Necessity is the mother of invention. | Baling Wire and Creativity I expect a couple of you will remember baling wire and its many uses. For those who don't…before there was plastic baling twine, there was sisal, and before that, farmers used baling wire to hold together hay bales. I still remember struggling as a child trying to get the wires off the bales to feed the cows. That wire held those bales together very well! It was tough stuff and used to repair everything around the farm. Farmers had to be, and still need to be, resourceful and use what they have at hand. Baling wire fit the bill. Which brings us to Martin's most recent project. His little black truck was handy around the farm, but it was falling apart. The gas tank needed replacing and the box was almost rusted off. How could it be repaired without costing a fortune? It was still useful, but not THAT useful. Because the truck was driven exclusively on the farm, it didn't need to be roadworthy. So, Martin rigged up a hydraulic oil reservoir to hold the gas and attached hoses with the appropriate adaptations to feed the engine. | Then, he moved on to replace the rusted box. After studying the situation for a few hours, he had a plan. Replace the metal box with a wooden one! You'll see in the pictures his "new" old truck. The removeable sides are adjustable for the various items that have to be hauled and the different jobs the truck needs to do. The bed is wood, so if something has to be drilled into it, it can be done easily. And a flexible hitch has been added for the various trailers Martin has collected. Creativity is an essential requirement for a farmer. | "No lettuce! Why not?" angrily chirped the voice on the other end of the phone. Jeannie quietly replied, "It's hard to get, and if you can get it, it's very expensive." Most lettuce comes from California where there was a drought in the summer and early fall, which slowed the crops. On top of that, lettuce was hit with a disease, which limited how much was available for retail. Now, our supplier is saying that the weather in the growing region has been unseasonably cold, causing slow growth and light weights on all supplies. Supplies remain challenging. Time to consider alternatives. It is kind of unrealistic to be eating lettuce in the middle of winter in this area of Canada. There are crops that we grow and store which make excellent replacements for greens from California. Cabbage, both red and green, makes delicious cole slaws and hot slaws. Keep it simple or dress it up with a variety of additional vegetables and fruits.
Carrots have endless serving suggestions as salads. Switch the dressing or add a different seasoning, and you have a pleasant change. Beets are colorful, flavorful, and healthy. Use raw, cooked, or pickled for a delightful variety of salads and side dishes. Be creative! | A favorite Harvest Haven product, pulled turkey is back in the freezer. Made from slow-cooked smoked Harvest Haven pastured turkey drumsticks. Tender and tasty. The meat is removed from the bones and packaged into 1-pound bags, perfect for your favorite recipes. Use for fajitas, enchiladas, pulled turkey BBQ sandwiches, turkey pot pie, soups, and casseroles. Delicious! | Thanks to those who have stepped up to help us with the chicken drumsticks overload. We still have a few boxes to go, though. If you buy a 20 lb box, which is 12 bags of 4 drumsticks each (48 total), the sale price is $5.99/lb. That's a great deal because the regular price is $7.69/lb. Tender, tasty, and delicious drumsticks from our pasture raised broiler chickens make for fabulous meals. SALE PRICE: 12 pkgs of 4 drumsticks each (48 total) for $5.99/lb Regular Price: $7.69/lb | Harvest Haven Smoked Pulled Turkey – A favorite with many, this popular Harvest Haven "convenience" food is back. Use for fajitas, enchiladas, sandwiches, turkey pot pie, soups, and casseroles. Harvest Haven Turkey Bone Broth, 1L – This flavorful broth is made by slow simmering our pasture raised turkey bones for hours. Use this savory broth to make great gravy and super soups. Organic Red Cabbage – This dark red/purple cabbage is a colorful raw addition to salads and coleslaws. It can be cooked for a side dish accompanying many German meals. It is especially good when spiced, braised, and served with roast goose or turkey. Often apples are added to give it a sweet-sour taste. Avalon Organic Sour Cream, 500 mL – Made with organic milk and cream, which means no GMOs or pesticides in the soil or the plants the cows eat, no hormones or antibiotics in the cows, and no artificial colors or preservatives in the milk. This is an excellent product for serving as is or mixing into your favorite recipe. Organic Fair Trade Bananas – Bananas are delicious at all stages of ripeness. Such a convenient snack in its own wrapper. Whirled in a smoothie, fresh or frozen, baked in a chocolate chip banana muffin or a moist loaf with walnuts. Wholesome Organic Icing Sugar, 454 g – Wholesome Organic Fair Trade Powdered Confectioners' Sugar is an excellent one-for-one replacement for conventional powdered sugar. Perfect for frostings, fillings, dusting and baking, this truly wholesome powdered sugar captures a tiny bit of natural molasses in the extra-fine powder, making for a confectioners' sugar that's deliciously sweet and flavorful. Made from organic sugarcane hand-harvested in South America, this Organic Fair Trade Powdered Confectioners' Sugar is sustainably grown and processed. | Please note, all ingredients in our recipes are organic. | Hot Turkey Sandwiches 1/2 cup turkey gravy (recipe below)
2 tablespoons Harvest Haven turkey bone broth, more as needed
1/2 cup Harvest Haven pulled turkey
2 slices Harvest Haven sandwich bread
1/2 cup mashed potatoes for serving Add the gravy to a skillet over medium heat and cook until warm. Thin with extra stock, if needed. Add the sliced turkey to the gravy and cook over medium heat until the turkey is hot. Place the turkey on a slice of bread on a plate. Top with the remaining slice of bread. Cut the sandwich in half. Place a scoop of mashed potatoes on the plate and cover the sandwich and potatoes with the warmed gravy. Serve hot and eat with a fork. Turkey Gravy 4 Tbsp. butter
1 small Harvest Haven onion, chopped
2 cloves Harvest Haven garlic, peeled and halved
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white wine or water
½ tsp. poultry seasoning
2 cups Harvest Haven turkey bone broth
Salt and pepper to taste
Garlic Powder to taste In a large skillet heat the butter over medium heat. Let it melt and get slightly brown. Add the onion and the garlic halves. Cook stirring often until everything is browning a bit but nothing is burnt. Remove from heat. Whisk in the flour. Return to heat and whisk and cook the flour mixture until it is lightly brown. Add the wine and stir to bring up any brownings that are stuck to the pan. Remove from heat. Whisk in the poultry seasoning. Whisk in the turkey broth 1/4 cup at a time, keeping everything smooth as you go. Once all the broth is added, heat over medium heat to a simmer, stirring often. Strain gravy through a fine mesh sieve. Taste. Stir in salt, pepper, garlic powder, and more poultry seasoning, if desired. | Red Cabbage and Apple Salad 4 cups shredded red cabbage
1 cup apples, cored, quartered, and sliced thin
3 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp cider vinegar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp mustard
Pepper
1/2 cup sour cream Melt butter in saucepan, add cabbage and apples. Stir until butter coats mixture and there are signs of softening, but mixture is not really cooked. Add sugar, vinegar, salt, mustard, and pepper; simmer 2 minutes. Stir in sour cream. Heat. Serve hot. | Banana Crumb Coffee Cake Crumb Layers
1/2 cup cold butter (8 tablespoons), cut into small cubes
1 cup all purpose flour (gradually add more by the tablespoon if needed)
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
3 ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large Harvest Haven eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup milk Glaze (optional)
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tbsp milk Preheat oven to 350º F. Grease a 9" x 13" baking dish with butter; set aside. In a large bowl, use your hands or two forks to crumble together the cold butter cubes, flour, sugars, and cinnamon until the mixture resembles a crumbly topping. Set aside the crumb mixture. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside. In a stand mixer, mix softened butter on medium until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar and mix for another minute, until well incorporated. Then add the eggs, vanilla, and mashed bananas, and mix just until ingredients are incorporated (do not overmix!) Turn the mixer down to low, and alternate mixing in milk and flour until all ingredients are combined. Pour half of the cake mixture into the prepared baking dish. Top with 1/3 – 1/4 of the crumb mixture. Then pour the remaining cake mixture on top of that layer and finally, top evenly with the remaining crumb topping. Bake at 350º for 50-55 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. To make the optional glaze: In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon of milk. Add more milk as needed until you get the glaze consistency you prefer. Set aside. Cool at room temperature for 5-10 minutes before drizzling the glaze over the top, slicing, and serving. | BioStrong – for Elite Athletes and Grandma and Everyone Else | Our son, Jonathan started BioStrong because he saw how valuable it would be to everyone, from elite athletes who wanted improved performances to grandmas with osteoporosis. Its proven to be better than he expected. Interesting story – one of Jonathan's other businesses is Flagship Business Brokers. BioStrong was brought to them as a new business that was ready to be opened, but the owner didn't have the time to do that, so he wanted to sell it. After a thorough investigation, Jonathan liked what he saw so much that he sold it alright – to himself!. With an aging and predominantly sedentary population, there are many health problems – diabetes, obesity, and low bone density, which leads to osteoporosis. But, when there are health problems, it's difficult to do traditional exercises that improve our health. The old adage of "use it or lose it" is true when it comes to bone density and muscle strength. If you're not putting enough force on your bones, muscles, and tendons, they atrophy. And "enough force" means activities like gymnastics. Few, if any of us, are able to do that in our younger years, let alone in older age. This is where BioStrong comes in. The bio density machines are designed to put optimum pressure on the four main areas of the body to increase bone density and muscle strength without harm to the user. The client is in in total control of how much force to use. And, it takes less than 15 minutes a week. As you'll see in the video, older ladies are reporting increased strength, which is so important for maintaining a healthy life. Younger men are experiencing greater vitality and more energy. Bone densities have improved for everyone, even athletes who had good scores before using the bio density equipment. Besides increasing bone density, which can reverse osteoporosis, and improving muscle strength, using the bio density machines regularly improves metabolism. This means lower blood sugar, better blood sugar control, and decreased risk of organ damage from high blood sugar. All of these benefits with only a few minutes of effort. Natural and surprisingly effective, with no harmful side effects. | |
