MEET OUR CHIEF BUTTER MAKER
Monica Cavarzan
THE SIGNS WERE THERE
Most people who lose their job buy themselves a holiday. Monica Cavarzan bought a butter churn.
To be fair, there were signs.
Monica grew up on a dairy farm in Glenfyne, a small community in Victoria's Western District. Her parents migrated from Italy in the 1950s and built a life around cows, cream and hard work.
Her mother made butter by hand.
Her brothers became dairy farmers.
Even the man she married grew up on Jersey, the island famous for the Jersey cow. His name is Mike Howell, which Monica still enjoys pointing out sounds suspiciously like “my cow” when said quickly.
THEN FRANCE HAPPENED
Butter was always in Monica's future. She just didn't know it yet.
She built a successful marketing career, raised three boys and spent years helping other brands tell their stories.
Then a family trip to France changed everything.
In Saint-Malo, Monica tasted cultured butter unlike anything she'd experienced before. She devoured an entire packet and wondered why she was eating butter the way most people eat cheese.
Most people would have accepted that French butter was simply better. Monica wanted to know why.
That question eventually took her to Wisconsin for a buttermaking apprenticeship. The locals couldn't believe Australia didn't have one of its own.
THE CHURN THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
When redundancy arrived in 2017, she invested her payout into butter-making equipment and started churning.
At her first farmers' market sale, Monica was so excited she danced! Lard Ass Butter was born.
The name was chosen for exactly the reason you'd expect. It makes people smile. It reminds us not to take ourselves too seriously.
The butter, on the other hand, is taken very seriously. Some things are worth doing properly. Monica wouldn't have it any other way.
Nearly a decade later, she still talks about butter with the enthusiasm of someone who has just discovered it.
Her parents built a life from cows, cream and courage.
HOW BUTTER SHOULD TASTE
Before butter became just something to spread, it was something to savour.
At Lard Ass, we culture our cream before churning, allowing flavour to develop naturally over days rather than minutes. The result is a richer, more complex butter with depth, character and a gentle tang that conventional butter simply can't match.
We don't use artificial colours, fillers or shortcuts. Just quality cream, carefully selected ingredients and a process that values flavour above efficiency.
BUTTER WITH BENEFITS!
Our flavoured butters are made with real herbs, spices and ingredients chosen for flavour, not convenience.
That deep golden colour? That's real too. It comes from Victorian grass-fed dairy cows. The colour changes subtly with the seasons, just as nature intended. No two batches are exactly alike, and that's part of the beauty.
Because butter shouldn't be the forgotten ingredient on the table. It should be the thing everyone talks about.