Avalon Dairy

It survived the war. It outlasted depressions. It sidestepped meddling politicians, uncompromising bankers, and an unrelenting wave of conglomeration. Its values, and its iconic glass jugs, never changed. Yes, Avalon is a dairy farm, but it’s also a story of overcoming hardship.

The Man, The Myth, The Dairy Farmer

Though not much bigger than a jockey, Jeremiah Crowley was a larger-than-life ironworker-turned-dairy farmer. Born in 1875, he was seldom found without his pipe and bowler hat. He was the handiest of handymen, fixing anything that broke, and was so frugal he could squeeze the copper out of a penny. Both attributes helped carry Avalon through tough decades and shaped a dairy as proud and independent as the man who founded it.

There’s Gold In Them Cows

Jeremiah left the comfort of Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula to follow the gold rush to the west coast in 1906. While the gold rush had all but dried up, Jeremiah’s purchase of a modest farm with six cows proved to be a different kind of lucrative claim.

The Glass Bottle That Would Not Break

Avalon’s iconic glass bottle has been around since 1915. And it’s a reminder of how far Avalon has come, while staying true to its roots. But the battle to save the bottle hasn’t been easy. The resilient glass bottle survived a switch to metric 1977 and was on the ropes after tax imposed by the provincial government in 1983. Avalon’s customers rallied with 6,000 signatures to remove the tax, and two years later it was back to business as usual.

Natural Switch to Organic

Jeremiah Crowley wasn’t the only character in Avalon’s history. Gay Hahn, who had humble beginnings at Avalon answering phones, would later be the catalyst to Avalon’s switch to organic. It started with an inspiring visit to a farmer’s market in 1995. Seeing the potential of organic, and how it fit with Avalon’s values, she found a farmer with a small dairy herd that met organic criteria: cows fed on organic feed produced on pesticide-free land with no antibiotics or hormones entering the picture. So, in 1999, Avalon bought 25 cows and produced 19,000 liters of organic milk that year. Gay Hahn was Avalon's CEO until 2016. She helped Avalon produce 500,000 liters of milk per month, 60% of which was organic.