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:
1st and 3rd (and 5th!) Saturdays of the month from 10 - noon
Location: Parking lot of the Bryn Mawr Train Station (Lancaster Avenue & Bryn Mawr Avenue)
Chestnut Hill:
1st and 3rd (and 5th!) Saturdays of the month from 10 - noon
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.
Meetup on January 2nd, 16th and 30th.
Farm:
Friday from 12 - 4 pm
(or request an appt.)
New: Bulk Bundles
Introducing: Bundle Boxes!
January offers a fresh start. When it’s dreary outside, the warmth of the stove and aromas from the oven provide a welcoming respite. This time of year, we try new recipes and adhere to our resolutions. Record number of emails requesting bulk buying give us a hint that others have resolutions that include eating healthy, tasty and frugally, and we want to TRY OUT a new option
For years, farms have offered 1/4 , ½ or whole animal shares, and we found these to be FRAUGHT with problems. Quarter shares mean you don’t have access to certain cuts of meat, while ½ or whole shares result in WAY more poundage than most want, cuts that aren’t your favorite and A LOT of time making cutting selections. What if we could offer the cuts you WANT, the volume you can HOLD and the savings you NEED.
Introducing Bulk Bundles
We’re launching Beef and Chicken Bulk Bundles, which are fixed price orders that allow you to choose a certain number of core components (like ground beef) and another count of prime meats (like steaks) and save 20 – 30%. We’ll deliver your order to your door, bring it to the market OR (depending on where your door is), meet you at a closer spot for a convenient pickup. We have visions of expanding to other meats like pork or offering an “Ark Assortment” that includes multiple proteins – let us know what you think!
Click on the link below to see the options and EMAIL us at canterhillfarm@yahoo.com to try it out!
More Convenient Media:
Have you been wanting to meet up but find Friday mornings tough? For the next two months, we have a kid in a Media sports league, so we’ll be there twice a week (Thursday evenings and most Saturday afternoons). Email us to meet up in Media or for a home delivery (for slightly larger orders) with more options! (First meet up option is TONIGHT around 6:45 – 7 pm, 1/15).
Make it to Markets:
Remember that Jan, Feb and Mar offer 2-hour markets (10 – noon) on the 1st, 3rd and 5th Saturdays of the month.
We’ll be in Bryn Mawr and Chestnut Hill:
This Saturday, 1/17
Saturday, 1/31
Saturday, 2/7
The farm CONTINUES to be open on Fridays from 12 – 4pm. Check our website for any weather updates if it snows 3 feet 😊
As always, email us with pre-orders or large orders if you can!
CHRISTMAS KITTEN:
We’ve had a big kitten year. We have two PRECIOUS little boy kittens that are unbelievably friendly and loving (used to dogs, chaos and general torture). Kitten for Christmas anyone?
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.