Home Delivery

We deliver in the Cowichan Valley area of Vancouver Island, and you can check if your address is included on one of our current delivery routes by entering your address here. If your address is on our route, you can proceed to create an account. We are currently delivering to the main areas of Shawnigan Lake, Mill Bay, Cobble Hill, Cowichan Bay, Glenora,  Duncan, Maple Bay, Crofton, Chemainus, Ladysmith, Sahtlam, and Lake Cowichan.

You can also follow us on Facebook for announcements of our new delivery areas in the Cowichan Valley, or email us to let us know where you'd love to see delivery service provided in the future! Signing up for an account even if you're not in our area is the best way to let us easily see where there's interest in home delivery.
We will deliver any order over $10* for a flat fee of $4.50.
*Not including the delivery fee, bottle deposits, and any applicable taxes.

Unfortunately we are unable to deliver orders under $10, but you can always come pick up milk and cream at our on-site farmstand at 4590 Koksilah Rd or at select local grocery stores.
The farmstand is open Mon-Fri from 7am-5:30pm and Saturdays from 9am-4pm (closed on Sundays). We are unable to offer products from other local producers at the farmstand.
Your order can be edited as much as you'd like until your cut-off time. Everything that's in your cart at the cut-off time will be delivered to you!

You'll receive an automated reminder email each week the day before your ordering cut-off. Cut-offs are at 8am on Sunday for Tuesday & Wednesday deliveries, and at 8am on Tuesday for Thursday & Friday deliveries.

If you need any last-minute changes, please email us at thefarmers@cowichanmilk.ca (our phone's voicemail is not able to be checked as frequently as our emails).
Recurring orders are not required - you're welcome to place individual orders as frequently or infrequently as you need. However, they can be useful so you don't have to remember to place a new order each week! You can choose a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly schedule for each individual product; for example milk could be set up to arrive every week, and peanut butter once per month. 

You can always add extra items to your recurring order, remove items from your recurring list, or set yourself to vacation mode in your account settings. It's very flexible and helps make sure you don't run out of your staple foods! 
No problem! All our customers are asked to set out a cooler (preferably hard-sided) and ice packs, whether or not you plan to be home that day. If you want to tuck your cooler around the side of your home in the shade or where passersby won't see it, just let us know by email or in your account's "driver notes" so our drivers know where to look for it.

If your order is too large for your cooler, you can also set out a lidded container like a Rubbermaid for non-refrigerated items like bread, honey, coffee, etc. All refrigerated items should be able to fit in the cooler with ample ice; our milk is pasteurized at a low temp and needs to be kept at 2°C so it can last until its best-before date.

If no cooler/ice is left out and we don't have a note from you in advance that this was intentional, we will leave your order in a thermal bag for $6. We will include ice packs in warmer weather.
As we order in products from local suppliers just for you, we have a 30% restocking fee for all products (excluding our own milk/cream/accessories) if you cancel your order after the cut-off time. 

If we arrive at your house and there's no cooler for us to leave your items in causing your order to be canceled, we charge the $3.50 delivery fee in addition to the restocking fee.
Home Delivery:
When you sign up, our system requests that you add a MasterCard, MasterCard Debit, Visa, Visa Debit, and AMEX to your account on our website. The card details are encrypted, and even we can't see your full card number for your privacy and security.

We might bill at the ordering cut-off before you receive your first order (and later provide a refund for any returned milk bottles on the day of your delivery). Typically, we bill your credit card on file on your delivery day, after crediting you for any returned milk bottles. 

If you need to send us an e-transfer for a home delivery order, please send it to thefarmers@cowichanmilk.ca and make sure that the name on your Cowichan Milk Company account is in the e-transfer notes so that we can credit the right account.

Farmstand:
You may pay at our self-serve farmstand with cash in the drop-box (no change available), cheques, or on-site e-transfers to 2buymilk@gmail.com (wifi available).
We don't usually deliver to condo/apartment buildings, but we may be able to work something out if you can leave a cooler in your lobby or packages room.

Please contact us at thefarmers@cowichanmilk.ca to discuss.
We are only able to provide our milk in our own glass bottles after they go through our bottle washer and are sanitized for hygiene and quality control reasons.
We cap each bottle with a new lid with a safety ring showing it has not been tampered with.

We are able to reuse these glass bottles many times and eventually recycle them completely. The plastic caps and safety rings can be placed in your municipal recycling.

 

Our Milk, Farm, and Cows

No. It is illegal to sell raw, unpasteurized milk in Canada. Our milk is pasteurized at a lower temperature than most milk in Canada, and you have the choice of homogenized or unhomogenized (cream-top) milk.

Please note that our lower pasteurization temperature means it is extra important to transport and store our milk at 4*C or lower to make sure it reaches its best before date. The best-before date applies to unopened bottles; we recommend consuming the milk/cream within 7 days of opening the bottle and exposing it to oxygen.
At Cowichan Milk Company we use vat pasteurization, which involves heating the milk to 63°C for 30 minutes and then rapidly cooling the milk. This lower-than-usual temperature retains a high percentage of the milk's natural enzymes and beneficial bacteria, which adds to the flavour and health benefits of the milk.
It tends to cost a little more than conventionally pasteurized milk because the process is lengthier, but the texture is creamier and has a fuller and richer flavour. We recommend consuming our milk within 7 days of opening and exposing to oxygen, even if it's still before the best-before date.

Homogenization is the process of passing the milk through a super-fine filter to break down the fat molecules small enough so that they stay integrated in the milk, rather than separating and floating to the top as a cream layer.

Our cream-top milk is not homogenized, which allows the cream to rise to the top. You also have the option to buy homogenized milk if you're not into shaking before pouring, or scooping off the delicious cream as a treat!
No. Cowichan Milk Company, like all Canadian dairy farms, is held to strict industry standards.  Every tank of our milk is tested for traces of antibiotics just like every other milk tank in Canada before it is allowed to be processed, packaged, and sold.

As we have a small herd it is easy for us to notice when a cow isn't feeling well and to take care of her before antibiotics are required. If she does become sick enough to require antibiotics we do administer them (just as we would for our own kids - it isn't fun being that sick!), and then discard her milk for the required number of days until it is clear of antibiotics. 
You can order it online and have it delivered to your door along with 350+ products from other Cowichan Valley farmers, or you can stop by our farmstand to pick up milk.

Our farmstand is on our farm at:

4590 Koksilah Rd
Duncan, BC  V9L 6N6
We're open:
Monday-Friday: 7am-7pm
Saturday: 9am-4pm
Sundays: Closed

Our milk is also carried by these great Cowichan Valley retailers.
Glass bottles are much more environmentally friendly than plastic or waxed paper cartons, and leave a truer-tasting milk. Our glass bottles can be sanitized and reused many, many times before recycling completely. Both paper cartons and plastic jugs are porous, but glass imparts no foreign odours or flavours. Unlike plastic, glass is not made from petrochemicals (ethylene glycol, polyvinyl chloride, styrene and linear low-density polyethylene). Glass also insulates and keeps the milk colder, keeping it fresh longer which is important for our low pasteurization temperature.

Glass bottles are also traditional for containing farm-fresh milk from the local family farm. We want there to be no confusion - our product is different. It's handled with the utmost care and packaged in the best container possible: glass! 
All our bottles, regardless of size, have a bottle deposit of $2.00 each.  When you return your empty bottle in good, well-rinsed condition, we will refund your bottle deposit. Please return your bottles to us (not the recycling depot!) and we will then sanitize them and reuse them for more delicious, farm-fresh milk. 

Regardless of where you purchased our milk, you can return the bottles via:

Home Delivery: Just set them out beside your cooler on your next delivery day and we'll credit your account before billing you. If you are no longer continuing with home delivery, let us know and we can pick up your bottles along our delivery route and refund you. 

Farmstand: You can trade your empties for fresh bottles of milk (charge yourself $2 for each new bottle, and take off $2 for each bottle being returned that day). Our farmstand is by honour system and doesn't have change, so we are unable to provide a deposit refund in cash.

Grocery Store: Any retail location that sells our milk can give you back your deposit, even if you're not purchasing more milk. 

If you'd like to keep your bottle, feel free to use it as a vase, a water bottle, to hold wet or dry foods, as a decor item - it's up to you! 

 

Still Have Questions?

We are able to respond to emails the fastest, so we recommend contacting us at thefarmers@cowichanmilk.ca.

If you prefer to phone, please note that we are often unable to answer during farming/milking/bottling/delivering tasks, so it's likely you'll need to leave a voicemail if you call us at (250) 710-4287. We will get back to you as soon as we can.

 


Our farmstand stocks our milk and cream, but we also offer over 400 foods from Vancouver Island farmers, bakers, and makers through our home delivery service.

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