Fathers Day Sunday June 17th- Dads are Free

Fathers are special.  Sometimes taken for granted, not always thanked.  Sunday is a good day to pause, take time to let Dad know he is loved and appreciated, before it is too late.

This week we are mourning the loss of Jim's Dad who died peacefully and suddenly Monday at the great age of 94.  Long time customers will remember him helping out about the farm - BBQing hot dogs in the fall, selling Christmas trees, polishing apples at the Markham Fair.  He was always a source of support for us and we will miss him dearly.

Take time this week to connect with your Dad, tell him at least one thing you appreciate about him.  An investment in family time pays huge dividends.

Food for Thought

Just watched W5's Food for Thought last night.  Found it very disturbing and saddening the way the pigs were being housed and treated by the staff.  Saddened also that it can be called farming.

We raise a few pigs, and I mean just a few.  Over the past years we have found it more difficult to find weaner pigs to raise as many farmers have stopped raising pigs due to the poor monetary return on their efforts.  When food prices are low it translates into the farmer not being able to make a sustainable living to maintain their farm.  You can only lose money for so long; emotion and love of farming doesn't put food on the table when there is no income from your efforts.

To me, real farmers have a respect for the land and their animals - treating both right as they are their partners.  Healthy soils and animals gives us healthy farms. The pig production farm featured in the show did not have farmers working for them, they had labourers.  I wonder what they were paid and how many hours they had to work and what support and respect they received?  Maybe it is not just the animals that were mistreated.

What would be different if the workers had respect for their efforts in caring for the animals, recognition for a job well done, adequate pay.  Can that be done and still have pork for low prices in the supermarket?  Not likely.  These stories along with those we are seeing in Bangladesh with the garment factory workers are going to keep happening as long as we seek abundance at cheap prices.  Someone or something always pays the price.

Makes me think twice when I see a good bargain.

Mothers Day Tradition

When we think of mothers we think of memories and traditions; big and small, happy and sad.  To have memories you need time to make them.  A tradition on our farm is to give moms of all ages free admission to our farm on Mothers Day when accompanied by their kids.

Mother's Day is this Sunday.

Take some time to enjoy your family and relax for a few hours.  The trilliums are blooming in the woods, the heron can often be seen at our pond, the lambs are hiding behind their mom who is more than eager to eat any green you have to offer her.

We wish all moms a great day making memories, making traditions.

Opening Day is Here

The last few weeks are a blur - getting the farm ready, coping with the cold and wet weather - would it ever end?

The sun and the warmth have arrived just in time - school tours have started, the farm and market is now open for the season.

It is such a beautiful time of year.  This morning at first light it was like a switch was flicked and the birds started singing.  A little early for my liking but beautiful just the same.  The robins are about, building their nests and fattening up on the worms.  The days are longer allowing us a slow relaxation into evening and the ability to do just a bit extra outside after dinner.  The grass is green and the buds are now visible on the leaves.  I've got some early spring flowers blooming.  Yeh Spring!!!

Hope to see you soon at the farm.

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

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.

Stouffville Santa Clause Parade

We were there - staff and their families; a great time was had by all.  Thanks to Laura and John for taking the initiative and working hard to make our presence in the parade possible.  Thanks to Markham Mower for loaning us their small tractor to pull our wagons.
You can catch us again at the Unionville parade.