White Oak Design are also stocked.

"The closest local maker is about 10 minutes away. The furthest away would be about three hours, approximately,” said founder Cheryl Haskett.

The Farm Market Store gives businesses all across Ontario a chance to sell their product and expand their consumer base. Haskett was inspired by her own experience selling Udderly Ridiculous Farm Life products.

"We really learned the ins and outs of how difficult it is to get a consumer-packaged product out into the marketplace, and so one of the things we really wanted to do is highlight these amazing makers both as locally as possible, like our neighbours, but also specifically Ontario-based.”

She added as the business went through COVID, there was a lot more emphasis on people starting to understand where their food was coming from.

"We wanted to make sure we were having that conversation with our guests, and we just continued that on so every year, we try to find more and more makers to add on.”

Supporting businesses across the province is also essential to keep the Ontario agriculture sector thriving.

“It takes a lot of farms to make our food system,” Haskett said. “It takes a lot of us to build our economy and being able to support Ontario farms and Ontario makers is a really cool thing and of course people are understanding that now with the trade war in the US, but it's not something that should go away if something evens out in the States, you know, people understanding how to support locally is critically important to the future of farming in Canada."

Udderly Ridiculous Farm Life also curates picnic baskets full of goodies for guests to enjoy as they have a picnic with the alpacas and donkeys on the property.

"That's been a really great way to taste test maybe some cheeses or meats or jellies or snacks that they may or may not have tried before, so things like nuts or the water buffalo summer sausage is one that people really, really love,” Haskett said.

As Udderly Ridiculous Farm Life is on the Oxford County Cheese Trail, there are many people looking for artisan cheese at the shop.

"People are coming and finding some cheeses they may not find anywhere else, like River's Edge Dairy,” she explained. “That's been fun to introduce people that way where they're able to have an experience, taste Ontario foods, and then pick up some to go home with."

Udderly Ridiculous Farm Life is located at 906200 Township Rd 12 in Bright and is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday and on Mondays and Tuesdays by appointment only until October. More information can be found online by visiting https://udderlyridiculousfarmlife.com.