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.)
abundance
I think we get a little lazy in the height of summer’s bounty. There’s so much FRESH to choose from that we don’t have to get creative. Funny enough, eating IN SEASON is precisely what our bodies need. Vitamins B and C, which are critical for our health (and mood!) diminish rapidly when fruits and veggies ride across the country or chill for many days in a fridge. But when I walk the garden in the morning, I’m reminded that there are veggies that LOVE these icy mornings and early sunsets, as yesterday I clipped snap peas and green beans from their vines and cut huge stalks of Brussel sprouts that will be perfect for roasting with butternut or delicata squash. That’s why I’m so excited about this week’s haul. Gorgeous heads of cauliflower, beautifully cured candy onions, deep purple carrots, delicate and crunchy salad greens next to deep green heads of broccoli and rich red Gala apples just picked yesterday. We’re in the last weeks of a an abundance of fresh produce, so make the trip to the farm – and get creative with what your body needs now
SALE:
And we’ll throw in a farm (or pre-order) incentive! Our butcher cut the chuck roasts just a little small (think 2.5 lbs) this time, so we have “Personal Pot Roasts” on sale! Regularly $16 / lb, on sale at the farm TODAY for $12 / lb and the perfect size for just one meal for 4 or two meals for two.
Turkey Trials:
It’s time to start practicing for Thanksgiving. I love to slather a bone-in turkey breast with herb butter and bake it in a pyrex (Just soften the butter and use a fork to mix in fresh chopped herbs. I add a tablespoon of maple syrup for a delicious sweetness. Loosen the skin at the neck area and just stuff gobs of the butter underneath. It will melt and move all on its own – although I do often baste just once with the rendered butter to get a crispy golden skin). This does three things: Try out different rubs and basting blends, feel less intimidated about cooking turkey when the big day comes and enjoy a delicious protein-rich meal that pairs perfectly with all those hearty squashes and potatoes that we just harvested. We have FRESH turkey breasts this week to try out your recipes, so email in your pre-order to reserve one or come to the farm today. We also now have turkey stock and turkey backs so any leftovers can be mixed into a rich soup and paired with our fresh-cut celery, just-pulled carrots and golden onions that we cured on our deck 😊
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.