Category Archives: Natural Farms

Riverland Farms: Pastured Chicken for Sale

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I just received a letter from Genevieve Stroulger of Riverland Farms. Next week she will be slaughtering about 300 pastured chickens. I know many readers of eatkamloops.org have asked us for information about local pastured chicken. Below is part of her letter and contact information:

We are writing this letter to give you a bit of background about Riverland Farms, in hopes that you will purchase our chicken and allow us to be one of your food providers now and in the future. We are located on the banks of the South Thompson River, east of Rivershore Golf Course.

We are passionate about raising quality meat from chickens who are raised in the pasture. Our pens are portable so that we can move them often throughout the season to provide them with fresh grass and alfalfa. We believe a chicken should live the life of a chicken: eating high quality locally raised grains, alfalfa, grass, and bugs, and waking up to the sun!  The quality of the meat produced is superior in texture and taste.

Our meat is processed at a local family owned processing plant in Pritchard, BC and is government inspected. This year the inspector was so impressed that she bought some of our chicken! Some local restaurants are trying out our chicken on their menus as well! We would be happy to answer any questions you have.

We are running a special. If you purchase 20 chickens we will give you 10% off. Our price is $4.00 per pound.

Riverland Farm
Genevieve Stroulger
4336 Stevenson Rd, Kamloops, BC, V2H 1S8
T: 250.573.3183, C: 250.571.3486
E: riverlandfarmskamloops(a)gmail.com
25km
pastured chicken, pastured eggs

Pasture-to-Plate.com and the Chilcotin Plateau

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This summer I had the great pleasure of visiting the Chilcotin Plateau. We traveled through historic Gang Ranch, reputed at one time to be the largest ranch in the world, controlling four million acres. Dale Alsager wrote a book called The Incredible Gang Ranch. Dale Alsager talked about the problems facing the modern rancher. He felt the only way for a ranch to survive and be profitable in the present bureaucratic environment was to control the whole food system including: production, processing and distribution. Considering the modern complexity of completely controlling a food distribution system, I have rarely seen a small family-run company capable of this task. Pasture-to-Plate.com is one example.

Pasture-to-Plate.com was started by Felix and Jasmin Schellenberg, owners of Rafter 25 Ranch, located just north of Redstone, BC. Their ranch is beyond organic, chemical free, biodynamic and pasture based. The family has lived on the ranch for over 28 years. This is the “pasture” part of the business.

Felix and Jasmin Schellenberg have three daughters: Dominique, Barbara and Fiona Schellenberg which run different parts of the family business. Dominique runs Chezacut Wilderness Adventures, an ecotourism part of Rafter 25 Ranch. Barbara and Fiona help run the Drive Organics Retail Outlet and Ethical Kitchen and out of Vancouver, BC. This is the “plate” part of the business. These “spin-off” businesses have been described by Arthur Koestler and later Joel Salatin as holonic development.

Recently, I drove up to Redstone, BC for the grand opening of the Chilcotin Harvest Abbattoir. This is a beyond-state-of-the-art slaughtering facility. This facility has been the dream of Felix and Jasmin Schellenberg for many years. Big projects like this do not happen without help. The Schellenberg family enlisted the help of a Master Butcher from Switzerland. Jakob Jud moved his whole family to Redstone, BC and they all work at the abbattoir.

The Schellenberg family have a deep appreciation of the suffering of animals and want the animals to be as comfortable as possible before slaughtering. Long distance shipping is very stressful for animals so slaughtering on the ranch or very near the ranch is ideal. It’s also cost effective. (Unfortunately, our government regulators are not as concerned about the welfare of your dinner.) The amount of government regulation the family would have had to contend with boggles the mind. Controlling the processing of the food was the final part of the chain. This is the “to” part of the business.

I had a chance to try some of their products. I tried European-style Wieners, Bratwurst, Pepperoni, Bresaola, Land jäger, Jerky, and pork lard. If you are looking for cheap food, you will not find it here. If you want the highest quality product, made with organic additives, by extremely skilled people, this is the place to buy. Barbara Schellenberg is the Weston A Price Foundation Chapter Leader for Vancouver, BC so the family values nourishing traditional food preparation methods. Their products are traditional. Try their wieners if you want to know what a wiener should look and taste like.

If you follow the Specific Carbohydrate Diet please be careful to read the ingredient list. Their ingredients are the best you will find commercially but could cause problems for sensitive people. Just because the food is organic, pasture based, and made by knowledgeable people doesn’t mean the food will be problem free. I reacted to those same delicious wieners. It is possible something in the “organic spice mixture” was the problem. If you interested in what kind of additives can be put into an “organic spice mixture” please read Canadian Organic Standards: 32.311 Permitted Substances Lists. Be warned, it is a long document.

If you would like to read more about holonic business development please read two articles in the Stockman Grass Farmer: Ghost in the Machine and 50 Steers a Year is a Good Living. In the case of Pasture-to-Plate.com the “mother-ship” is the Rafter 25 Ranch.

Heritage Hogs and Ranfurly Farm

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skinning-pig

Joel Salatin would be happy to know we had ourselves a hog kill. This was a traditional practice just a few generations ago. Now people are reclaiming the skills of slaughtering and butchering. Here is a Chris giving Sonja a quick explanation of skinning a hog.

Near the beginning of August we picked up two, eight week old English Big Black Hogs from Ranfurly Farm. Ranfurly Farm is located near Chase, BC in Turtle Valley. Mike and Margaret Fryatt moved onto the farm just over a year ago, but they have done a lot in a very short time. They are breeders of heritage livestock. They are specializing in pasturing animals and growing part of their animal feed as green crops. Using electric fencing to control access, they let the animals into the green crops for a self-service buffet. Their daughter Jennifer Fryatt and her partner Adam Cooke, moved onto the property and are running the only Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program in the area that I know about. This makes them a multi-generational farm, which is a very good thing.

hog-parts

This was the first time we cut up an animal bigger then a turkey. By the way, Ranfurly Farm doesn't require you to butcher your own animals. They will send them to the butcher for you. Our group just has an insatiable appetite to learn new skills.

At Ranfurly Farm they use electric fences for their pasture management so the hogs were trained to electric fences. We have been using a paddock and a small electric fenced pasture area for the hogs. We feed the hogs organic mixed whole grains from Fieldstone Granary. We soak the grains overnight and feed the mash directly to the hogs and chickens. This soaking improves digestibility and if the hogs do not eat everything the whole grains will sprout producing greens for the animals. We also feed the pigs kitchen and garden waste and the occasional feast of chicken offal. Hogs, like chickens, are omnivoresand need animal products to be healthy. Traditionally, hogs would also be fed the waste products from cheese and butter making.

We have never handled hogs before and we have come to love these sweet animals. I can’t understand why someone would dislike hogs. Hogs are very clean animals and, if given the option, they will go to the bathroom in only one area of their living quarters. I don’t know how the two hogs come to a consensus about where to go to the bathroom, but they do.

The hogs were very wary of us at first. They have these big floppy ears that hang over their eyes. I don’t know how they manage to see where they are going. But now when we come, they jump around and bounce their ears so they can see us better. After their fill of soaked grain mash, the hogs will stand still for a back scratching. The hogs will grunt with delight and wiggle their back ends with pleasure, not unlike a dog.

I must admit I am getting attached to Bacon and Sausage. These are the only names I allow the girls to use for the hogs. (We have a policy of never naming livestock destined for our table. At the same time, names such as Bacon and Sausage, helps the children understand where their food comes from.) I don’t know which will win out, growing the sows into breeding stock, or my hunger for homemade smoked bacon.

If you are looking for heritage livestock or pastured beef, pork or lamb, here is their contact information. If you are interested in CSA please contact Jennifer Fryatt and Adam Cooke directly:

Ranfurly Farm
Mike and Margaret Fryatt
797 Bailey Rd, Chase, BC, V0E 1M0
T: 250.679.2735
E: mfryatt(a)hotmail.com
E: marg.fryatt(a)hotmail.com
60km
pastured beef from Galloway cows, pastured pork from English Big Black and Berkshire pigs, fibre from Blueface Leceister sheep and meat from North Country Cheviots Cross sheep, free range eggs from Black Australorps and Silver Laced Wyandottes chickens, breeders for English Big Black, Berkshire pigs and Blueface Leceister sheep; soon to be breeders of Bourbon Reds, Ridley Bronze, and Blue Slate turkeys; soon to be breeders of heritage Sussex and Wyandotte chickens
Jennifer Fryatt and Adam Cooke
E: ranfurlycsa(a)gmail.com
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) weekly box program for vegetables and pastured poultry

Birdsong Farm: Cow-Share Program

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About a year ago Naomi Fournier leased some land from her family and started a Cow-Share Program in Enderby, BC. A cow-share or herd-share program gives a person part ownership of a cow or herd, so the person is able to enjoy the products of the cow or herd. Cow-share programs are fairly new to British Columbia. There are five that I know of:
1. Home on the Range, Chilliwack, BC
2. Wild Thing Organics, Christina Lake, BC
3. Birdsong Farm, Enderby, BC
4. Hunny-Do Ranch, Prince George, BC
5. Graham-Knight Farm, Haida Gwaii, BC
6. EcoReality Co-operative, Salt Spring Island, BC

Naomi started a year ago with one Jersey cow and now has three cows. The cows are on pasture during the summer and hay in the winter. She has staggered the pregnancies of her cows so she can have fresh raw milk all year round. Naomi is considering starting shares in goats and sheep. She is the Enderby Chapter Leader for the Weston A. Price Foundation. If you are interested in owning shares in a herd please contact Naomi for more information and share prices:
Birdsong Farm
Naomi Fournier
3607 Trinity Valley Road, Enderby, BC, V0E 1V5
T/F: 250-838-0235
E: naomisbirdsongfarm(a)hotmail.com

If you are wondering what’s so great about pastured raw milk please read Milk: It Does a Body Good?

Winter Storage Part I

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This week my family have been working on a modified root cellar for winter storage. Traditionally, a root cellar would be built into the ground. This would give the vegetables a consistent temperature and humidity throughout the seasons. We will try to build a real root cellar next spring.

This winter we will have to be satisfied with a modified work shed. The work shed is a typical 8′x12′ wood-frame constructed building. The building will be too dry. We will have to put pails of water in the building to increase humidity. We will have to heat the structure during the coldest parts of the winter, something a true root cellar would not require.

We will be sourcing vegetables for storage over the next few weeks. We will be looking for potatoes, onions, carrots, beets, cabbage, assorted types of squash, garlic, hot peppers, parsnips, rutabaga, turnips and shallots. As I said before, I am not a local food zealot. But I like to buy as much as I can locally. My largest household expense is food. When I purchase my food locally, my money stays in our community. Also, the quality is better. It is great to be able to look at my plate and know where everything on it came from. It makes me feel somehow more connected.

I am madly making sour kraut and kim chi. I am always amazed at how many cabbages can go into a crock. These crocks will be stored in the root cellar for later consumption.

There are lots of great places to find local food for root cellar winter storage. These are some of the producers I have used this year:
1. Zaparango Organic Farm (certified organic)
Robert Vanderlip T: 250.318.0235
potatoes, carrots, onions, assorted squash, livestock feed corn
2. Lyne Farm (un-sprayed)
Liz Lyne T:250.578.8266
pickling cucumbers, beets, carrots
3. Farmhouse Herbs (certified organic)
Paula and Mendel Rubinsons T: 250.373.2312
pickling cabbage, onions, shallots, parsnips
4. Gort’s Gouda Cheese Farm (certified organic)
T: 250.832.4274
raw gouda, smoked raw gouda (Have Gort’s cut the large wheels into eight segments and vacuum pack. Each piece will naturally age and easily last through the winter months.)

U-Picking Strawberries, Cherries and Blueberries for Winter

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pitting-cherries

During cherry season we pit and freeze at least 100 pounds of sweet cherries and 50 pounds of sour cherries. These cherries can be enjoyed all winter long in desserts, smoothies and other treats.

Over the last month, we have been working hard to freeze enough soft fruit to last until next year. I try to find certified organic or un-sprayed fruit. I feel comfortable asking the farmers what growing methods they use. Over a number of years, I get to know people and what they do on their farms. This means I can get products that may not be certified organic but are just as good. I feel good knowing where my food comes from and building a long term relationship with my farmers.

I try to find organic or un-sprayed u-pick situations for soft fruit. I do this for a number of reasons. U-pick fruit is cheaper than buying picked fruit. I can get a better quality product. I know the product has been picked that day which is better for freezing. By freezing the fruit I save money even if the price is higher for organic or local fruit. I also know my money stays in my community and doesn’t go to some faceless corporation half way around the world. Of course, I’m bringing my children and I don’t want them to be picking (and eating) in a sprayed field. Nor do I want the farmers to have to get sick from working in sprayed fields to feed me!

I also want my children to know where their food comes from. A child that has picked strawberries knows it comes from a small perennial plant, blueberries from bushes, and cherries from trees. The experience of meeting the farmer and seeing the farm is a priceless experience. I want the children to have some idea of the work involved in picking, preparing and storing food for the winter. Even when they get tired and stop helping, they seem to take it all in by osmosis. They enjoy the experience many times over in the winter when the sweet fruit brings back the memory of the hot summer day picking on the farm. I am surprised at the complex detail in these remembered stories.

If you have never gone to a u-pick before, I have a few tips to make it fun with children:
1. Call ahead to ensure the picking is good and children are welcome. Find out if you need directions to find the u-pick. I try to pick near the end of the season to have really ripe fruit but this is just a personal preference.
2. Ask if there is any special equipment you need to bring for picking. I normally have a number of small pails, boxes for fruit, and plastic freezer bags.
3. Bring water and picnic food.
4. Go as early in the morning as possible to avoid the heat of the day and wear suitable clothing, especially a hat.
5. When you get there ask for picking advice if you don’t know what to do. Make sure the children hear how to pick correctly to avoid damaging the plants.
6. Ask if the children can eat while picking. Usually this is allowed and cannot be stopped in any case.
7. Bring another adult to help pick and share looking after the children if required. Bringing a group of families can be fun too!
8. Bring cash.

I have listed the u-pick farms I have visited this year. Their information is available on the website. I listed the amounts I picked for freezing for a family of four:
1. Golden Ears Farm, RR2 S25 C18, Chase, BC: 250.679.8421: 35 pounds of un-sprayed strawberries in June. I normally need 100 pounds for the winter. This year I picked too close to the end of the season and I could not get back for more.
2. Highland Farm, 4360 30St, NE, Salmon Arm, BC: 250.803.0048: 90 pounds of certified organic cherries in July. Find a good bulk pitter if you are going to freeze.
3. Blueberry Hill Farm, 4886 South Grandview Flats, Armstrong, BC: 250.246.4099: 65 pounds of un-sprayed blueberries in August. I will be going back for more. This is a favorite berry in the household. I will need about 150 pounds.

New Herdshare Program

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There is a new herdshare program in Prince George, BC started by Hunny-Do Ranch. They are selling shares for milk. They have raw colostrum, raw butter and free range eggs available. They are hoping to have raw cream, raw yogurt, raw kefir, raw cheese, pastured pork and pastured beef coming soon. Please contact Lesley for more information at Hunny-Do Ranch.

I have never tried their products. If you decide to order raw butter get it unsalted. Good raw butter will have a dark yellow color. If the raw butter is dark yellow with an orange tinge, you are looking at an exceptional product. This butter is produced for a few weeks in the spring and fall when the grass is growing fast and will have the best nutritional value. Raw butter freezes well. I froze 50 pounds of raw butter from Organic Pastures last November and I am still enjoying the product.

If you are looking for up-to-date information about a herdshare program in your area please go to www.realmilk.com. If you are interested in the political situation around raw milk in Canada please go to www.naturalmilk.org.