Participants ran around cornfields and through dairy barns as part of the course and enjoyed the bounties of the dairy industry at periodic stops along the way, all the while enjoying the perfect weather and lovely views of the Nova Scotia scenery.
Courthouse Hill Farm is over 1,000 acres of prime farmland in central Nova Scotia. Owned and operated by the Blois family, Courthouse Hill Farm is one of the oldest farms in North America, established in 1784. In addition to a 140-cow dairy, the Blois family also produces blueberries, Christmas trees and works in agritourism.
The farm is operated by Barron Blois and his sons Michael, Emmett and Willem. The eldest son, Beau, is a doctor in Truro and runs a 25-head beef operation on the side.
The Milk Run is only one of the ways the Blois family contributes to agritourism. They also run an obstacle course called Mudcraft and a mountain biking course called Gorefest, which was held the same weekend as the Milk Run.
“It’s a busy time of year with so many midsummer events like that going on,” says event director Michael Blois. “But it merged with one of our other events, which is a mountain biking event, so we had two events in one weekend. They kind of helped each other a little bit. I think that next year we’ll definitely hold it again. It was a lot of fun to run.”
The Blois’ agritourism efforts are branching out with the inclusion of the Milk Run in their calendar of events.
“We’ve been running events for quite a few years now, and the Milk Run is more for families and kids and all groups and ages,” says Blois. “It was a good start to the event; I’m sure next year we’ll get more people.”
The 6-kilometer race, originally Blois’ brainchild, was intended to show dairy life in the most realistic way possible: face to face. “What will happen is that people will actually run through all the different places on a farm,” says Blois. “They’ll be going through corn pastures and hayfields and around the barn and even through the cow pasture.”
Blois says the arguments surrounding the dairy industry are what inspired the idea of the Milk Run. “I’ve always loved dairy – obviously, I’m a dairy farmer – and I’ve never seen anything like that around here, and I think there is a lot of controversy on the dairy industry,” says Blois. “That’s something else we wanted to look into and let people know how important dairy is to our daily lives.”
Blois says growing up in the dairy industry and realizing the impact it has on everyone makes it more important to be willing to represent agriculture since a lot of people don’t know about it. “Not a lot of people know about the dairy industry and where it comes from and what good things we’re doing, because we are doing so many good things,” says Blois.
The ag community stepped up to put the plan into action. “We had Dairy Farmers of Nova Scotia there, and we had a local cheese producer donate a bunch of cheese to us,” Blois says. All of the dairy products served at the race came from local producers and local businesses.
Stations were set up along the course to educate people about the dairy industry, explaining where milk comes from, how it is produced, and trying to educate people on farming methods and equipment used in the dairy industry. “It’s all about educating people. That’s what we’re trying to focus on: educating people on dairy practices,” says Blois. “We just built a new barn, so it’s actually ideal.”
Each station also provided some kind of dairy-based product like chocolate milk, cheese or yogurt. “We had lots of Gouda cheese and lots of chocolate milk and as much yogurt as they wanted and also ice cream too – that was a big hit,” says Blois. At the conclusion of the race, participants enjoyed the choice of five different flavors of ice cream topped with blueberries from the Blois’ farm.
“It was awesome from start to finish,” says Blois.
The next Milk Run is tentatively set for next September. PD
PHOTO 1: More than 50 people of all ages participated in the Milk Run on Aug. 6.
PHOTO 2: All of the dairy products featured during the race are from local producers and businesses. Dairy Farmers of Nova Scotia also attended and helped promote the dairy industry.
PHOTO 3: Contestants enjoyed ice cream topped with fresh blueberries from the Blois’ farm after the race. Photos provided by Michael Blois.
