Just when we thought all the fab folks we meet couldn’t possibly get any sweeter, we stumbled upon these two!
Jules + Sam, founders + makers at Halfpint Vegan Dairy, recently found their own piece of Paradise and made the move from the city to the country. Like many fellow Countryphiles, Jules + Sam’s move was motivated by their desire to follow their passions and dreams. And, we’re SO glad they did! The talented duo make their own non-dairy, gluten-free, vegan equivalent-to-dairy products that include their famous ‘Butter Me Up’ butter and their colourful + creatively named selection of delectably-flavoured icecreams. Butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths, well, actually, maybe it would!
If you’d like to support Jules + Sam’s wonderful country life project, you can do so via their Pozible crowd-funding campaign, which launches TODAY! Pledges will help the duo invest in equipment they need to produce enough butter and ice cream to meet demands, which in turn means they can grow their business and “make a real difference to dairy-free options”. But, here’s the sweetener; anyone who makes a pledge towards their Pozible campaign will be rewarded with lots of their delicious butter and ice creams AND for really passionate pledgers Jules + Sam promise to create an ice cream flavour especially for you! Remember cream rises to the top so help Jules + Sam make their cream dream come true! Enjoy! {d} x
Note: The Countryphiles is going on hols, so this is our last live-to-air Friday feature story until our happy return on Friday 12 September. Until then, we have CURATED a few of our fav feature stories from 2013. You can also find us on Instagram from time to time @thecountryphiles. Danielle xo
Tell us a little bit about your background/s – what were you each doing prior to creating Half-Pint Vegan Dairy?
Over the last 15 years, Sam has been working for a large catering company as both chef and catering manager in various corporate and educational facilities and I have had a private counseling practice in Fitzroy, with a keen focus on ethics and the power of intention. For the couple of years before Halfpint, we were setting ourselves up in the country, building a house and landscaping the gardens ourselves with recycled materials in preparation for establishing our own business and a self-sufficient lifestyle. At that stage, we didn’t know what the business would be, although we knew it would definitely be food-related and inherently inspirational in line with our own passions.
Half-Pint Vegan Dairy creates ‘dairy-like’ products for vegans. How did you come to begin your business?
Our own journeys lead us to making the choice to become vegan about a year and a half ago and, from a love of food, making our own vegan versions of everything! Sam is so passionate about cooking and sharing the food she makes and I love sharing the food she makes because it is so good. The business was really just the natural progression of wanting to share the great vegan alternatives that Sam was coming up with and wanting to make it even easier and more enjoyable for anyone else choosing vegan. At some point later, we realized we had created the business of our dreams.
What are some of the products you create?
We have chosen to focus on dairy alternatives as this is the main marker between vegetarian and vegan and it’s often hard for people to get their head around how to live without traditional dairy. For ourselves, there were some things missing in the alternatives available, so it all started with creating a vegan version of butter. We still wanted that full, creamy, satisfying experience and Sam was missing croissants. So she started making vegan butter and then got side-tracked making coconut milk ice cream. We wanted everyone to be able to get the butter and ice creams; so our first two products were born. Everything we make is dairy-free, gluten-free, vegan and hand made.
Who comes up with the cinematic/entertaining product names? Where do you get your inspiration?
While Sam was busy creating recipes in the kitchen, my mind was doing somersaults that had us both laughing out loud, and so from a love of film and popular culture and the desire to bring a smile, comes the inspiration for the product names and the whole look and feeling we wrap these little goodies up in.
What makes you so passionate about the products you create?
We feel like we are doing something really good for animals, people and the environment – all wrapped up in a little slice of delicious!
What philosophies and ethics govern your business?
Everything we do comes from the heart and a desire to help create and be a part of a kinder world. Especially for animals. As human beings, we can do a lot better and we can make choices on a daily basis that bring about the end of suffering for animals, as well as more ethical choices for our own mental, emotional and physical well-being and for the health of the planet. Bringing about change by challenging conventional paradigms is so much fun with something that tastes so good!
What are the highlights of creating lovely vegan products?
Experimenting with new flavours and taste testing! As well as all the lovely people we meet.
Where can we buy your delicious dairy alternatives?
On the 2nd Saturday of the month we are at Kyneton Farmer’s market and we pop up at other markets in between production for our retail outlets. So far, we stock The Cruelty Free Shop, Mad Cowgirls Vegan Grocery, Ethic, Purple Sage, Terra Madre, East Fruit Market, Prahran Convenience and Aum Shanti with other shops in the pipeline.
What sort of reactions do you get from people when you attend Farmer’s Markets?
The reactions from people have been overwhelmingly positive. One common reaction is when people buy a little cup of our ice cream and go to walk off as they take their first bite and then suddenly stop and just stand still while they eat the whole cup. That makes my heart sing! We also offer samples of bread with our butter and one woman, after tasting it and saying how delicious it was, asked if it was made from our own cows. That was brilliant. She couldn’t believe it was a plant-based butter.
Your business is based in Wallan. Do you try to source local ingredients for your products?
Our first priority is that all of our ingredients are vegan so that takes us far and wide. Then we look to as local as possible and organic where possible, so for flavours and inclusions, we shop at farmer’s markets and with other local businesses.
What does a typical day in the life of Owners/Creators of ‘Half-pint Vegan Dairy’ look like; from when you wake to when you go to sleep?
We’re usually up at 5am for a walk with our 3 dogs before breakfast. Then Sam heads to the kitchen to make product for orders and I head to the office or the labeling room or out on deliveries or to pick up supplies or to a meeting. There’s also wood-chopping and playing with the dogs and trying to keep on top of the gardening. It all ends with dinner in front of the fire, updates on social media and eating ice cream.
What are the ups and downs of running a small food business?
We feel really grateful for being able to run our own show on our own terms and in our own time. It is a lot of work but only because we are so passionate about making it work and we are having a great time, even on little sleep! We miss our friends but we bribe them with ice cream so they still love us. Being small, we have to do absolutely everything ourselves and managing the logistics of expansion is a real challenge.
Do you have ‘other lives’ or is Half Pint Vegan Dairy your primary project?
We are both still working; Sam full-time and me part-time, with most of my time now spent on Halfpint. We plan to keep going that way for a while yet, pouring everything back in to give the business the best possible chance of succeeding and really standing on its own two feet. Not just so that we have a successful business, but also because we really feel that Halfpint can make a difference. We are both very determined and we have a lot to give. When the business is ready to give back that will be a lovely reward and we will both jump in with bells on.
You moved from Fitzroy/Brunswick to Wallan recently having lived a city-café life. Do you consider yourselves to be ‘Countryphiles’? Do you love country life? Why?
When I was living in Fitzroy, I thought Brunswick was the country! We moved there to start growing our own vegetables. That was the beginning of a yearning for more space and sky and lots of fields, so we moved out much further. We are both absolutely sold on country life now. We grow food and chop wood and stargaze. You can’t come back from that.
What aspect of country life are you loving MOST at the moment?
Exhilarating walks through nature, with our dogs, in freezing cold fresh air knowing that we’ll all end up back in front of a warm blazing fire.
What is the most CHALLENGING aspect of country life?
The distance between friends and family, and the amount of injured wildlife we see.
Where was the last great meal you enjoyed/shared in the country?
Bring a plate with our good friends in Woodend.
YOUR country town’s best kept secret?
Snakes. Apparently they’re here but I still haven’t seen one and that’s ok with me.
Would you ENCOURAGE others to live a country life? Why/why not?
Oh yes, absolutely. We love city life too, but Sam and I were just ready for a different perspective. We’ve found other ways of looking at the world, life, and ourselves, and we really like it.
What ADVICE would you give those dreaming of making a TREE CHANGE?
Be strategic and make it happen. For Sam and I, this move was part of long-term vision. We had to change the way we worked before we moved so that we were less city-centric. Our plan is still evolving and our business is part of becoming completely independent so that we can continue our goal for an even more remote rural lifestyle, partly here in Victoria and partly in Tasmania.
What advice do you wish someone gave you before you moved to the country?
Stay off the roads or at least drive slowly at dusk and dawn.
What can we expect NEXT from you/Halfpint Vegan Dairy in the future?
We have been very fortunate with the fantastic response we’ve had to our products, from people right across Victoria and from most states in Australia, and it’s given us the best possible problem of managing to keep up with demand. That means expanding our ability to produce and supply. So the next thing we are doing is a Pozible crowd-funding campaign to help us with large equipment needed to be able to get our butter and ice cream out to a lot more people so that we can make a real difference to dairy-free options. Anyone who would like to help us with that mission can pledge through Pozible and they will be rewarded with lots of our delicious butter and ice creams AND, for the really passionate pledger, we will create an ice cream flavour especially for you!
What would be your DREAM project?
Opening Halfpint Vegan Dairy to the public as a fully self-sustainable, educational facility showcasing modern plant-based alternatives to traditional dairy as the future of good food practice here, in country Victoria, and in Tasmania. Sam is from England. She wants colder weather than we have here. Blustery, even!
Can you list for us 5 specific things you turn to/do when you need of a ‘dose’ of city life?
1. Brunswick Street, Fitzroy. Always, but especially now with so many good vegan places.
2. Catch a tram.
3. Go to a live performance.
4. Watch The Matrix.
5. Hug our animals.
Jules + Sam
Halfpint Vegan Dairy
Pozible campaign
Lovely photos and interview, as always. I could eat a bowl of the Peach & Butterscotch Pie right now!
Ooh, me too @theimperfectkitchen! xo