Feb 16, 2025
It has been an exiting week for us here on the farm.
The wood furnace that heats our greenhouses is in full swing, heating our seedlings in the nursery and preparing the soil in our large tomato greenhouse for seeds and transplants that are scheduled to go in the ground this week. Greg and Isaac are also in full swing, cutting and chopping wood to feed the beast!
Every Friday, we head out to see Ellen and Josh Biemond at Upper Canada Creamery to pick up fresh dairy products for customers, organic grains and whey for our animals, and to drop off groceries for our Iroquois members (they also have a freezer of Harmony Farm meats for anyone who shops at the creamery). With many more years of farming experience than us, Josh and Ellen always send us off with a tip or two that improve our organic farming practices.
This week, we decided to add in a stop to Glengarry Fine Cheese so that we could re-stock some member favourites before coming home to pack and deliver this week’s orders. Everything was going according to schedule until the old farm truck wouldn’t start after picking up our cheese.
For those of you who have not been there before, Glengarry Fine Cheese is definitely worth the drive but it is a drive from pretty much anywhere. There is one local tow truck but the operator was on a job out of town. We had a tonne of feed in the back of the big truck and even with Greg’s might and Kate’s best effort, we could not push to get the truck rolling fast enough to turn the engine over.
That is when the amazing women from Glengarry Fine Cheese put on their coats and boots and braved the freezing weather to help us push the truck across the parking lot. We still didn’t get it started but we did get it rolling and their willingness to help us out just made our day.
Throughout our farming journey, we have been touched time and again by the kindness of the local producers, fellow farmers and customers we have had the opportunity to work with. Now, every time we eat some of their fine cheese, we will also think about the fine people who made it.
You can find the new and returning products from Glengarry Fine Cheese in the Dairy and Eggs section of our online store.
This week, we are also offering another new product: homemade Milk Kefir, made from Upper Canada Creamery Cream Top Whole Milk.
We had been buying organic kefir at the grocery store, thinking we were getting the additional health benefits of kefir. Recently, I learned that commercial kefir is actually very different from homemade. Whereas homemade kefir is fermented at room temperature with grains (a symbiotic culture of beneficial bacteria and yeasts), the commercial version uses heat and a dried bacteria starter. The result? Homemade kefir is reported to have ~10 times more varieties of beneficial microbes and thus far greater potential health benefits.
So, I found some locally produced grains and have started making kefir at home. I can easily make a bit extra for interested members. For now, there will be three sizes available on the store for sale.
Interested in making your own kefir? Let me know and I can work on growing my grains to offer some for sale.
Never tried kefir? It has a tangy taste, very similar to yogurt but with a thinner consistency. It is great in smoothies, used in baking instead of buttermilk, as a beverage by itself with a bit of salt and cumin or strained and used like a soft cheese spread with a bit of salt, olive oil, garlic or herbs.
Wishing everyone a great week of Canadian winter! Want to skip the driving and have your farm-fresh groceries delivered to your door? Shop here and click “home delivery” and we will bring them to you!
Harmony Kitchen 