Arva Flour in South West Ontario

Happy 200th birthday to a piece of Ontario history!  Arva flour mill is a step back through time to a time when GMO-free, locally sourced, organic wheat was what made the daily bread.

My first Valentine's Day in Ontario! I thought a romantic way to spend the day would be to become a tourist in our local area.  Now, when I was a little girl, I was obsessed with Little House On The Prairie; I even asked for an oil lamp for Christmas when I was 6 or 7!  I still have my glass oil lamp Santa so kindly brought me.  (Ya, I was a weird kid!)  So visiting the Arva Flour Mill was like stepping back through time .... to Laura Ingalls Wilder's world.

Liam Checking Out The Massive Icicles

I heard about the Arva Flour Mill in Southwestern Ontario, from the local Historical Society in my own home town of Drumbo. The Arva Mill has a reputation for the best flour in Ontario, and since I love to bake, I had to check this place out! The Arva mill was built in 1819 and is the oldest continuously running flour mill in all of Ontario; maybe even North America!  Arva's location is just North of London,  which means a quick jump onto highway 401 and in less than an hour's drive from our door, we were in Arva.

Brrrrr!

Now, this was my first Winter in Ontario, and it was the coldest day of that year.  At -33 C (-26F) we didn't get a chance to explore the village of Arva itself very much other than a quick drive through, but it looked charming!  The Arva mill is situated on the banks of Medway Creek, on what locals call "The Mill Pond." The pond seems like it would be an excellent spot for a picnic in the summer months. This site is where the Arva Mill's tagline comes from: "The Best Flour By A Dam Site." 😉

Equipment At The Mill

Entrance To The MillHouse Store 

As we went down the driveway to the mill parking lot, I was surprised at how big the mill actually is. Of course lots of silos, but I was aching to roam around and see the flour mill in action!  No such luck. The mill's store is open on Sundays, but they don't do any milling on that day.  So my son  Liam and I had to be content with peeking through the glass doors and taking photos.  Around the year 1904, the Arva Mill replaced their original grist millstone to "new" (now vintage) roller mills, and it's the same rollers used to mill Arva flour today!  This is what gives the flour it's fantastic consistency.  The Arva mill also is still half powered by the water from Medway creek (the other half is that newfangled electricity!)  Imagine that; not much has changed for this mill in the past 100 years.  The Arva Flour Mill is now owned by the 4th generation of the Scott family, and hopefully, some plans are in works for a big 200th-anniversary celebration. 

The Arva MillHouse store was terrific too.  The shelves were full of different types of organic flours, dried goods such as beans, fruit, baking supplies and all kinds of pasta. All the flour milled at Arva comes from small surrounding local farms that provide non-GMO wheat to the mill. Also, the Arva mill prides itself on the fact that there are no additives or preservatives to their flour.  The store has a Health food section and huge gluten-free product selections as well.

I know people are marvelling about Arva's flour; maybe it's because they take the time to do things the old fashioned way and the flour is all natural.  Among other items, we bought a 50 pounds bag of Arva all-purpose flour, 10 lbs bag of pastry flour and 5lbs each of light and dark rye flour; which I find hard to find in the grocery stores here in Ontario.  You can also get farm eggs from a fridge in the back as well as some other local dairy products.

There was another store on the property that looked like a country store selling local meats & cheeses and grocery items, but this store was also closed on Sundays.   Just as well; it seems I have a lot of baking to do.

To check out the Arva flour mill:  www.arvaflourmill.com

FYI  the baking turned out FANTASTIC!  Thank you ARVA flour mill!

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