Strawberries, Peas and Chickens....

are still headliners at the farm.  Our crop of berries is still amazing and plentiful for picking and fresh picked as well.  Our late season berries are just starting to turn red so we may have another two weeks in the strawberry season.

Our second planting of peas is now ready for picking.  They are young and sweet.  I like them as a snack and they would be great in lunches.

You'll find a good supply of peas and strawberries in our market as well as at our booths at the farmers markets the boys attend.

Our first lot of free range, grain fed chickens are returning to the farm Friday dressed and ready for dinner.  They are whole roasting chickens and their flavour is fantastic, making for a great family meal.  I have a limited number available.

Looking to the Future, Reflecting on the Past

The new year is here and it is a white one.  Looks like we'll have a lot more snow than last year.  I don't mind, I mainly hibernate this time of year - cooking, cleaning, book work and just trying to slow down a bit.  Jim grumbles about having to plow it; I think the fresh air is good for him.

Last year was a year of change and challenge.

• Dan and James ventured into new territory with Dan developing a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) enterprise and joining the Markham and Whitby Farmers Markets and James joining the Oshawa Farmers Market.  The connections they made and experience gained has been immense.  Jim grew a larger selection of crops to supply them and both participated in the harvest.  We built a new cooler here in Greenbank to accommodate their produce and ours.
• Our market here in Greenbank is looking great.  Gillian, our long term Greenbank employee, appreciated the protection from the weather.  We were able to remain open daily during strawberry season with fresh picked and weather permitting pick your own berries.  We will continue to experiment with being open after strawberry season and build up our farm market business at this location.
• The warm winter and spring then late freeze in April played havoc with the Ontario apple and tree fruit growers making crop shortages the norm for the season.  We ventured further afield, met a new apple grower in Norfolk county who had apples and having a good experience with him will most likely continue to have him supply our apples next year.
• Our dry, sunny summer didn't affect the pumpkin crop - ours was great - it did make for a lot of weed and insect invasions.  It seemed all summer we were trying to find our crops among the weeds.  The weeds just kept coming.  Rainfall varied throughout the province, our area thankfully had enough.  
• Grain and hay prices shot up because of shortages throughout North America due to the dryness and some areas an extensive drought.  This affected us in the cost of animal feed and you may have noticed it reflected in the cost of our chickens and turkeys.  
• It was the rainy fall that really affected us.  With only 5 days in October with no rain our harvest festival days and school tours were damp.  The sunny days were welcomed by all and activity on the farm was busy then.  
• Hurricane Sandi in late October blew down our roadside sign, time to refresh it.  Otherwise the wind, cold and rain from it just delayed school groups and dampened the last days of October.  We're thankful that was all we experienced with the storm.  Tim, a former employee. was called down to New York to assist in the cleanup.  The devastation from the storm was immense, it seems recovery will take years.  
• December was fun - thanks to the hard work of John and Laura and the participation of our staff we took part in the Stouffville and Unionville Christmas parades.  A new experience for most of us.  Thanks to these communities for accepting and supporting us.
• Our soil's water level has fully recovered from the summer dryness.  The rain in December topped it up.  We know because of our wet basement.  The joys of older homes.

The season can be summed up in an appropriate statement from one of our cohorts who grows apples. " It is a challenge to have a business with Mother Nature as a partner. "

Farming is a next years business.  We're re-energizing, reflecting and reworking things.  Always optimistic about the future, we look back appreciating our customers support for us and the boys, and look forward to a exciting and challenging new season.

We wish you all the best for the new year.  See you in the spring.

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.

The Chickens are Coming

We will be getting our second to last batch of our fresh chickens back from the processors this Tuesday, November 15th and Geri and I will be in the market from 10am till 1pm. Even though we are not officially open Tuesdays in November you are welcome to come in during this time to get some. We will be reopening Thursday from 9am till 5pm.

If you are unable to come in Tuesday and would like us to save some for you please call the market at 905-887-1087, wait for the beep at the end of our message and then leave us your name, phone number and the quantity and approx size of chicken you would like. We'll set them aside for you.We are putting any unsold chickens into the freezer Thursday night.

Our last batch of chickens will be in approx 2 weeks. If your name is on our chicken call list we have already started phoning. If you would like us to remove your name from our contact list please let us know.

The farm is enchanting

The farm is enchanting in so many ways - the beauty of the harvest, the space of the countryside and coming up the release of the enchantment from our forest.

So many things are happening this summer - right now we have fresh chicken available in our market and peas and beans fresh picked or pick your own. Mmmm... nothing like fresh from the field. Raspberries are also available fresh picked in our market and sweet corn will be here by next weekend.

August will be enchanting - CELEBRATE HONEY Monday August 1st when we have bee related activities and honey sampling. Bees are amazing and the honey so sweet.

The August long weekend is the last weekend for our Enchanted Forest walk for the month of August. We close it for the month so we can do some freshening up. DON'T DESPAIR! The farm is taking on an enchantment of its own. Our wagon rides are still happening each weekend in August and we have some great surprises for you. Watch our facebook page for updates.