Saying “cheese” is the common way to induce smiles for a photograph. In the Creston Valley, and for thousands of miles around, saying “Kootenay Alpine Cheese” is just as sure to elicit smiles, even with no camera in sight.

The smile theme doesn’t end with consumers, though. A visit to the Harris family farm in Lister on Saturday was a delight, because Nadine Harris never stops smiling when she is talking about cheese making and marketing, dairy cows and farming.

One of three Harris offspring actively involved in the three-year-old business, Nadine is in Creston, doing a student teaching stint at Prince Charles Elementary School. She is also looking after the farm and cheese factory while her parents, Wayne and Denise, are off in Europe to — what else? — learn more about traditional cheese-making methods.

Since building the fromagerie only three years ago, the Harris family has embarked on a mission to learn the art of cheese-making. Using milk produced right on their organic dairy farm, the family produces three types of cheese, all fashioned after products made in the European Alps.

Oddly enough, the certified organic farm ships the bulk of its milk through the marketing board, and the product is simply mixed into a tanker with other, non-organic milk. Only the milk used in their cheese gives the family farm an economic reason to use organic methods — for the Harrises, the decision to become an organic farm was largely one of personal philosophy.

In a short period, Kootenay Alpine Cheese has won wide consumer acceptance. Alpindon and Nostrala cheeses are available at locations throughout the province, in Alberta and as far away as Toronto. But it is here in Creston that the loyal consumer base started.

“We have really supportive local people,” Nadine said.

It is one thing to be successful with a local product when the Harris family is well known and respected, though, and entirely another to be able to break into competitive markets.

While Nadine was attending university in Vancouver, she built up a network of buyers by attending farmers’ markets.

“We’ve made our way to a star location at the Vancouver Farmers’ Market,” she said. “We’re right at the main entrance.”

When Nadine — or her brother, Foster, who is filling in for her during her stay in Creston — arrives at the market, at least a quarter of the product is already sold. She has an email list of 150 customers and she lets them know that the cheese will be available. They respond with pre-orders and Nadine has them ready for pickup.

Well-known Vancouver cheese sellers and wholesalers, Benton Brothers, has placed Kootenay Alpine Cheese into numerous restaurants in the Lower Mainland and Victoria.

In fact, the family received a message not so long ago: “Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush thoroughly enjoyed the Alpindon cheese” at a recent function, they were told.

The making of cheese is an ancient mix of science and art, and the family continues to learn, seeking advice and taking courses, and even travelling to Europe to get further insight.

“I want to go to work at a cheese maker’s for a few months in Europe to get more experience,” Nadine said. “That’s why teaching is perfect for me — I can take temporary positions that will still allow me to be involved in farming.”

Nadine said she became convinced that she wanted to return to the Creston Valley two years after leaving home.

“I could hardly wait to get out of Creston,” she laughed. “But now I know this is where I want to be, part of this farm.”

Her sister, Erin, is studying organic agriculture at the University of Guelph, and is currently participating in a program in England, where parents Wayne and Denise made their first stop on their current trip to Europe. Erin, too, has stated her intention to return home to farm.

In addition to Alpindon, a firm cheese modeled after Beaufort d’Alpage, and Nostrala, a Fontina- or Gruyere-like cheese, the Harrises also produce Mountain Grana. Aged at least 120 days, Grana is intended to resemble a young Parmigiano Reggiano.

Any of these cheeses would go nicely with our Local Lunch, made with locally grown and produced products.

To illustrate her enthusiasm for the cheeses she helps make and produce, Nadine points to a bulletin board in the cheese company’s sales room.

“I think that says it all,” she said.

“Cheese is milk’s leap to immortality,” says the quote, attributed to American author Clifton Fadiman.

No arguments here.