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.)
for an evening
Clearance sale you don’t want to miss
Our family often rents Airbnbs. With kids who won’t share a bed and struggle to share a bathroom, they need the space…and I need the kitchen and the yard. My idea of vacation is an early morning silent coffee in an Adirondak chair outside. How is that different from home? It’s not my place, so I soak it all in, rather than visualize a huge list of a to-do’s like I do at our farm.
I want to invite you to have a moment like that WITHOUT having to pack a bag or drive really far.
Join us at the farm for a relaxed evening next Saturday, August 8th.
Open Farm Night:
Visit us at the farm for an evening of “light activities” where you can do one thing, two things…or no-thing.
We’ll offer:
-
Farm Tour
-
Steak Grilling Lesson
-
Flower picking and flower bar to build a bouquet
-
A few kid-perfect activities (like “whose egg am I”)
-
Tasters of some of my favorite dishes, including marinated skirt steak, homemade tomato soup and Shallot-Corn Chicken, just to name a few.
Bring your family. Bring your kids. Bring your picnic and favorite beverages of choice and either join the activities or steal a quiet spot (we’ll have chairs and tables scattered throughout) to just enjoy a sunset over the sheep paddock, watch the chickens scratching out their hills and valleys across the green or see the birds swoop in to settle on the flower stems before retreating into the forest that surrounds our farm.
The evening is free and all are welcome. Please RSVP to let us know how many tasters to make and chairs to put out:
TOMATO TIME
Finally. I was beginning to feel really dejected. I started my tomato seedlings in March, nurtured them through the winter in the tool shed under the deck, transferred them to the greenhouse in May and…..waited. And I watched as farms and farm stands appeared with beautiful red tomatoes while mine still glowed green. But THIS WAS THE WEEK! My Cherokee Purples, Red Brandywines, Big Rainbows, Black Krims – they FINALLY TURNED RED! I’m so excited. We grow only Heirloom varieties without any sprays or unnatural fertilizers. They take longer, but tastes worlds better. Snag them at the farm TODAY between 12 – 4 or sneak a spare or two at the market tomorrow. $6 / lb.
Chicken & Corn:
Fresh corn doesn’t need much to be fabulous, but believe it or not – chicken makes it BETTER! Click below for one of my FAVORITE tried-and-true chicken and corn recipes that you can try at the farm next week if we can coax you out…
HOURS:
Find us at the farm (Friday, 12 – 4)
Bryn Mawr: Saturday, 9 am – 1 pm
Chestnut Hill: Saturday, 9 am – noon
Don’t forget to pre-order to enjoy all the sales by emailing: canterhillfarm@yahoo.com
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.