We are committed to organic production, however, due to the cost of certification, we have opted to not get certified at this time. Besides organics, our practices are guided by two other approaches:
BIODYNAMICS
Rudolf Steiner laid out the principles of biodynamic agriculture in a series of lectures in 1924 – a time when chemical fertilizers were receiving rapid uptake by farmers. He instead espoused an agricultural approach with no chemical pesticides or fertilizers, wherein all the fertility needed by a farm would be produced on the farm. Other aspects of biodynamic agriculture include:
- treating animals, crops, and soils as a single, interrelated ecological system
- an emphasis on local systems of production and distribution
- the use of traditional and locally-adapted breeds and varieties
- the influence of planetary bodies on the growth of plants
- the preparation of plant-based field sprays and compost enhancers
- crop rotation and biodiversity reserves
- individual design of the land by the farmer
- supporting and enhancing the forces of nature that lead to healthy crops
Biodynamic farming ideas about the farm’s relationship to its community led to the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) concept, which is now practiced widely by farms in many parts of the world.
PERMACULTURE
Permaculture is a set of ethics and principles inspired by how natural ecosystems function, and applied to the things that humans do: grow food, build shelter, provide energy, interact with each other, and much more. It provides a conceptual toolbox that aims to help people better understand natural processes and how humans can consciously design home ecosystems that work with rather than against the broader natural forces at play. At the heart of the permaculture process is a holistic design that finds synergies between different elements and integrates them into a well functioning whole, providing greater value for humans and the planet for less energy expended. One aspect of permaculture is the concept of Appropriate Technology – technology that is small-scale, decentralized, labour-intensive, energy efficient, environmentally sound, locally controlled, and people centred.
These two approaches then inform how we produce our food:
Wild Foods
When we put lots of hard work into growing a crop, we feel justified in trying to protect it from wildlife who might see it as a tasty snack (although we don’t mind sharing a bit). However, when we venture into the less cultivated areas of our farm and region to harvest, we’re drawing from the food supply our wild neighbours depend upon. But nature is abundant, and there’s enough for everybody if approached with respect. That’s why all of our harvesters are professionally trained to harvest wild foods in ways that respect the needs of the plant and the animals who eats it.
Maple Syrup
Maple syrup production begins with collecting the sap using food-grade plastic tubing. Most tubing systems use 5/16″ tubing, with high vacuum pumps to increase yield, but, because we have good slope, we’ve opted to use a couple of diaphragm pumps, in conjunction with 3/16″ tubing that creates natural vacuum when going downhill, to bring a good amount of vacuum to our lines.
The sap then goes through our reverse osmosis, which, through the magic of a pump and a very fine membrane, filters out three-quarters of the water before we even begin boiling. Three-quarters less water means about three-quarters less boiling time and three-quarters less firewood burned! It raises the Brix (percent sugar) of the sap from around 2 to 3 when it comes out of the tree, to around 8 to 10.
To evaporate much of the remaining the water from the sap and turn it into delicious, caramelized syrup, we use a wood burning evaporator, fired with waste softwood from a local arborist. Boiling raises the Brix to 67.
The syrup then gets filtered through a filter press, and hot packed into glass bottles.
Eggs
There’s a simple rule in animal husbandry: the happier the animal, the healthier and tastier its meat, milk, or eggs will be. Animal welfare is important to us, not just because it meets these goals, but also because the animals in our care have a right to enjoy their lives! The ways in which our practices with our 100 Rhode Island Red laying hens live up to this include:
The hen’s winter housing leaves them ample space to move, scratch in loose bedding, receive sunlight through large windows, roost, and lay their eggs in nest boxes.
During summertime the hens have free access to large areas of pasture, and are constantly rotated to fresh ground, ensuring they have lots of live foods to eat and that the land is not overloaded with manure. This “pastured” approach is far better than “free range”, which can mean as little as a static run that quickly gets denuded of all vegetation and overwhelmed with manure.
We ensure good protection of our chickens from predators with movable electronet fencing.
We feed the hens only certified organic feed (and they serve themselves grass, bugs, worms, seeds and whatever else they find on pasture).
We keep our hens for two years, then sell them and get 100 new ones. They don’t lay well enough after two years to be used in a commercial flock, but they will still lay pretty well for a backyard flock for years to come.
Shiitake Mushrooms
We grow our shiitake mushrooms in the woods on mostly sugar maple logs (also some ironwood). Our forest has an abundance of sugar maples, and our sugar bush benefits from a bit of thinning.
We buy certified organic shiitake spawn from Field and Forest (we like their name!) in Wisconsin. We then drill holes in our freshly cut logs and fill the holes with the spawn, capping it with wax to prevent drying.
The logs then need to sit for a year before they will be ready to start fruiting mushrooms.
When they are ready, we soak them in water for 24 hours. Soon afterwards the mushrooms emerge! We soak about 50 logs a week on rotation.
The logs then need to rest again for about two months. Since the shiitakes only grow during the warmer months, we can fit in two soakings a year. We repeat this process with the same log for about four years, or until it stops producing. The log then gets split and dried and used as firewood in our maple syrup production.
We often offer shiitake inoculating and growing workshops in October – get in touch if you’re interested!