Happy Halloween....

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from all of us at Ridge Berry Farm!

...and a big thank you to one of our customers, Murray, for creating this great photo of the old manor.

A New Gallery in Pelham

To view the latest from Ridge Berry Farm visit our new blog and site!

With the onset of frost, things have slowed considerably at the farm. This week was primarily spent on indoor work.

Now that the inside renovations to the manor are pretty much completed, we have been focusing our attention on two rooms which will become the new home for Scholaert Cassel Galleries. The back room is now pretty much complete; it is just a matter of aligning the new spot lights. With our high ceilings, these have actually turned out to be difficult to reach.

The back gallery serves three functions. It is equipped with a bar for special occasions; the room is "laid bare" to show the architectural history of the manor; and finally, this room is dedicated to a permanent display of our Schneider collection with pieces dated 1913 to 1937.

The Charles Schneider Collection

Also in the back gallery will be a rotating display of period glass. Currently showing is European art glass from 1880 to 1940. These include Thomas Webb (England), Loetz and Rindskopf (Germany), Galle, Daum, Lalique and Legras (France) along with a few others.

European Art Glass Collection (1880-1940)

In all of our travels, the family has been burdened by two large marble statues we refuse to part with. They were acquired at auction decades ago. Carved in the late 19th century in Italy, they depict Dante and Beatrice. Both have now also made their permanent home in the back gallery.

"Dante" finally at home with a period cameo and enameled Daum vase

The front gallery is also just about complete (we have one massive mirror to hang). This room will be dedicated to a "rotating" display of art glass. We expect to change the theme seasonally. To start, we have started a display of period American Art Glass extending from 1880 to 1940. Pieces now on display include Tiffany, Steuben, Quezal and Durand.

On display in the front gallery are period American Art Glass (Tiffany, Steuben, Quezal and Durand)

Although final touches are still needed, we are ready to show our collection and educate folks on glass making during the Art Nouveau and Art Deco Periods. For the time being, the gallery will be open to the public by appointment (you simply need to call the Ridge Berry Farm number: 289-897-8943 to book a visit).

What did not help our efforts on the gallery is the massive amount of activity on the outside of the manor. The troughs are being entirely rebuilt along with large segments of the brick walls. This activity has generated a massive amount of dust. And of course, this dust is finding its way into the galleries.

Work on the outside of the manor has proven to be extensive and messy

On the farming front, we also decided to stay "indoors" for a bit. It was a good time to continue our Biodome work.

This week was all about our prototype hydroponic beds. We completed one of these (four are needed for the prototype assembly). As indicated in previous posts, we are basically using "deck" technology to assemble these. Tristan and I are not the greatest wood workers but eventually we created something that looked sufficiently stable.

Our first prototype hydroponic bed.

This will be the last and lowest tank in an assembly of four. Since we plan to use gravity as much as possible to feed this assembly, the last tank was equipped with a drainage hole and piping back to the main water tank.

Preparing a hole for the drainage pipe of this tank.

The most difficult (and expensive) part of this tank turned out to be the pond liner. It is a very heavy rubberized liner which is not easy to fold. Things are made more difficult since some of our corners are not rectangular (the tanks are butted against each other and will eventually form two concentric rings within the walls of the dome).

Stapling the pond liner to our first hydroponic bed.

It is now a matter of doing some water proofing tests before starting the next bed.

It was also time this week to start gathering seeds. We've left some of our heirloom beans on the vine, but we have also let some broccoli and rutabaga go to flower and seed. We had actually never seen seed pods like these before. We now hope to use these next Spring.

Broccoli flowers and seed pods

The weather was also perfect to hunt for mushrooms. Our target was the large puffball we had discovered last Fall. Although we did find a lot of different mushrooms, the Puffball this year was elusive. Since we are not very familiar with edible wild mushrooms, we came home empty handed.  It was a major disappointment, but in the end an Autumn walk in the beautiful Carolinian forest was a treat.

Searching for the elusive Puffball mushroom in the Carolinian forest

I will close this week with another local event Chef and I participated in. This was a regular meeting of Pelham Slow Food. The Slow Food movement was born out of a protest against the building of a MacDonald's near Rome's iconic Spanish Steps in 1986. It has evolved into an International organization that is everything that Fast Food is not. It is dedicated to the preservation of traditional and regional cuisine. It support sustainable, local agriculture, and products that are healthy, good to eat and fairly paid for.

Given that these objectives are very much in line with Ridge Berry Farm, it was only natural that we join. In fact, we would urge anyone in the Niagara Region that is serious about good food to consider becoming a member. Interests and backgrounds may vary, but the group meets regularly in a very convivial atmosphere where conversations gravitate to food.

The meeting this week was "pot luck", with the theme Autumn bounty and colours. Chef had to bring one of his creations: Pelham Prunes stuffed with a liver mousse with a Cognac glaze.

A great platter of charcuterie and Chef's Prune creation at the Pelham Slow Food Convivium

I was a little more experimental. We need to develop more uses for the Arctic Kiwis, so I decided to make Crostini's.

These were composed of a thin slice of Baguette and a slice of Rose D'Amour cheese (a Buffalo milk cheese with pink Peppercorns; Brie could be used just as well) topped with a Kiwi Raisin compote (or Chutney).

To make the Kiwi Raisin compote, we used our Kiwi raisins (normal raisins could be used just as well). For two cups of raisins, we added 4 cups of diced Mutsu apples, half a cup of Ice Wine Vinegar (normal Wine or Cider Vinegar would do just as well but more sweetness might be needed to complete the recipe), half a cup of sugar, some cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cardamon.

The Crostinis were baked at 400 degrees until the cheese melted and fresh Sage was sprinkled on top. All in all, not a bad use for Arctic Kiwis!

The Arctic Kiwi

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When we first bought this property, we were very surprised to hear that at one time Kiwis were cultivated. Although quite a few were planted, by the time we arrived most of them were overtaken by weed. They were hidden primarily overrun by wild Grapes and wild Prairie Rose along with a variety of trees including Staghorn Sumac, Mulberry, Black Locust, Black Walnut, Ash and Boxelder.

Our original overgrown Kiwi field

We have been calling these small fruits Arctic Kiwis. However, we are somewhat uncertain of the specific variety. Technically, they may be one of hundreds of variations of this plant.

The Kiwi was originally called the Chinese Gooseberry. A change in name and some good marketing generated the produce most of us are now familiar with.

It turns out that Chinese Gooseberries come in many different sizes, shapes and colours. The ones we have are much smaller than those found on grocery store shelves (basically the size of a large grape or olive). They tend to be "boxy" in shape and blush red in the fall. With their diminutive size luckily they have no "fur" so they do not need peeling and can be eaten off the vines like any other berry.

The Ridge Berry Farm Kiwis

Internally, these fruits have the identical structure (and prominent little black seeds) of the conventional Kiwi. The taste of these Kiwis is also very similar to their larger counterpart. When picked early they tend to taste more like Pineapple and when just right, they are almost identical to Strawberries.

Until we can positively identify the variety, we have called them Arctic Kiwis; they could also probably be called Hardy Kiwis. In New Zealand, smaller Kiwis such as these have been marketed as Kiwi Berries.

Our first task over the past year has been to identify and re-establish the many rows of Kiwi vines that were planted at one time. Then we decided to weed, trellis and prune the first two rows. We did this last fall, using a horizontal trellising system.

The vines have taken well to our new trellising system

In the process, we've also been learning about fruit production and of course we've picked up a lot on the proper pruning of the vines.

There are two things to note about fruit production on these vines: 1. it occurs on three year old growth and 2. both female and male plants are needed for pollination. Until this Spring, we had no idea which plants were female and which were male. We were not even certain of the difference.

This year, we were finally able to tell the difference by observing the flowers in June. When looking closely at the small blossoms, it becomes evident which one is which. The female flower has a well pronounced pistil (which will eventually form the fruit).

Male Arctic Kiwi flower (the pistil is almost absent)

Female Arctic Kiwi flower (the pistil is very pronounced)

The difficulty with this fruit is in its ripening cycle and shelf life. Like the conventional Kiwi or other larger fruits, these Kiwis will ripen at different times and if picked "green" will have a tart and astringent taste (the kind that makes your throat itch). When picked just right, they are just soft to the touch however they will only last a few days before "shriveling". This is very difficult to manage when handling such a small fruit.

It is now Arctic Kiwi harvesting season. In fact, we are getting late in the season and as the vines turn yellow and begin to lose their leaves, it is much easier to find all of the well-hidden fruits.

Late harvest Kiwis

Aside from gate sales and their use in the restaurant, we've decided to focus our efforts on the processing of the Kiwis. Over the past year, we have been developing preserves but these do not capture the fresh fruit taste. It turns out that cooking Kiwi fruit transforms its taste a bit to resemble fig.

Last year, we discovered that these could be processed into large raisins. So, we decided to continue our harvesting late in the season to process what we call Kiwi Raisins. These are large raisins which taste like a cross between a conventional raisin and a fig.

this year's first batch of Kiwi raisins

These are great to just eat as is, but we're now looking into further processing these raisins into baked goods or other preserved foods.

The freeing up of the rows and the trellising has helped us significantly in both finding and picking the fruit. In fact, we've gathered so much this year, it was time to carry out one of our favourite experiments: wine making. As Chef said, this will either be brilliant or a major mistake.

We pulverized some of our late harvest Kiwis and decided to blend them with honey and water using the wine making technique we've developed over the past year. We'll see how this goes and will be reporting on the final results.

Our first Kiwi wine...time will tell.

In fact, our wine making experiments have gone rather well. With the exception of a couple of accidents, we've actually been enjoying the majority of what we have produced so far. Of course, not everything has gone perfectly well. This week we lost a complete carboy-full of a Niagara Grape wine experiment.  The carboy handle simply slipped from the neck of the container sending the large glass jug - and all its contents - across Chef's kitchen floor!

Although our wine making is proving successful ...accidents do happen.

Elsewhere on the farm, we continue to process Black Walnuts. We have used some much of these in the past year, we decided to almost quadruple what we picked last fall. So we are still shucking the husks of these nuts and this brought us a dilemma....what to do with all these husks.

The Black Walnut contains a herbicide called Juglone (it effectively kills most plants growing under the Black Walnut tree....with the exception of canes like the Raspberry). So the question was: can the husks be used in our compost for organic farming.

Building up our inventory of Black Walnuts

It turns out the answer is Yes. The husks can be used in a compost and within a year will lose their plant killing properties. In fact, they will make the compost alkaline instead of acidic.

Comfortably disposing of our Black Walnut husks in one of our compost piles

With the colder and wetter weather this week, it was also time to return to the "Biodome". With the structure up and some experimental potted plants inside, we decided to begin work on some hydroponic beds.

In order to do this, we had to finalize a configuration. We've decided to keep things as simple as possible, while using as much of the inside surface area as possible.

To accomplish these goals, we will be building two concentric rings of hydroponic beds some 4 feet from the dome walls. The beds will be terraced to use gravity as much as possible when directing water flow from the main holding tank.

We've also decided to use "deck technology" to build our structures and the flooring. This allows the use the sandy floor base for many different purposes as the system evolves. So this week, it was all about laying out the concrete bases for the 4x4 posts that will form the main support structure for the plant beds.

Laying out the support structure for the plant beds

Since the two concentric rings are to be divided into two sections (to accommodate the entrance doorway), we started work on the smaller segment (the North East side). This segment will effectively act as our prototype installation before we move on to the much larger section.

The more we clear land, the more we find surprises (plants, wildlife, old structures, etc.).

I end this week, with a plant that came "out of the blue". We've cleared a large section on both sides of our creek this summer. From nowhere, on the banks of the creek, we found a Sunflower this week. It is hard to believe it has survived and has grown beneath our very noses.

A lone Sunflower growing on one of our newly cleared sites.

The Butternut Tree

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As we were clearing portions of the creek last year, one tree took us by surprise. It looked like a Black Walnut, yet the bark was all "wrong". Instead of being rough and dark brown, it was smooth and grey. We thought the tree was either an Ash or a Black Walnut.

The mystery tree turned out to be.....White Walnut or Butternut

Since we are keen to maintain any productive and special trees on our land, we decided not to take it down until it was positively identified....and this has now happened.

By the time Spring came, we knew the tree was a nut tree. It had developed catkins and was not flowering like an Ash. And of course since that time, the nut of the tree has developed. Since the fruit is elongated, this is certainly not a Black Walnut.

The Butternut or White Walnut in its husk

Everything points to the Butternut tree or White Walnut. However, it may still be a hybrid, a Manchurian Walnut or Heart nut. So this week, we removed the husk from the nuts and we were left with what we expected: the distinctive shape of the White Walnut.

It is harder to crack than the English or Persian Walnut, but much easier to work than the Black Walnut. The nuts are large and tasty, similar to a Persian Walnut.

The Butternut or White Walnut

It turns out that the Butternut tree is also an endangered species in Canada. The Butternut tree population has been decimated by a canker. Permits are now required to cut down healthy trees and programs are in place to re-establish this variety. So now that we have identified another dozen such trees on the property, we consider ourselves lucky and we're certainly determined to protect them.

Another nut which is becoming an important part of our lives is the Black Walnut. Already last year, we discovered how to process them and experimented with various recipes. We had collected a wheelbarrow full of nuts and they were all rapidly consumed.

This year, we decided to process much more. Over the past few weeks, we collected four times what we did last year. As the fruits have ripened, this week was also the beginning of Black Walnut processing. This will probably go on for a month and we will publish updates on our methods as we go along.

The first step started this week by removing the husk. The best time to do this is as the fruit begins to brown and turn black. Waiting too long, the husk rots and turns into a black ooze which is difficult to clean. Not waiting long enough, the husk will be much too hard to tear away from the nut.

If right, removing the husk from the nut should feel like removing the stone from a peach.

The first step in Black Walnut processing: removing the husk from the nut

Getting all the little bits of husk from the nut shell is not necessary since much of it is cleaned in the following step.

Once husked, the nuts are tossed into a large container of water. You can simply clean the nuts by agitating the water. Nuts that float are indicative of a compromised shell (either by insect or disease) or an ill-developed nut. These can be disposed of since they are not worth processing any further.

In a few weeks we'll begin the next (and much more difficult) step: shelling.

As we continue to harvest Raspberries and Kiwis, Chef has been rapidly filling the shelves with his new line of preserves. This week, he launched a Tomato and Pickled Corn relish and a beautiful Quince Jelly.

Chef is rapidly filling the shelves: Quince Jelly

Meanwhile, we are also being forced to rapidly use our remaining tomatoes. If we don't, the fruit flies definitely will. Unlike last year when we disposed of the majority of our green tomatoes, we were determined to use everything we could this fall.

Last year, we tried Green Tomato Salsa, Fried Green Tomatoes, Green Tomato Relish, and even Green Tomato Pie. What we learned really is that Green Tomatoes are not as tart as you might expect, which makes it a very versatile food.

This year, we decided to make life easy. We simply started to introduce green tomatoes in all of our home pantry's sauces and soups....and this is exactly what we did all week with the remnants of our yellow and red tomatoes. For the most part, it is impossible to tell that some of these sauces are at least half Green Tomato.

Yellow Tomato Sauce ....with Green Tomatoes!

In the meantime, work continues on the manor. This week was horrifying as we discovered a significant amount of rotting on the old eaves troughs. This extends to the brick walls. In some places the top layer of bricks can simply be removed by hand.

Around the house, we are discovering significant damage to the wood trims

In the end, a lot of this needs to be rebuilt.

Finally this week, we were very surprised to find out that the girls and I made it on the front page of Niagara this Week. Such a good photo....I had to post it :)

Oktoberfest at the Farm

Our Wine Maker's Event in August was such a success, we've decided to continue trying out some semi-regular events at the Tea Room. This week we decided on an Oktoberfest event.

In a way, these events are an attempt to assess the market for a restaurant that would be open year long, as well as the demand for local wines and beers. Based on the rapid sell-out for Oktoberfest and the Wine Maker's dinner, we have come to a conclusion that this will be the most sustainable way to move forward with this commercial site.

So this week was dedicated to preparing for our small Oktoberfest. The girls really got into the spirit by wearing traditional dresses and we brought in a local talented accordionist (Kathy Vogt) for a great backdrop of traditional music.

Christine working a table with traditional music in the background

Morgan and Christine: ready to serve

Candice serving home-made pretzels

Chef also worked hard to deliver his home-made Sauerkraut and Apple Strudel. In the end it seems to have been appreciated by all. We promised a "hardy" German meal and the portions were large enough that only four men were able to finish their plates.

We had a lot of positive comments on the rather large sausages that were served (an Oktoberfestwurst and a Weisswurst - or veal sausage).  These we sourced locally from Churchill Meats in Fonthill. They have a great selection of "drug free" meats and do make excellent sausages so we know where to go next time we do something like this.

Chef plating his Sauerkraut and Sausages

To compliment our traditional German meal, we served Weissbeir (Wheat beer) from a local artisan brewery: Silversmith. In the end, a good time seems to have been had by all and we're now convinced our long term plans for the restaurant may be valid.

Ridge Berry Farm Oktoberfest 2013: good fun, good food, good beer

Meanwhile this week, Chef found the time to develop another product in our Chef's line: a spicy hot pepper jelly made with our own Cyclone heirloom peppers.

The new addition to the line: Chef Beck's XXX Hot Red Pepper Jelly

In the background, we still had to work on our various projects. On the farm, we continue to harvest Red and Golden Raspberries. The Arctic Kiwis however are also ripening.

The difficulty with the Kiwis is determining when to pick them. They are at their best when eaten freshly picked from the vine and when the berry is just slightly soft. The problem is that when they are picked at this time, their shelf life is very short.

The Kiwis are "blushing"; it's time to harvest

So we have been experimenting the harvesting of these berries just prior to full ripeness. It turns out that if picked when they "blush" red and when they are firm, within a week to 10 days on the shelf or in the refrigerator they will ripen (just like any other Kiwi). Although they taste great, they are not as visually appealing as they start to "shrivel". 

In any case, we have started harvesting and will begin developing jams again with the new crop. We are also experimenting with dehydrated Kiwis which take on the look of a large raisin (we've now started to call these Kiwi Raisins). The result is a very tasty (seemingly seedless) raisin which tastes like a cross between a conventional raisin and a fig.

As we continue to clean our farmland, we are now at the stage of transplanting some varieties which were let go and for which we have no documentation. This week we decided to preserve some of the old raspberries that had almost returned to their wild state.

It is perhaps not the right time of year to do this, but it was necessary since we have a lot of work to do to prepare the land for next Spring.

So this week, we salvaged a dozen young shoots and transplanted them in a partial row with the rest of our existing raspberries.

Transplanting a few of the old raspberry canes

In fact we also used this week to clean up some of our old raised beds. In the process, we decided to transplant and move a tomato plant, a strawberry plant and some fennel (our prized fennel used for the Wine Maker's event actually grew back from the roots). We planted these in pots and moved them to our Biodome.

One of our "ever-bearing" Strawberry plant potted and moved to the Biodome 

We do not yet know what kind of environment we will be creating in the dome. But we thought it a good test to move some of our plants there to assess how they do in winter.

When cleaning the raised beds we decided to use one to plant our Sunchokes or Jerusalem Artichokes. These roots do not store well and although planting is recommended 3-4 weeks before last frost, we figured the best storage is in the soil.

No sooner had we planted them that Tristan pointed out we may already have some of these on the property....and sure enough we had them. We had not noticed them before, but the back of the house has two beautiful patches of Sunchokes now in full bloom!

Looking to plant Sunchokes not realizing patches are already growing just outside the house

Cleaning up the raised beds also meant finishing off with the last of our tomatoes. Already some cold nights have had a negative impact on the quality of the newly ripening fruits. We now have so many green tomatoes, we are thankful that last year we developed some good canning recipes for these. 

Cleaning the raised beds means there are a lot of tomatoes to process

In the meantime, work continues on the house. We are still finishing the brick "re-pointing". We've now started on the wood finishes and the eaves troughs.

Work begins on the troughs

One element that may prove difficult is the wrought iron. We have now taken it down and it seems to be in very bad shape. We're now assessing how to move forward.

The wrought iron is down: do we repair or do we replace?

Finally, we will finish on a family note. Many have been asking us about Skye (Tristan's fiancee). A lot have been expressing their good wishes.

Well I'm happy to report that Skye is now back from hospital and a lot more often at the farm. In fact, we used out Oktoberfest event to also celebrate a 100 days post transplant success story.

Sky toasting to her 100 days post-transplant success