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