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 from 9 - 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.
Farm:
Friday from 12 - 4 pm
(or request an appt.)
fresh finale
Fresh Finale
We’ve reached the end of the fresh chicken season – only two weeks left (after this one) of fresh from the butcher whole chickens and cuts (this week and next will be the last for fresh whole birds), so head over to the farm or to the markets today and tomorrow!
Produce This Week:
It was a nice sunny week, and we got out there before the rain to pick:
Strawberries: we have just a few pints, as the ever bearing are modest producers. These will sell out today at the farm, so come on over! ($8 / pint)
Cauliflower & Broccoli: We’ve got BEAUTIFUL heads of Cauliflower, including yellow and purple varieties – and gorgeous, deep green broccoli.
Try out the cauliflower soup recipe below, or make a VERY easy and healthy dinner of beef teriyaki by slicing a sirloin, flash frying it and pairing it with some lightly steamed cauliflower and your favorite teriyaki sauce. I saute our fresh yellow onions and gorgeous bell peppers (usually the ones that are getting soft and wrinkly – this is the perfect recipe for those) first, then I pull them out of the pan, throw in the steak and saute the steak until it’s a nice rare / medium rare (takes moments). Then I add back the onions, peppers and the lightly steamed broccoli and add the sauce. Just 90 seconds is enough to warm the sauce into the rest and not overcook all the other ingredients. Serve with rice or cauliflower rice. Simple, healthy and absolutely in season.
Price of Pure
We know that many of our faithful customers know the reasons to avoid pesticides and chemicals – that’s why you trek to the farm and to the market instead of opting for the convenience of getting everything from the grocery store.
But for those of us who are busy, or trying to stretch our grocery dollars – remember that the highest penetration of these chemicals happens in thin skinned fruits and in ROOT VEGETABLES like potatoes and onions. Not as glamorous as their green counterparts, focusing on naturally grown veggies in this category has the biggest bang for your “eating clean” buck, so don’t pass these by.
Apples: Our harvested apples are now perfect for applesauce and apple pie (a little soft, because we don’t store them in chemicals or spray them), so they are just $1 each to allow you to snatch them up and make those apple/oatmeal morning bakes.
THANKSGIVING:
This year, we have limited butchering slots for the Friday before Thanksgiving, which is the processing date that allows you to pick up on Saturday and Monday. We will be shutting off ordering for pickup on these days once the slots are full, so if you need those pickup dates, GET YOUR ORDER IN NOW. (The remainder of our turkeys are being butchered the Monday of Thanksgiving week, so you can still get a turkey, you just can’t pick it up until Tuesday evening or Wednesday).
Recipe of the Week:
Cauliflower Soup
This soup is the SIMPLEST, FASTEST and TASTIEST (not to mention healthiest) soup I’ve ever made. With VERY FEW ingredients, it is critical to pick the very best cauliflower and the richest, tastiest chicken stock. Guess what – we have both!
Cauliflower Soup Recipe:
Ingredients
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▢1 tbsp butter
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▢1 tbsp unbleached flour, gluten-free is fine too
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▢1 medium head cauliflower, chopped
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▢1/2 cup chopped onions
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▢4 cups less sodium chicken broth, vegetarians can use vegetable broth
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▢salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
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In a medium saucepan, make a roux by melting the butter on low heat.
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Add the flour and stir about 2 minutes.
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Add the chicken stock, onions and cauliflower and set heat to medium.
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Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer over medium-low heat until vegetables are tender (about 20 minutes.)
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Puree with an immersion blender until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
What else?
Restocked: All-Beef Hot Dogs are replenished (but they move fast), so grab them this weekend.
Berries are back! Dry weather brought a resurgence from our berry bushes, so enjoy this limited re-appearance.
Blackberries & Raspberries: $8 / container
PORK CUSTOM ORDERS:
Want some special cut for a great recipe? PLEASE email us by this WEDNESDAY (9/30) with custom pork cut orders, as we're taking in pigs this week.
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.