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.)
sneak peek
The seedlings are popping through the soil, the chicks are in the incubator and due to hatch this weekend, and we have BIG plans in store at the farm this year.
SCHEDULE
(Pay attention – we take turns at the markets on 3/28 and 4/4):
Markets THIS weekend (March 21st) from 10 – 12 in Chestnut Hill and Bryn Mawr
CHESTNUT HILL: We are BACK next week in Chestnut (March 28th) from 10 – noon but will NOT be there Saturday, April 4th – so order and get your Passover and Easter meats this week or next!
BRYN MAWR: market THIS WEEKEND and Easter Market on April 4th. The April 4th market debuts the return to 9 am – 1 pm hours that will last until Christmas.
The deadline for any custom meat orders (for example, Center Cut Beef Tenderloins or specific-sized Prime Rib Roasts) is midnight on Wednesday, March 25th. After that, if we have it, we’ll happily confirm and provide.
THE FARM is open this Friday (3/20) and next Friday (3/27) from 12 – 4 pm and CLOSED ON GOOD FRIDAY (4/3). Email to set a different pickup time: canterhillfarm@yahoo.com
SALES:
BRYN MAWR: Bone-in Chicken Thighs
(regularly $9 / lb, on sale for $7 / lb if you buy 2 or more packs)
CHESTNUT HILL: Bone-In Pork Shoulders
(regularly $12 / lb, on sale for just $9 / lb)
FARM: With the popularity of our new Chicken Asiago & Mushroom sausage, we’re going to bid farewell to Chicken Sage. Snatch up those last packages ONLY AT THE FARM for just $8 / lb.
And something new….thank you CHRIS!
At the suggestion of one of our team members, we are debuting CASELESS SWEET ITALIAN SAUSAGE. Sold in 1 lb packs, this sausage is perfect to mix with ground beef for bolognese, use for strata, or baked with cheese, tomato sauce and pasta into a 1-dish casserole with LOADS of flavor. Regularly $10 / lb (if it catches on), try it for $9 / lb this week and fall in love with its ease.
FUN at the FARM:
We’re excited to debut FARM BASED EVENTS this summer, including F5: Friday Food, Fun, Flowers and Friends at the Farm. Sign up alone or with friends to be greeted with a tasty appetizer of farm-fresh delicacies, then cut your own bouquet from our flower garden and enjoy your BYO additional food and beverage in the beautiful flower garden setting. Keep watch for times & details (launching in June, once the flowers are in full bloom)
Classes: Over the years I’ve been asked MANY times: “how do you cook this?” or “I don’t really grill, so…” This summer, we’ll offer a few opportunities for hands-on workshops featuring our farm’s meats and prepping and cooking them to give you with the confidence to make them at home.
Tastings: If you’re not ready for a class, join us for Finger Food Fridays and stroll the garden or grounds while you try one of the recipes I’ve featured in these emails and sip something sumptuous.
EASTER:
Ham: Half Hams (most 8 – 10 lbs, some slightly smaller or larger),
End Roasts (3 – 4 lbs) and Ham Steaks
Lamb Racks & Legs
Prime Rib Roasts
Center Cut or Whole Beef Tenderloins
Brisket: Roasts (3 – 4.5 lbs) and Whole Briskets (trimmed are usually 9 – 11 lbs)
And then don’t forget about breakfast!
Quiche: Bacon, Ham & Mushroom or Spinach & Tomato are the options (and SOOO easy)
Or whip up your own Eggs Benedict (get the eggs and Canadian Bacon on Saturday), Strata (get that sausage) or omelets using bacon, caseless sausage and rich orange-yolk eggs.
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.