Organic farming appealed to me because it involved searching for and discovering nature's pathways, as opposed to the formulaic approach of chemical farming. The appeal of organic farming is boundless; this mountain has no top, this river has no end.

- Eliot Coleman, The New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener

This is a new segment in the Harvest Haven Happenings where Martin explains the differences between conventional/chemical agriculture, certified organic standards, and Harvest Haven Certified. Each issue will deal with a different product. This one is about lamb since that season is almost upon us.

One of the struggles that we've faced, especially recently is how to describe our products. We'd like to be able to call our products "organic," but legislative bodies and other interested parties have taken that from us. So, we've decided to start a series of basic comparisons, outlining the differences between conventional, Organic Certified, and Harvest Haven Certified.

Conventional

Lambs are very sensitive creatures and often require antibiotics and synthetic milk replacers to survive their first few weeks, particularly if the lambing facility is overcrowded or there are just too many lambs for too few farmers to keep their watchful eye on.

Vaccines filled with all kinds of garbage are the norm. Anti-parasite drugs are also heavily administered so the lambs don't lose any weight-gain. These drugs are given orally for internal parasites and are also used to saturate the fleece to deal with the external grubs.

The lambs are typically raised to weaning age while being conditioned to eat grain at the earliest age possible. As soon as they can be taken from the mother, they are sold at auction to feeder operations where they live out the rest of their life chowing down on feedlot corn rations while trying to avoid infections and foot rot. In a word, it's unacceptable.

Certified Organic

Certified Organic producers have much better standards. They're not permitted to administer drugs to the lambs, so much more care must be taken to make sure the lambs are warm, dry, and immediately tended to if anything goes wrong.

However, grain feeding is still the norm, especially since maintaining low parasite loads in grass-fed sheep requires know-how and careful pasture planning. The grain is organic, but it still isn't the right way to produce the tastiest and most nutrient-dense lamb.

Since the lambs are grain-fed, they need to be separated from the mothers as soon as possible to facilitate the different feeding regimens (you can't feed the mothers large amounts of grain or they won't give birth safely the following year). Lambs that do require antibiotics are separated and sold to conventional feedlots for finishing.

Essentially, a good portion of the certified organic lamb industry is very close in philosophy to the conventional industry, but they have to hold back from pushing the biological envelope, otherwise they'll have to contaminate their product with drugs and lose the invested care and financial premium for organic grain and forage.

It's technically not a poisonous product, but it's definitely not a moral, sustainable, or nourishing farming model.

Harvest Haven Certified

We keep a very close watch on a small flock of ewes and are present at almost every birth. All the lambs are immediately escorted with their mother to the "maternity ward" where they stay out of the weather and close to mom for about a week. We make sure all lambs get a good supply of colostrum (thick nutritious milk that is produced immediately after the birth). We've found that lambs that receive an adequate supply of colostrum in the first 8 hours are almost indestructible.

We time our lambing so that as soon as the lambs are able to forage, the pastures are ready. Our lambs are raised exclusively on forage from meticulously managed pastures. The flock is moved from lush pasture to lush pasture more than once a week using temporary fencing, resulting in rapid weight gain on nothing but good old-fashioned grasses, legumes, and the occasional weed. The animals are provided excellent quality, non-synthetic minerals and salts and always have access to cold, clean, Grander water.

Because mothers and lambs get the same diet, the lambs get to live every day of their lives with their mothers, which makes for the least stress possible for everyone.

Harvest Haven Certified is not just a "chemical free" guarantee. It's way beyond that. It means grass-fed. It means humanely treated. It means that the soil isn't being depleted by unnecessary grain production but getting deeper and richer instead. It means that every aspect of production is good and wholesome, and the taste is fantastic!

I should mention that there are going to be Certified Organic producers who opt for a more forage-based model, but typically you're going to see these growers selling direct to market like we do so that they can receive a premium for their extra efforts. It's difficult to put that much care into a product and then let it sell side by side at Safeway with feedlot "organic." I just want to make it clear that I'm outlining what is generally, but perhaps not always, the case. Exceptions may exist, although I'm not personally aware of any currently.

Organic Certification bodies require a set of minimum standards. Harvest Haven Certified requires the maximum. We are always looking for new ways to increase the health, sustainability, and flavour of our products.

The weeding is finished for this year and we've started harvesting some crops, like the garlic.

We're saving seed from the garlic scapes to plant in the spring. Those cloves will be planted the next fall for disease-free garlic. We've talked about this for years and now, we're doing it.

Landscaping is expected to start soon. This will be exciting to see take shape.

Added to the list of wonderful produce coming in from the garden are Baby More garden goodies are coming into the store everyday.

Have you tried Broad Beans? These are a special treat served with butter and a drop of lemon juice or tossed into the soup pot.

The Celery is dark green and delicious, a necessity in many dishes or just for the kids' snack.

There's a great selection of onions ready for your culinary expertise – Walla Wallas, Reds, cooking, grilling, and shallots.

Baby Carrots and Baby Beets need to be enjoyed now because they're growing fast.

The Herbs are beautiful! Basil for pesto, Mint for your Middle East cuisine, Rosemary, Sage, and Chives for a splash of flavor. Parsley and Cilantro for the final touch.

BC Peaches, Nectarines, Plums, and Pears are coming and will continue into September.

We can order cases for you but won't know the prices until the list comes from our supplier. Let us know what you would like, and we can get the price to you when it is available.

We're taking orders for Harvest Haven Lamb. You can get a whole or half lamb, cut and wrapped, or just the cuts you like.

Whole lamb, cut and wrapped, is about $450 depending on the size or $225 for a half.

Minute Steaks- Sale $9.99/lb Reg. $11.29/lb (See Recipe Box)

Turkey Wings- Sale $3.99/lb Reg. $4.79/lb (See Recipe Box)

Beef Bone Broth, 1 L- Sale $12.99 Reg. $13.49/lb (See Recipe Box)

Extra Large Eggs- Sale 3 dozen for $18 Reg. $6.75/dozen

Zucchini- Sale $1.99/lb Reg. $2.99/lb (See Recipe Box)

Organic Fair Cherry Cola Soda Syrup, 250 mL- Sale $9.99 Reg. $10.99 (See Recipe Box)

Baker's Supple House Non Gmo Baking Powder, 210 g- Sale $5.99 Reg. $6.99 (See Recipe Box)

Please note, all ingredients in our recipes are organic.

Strange, Annoying, and Downright Frustrating

We've experienced some bizarre behaviour this past week. Could it be the heat?

There have been numerous calls from people wanting to pick strawberries; even people coming to the farm to go picking in the afternoon on the hottest day on record. This is strange because our strawberries were done a month ago AND the temperatures are almost unbearable.

I'm reminded of what Rudyard Kipling said – "Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun." (In this world of political correctness, I was a little reluctant to quote this in case it offended some mad dogs. The Englishmen I know are not so easily piqued.)

And here's another strawberry story (I know I said a month ago that that was the last one, but in the Terminator's inimitable words, "I lied"). Anyway, last week a woman arrogantly marches into the store while Jeannie was helping a couple of ladies get some groceries, and demands, "Where can I pick MY strawberries?"

Jeannie calmly replied, "Our strawberries finish for the year on about July 20th."

"Is there anything else to do on your farm?"

"No, U-pick is finished for the year."

"You don't even have any animals?"

"We do, but they're on the other side of the farm."

"Well, that was a waste of time!" And she stomps out of the building.

Not knowing what had just happened in the store, Martin encounters this annoying woman and her family in the parking lot as they were starting to walk down the road by the corrals not paying heed to what Jeannie had told her.

Martin relates his experience.

"I met the family walking towards our machine shop, just as I received a text from Jeannie warning me about who I was dealing with. I let the matriarch know that they were not permitted to wander freely on private property. She started all over again and asked where HER strawberries were. I told her what Jeannie told her. Then she demanded animals to look at. I told her they weren't around. Then she began yelling at me, telling me I should advertise on Facebook that I have nothing going on at my farm so that people didn't waste their time visiting us.

"I ran out of patience and told her it was unacceptable to speak that way to us and she needed to leave. She turned in a huff and then, when I wasn't looking, proceeded to walk down our lane, presumably to find the sheep she saw while approaching the farm. I guess since my sheep weren't technically on the 'other side of the farm' with the rest of our animals at this time of year, she was entitled to see them.

"Again, I had to tell her to get in her car and leave the property. She then got really upset and told us she would never come back to our farm again. I told her that we would greatly appreciate that. She finally left.

"The following morning, she left a super negative review on Google. I shook my head. It's a solid reminder not to take for granted the simple ability to be reasonable and how much we really appreciate our pleasant customers, of which we have many."

As if that wasn't irritating enough, there was the downright frustrating, too. James and Martin bought a new-to-them tractor, which needed some servicing. To work on the tractor, they needed the manual. And so begins the frustration.

Having found the manual online, Martin proceeded to print off the 300 pages of pictures and information. He made the mistake of attempting to use the "print both sides of the paper" option. Of course, a 100 pages in, the printer decided to stop communicating with the computer and the dreaded error message popped up. He tried cancelling the print job, but the printer queue just seized up in "cancelling" mode. He tried restarting the computer, but the print spooler refused to reboot.

Martin was so frustrated with his printer that he wanted to drive over it with his tractor. BUT, he needed his tractor working to do that and needed the manual to get it working and needed the printer to work to print off the manual.

AUGH!!!

Can you identify?