Canter Hill
Farm
WHY WE GROW
We grow because we care what we eat. We care even more what our children eat. And we think you care, too. We founded Canter Hill Farm in 2008 with the goal of growing our own food so that we knew exactly what was (and what wasn't) in it. We didn't set out to start a business - we had two full-time careers of our own. But then we started talking to people who read the books that we did and cared as much as we did - and we decided to try to grow for them, too. That's how it all began....
WHERE WE ARE
2138 Valley Hill Road
Malvern, PA 19355
We are open on Fridays from 12 - 4.
Email: canterhillfarm@yahoo.com
Phone: 610.827.1594
(For a quick response, email is best!)
HOW TO BUY
SCHEDULE
Bryn Mawr:
Every Saturday from
9 am - 1 pm
Location: Parking lot of the Bryn Mawr Train Station (Lancaster Avenue & Bryn Mawr Avenue)
Chestnut Hill:
Every Saturday
10 - noon in April
then 9 am - noon until Christmas
Location: in front of the Mermaid Inn.
Kennett Square:
Get on our "Kennett Dropoff List" by sending us an email
Media:
Email to get on the "Media dropoff" email list. I'll alert you when I'm coming to Media and we can meet up for a pickup.
Farm:
Farm hours are
Friday from 12 - 4 pm (or request an appt.)
ALMOST APRIL
It’s spring, right?
I’m so convinced that winter is over that I’ve planted lettuce, radishes, beets, carrots, potatoes and onions. I’m starting the zinnias, cosmos and dahlia tubers this weekend.
Now watch it snow.
In our family, the menu shifts with my optimism. Last week, we made DELICIOUS beef kebabs and steaks on the grill, using the BEST MARINADE RECIPE EVER (see below). Then, when the next day is suddenly chilly, I defrosted a boneless pork loin and used the EASIEST RUB RECIPE EVER that has just four ingredients: salt, pepper, onion salt and garlic salt – and it’s SENSATIONAL.
I want you to try these recipes, so we’re putting steak and pork loin roasts on sale to make it even more enticing:
SALES:
Bryn Mawr: Save $2 / lb on Porterhouse Steaks (thick and juicy!)
Chestnut Hill: Save $5 / lb on Boneless Pork Loin Roasts
(reg. $16 / lb, on sale for $11 / lb)
(2.5 – 6 lbs, but usually around 3 -4 lbs)
SCHEDULE:
HUGE schedule updates, so read this:
DELIVERIES: We’re launching a home delivery option. Deliveries will be on WEDNESDAYS, and we’ll vary the town each week. Orders over $150 we’ll deliver to your door (leave out a cooler!). If you only need a few things, we’ll have a pickup point in that locale and we’ll hand you your items. EMAIL US at canterhillfarm@yahoo.com with your ADDRESS and PHONE number (and your name, if your email doesn’t give it away), and we’ll start the schedule around you!
FARM HOURS: We are expanding store hours to include MONDAYS from 10 am – 6 pm, starting 4/7.
Fridays from 12 – 4 pm will remain (and may also expand).
We are happy to arrange pickup appointments on other times – just email to canterhillfarm@yahoo.com and tell us the day and time range you’d like.
MARKETS: We return to WEEKLY markets this week, and Bryn Mawr returns to the regular season hours of 9 am – 1 pm. Chestnut stays at 10 am – noon until May. Come May 3rd, Chestnut will start earlier at 9 am and continue to run until noon.
FARM: Open Friday, April 4th from 12 – 4 pm
(adding new MONDAY HOURS starting 4/7)
MEDIA: Delivery & Meet-up on FRIDAY, April 4th
KENNETT SQUARE: Meet up on FRIDAY, April 4th
BRYN MAWR: Saturday, 9 – 1 pm
CHESTNUT HILL: Saturday, 10 - noon
WE NEED HELP!
We are quite desperately looking for additional hands – particularly to help us on Saturdays getting food TO the market and/or helping AT the market. If you or anyone you know is great with people, passionate about food (making it or eating it) and would be willing to share at least 1 Saturday per month, email us at: canterhillfarm@yahoo.com
EASTER ORDERS:
I can’t believe Easter is two weeks away!
Please email us if you’d like to reserve a half ham, bone-in lamb leg, lamb loin roast, lamb rack or beef tenderloin. We will confirm your order, likely request a small deposit to be sure you come and arrange where you’d like to grab it.
SPECIAL STUFF:
We’ve told you it was coming….we have invited a few farmer friends of ours to showcase their great food at our farm store. We’re starting with Birdy’s Bees Apiary Honey (Malvern locals who are longtime friends and customers of our farm and have kids alongside ours in school. Their honey won 2nd place in the Chester County Beekeeper Association’s Honey competition, so this honey is both delicious AND it’s produced in local hives – including at our farm – so it can help with seasonal allergies!)
We’re also unveiling Tubby Bee Natural Soaps made by my oldest daughter. Handmade from scratch using organic herbs and essential oils, she has fragrance free options and lightly scented varieties that hydrate while providing the enticing scent that natural ingredients allow.
Next week, we’ll add a name you know: Whiskey Hollow Maple Syrup.
And hopefully we’ll carefully and mindfully expand from there. Our goal is maintain a VERY local and direct connection. We’ll feature the farmer or artisan and tell you all about them and their practices- and we’ll try to drag them out to do a fun session or two throughout the season so you can meet them live and have some fun in the process!
Our Mission:
We founded the farm on a simple premise:
Before chemicals, labs and factory farms got involved, God had created a perfect, workable system. We will learn about it, respect it, and we will naturally and successfully be able to be "beyond-organic" in our food supply.
New to farming, we had no pre-conceived ideas about raising animals or vegetables, and sought out farmers across the globe to learn what we did and didn't want to do. We quickly saw that most food systems raising just one type of offering needed external inputs - fertilizers, corn and sadly - sometimes chemicals and antibiotics. That's why we raise a variety of animals. Each has been chosen to serve a function for the others.
Over the last 10 years, we have grown and in addition to our home-base farm in Malvern, we lease 180 acres of grazing land from old family friends in Lancaster County. During the summer, we rotate half of our sheep flock through this land, and most of our steers call this land home. All of the land we graze is 100% free of any chemicals or sprays and we re-plant every other year to manage soil compression, erosion and to preserve a diversity of forage.
Canter Hill's beef and lamb is 100% grass (or hay) feed, and supplemented only with salt licks. We de-worm our sheep flock once annually, after lambing season (at the same time as sheering - typically the first week of June) and do not introduce any other chemicals or antibiotics. We have not experienced the same need to de-worm our steers. We have been migrating our sheep flock from Dorset to Katahdin, and therefore most of our sheep are now 50% or more Katahdin (a hair sheep), because we believe the meat tastes nicer! Our beef is both Black and Lowline Angus. We are shifting towards Lowline Angus which is more tolerant of 100% grass feeding and generally very hardy.
Canter Hill's poultry and pork is either pasture (for poultry) or forage fed (our pigs dig in the forest, and our turkeys also tend to roam!). They are supplemented with organic, soy-free feed. How much feed vs. forage do they consume? It depends on the weather. If it's raining or cold, more feed than forage. On warm days that aren't drenching, almost entirely forage. This is why we raise from March - November.
We STRONGLY encourage you to open your minds to frozen meat. If you're committed to pasture raising, recognize that you can't have fresh meat in the dead of winter, and purchase a great freezer!
We are committed to pasture-raised, antibiotic-free and chemical-free poultry, lamb and produce.