"Farming isn't a battle against nature, but a partnership with it. It is respecting the basics of nature in action and ensuring that they continue." – Jeff Koehler | Busyness Has Begun! It's nice to see livestock being moved onto green pastures. The guys moved all but two ewes onto the fall rye field last week. Fall rye is planted on the worked fields in the fall because it starts to grow then and provides a cover crop to keep the soil from blowing away. In the spring it starts growing quickly providing grazing for the sheep first thing. The sheep graze it down and James tills the rest into the ground in preparation for planting gardens. The fall rye and sheep manure enrich the soil for the garden produce. It's a great system. As mentioned, two ewes were left in the corral. One was a first time mom that had just lambed, and the other is a first timer waiting to have her baby. This last lamb was 16 pounds when he was born, which is huge especially for a first time mom. The average lamb is usually around 12 pounds. He's also a little strange-looking, having a broad white face with black eye markings like an Egyptian pharaoh. We figure he must be another one of Gigantor's offspring. Martin put Gigantor in with the main herd after expecting the other rams to have taken care of business. Well, it looks like they didn't, so Gigantor did. | The guys moved the broiler chickens out this week, too. They have a month on pasture to get fatten up. | It's too early to put the laying hens out. The forecast is for cool temperatures and rain. We'll see. Haven't had any, yet. Too early for planting out tomatoes and lettuces, too. Although, they are looking ready to go. Patience, Jeannie. Patience is a virtue, especially when you're a farmer. | Martin explains the benefits of raising broiler chickens on pasture and why he has chosen the portable cages you'll see in this video. The birds are healthy because they get fresh air, sunshine, vibrant grasses, and real bugs, and they are not exposed to hazardous ammonia buildup in a confined barn. Portable cages on pasture provide a low stress environment resulting in a mortality rate that is nearly zero. The meat from pasture raised chickens is a richer color, tastier, and obviously healthier with no risk of salmonella or bacterial contamination. The portable cages have a number of advantages for the birds and the farmers who tend the operation. The system is very simple to build and operate, and it's not noisy or invasive in the environment. It only takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes a day to move the units morning and afternoon, and to feed and water all of the chickens. Another major advantage to portable cages is the spreading of the chicken manure evenly over the pasture without the use of machinery. The fields explode in greenery after the chickens have done the job for the farmer.
Pasture raised chicken is the clean, moral, ethical, and right way of raising a bird. Fresh WHOLE broiler chicken will be ready Sunday, June 12th and Tuesday 14th. We're closed Monday, June 13th. Fresh chicken PARTS will be ready Wednesday, June 15th. You can place your orders now. | In our efforts to reduce the use of plastic bags, and even brown paper bags, we found ECOBAGS…organic cotton bags in a variety of sizes. The company's mission is "to offer thoughtful, ethically and sustainably sourced, durable-reusable bags that inspire people to reduce, reuse, recycle, refresh, re-imagine and recreate the world we live in." ECOBAGS come in a variety of sizes, just right for what you need: cute little sandwich bags for small items, lunch-sized ones with Velcro closures, large shopping bags, string bags for produce, and many more. Get a few ECOBAGS and you won't need to carry your groceries out in some strange box. Wink, wink! | Harvest Haven Pasture Raised Ground Lamb – Ground lamb makes for an interesting flavor change and can be used as an alternative in most ground beef recipes. Harvest Haven lamb is completely pasture raised on a variety of lush grasses and Grander Living Water. Tender and tasty. Harvest Haven Garlic – Did you notice we like garlic? A must-have from savory meat dishes to mashed potatoes and everything in between. The superfood of superfoods! One of nature's greatest natural antibiotics. Harvest Haven Carrots – Carrots, the new old superfood… It's been proven that eating raw carrots is very beneficial for our health, none of which has anything to do with vitamin A. Carrots can help lower estrogen, combat bacterial growth, reduce inflammation, promote weight loss, and help excrete bacterial poisons called endotoxins. Other benefits are improved digestion, better skin, and less oxidative stress. Eat more carrots! Bugs was a wise bunny! Remember him? Organic Uncle Luke's Maple Syrup, 500 mL or 1 L – Uncle Luke's Canada No.3 Dark Maple Syrup. Generally harvested at the very end of the maple season. Has strong maple flavour and darker colour. This is a heated product, nothing complicated, nothing added. It goes well with toast, pancakes, waffles, biscuits, and drinks such as coffee or tea, the must-have for your breakfast! Keep refrigerated after opening. Frozen Organic BC Blueberries – Remember summer with frozen blueberries. Incorporate them into muffins, sprinkle on pancakes, blend into a smoothie, or stir into yogurt. Enjoy little bursts of juicy sweetness in every bite. Wholly Wholesome Organic Pie Shells, 2 pack – These ready-to-use shells are not only convenient, they're good, too. These tasty 9" pie shells are made with simple organic ingredients – no nasty preservatives here. You'll find them in the freezer section. | Please note, all ingredients in our recipes are organic. | The Best Italian Lamb Meatballs Parmesan cheese
1/2 small Harvest Haven yellow onion
2 cloves Harvest Haven garlic
1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves
1 lb Harvest Haven ground lamb
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/3 cup milk
1 large Harvest Haven egg
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup water
1 (24 to 25-ounce) jar marinara sauce, or 3 cups homemade Finely grate 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese and place in a large bowl. Finely chop 1/2 small yellow onion and 2 cloves garlic, then coarsely chop 1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves; add everything to the bowl. Add ground lamb, 1/2 cup breadcrumbs, 1/3 cup milk, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground oregano, and 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper. Mix lightly with a fork until just combined. Form the mixture into 1 1/2-inch meatballs (about 2 tablespoons each), wetting your hands with water as needed to keep the mixture from sticking, and place on a baking sheet so that they are not touching. You should have 16 to 18 meatballs. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a 12-inch high-sided sauté pan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the meatballs in a single layer and cook until browned on the bottom, about 3 minutes. Flip the meatballs and brown the other side, about 3 minutes more. Transfer to large plate (the meatballs will not be fully cooked). Pour 1/4 cup water into the pan and use a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Add 1 jar or 3 cups marinara sauce and bring to a simmer. Gently add the meatballs into the sauce, and reduce the heat to simmer gently until the meatballs are cooked through, 5 to 10 minutes. | Honey Maple Roasted Carrots 2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp Harvest Haven honey
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp oregano
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 lb Harvest Haven carrots, chopped
2 tbsp chopped parsley leaves Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking sheet or coat with nonstick spray. In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, honey, maple syrup, garlic and onion powder, thyme and oregano. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Place carrots in a single layer onto the prepared baking sheet. Add olive oil mixture and gently toss to combine. Place into oven and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until tender, stirring occasionally. Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired. | Blueberry Pie 4 cups BC blueberries, frozen
3/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch, or arrowroot powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 baked Wholly Wholesome Pie Shell Rinse off any ice crystals from the frozen blueberries. Mix 2 cups blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, salt and water in a small saucepan. Cook mixture on med-high until very thick. The color will change from pink to dark purple. Stir constantly when it starts to thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in lemon juice and butter. Let cool about 15 minutes. Add the rest of the blueberries. Pour into cooked and cooled pie shell. Refrigerate for at least two hours before serving. Serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream, or splurge and have it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! | Cows Around The beef cows have started having their calves and are causing some excitement in the corrals. This reminded us of a Corb Lund song, Cows Around. Corb Lund is a local country and western singer-songwriter from Taber, making his home in Lethbridge. In his song, Cows Around, he captured the fun and frustration of having cows. Our guys can identify. The most alarming situation came the other day when one of the two-year-old heifers had her first calf. Last summer we bought six yearling heifers to increase our herd. Unlike our beef cows, they had received very little human contact so have been quite nervous. When anyone comes around their corral, they tend to quickly migrate to the other side of the pen as far as possible from people. After this heifer had her calf, the guys needed to move her to another pen, so she could tend to her calf without interference from other cattle. Well, things didn't go so well. She go too excited about close contact with humans, jumped into the feeder where they get fed hay, and got stuck. She couldn't back up the way she got in and there were planks on each side of the feeder so she couldn't get out the sides. Martin to the rescue. Maybe! He jumped in front of her in the feeder to try to push her back. No go. Martin was no match for a 1200 pound cow with a mind to go ahead, over top of him, if necessary. She pushed him to the end of the feeder where he was able to boost himself up out of her way. And she couldn't go any further. After securing her at that end, he unscrewed a couple of boards and she jumped out. A little shaken, but okay. The guys reunited her with her new calf and moved the pair carefully into a private pasture. Martin was unscathed, just thankful he'd used screws in the planks instead of nails. As a result, it was an easy fix. After four black calves, we were wondering if we'd have any with the typical Speckle Park black and white spots and splotches. Bob, the father is an all-black Speckle Park. But, the fifth calf was very colorful, and big! Within an hour of birth, he was an escape artist on his second challenge. James came in for lunching, telling the crew that there was a new calf outside the corral. "That's probably just one of the others. We haven't had a calf this morning. He'll find his way back in. Probably squeezed around the entrance people use to get into the pen." Don't speak too quickly, guys. After lunch, when checking on the cows, sure enough there was this big guy exploring his environs. It was a newly born calf which was still small enough to get through the man-gate. Play the link for Corb Lund's Cows Around and watch this speckled boy bounce around in the following video. | |
