The newest Hello!

Hello Everyone! Welcome to the first blog post of the 2013 season. A rainy, chilly evening over here at the farm. Perfect for drinking a cup of tea and writing a small post.

I'm new to Mansfield Heritage Farm as of this past March, and have picked up the baton from Emily (last blogger/grower extraordinaire). So far, it feels like I'm in paradise. This year we're going for gold, growing about 3 acres of organic veggies, raising meat birds, free run eggs, pastured pork, and new this year, experimenting with two polkaroo-looking alpacas. We're continuing on with the CSA from last year, and new this year, we've hooked up with a spot on the corner of Airport Road and County Road 17 to sell our veggies and baked goods every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. (whew!). Hope to see you there...expect some delicious pestos, sweet treats, canned goods, and of course, the freshest veggies in town!

Stay tuned for some farm adventures along the road...and perhaps some great recipes and bits of gardening advice...

Don't feel shy to visit! We'd love to show you this little garden of Eden and all of our *very entertaining animals. We also have pastured chicken for sale, tomato plants, free-run eggs, lamb, and pork for sale if you're interested!

Off to stretch out this day of tomato planting....

Jenna

Tomatillos and Ground Cherries, The Mystery Fruits

So we have had our first market of the year at our new market in Collingwood.  It was pretty exciting, getting ready for the market since it was our first one, and though we didn't have a lot of stuff, it was still nice to get off the farm, meet some of the venders and customers.  I also realized that I'm going to have to brush up on my Simcoe county geography, there are a lot of little towns near Collingwood that I have never heard of.   But it was a lot of fun, especially listening to people talk about their gardens. Because we were selling organic, heirloom vegetable seedlings, customers were talking about their gardens, their favorite tomatoes, and their excitement to get into the garden! The plants we got asked about the most were the tomatillo and the ground cherry.  So for anyone that bought some, or people who see the fruit at our stand in the summer, here are a couple tasty recipes I found for both of them, and look forward to trying myself! Aunt Molly's Ground Cherries Search under ground cherry bush for the pinkish-yellow husks, peel back the husk, and pop them in your mouth. Repeat until the sun gets too hot. Gather a few more to share with a friend. Variation: have your friend go to the ground cherry patch. - "Chefs on the Farm", by Shannon Borg and Lore Lea Misterly - Salsa Verde A hot green salsa, and if you don't like cilantro, substitute it for parsley instead. 3 lbs tomatillos 3 jalapeños peppers, chopped 3 serrano chiles chopped 1 green bell pepper, chopped 1 cup chopped red onion 1/2 cup chopped green onion 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro 2 tbsp lime juice Salt and Pepper Clean and husk the tomatillos, cover with water in a large sauce pan. Bring to a boil, than cover and reduce heat to a simmer for 5 minutes. Remove tomatillos and immerse in cold water for 5 minutes. Drain tomatillos, pat dry and chop. In a bowl, combine all the ingredients, than add the tomatillos, season to taste, and enjoy fresh, or simply put in a feezer bag and freeze for a later date. A great way to use up a bumper crop of tomatillos and enjoy them all year long! - "Preserving, The Canning and Freezing Guide for all Seasons", by Pat Crocker - The author of this recipe will be teaching a canning workshop at our farm June 23, call us up if you are interested. Hopefully these recipes will help you try out a couple new vegetables!

Homemade Soaps

Possibly one of the neatest hobbies I've picked up, it allows you to use up by-products and kind of create something from nothing.  Traditionally soap was made from lye made from wood ash, water and fat.  Many pioneers or settlers would make their own, in fact one of our neighbours, when over here for a visit and some tea, told me about how his parents would make soap after an animal was butchered.  They would use the soap for laundry. Now, if you don't have that much fat laying around, don't worry, you can buy it from a butcher or you can use other oils and fats that are in the grocery store already eg. Olive oil, coconut oil, lard, palm oil, etc. If using fat, you have to cook it to clean it up and create tallow.  Tallow is made from beef suet, which I think is around the liver, and is firmer than other fat.  But you can use any beef fat if you can't get suet.  I have started accumulating tallow, which you can freeze until you need it.  I have read that other animal fats work as well, but produce a softer bar of soap, but I have never tried it. Ok, so the soap making process is pretty simple, as long as your measurements from the recipe are correct, the temperatures are close, and you don't mind stirring a lot. Find a recipe that sounds interesting to you, I recommend trying a basic soap before you get to crazy into additives, scents and dyes.  There are a lot of great recipes and how to's online, but I used a couple of awesome books from the library that have everything.  But anyways, make sure you get the process down first before you try anything too crazy. In a nut shell,  Measure out all your ingredients Mix the lye into the water VERY CAREFULLY and  not the other way around Melt your fats or bring your oil up to around 100*F (temp depends on recipe) Cool the lye-water to around 100*F Slowly add the lye to the soap and stir and stir and stir until it thickens enough to leave marks on the top of the soap when you take out the stirrer  Pour into mould and cover in a towel to keep it warm while it does it's magic That's it, I have made a bunch at the farm, once I started it got kind of addicting, and, knock on wood, every batch has turned out.  I haven't mastered milled soap yet, so that is my next project. But if you are at the farm and want to see some of my soaps or experiments, I'd be happy to show you the hits as well as some of the misses. But in my bathroom right now, all I have is hand made soap, my lavender eucalyptus body bar that I made, as well as home made shampoo and conditioner from my friend Pam at pamssoaps.com of the same scent.  It's a good thing the farmers markets will be starting soon, I'm almost out!

Filling up the Ol' Bank Barn

So many lambs.  Every time I go into the barn for tools, to feed the rabbits or just to peek in, there is such a clamor of baas, bleats, grunts, gurgles, and thuds.  There was a total of 20 lambs this spring of varying colours, sizes and personalities.  As the mothers laze around eating, chewing, and relaxing the babies are zooming around, eating, huddled together or by their moms sleeping, pestering their moms for milk or climbing on everything, including their moms.  The best part though is when the moms are fed, or when they are all outside! Jumps, kicks, twists, leaping all over the place!  The lambs are so amusing to watch, it instantly cheers you up, and you can't help but stop and watch their antics for a while.  New life is so exciting, I find myself heading to the barn more often than I need to, just to check on the baby rabbits, or watch the lambs for a while.  It's a shame that they will all grow up and become less cute.  But I suppose that's life. So the rabbits are two and a half weeks old, their eyes are open, and they've begun to run all over the cage, chasing their mother in search of food.  It has been really nice having these rabbits at the farm.  Since I don't have any chickens at the moment, and I was milking cows all winter, I miss animal companionship and chores.  EB is always so happy to see me, and her kits are so fun to watch, I can't believe how large they have grown in two weeks.  I pulled one out to show some young neighbours.  They are as fat as butter, warm, and covered in super soft white fur, so adorable and kind of resemble little terriers with their square faces and short ears.   They will be weaned in about four weeks time and then will begin their life outside in the rabbit tractor.  This special pen will allow them to eat fresh grass all day long, and the pen can be moved to a new patch of grass once a day, or whenever they need a new patch.  

The 2012 Season Begins

So my first week back to the farm has been both exciting and disappointing.  Bad news first, the rototiller is dead.  It is a sad day, we spent a lot of hours together; working up soil, preparing beds, and destroying weeds.  Not sure yet whether it is worth fixing, or if I will get a new partner in crime. Now for the good news. All my trays of seeds have begun to show life.  Baby tomatoes, peppers and eggplants poking their heads out of the soil.  I think this is my favorite part of gardening, seeing the seedlings.  Whether it is in a tray or in the garden, it is new life, all neat and tidy, and in the case of beds, still freshly worked, weed free and perfect.  I will post some pictures of my babies when I get a chance. And speaking of babies, my plunge in to the world of rabbits has been very exciting so far.  I've been getting to know E.B. (named by my favorite young neighbours, short for Easter bunny) my white New Zealand doe, and on Easter Sunday she had a wonderful litter of little, pink, wiggly, ratlike bunnies.  It is her second litter, so hopefully she is well experienced because I certainly am not.  I haven't looked too hard into her nest of white fur that she pulled out and made for them, I don't want to disturb them too much, but it looks like around 8.  And with 8 babies to feed, I have noticed that she is drinking and eating more than ever. This also means that I will soon need to purchase a nice buck for the next batch of rabbits, as well as work on some new cages for them all.  Once the little rabbits are about 6 weeks old they will be weaned and put in a new home outside that will allow them to eat grass, get some exercise and some fresh air while they grow up.  The rabbit tractor can be pulled to new patches of grass as needed. The next couple of weeks should be interesting, with the gardening really getting started, day old chicks arriving eventually, as well as some laying chickens.

A Couple Acres of Paradise

Hello there everyone, and welcome to the first blog for Mansfield Heritage Farm.  I hope throughout the season and years we keep it interesting with updates, recipes and photos.

Mansfield Heritage Farm is a small mixed, organic farm in Mansfield, Ontario.  There is a two acre market garden, around 60 acres of hay and pasture for our sheep, meat and laying chickens, rabbits and bees.  There is also a small orchard and little building where our interns live and where different cooking and informational workshops are held.  It is a neat spot with beautiful views of the nearby escarpment, bush, and farmland.

As well as going to market, we also provide CSA shares.  Community Supported Agriculture, is a neat system of providing fresh local produce to customers.  A box of produce is put together each week of whatever is in season and given to a CSA member for a predetermined price.  But more info on that later.

Anyways, I hope you stay tuned, and if you have the opportunity, that you come check us out and see what we are doing on our little strip of paradise!