Halloween is right around the corner!!!

The excitement builds as Halloween is less than a week away.  Kids have been having a great time in the corn maze and pick your own pumpkin patch, barnyard adventure area.....

Finally the weather is co-operating.

This is our last weekend for our Harvest Festival and each day has a special event.  Saturday meet Sandra from Mom's Cookie Jar.  You've been enjoying their gingerbread cookies for years.  She is here Saturday to lead you through cookie decorating.  For a small charge you can choose and decorate your own cookie to take home... mmmmm  sweet memories

Sunday-  Join us as the Geissberger brothers press our apples into cider from 10 till 2.  Their process is bag in the box packaging where the cider keeps for a year, unrefrigerated and 3 months once you open it.  Their trailer has won the Ontario Innovation award and was also featured on Dragons Den.

Sample and you couldn't resist taking home the fruits of their labour.

Come on out and enjoy the farm.  We've got some delicious specials in our market,   The air is fresh and the view is beautiful.  A great way to relax.

Giving Thanks for the Harvest

Each season has it's own special crops that we look forward to with eager anticipation.  Nothing quite compares to the fall.  

The cooler weather stimulates our appetite and we look forward to cooking all our comfort foods once again.  The gleam is evident in children's eyes when they see the pumpkins in the patch and around the barns.  Decorating is so easy with all the colours found in the gourds, Indian corn, garden mums and squash.   

Who wouldn't like the fall. 

Our Thanksgiving holiday gives us the opportunity to reflect back on the year, to celebrate the successes and put the failures behind us.  It's an opportunity to gather with family and friends enjoying the many traditions developed over the years.  

Here on the farm, our traditions are helping us stay focused in our transition from Markham to Greenbank.  You'll find some changes but there is still a lot that is the same including most of our staff. We're working hard to keep the well loved activities and fit them in to new surroundings so familiar traditions will continue.  We've been told we're off to a good start.

The farm and countryside up here is really beautiful and relaxing.  We've got space and fresh air.   

Come for a visit.  We are open daily in October including Thanksgiving Monday.  

Check our Harvest Festival page for detailed information on our hours open and activities available.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Cold Enough?

As with many of you we have felt the frost quakes, had difficulty starting cars and tractors and generally griped about the cold.  We've been working diligently in the market trying to keep the apples and the water pipes from freezing.
Our moving has been hampered with the cold weather as most things are frozen into the ground.  Let's hope for an extensive January thaw.

One benefit of this cold is the possible reduction in some of our non-native invasive insects.  Maybe this may be the temperature that will kill many overwintering in the soils and trees.

Thank you to everyone for your support, fond memories shared of time spent on the farm and your willingness to visit us in Greenbank.  I will soon be sending out our first e newsletter for all who have signed up.

You are welcome to drop into the market while we are packing up.  We will keep some apples including our honey crisp apples, on hand and our boxed cider along with our preserves and honey.  Please call ahead with any special orders for pies as we will only bake them upon request.  Variety is becoming limited as I am not renewing my inventory until after our move.  We will be answering the phone and checking messages, please call the market number at 905-887-1087.

We will also continue our school tour program in Greenbank.  To book a tour call 905-887-1086

Stay safe and warm.

An Invitation to our Customer Appreciation Days Dec 14th, 15th and 21st, 22nd

We are truly thankful for the support expressed by our customers; the stories you have told us, the place that  the farm has had in your lives.  Some of you have already brought in pictures for our memory board.

It has been 27 years of making the effort to connect with you and share our joy of farming.  You have been telling us through your stories that it has been a worthwhile one.  Many of you will keep in touch and make our Greenbank farm a new tradition.

We want to thank you.  The next two weekends we will have cookies and hot cider for refreshments as we chat about the times past and future.  There are specials on many of our products to help make stocking up for Christmas and winter more economical.

Our apples are a big reason why many of you come in this time of year - they are all on special for $1.50/lb including the Honey Crisp apples.

Our e newsletter will be starting up soon and we will keep you posted on the move and what we are up to.  It will be a very busy winter and spring this year.

Come in for a visit, dress warmly.  The atmosphere in the market is warm and welcoming but without a major source of heating the temperature is just a bit warmer than outside.

October Harvest Festival Happenings

Fall is now in the air with the cool breezes and cold nights.  Halloween is quickly approaching and the fun continues.  Our pumpkin crop has been amazing this year - in quality, size and numbers.  Our pumpkin corral just keeps filling up to give you a great selection of pumpkins.

This will be the last weekend for our October Harvest Festival.  Weather permitting we will have all our activities happening including pony rides and horse drawn wagon rides.  Dress for the weather, dress to have fun. We are cooler on the farm with the open fields.

Sunday October 27th is special with Geissbergers Farmhouse Cider arriving with their award winning mobile cider press.  We have over 4 bins of apples to press into cider and you can view the process. Come see how it is done.  The fresh cider will be available for purchase at the farm.

The apples are fantastic this year.  We now have over 7 varieties available in the market, fresh picked, including Honey Crisp, Ambrosia, Jona Gold and Fugi to name a few.  We also have some incredible Bosc pears.

Come and enjoy.  Our farm will be open until December 24th.

Apple Cider- Innovation at work

What happens to all this left over produce when you close for the season?
This is a question asked by many of our customers.  We donate some to food banks and group homes through the generous effort of Patti, a wonderful customer, and her helpers.  The apples left this year have now been pressed into cider.

What is innovative about that, you may ask.
Apple cider has been around a long time, it's the process that is innovative.
Geissberger's Farmhouse Cider (www.farmhousecider.ca) in Durham Region just won the Ontario Farm Marketing Association Innovation Award sponsored by Foodland Ontario for their apple cider processing trailer.

We finally got a break in the weather this past weekend and were able to get our apples squeezed into cider.

Why this processing procedure?
As quoted from their website - "We provide sterile processing with high-tech equipment, innovative high temperature/ short time pasteurizer and convenient Bag-in-Box packaging.
The Bag-in-Box packaging system gives our ciders a shelf life of 1 year without preservatives or refrigeration.
The mobile mill meets all health regulations and is capable of processing and packaging up to 2 - 20 bushel bins of apples per hour, producing 500 litres of freshly-pressed pasteurized cider."  

I couldn't have said it better.

We were really excited to get our apples pressed into cider by them.  The 5 litre boxes will be available for sale when we open - first weekend in May.   We've booked them to come for the last Sunday in October to demonstrate the cider pressing at our farm.

Congratulations once again to the Geissbergers for providing a wonderful, innovative way of preserving the harvest.

Enjoy some pictures from our day pressing cider.  Jim had a good workout.

squeezing out the juice

Jim loading the apples

apple pulp getting wrapped for pressing

cider into the bag

Gord at the pasteurizer

it's in the bag

Wanda with the boxed cider

It all happens on the trailer

Fraser Fir Christmas Trees are here

Time to start celebrating the Coming of Christmas.  The Fraser fir trees are here and the Balsam will be arriving soon. What a great smelling time of year. Oh to reboot the brain with the aroma of the trees.  Even the snow has arrived.  Apple cider is hot in the market so come on in and enjoy a cup.  Right now it is our central heating system, in other words, dress warm for the weather.

Soup is on each weekend.  Naresh is here to offer ideas on great ways to prepare those comfort foods inspired by the weather that get us through the winter.  We still have a great selection of Ontario apples including Honey Crisp and Ambrosia.

Christmas cookie trays start next week featuring gingerbread and shortbread cookies along with a selection of other yummy baked goodies.  They're great as hostess gifts, for office parties and just for nibbling on a nice selection of treats.

Time to get your freezer orders in for winter.  Bacon and sausage will be here soon.  We are currently taking orders for fresh turkeys and pies for Christmas.  Stock up your shelves with our homemade preserves and jams.

Come on in, enjoy all the great smells of Christmas.  We're open this Saturday and Sunday 9 -5 and beginning Thursday Nov 29th we'll be open daily till December 24th.

Apples Galore

Mutsu, Jonagold, Honey Crisp, Ambrosia, Empire, Macintosh, Cortland,Cameo, Russet and Fugi - We have them all, fresh picked in our market.  Oh the smell, it is amazing.  The apples are crunchy, some are sweet, some tart, all are Ontario grown by John in Port Burwell.
Our apple cider is made from Ontario apples as well.
Come and enjoy!

More Apples Are Now Here

Jim just picked up Cortland, Macs, Honey Crisp and Gala apples.  They'll be in the market today.  DELICIOUS!!!!! and ONTARIO GROWN!!!!!!!  We're looking forward to also having the Ambrosia and Fuji varieties.

The first batch of new crop apple cider is being delivered Thursday.  Due to the apple shortage this year there will be a price increase.  Supply is projected to last until Christmas.  We may miss out on  Cider Slushies next year but we'll see what next year brings.

We also have the most amazing Bosc and Flemish Beauty pears.  I've always been a fan of the Bosc pear but this is my first time for trying the Flemish Beauties and I'm very impressed.  They are sweet and juicy when ripe, their skin is firm.  Definitely distinct from the Bartlett.  I would say sweeter and juicier, and I haven't found that browning in the center that occurs with Bartlett.  Check them out.

Thanksgiving is quickly approaching.  Time to order your turkey.

Christmas Trees are Here!

Oh the excitement of Christmas and the anticipation of enjoying the wonders of the season. We love the tradition of bringing nature into our home with the beauty and smell of a fresh Fraser fir. We choose the Fraser fir because of it's good needle retention for the room we put it in is a warm one and it does have a nice scent but the best scent comes from the Balsam fir tree.

With regular watering we find the Fraser fir is a nice long lasting tree - at least 4 weeks inside and the Balsam fir is good for approximately 3 weeks indoors. We'll give your tree a fresh cut so you can put it up right away.

This will be our 25th year that we have fresh cut Christmas trees at the farm. Fraser fir and balsam fir trees are now available along with wreathes and cedar roping. Hot cider is waiting for you in the market along with other Christmas goodies, shortbread cookies are baking and our Christmas cookie platters will be available early December. I'd also recommend the Kawartha Dairy Eggnog - it is so creamy!!!

Time to Order Your Fresh Christmas Turkey
We've got our order book ready and waiting. I don't get many extra turkeys in for Christmas so it is best to get your order in early. We're taking orders for fresh baked pies as well.

Our Turkey and Chicken Pies will be ready by Dec 3rd.

Our last batch of fresh Chickens will be in the market Friday December 2nd by 1pm.
Let us know if you would like us to set some aside for you. We'll be calling everyone on our Chicken list this week as well.

Tiem to stock up the freezer for winter with our naturally raised pork and beef. Our gluten free pork sausage, naturally smoked hams and bacon are now in the display freezer. Our beef will be ready soon, it's just aging for about another week. Food makes for a nice Christmas gift for those who have everything.