Category: Cooking

Top five tips for preparing healthy meals for your Family!

2/19/2023

Life is busy and if we don't stop and plan sometimes it feels totally overwhelming. I like to plan meals for the week on Sundays. From adding things to the grocery list, to pulling meat out of the freezer to quizzing the kids on what they want to eat that week. It helps me feel more organized and ready to take on the week! Here are our top five tips for keeping your family on track!

1. Stock your kitchen with healthy staples. Keep your refrigerator and pantry stocked with healthy ingredients like fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains.

We like to keep meat in our freezer and a list on the freezer of what we have! In our pantry we always have rice, quinoa, beans, diced tomatoes & more!

2. Include everyone in meal planning. Ask your family for ideas for healthy meals and snacks. Involving everyone in the planning process can make healthy eating more fun.

My toddler always has hilarious ideas for dinner like steak, broccoli and ice cream. Ha ha! But very often she gives me some ideas we haven't made in a while like meatballs or lasagna.

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Butchering Tips for Bulk Pork

11/14/2022

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If you have never ordered a half or whole pig it can be an intimidating undertaking and we are here to help out! Our pigs range from 200-350 lbs, so a whole pig is about 5 boxes worth of meat (and a half is about 2.5-3 boxes) Depending on how you customize your pork order will depend on how many of each cut you get, but we have included an example of a whole pig order below.

Hanging weight:

We charge for our half & whole pigs by the hanging weight. This is the weight of the animal at the butcher shop after slaughter (including the bones, fat, organs & meat) This is the most accurate way we can charge.
Our whole pigs are $6/lb and half pigs are $6.25/lb.

Meat weight:

Your total pounds of meat will differ from your hanging weight depending how you ask for things to be cut.
To get the most yield back we suggest getting all of the items including organs, leaf lard and keep the bones in cuts like hams etc.
If you would like all boneless cuts there will less weight because the hanging weight does include the bones.

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It all started with a pie...

11/1/2022

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I often get asked how the business started, well to be honest I can't really remember the exact timeframe when the idea began, but I know for sure it was in the kitchen with my mom. I am one of six kids, and the oldest daughter, so naturally I got to spend time in the kitchen helping my mom keep everyone fed. On our farm we have a couple of apple trees and every fall we pick the apples. It was always great fun seeing how many we could pick, if you could reach the perfect one and occasionally rescuing a brother from climbing too high.

The apples were destined for eating, apple sauce, apple crisp and some pies for the freezer. One year we decided to get crazy and make 15-20 pies for the freezer. So, the pastry making began and then the peeling and slicing. I remember mom just mixing up the apples with a bit of sugar and a bit of flour. Being the math lover I am, I wanted actual measurements and she just laughed. We finished and were satisfied with our freezer stash of pies. That winter we baked an apple pie a week and each time we baked one I fondly remembered all of the steps that went into making that pie. It wasn't just an apple pie; it was more than that. It was 15 small memories strung together. Now don't get me wrong a couple of those memories included was dumping flour on the floor, siblings arguing about who gets which apple etc. Ha ha! It was all love though. It was sitting around our dinner table that I realized the power of food memories.

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Cooking with kids...

8/3/2022

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Cooking with your kids sounds wonderful. And before I had kids I envisioned making cookies with them on Saturday mornings and big breakfasts on Sundays. Now that I have an 8 month old and almost 3 year old toddler my idealistic ideas are out the window. Don't get me wrong we still attempt cookies and love big Sunday brunches! But, I’ve learned a couple things about how to involve them but also maintain your sanity.

We know including kids in the kitchen is beneficial. We know they are more apt to try stuff if they helped grocery shop, pick it from the garden, cut it up or prepare it. But I get it, sometimes a toddler mixing a bowl and getting most of the ingredients into the ground isn’t always helpful.

I always feel like half of cooking together is connecting with the other person. The second half is about the actual food. But the connection part is a big one. I remember being a teen coming home from one of those long teenage-drama-filled-days and helping my mom prepare dinner for our family. Not wanting to talk much at the beginning but happy to just peel potatoes in the same space as her. By the time the meal was made I was feeling better about things and there was almost no discussion about my bad day. All I needed was the connection preparing food together gave us.

Being able to connect with your family members over prepping a meal and then sitting down to enjoy it together is one of life simplest pleasures. Whether it's a simple meal of scrambled eggs and toast or a delicious roast chicken dinner the company is the most important.

My Top Five Tips:

Grab your carrier! Babies love to be involved and part of the action!
Ask your kids what to cook for dinner, they will often surprise with hilarious answers. Charlotte's current favourite request is broccoli and ice cream.. haha!
Break steps down into simple tasks. Getting toddlers to take the stems off tomatoes, or put cut veggies into measuring cups is a great hand eye coordination activity!
Encourage their interest in food, let them taste different foods raw vs cooked. Charlotte was dying to try raw onion the other night so I said “Sure try a raw onion, but I like to eat them more when they are cooked!” Sure enough she thoroughly enjoyed eating the raw onion... oh dear..
Make the time to cook together. This may mean week night dinners are easier to just get made and onto the table, but if your kids are interested in participating get them to help setting the table or making their own plate.

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It's Rhubarb Season!

5/23/2022

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Rhubarb season is here and boy are we excited. Rhubarb is one of my favourite flavours of spring. It is an amazing plant and one of the first things you can harvest on the farm. This week we will have lots of rhubarb available in the farm store, from Grand River Gardens, be sure to order your here, as we sold out quickly last week!

Rhubarb is an excellent source of fiber. It is a great source of Vitamin K and has more antioxidants than Kale! Who knew? It can also aid in digestion!

To store rhubarb simply put into your fridge in the bundles. If it is getting soft before you get around to slicing it, wrap a damp cloth or paper towel around the ends. It will liven it right up!

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Choosing the best method of cooking chicken

5/22/2022

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We raised some delicious chicken on our farm, and are pretty familiar with the best way to enjoy all of the cuts so we thought we would let you in on some secrets!! All of our chicken is available by the individual cut or in bulk boxes (5 and 10 lbs)

In this post we will talk about the most popular cuts and the least popular (but my honest favourite cut!!) and how best to cook them.

Best methods of cooking?

Each cut of chicken varies on how best to cook it. Whether you are a fan of the slow cooker, smoker, cast iron or BBQ there is a cut of chicken that is best suited for you!

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Top five tips for preparing healthy meals for your Family!

Butchering Tips for Bulk Pork

It all started with a pie...

Cooking with kids...

It's Rhubarb Season!

Choosing the best method of cooking chicken

Best methods of cooking?

Thoughts From The Farm

Rebecca Landman

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