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 10 am - 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:
Farm hours are
Friday from 12 - 4 pm (or request an appt.)
Meet us in Media
MORE on MEDIA:
For years, we attended the Media Farmer's market on Thursday next to the theater. We love the community, the vibe and the warmth of the Medians (wait, that sounds funny......)
When the market shifted to Sundays, we stepped back. But we miss you, and we're willing to see if you miss us, so we're giving it a try as a guest vendor.
DETAILS:
Sunday (10/6) from 10 -1 on Edgemont Street between Front & State Streets
And if you come see us on Sunday in Media, you save 10% off your order!
DETAILS:
Sunday (10/6) from 10 -1 on Edgemont Street between Front & State Streets
Email your pre-order to: canterhillfarm@yahoo.com
TINY TURKEYS
As the turkey orders are coming in quickly, we want to say something about turkey sizes. Of the roughly 80 turkeys ordered already, 72 are for "as small as possible" (people are even writing in "10 - 12 lbs, please".
We completely understand not wanting 20 + lbs of meat if it's just a family of four enjoying the holiday together, but we want you to understand:
1. Turkeys are naturally between 16 - 20 lbs. That's their "species size". If they are butchered younger or we have an in insanely cold fall, they won't have filled out yet and can be "scrawnier", but that's not really a positive.
2. During COVID, all our costs increased - sometimes fourfold. The cost to butcher a turkey, the inspection fee - many of the costs are a fixed amount per bird, so the smaller the bird, the less we make. Under 14 lbs, we lose money on each turkey, so we're really hoping to have them larger.
3. Remember those normal distributions you studied in math class? They look like a hill or a bell? Well, that applies to turkey weights. We'll have a few really small and a few really large turkeys, and the rest will fall in the 16 - 18 lb range. If everyone (and seriously - everyone has) asks for the "smallest possible", we're defying nature to believe that we'll have a skewed distribution. It could happen, but it stinks for us as the farmers!
So...what are you saying?
If you really want 10 lbs of a meat for Thanksgiving, we get that the presentation isn't the same, but consider a BREAST rather than trying to get a whole turkey to be the size of a chicken.
If you're open to leftovers, consider a 16 lb turkey and I'll get you some great recipes for casseroles, soups....
Just please understand that if you write: "as small as possible", you're likely to get a 16 lb bird. We wouldn't want you disappointed. That's just nature!
END OF SEASON:
We'll continue to have fresh chicken through October and PERHAPS into the first week or two of November, but then we shift to frozen - so stock up!
Produce (gem squash, flowers) is in the final stages, so don't wait - get them this week!
The FARM is open Friday from 12 – 4
Able to meet-up in KENNETT SQUARE on Friday evening
CHESTNUT HILL on Saturday from 9 - noon
BRYN MAWR on Saturday from 9 - 1 pm
MEDIA on Sunday from 10 - 1 pm
As always, remember that we love when you pre-order via email to (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.