FARM NEWS

It Has Begun!

We planted our first batch of seeds last week and they have begun to sprout! This signifies the true beginning of our growing season.

In case you’re wondering what you’re looking at, each seed is planted in what is know as a “soil block”. We use these instead of plastic seedling trays for two reasons. They don’t require as much plastic or produce as much waste. And they produce healthier seedlings because when the roots reach the edge of the soil block they are air-pruned and stop growing, instead of hitting the side of a plastic plug tray and starting to circle around the cell to become root bound.

Have Any Unwanted or Unused tools?

As many of you know, we had to move our farm last year from Passmore to Pass Creek because the previous property we were farming on went up for sale. The previous property had most of the tools we needed to start farming, but this year we’ll be rebuilding our farm from scratch.

We don’t have the money to buy everything we need so we were wondering if anyone would be interested in donating or trading any unused or unwanted tools for veggies, baked goods or pantry items?

Here’s what we’re in need of:

Two shovels
Hammer
Mallet
Two wheelbarrows
Stirrup hoe
Folding tables
Fan
Pop-up tent / carport tent
100 ft measuring tape
Leaf rake
Metal garden rake

Send us a message if you’d like to help out or make a trade 🙂

NEW PRODUCTS

Frozen Calzone Dough

Description: It's the weekend and you're feeling the urge to do some creative cooking. You're craving something cheesy and satisfying - like a pizza - but making dough from scratch seems daunting.

Why not try our frozen Calzone Dough? Simply roll out the dough, add your own creative filling, gently fold it up, slice a few vents into the dough and pop it in the oven. In just 12 minutes you'll have four beautiful golden brown calzones for the whole fam.

Take a bite and enjoy the gooey cheese and the pillowy soft yet rustic whole wheat crust. This is a restaurant-quality calzone that you can easily make from the comfort of your home. Whether you want to make a creative culinary creation or have a calzone party with the fam, our Calzone Dough will help you make it fun and easy!



Details:

Includes four 130 g frozen calzone dough balls.

Ingredients: Freshly milled organic Red Fife flour (grown by Fieldstone Organics, Armstrong, milled by Confluence Farms) organic stoneground whole wheat flour (Anita's Organic Mill, Chilliwack), olive oil, yeast, pink Himalayan salt.



Instructions

Take the frozen dough balls and place them on a cookie sheet to thaw on the counter for about three hours.

Once thawed, flour your work surface and use a rolling pin to roll out each dough ball into an even 8 inch circle.

Fill each dough circle with 200 grams of filling (about one cup). Keep the filling to one half of the dough circle and push it to the edges to make the fold easier.

Fold the dough over the filling and line up the edges. Use your fingers to press the two dough edges together to seal your calzone.

Use a serrated knife and cut three slits on top of your calzone to create a vent.



Baking Instructions

Heat oven to 500 f.

Brush calzones lightly with olive oil to create a crispier crust if desired

Cook calzones one baking sheet at a time for 12 minutes each.



Filling Recipes

Ricotta & Spinach

Ingredients:

7 oz frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
3 oz roasted potatoes
8 oz ricotta
4 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
1 oz shredded parmesan
1 tbsp olive oil
1 egg yolk
2 garlic cloves minced
1.5 dried oregano
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl until well incorporated.

Add about 200 grams of filling mixture to your calzone dough.

Ricotta & Winter Squash

7 oz roasted winter squash, cubed
3 oz baked potato, cubed
8 oz ricotta
4 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
1 oz parmesan
1 tbsp olive oil
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp dried oregano
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp salt
¾ tsp red pepper flakes
½ tsp garlic powder

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl until well incorporated.

Add about 200 grams of filling mixture to your calzone dough.

Pickled Onions Are Back!

Last week we had a customer ask us if we could bring back our pickled onions. And since we had all of the ingredients already we thought “let’s do it!”

The only difference between these pickled onions and our summer pickled onions is that these are made with pearl onions instead of fresh sweet onions. They have the same flavour except these ones are extra crunchy. Pickled onions are great on everything, especially tacos, burritos, wraps and sandwiches.

These pickled onions are not canned, so be sure to keep them in the fridge for storage.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT 🍎

This is What Vanilla Bean Farming Looks Like

When you think of vanilla, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Ice cream? Cake? Cookies? Vanilla is undoubtedly one of the most beloved flavours in our culture. It’s also one of the world’s most expensive ingredients, and so you only ever see it in an extract. Rarely does an average person use a whole vanilla bean.

Because we hardly ever see vanilla beans it’s easy to forget that it’s a crop that is grown by farmers. We use vanilla regularly in our baking and I’ve often wondered how vanilla beans are grown. I then came across this fascinating video by Business Insider all about vanilla bean farmers in Madagascar.

Madagascar produces 80% of the world's supply of vanilla bean. Vanilla beans are produced by vanilla orchids which bloom only one day per year. And since vanilla isn’t native to Madagascar, the only insect that can pollinate it, the Orchid Bee, doesn’t exist there. This means that every single orchid has to be hand pollinated by farmers!

I always love learning about where our food comes from and how it’s grown. Farmers are a hard working and ingenious bunch. We all enjoy the fruits (desserts?) of their labour and it’s all too easy to forget about the people who create these magnificent ingredients. Our desserts would simply not be as good without vanilla bean farmers! So next time you’re enjoying a vanilla dessert, send out a silent “thank you” to all of the vanilla bean farmers out there.