September 2017 Newsletter

“The White Stuff”

The labour day long weekend is upon us – ushered in with a touch of frost as the temperature dips to 4 degrees Celsius overnight.  This has been one of the wettest coolest summers on record for Ontario, perfect for growing pasture, potatoes and leafy greens.  The tomato crop, which likes hotter, drier conditions will be slow in ripening.  Luckily, Mark and Emily invested in a “caterpillar tunnel”, which will allow them to continue harvesting well after the outside crops are frozen off.

Root Crops

Zettel Family Farms is, for the first time, offering stored root vegetables for sale into the fall and winter.  So when you’re ordering beef, pork, or chicken, you can include a bag of organic potatoes, carrots, onions or garlic, to be delivered right to the house.

Turkey

Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away and we are still taking orders for pasture raised organic turkeys – a once a year phenomenon here on the farm.  The turkeys love to graze ; their movable home is pulled onto new grass three times every day.  Turkeys take twenty weeks to mature, so these guys have been with us all summer.  Delivery will be fresh or frozen, the week prior to Thanksgiving.

Ribs

Over the summer, with so many of you enjoying our Steaks, Pork Chops and Sausage on the barbecue, we have been accumulating a good supply of pork ribs, vacuum packed in our freezer.  We’re offering 10 lb. boxes of ribs for the unreasonably low price of $39.00 – while supply lasts.  We like ours baked long and slow in the wood stove oven.  Sam and Michelle cook theirs in the slow cooker during the afternoon and finish them on the barbecue.

In case you missed it:   10lb Box of Ribs – Only $39!

Bone Broth

Speaking of ribs; more and more science is coming out to support the nutritional benefit of bone meats.  If you spend any time researching this, you will come up with a deluge of claims about health benefits, and also the usual disclaimers from the mainstream medical community warning that “there is little or no scientific evidence to verify the benefits”.  ( see for example – http://time.com/4159156/bone-broth-health-benefits/)  I tend to be skeptical about the latest food fads, but this one seems to be a modern day rediscovery of wisdom that goes back to antiquity.  What did your mother give you when you were sick?  Chicken soup!  This was typically made from the leftover bones of a roasted chicken, boiled for a long time to not waste any of the edible parts clinging to the bones.  Only now are we beginning to understand how some of the compounds released in the process can play a role in healing the body or preventing disease.  Many of you are onto this already.

We are looking forward to a time in the not too distant future when all the bones will be used.  If you want to order extra chicken necks and backs, pork neck bones or beef soup bones, let us know!

The 2017 Farm Tour

Our second annual Zettel Family Farms Farm Tour and Barbecue was blessed with perfect weather, sunny and not too hot.  We packed two huge hay wagons with passengers and went to see the cattle, pigs and chickens , ending up at Mark and Emily’s impressive garden.  Then a quick ride back to the park where we celebrated with refreshments and a barbecue.  Thank you to those who came!  This is a valuable opportunity for us to explain what we do, answer questions and get to know the families we serve.  We were impressed by the number of young families that came out!