National CSA sign up day

Stam Farms market share treasures

 Today is the PERFECT day to sign up for a season of local bounty at a local farm!

What is a CSA?  Community supported agriculture, which is a partnership between you the consumer and the farmer as the grower.  A typical CSA share is paid for in advance, and in return throughout the growing season you will receive a basket of gorgeous produce weekly, bi weekly etc. 

Will I get to choose what is in my CSA share?  Each farm runs their program differently.  Some do offer flexibility and choice with items in the share allowing you to select your preferred greens, roots etc according to what is available.  Other farms put together the same shares for everyone. 

How much produce is in each share?  This varies farm to farm!  Most have at least 2 size options to suit each person or family’s needs.

Why do we have to pay up front?  Paying for the CSA ahead of time allows the grower to cover up front costs of purchasing seed, growing seedlings and planting while securing the farmers income for season regardless of environmental or natural factors.  Drought last year saw many farmers abandoning lesser than crops in order to save others.  Not all farms require up front payment, some may take a payment plan or accept monthly installments.  None the less the CSAs were full of what fared well for each farmer, I know ours certainly were! 

Gorgeous Matchbox Garden share

Farming grueling work – think of how hot it was last summer here in Southern Ontario and imagine working the fields harvesting in that heat!  Seriously, thank a farmer today if you can and better yet support them with a CSA commitment this year! 

Cheers!

Here are some of the beautiful farms I follow that offer CSAs in and around the greater Hamilton area.  If I have missed you let me know and I will happily add your farm to the list. 

Honest Field Farms – Hamilton

http://www.honestfieldfarms.ca

Manorun Organic Farm – Lynden

http://www.manorun.com/shares

Matchbox Garden - Caledonia

http://www.matchboxgarden.ca/services

 Plan B Organics - Branchton

http://planborganicfarms.ca

Stam Farms – Hagersville – CSA (Market share) is now FULL for 2017 but will have farm gate produce and other goodies for sale

https://www.facebook.com/stamfarms/

Tree and Twig – Wellandport – CSA is now FULL for 2017 but produce may be available, call and ask.  http://treeandtwig.ca

Mela Bath

Coco Coffee Scrub - one of the first products

There are so many wonderful businesses in the greater Hamilton area that do not have brick and mortar locations, one of my favourite is Mela Bath!  Mela Bath offers a variety of natural handmade bath and body products – things like shea butter soaps, lip balm, make up remover, bath truffles and bath salts! 

I have known Melanie since grade school and she has always been a strong and ambitious individual so it didn’t surprise me when she launched her first creation, a body scrub, via Facebook!  She was looking for a natural product she could make to both use and gift to friends and family for Christmas.  With 3 scents she shared her new found love and in three weeks sold 800 jars of her homemade body scrubs!

After the boom of the scrubs Melanie found herself looking for a natural solution to help her sons cradle cap.  The typical go to’s with their unpronounceable ingredients just weren’t going to cut it so she went to work.  With a combination of coconut oil and other natural goodies she created her froth!  This hydrating product was tried out by several friends and family with positive results so Melanie launched it and it took off too!

As time went on bath bombs became another signature product, the scents are abundant and ALL wonderful.  My children love the little “ice cream scoops” for their bath, in fact it’s the only way my son will get in to the tub without a fight.  The sangria scented bath bomb is a favourite of Melanie’s and I too am a huge fan! 

A Bath Bomb "Scoop" in bubble gum scent

Melanie is always coming up with new things and now has a wide variety of products available with more to be added in the near future.  My absolute favourite product is the vanilla whipped body butter, it is AH-MAZING along with the coconut coffee body scrub!  I love the clay face masks as well which are one of the newer additions to her collection.

The Mela Bath website is user friendly and all products have in depth descriptions.  As an added bonus there is delivery with a minimum purchase which is fantastic for those who are too busy or can’t get out and about!

I love that all of the products can be used on every family member safely and as a double bonus all of the prices are incredibly reasonable.  The bath bomb scoops are only $1.50!  

If you ask Melanie what truly inspires her, she will tell you her son and growing family.  She began this journey on mat leave hoping to create safer products for her new bundle of joy and other loved ones and discovered a passion she now shares with hundreds of customers.  I think that’s pretty awesome right there.

Happy Friday!

Check out the Mela Bath Website:

http://melabath.com

Follow along on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/melabath/

Little Brown Cow

Lucky <3

I have followed this lovely little farm on Facebook for ages, watching all the farm updates and dreaming of the day I would venture out to the shop in Brantford.  This past week I decided to send a message to the farm requesting 2kg of cheese curds – the bulk price is fantastic AND they are freezable!  I packed the littles and the dog up when I received the message they were ready and off we went to pick them up!

Lovely noticeable signage

The farm is super easy to find, you can’t miss the big sign!  Jenny, the co-owner, greeted us inside.  She was so friendly, easy to talk to and very informative.  Before we left, Jenny put our things in our car and took us over to see a new calf named Lucky!  My kiddos were thrilled and talked about it the rest of the day. 

Jersey is the breed they raise and after some research I can see why!  Though they are small in comparison to other dairy breeds they have a high butterfat milk content and are a calm, docile but curious breed.  There are many other reasons why one might choose Jersey cattle, these are just the ones that stood out to me – a curious consumer.

Our goodies 

Though Little Brown cow is well known for their amazing cheese curds that are available fresh every Friday afternoon, they offer so much more.  Artisan cheese varieties, cream cheese and both white and chocolate milk (in this house we really love chocolate milk ;) ) all of which are processed entirely on site.  Quiche and cheesecake varieties and other meals are also made in the shop.  Frozen beef is always available and often fresh on Fridays!  There are many other offerings at Little Brown Cow, these are just some of the ones that stood out to me.

One of the things I always love about the small business owners I meet is how passionate they are about their work.  It just radiates off of them and leaves you feeling inspired.  That is definitely how I felt after I left Little Brown Cow.  

Overall our experience was a wonderful one and we will definitely be adding Little Brown Cow to our permanent list of farms we love.  I look forward to seeing what the future holds for this wonderful farm and the checking out the new location when it opens this spring!


Thanks for reading!

Follow Little Brown Cow on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/littlebrowncows/