For how can one know color in perpetual green, and what good is warmth without cold to give it sweetness? ~John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America, 1961

And It's Winter!

Winter came quickly. One day it was 25° C and the next day it was snowing…not quite, but close. We've only had two seasons this year instead of four. It went from winter to summer in April/May, skipping spring, and summer to winter last week, skipping autumn.

We were ready. The harvest was done, garlic was planted, and livestock shelters were ready if it got too nasty. Thankfully, it was just wet snow and a couple of cold nights, so the cows and sheep were able to remain on pasture, which the guys supplemented with a bit of hay in case the snow was too deep.

Now, it's supposed to be sunny with above 0° C temperatures, so all the snow will melt. It's nice to have the moisture after a hot dry summer.

Marseilles' ducks didn't seem to mind the snow. If the drifts were a little deep, they just tried to swim through them.

Now, we're in maintenance mode keeping the livestock fed, watered, and comfortable. And Jeannie is still waiting for her greenhouse.

At the Harvest Haven Hearth, Heaven meets Earth. Golden loaves of bread made with simple ingredients and baked in our wood-fired oven are wonderfully delicious and nourishing. Everyone's favorite naturally leavened bread is fresh from the oven on Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday, along with pizza crusts.

Yeast-risen bread and buns are baked after the oven cools down enough. They are frozen fresh after baking, so remain moist and delicious when served.

Our friend, Peter Fiorino, who is a gifted creative, produced a video with Martin demonstrating how to make naturally-leavened bread and bake it in our wood-fired brick oven.

Enjoy Peter's superb production.

Organic green cabbage and Maison Orphee French grey sea salt fermented in ceramic crocks make a probiotic-rich kraut. Great for your gut.

Crunchy with the perfect tanginess.

Neal Brothers, a Canadian company was founded in 1988 by brothers Chris and Pete Neal. It all started in their mom's kitchen, where the brothers made and sold croutons.

Their mission has always been to find the best-tasting snacks with the easiest-to-read ingredients.

Fresh, crunchy, and great-tasting snacks!

We carry:
Organic Pretzel Rods
Organic Blue Corn Chips
Organic Nacho Cheese Chips
Organic Corn Chips
Organic Mexican Street Corn Chips

Harvest Haven Beef Wieners, 4 pack – Juicy, flavorful all-beef wieners made from the finest Harvest Haven pasture-raised beef with no fillers at all. Gently seasoned for a delicious repast.

Harvest Haven Hot Dog Buns, 4 pack – Light and fluffy homemade buns made with simple organic ingredients (Harvest Haven flour and eggs, oil, cane sugar, and sea salt) and baked in the wood-fired oven. Unique to Harvest Haven.

Harvest Haven Raw Sauerkraut, 1L – What's more convenient than opening a jar of Harvest Haven sauerkraut? That's convenience and nutrition both in one. Serve at room temperature or heat gently to preserve all the beneficial enzymes. The super food we love!

Neal Brothers Corn Chips, 274 g – Neal Brothers Organic Corn Chips are the crunchy kick you've been waiting for. Packed with yummy organic ingredients, you won't be able to put the bag down! The perfect size and shaped chip for dipping.

La Preferida Organic Refried Beans, 398 mL – Rich and creamy real refried beans made with 3 simple ingredients: organic pinto beans, water, and salt. Heat and serve as a side dish for an authentic Mexican meal, spread in your favorite burrito, or mix with salsa and sour cream for a yummy dip.

Organic Pecans, 180 g – This native of northern Mexico and the southern United States is a nutrition powerhouse packed with vitamins and minerals. Their rich, buttery flavor and natural sweetness make a tasty snack and a delicious addition to your baking.

Uncle Luke's Organic Very Dark Maple Syrup, 500 mL or 1L – 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.

Please note, all ingredients in our recipes are organic.

Grander Experiences

Most of you know and use Grander Living Water products. But for those who are uninitiated, here's a brief description.

Grander Water Revitalization is a natural technology from Austria that brings water back to life by restoring its original vitality and energy. It makes water more pleasurable for drinking and bathing, more effective for cleaning, enhancing anything that uses water.

Revitalized water has a profound influence on all living things, but even mechanical and nonliving systems using water (boilers, cooling units, humidifiers) benefit from its enhanced properties.

As purification of water is necessary, revitalization is also needed because of how damaged all water has become. Filtration does not bring water back to life; purified and distilled water is still dead water. For water to impart vitality it must be more than just clean; it needs to be ALIVE! That's what Grander products do.

Recently, I was made aware of a couple of people who have had wonderful experiences using Grander.

Someone who had diabetes and was monitoring her blood sugar levels day and night came shopping at the store. Eating an all-organic diet for some time improved her health, but didn't completely deal with the diabetes.

However, after purchasing a Grander rod to use in her Berkey water filter, she soon found that her blood sugar remained stable overnight, and was able to control her diabetes naturally. She was thrilled.

Michael, a friend who has come to visit us from Texas, shared how Grander has improved his health. He was born with a heart defect, which required an operation to install a mechanical heart valve. He takes warfarin to help keep his body from rejecting the foreign object that is keeping him alive.

"For a few years now I've been on warfarin (an anticoagulant). Whether from that or my new mechanical aortic valve, I have suffered from what I've self-diagnosed as 'photophobia.' Randomly throughout the day, I would suffer spells of pretty extreme sensitivity to light, accompanied by light-headedness. It would make me not a very happy camper. Perhaps they were just migraines as the symptoms seem similar, though I wouldn't call what I was experiencing headaches. Whatever the case they were pretty disorienting.

"At this point I had already drastically cleaned up my life and diet, now eating organic, getting more rest, etc., yet was still suffering these episodes.

"Those at Harvest Haven suggested I try sleeping with a small Grander board against my chest. That made a HUGE difference! The difference in sleeping was night and day. I would and sometimes still do wake up 1-2 hours earlier than normal fully rested. I think my body got the rest it normally did by that time and so thought it was time to get up.

"Because I was still suffering some attacks throughout the day, we decided to try a little more. I gave my Grander pendant to a friend and switched it out for 3 mini penergizers, and by Martin's advice, I also kept 1 in each shoe. No. More. Problems.

"It's hard to convey how much this has changed things for me healthwise. I realize that my condition is unique, but I have two friends, who though are perfectly healthy by the world's standards, have also reported they sleep much better with the Grander board.

"I still have some things to work on as I was a wreck before I came to Harvest Haven. So the road to recovery has taken some time, but Grander has been a game changer."