A New Gallery in Pelham

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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!