A Farms At Work workshop on Pasture Raised Livestock at Kingsholm Farms

On Sunday I decided, with my newfound leisure time, to attend a workshop sponsored by Farms At Work, a wonderful organization whose mission is to promote healthy farming in eastern Ontario, at Kingsholm Farms. There were 28 registrants, two representatives from Farms at Work, Kevin King the host farmer and owner of Kingsholm Farms and his farm manager, Will. At the end of the afternoon there was a cameo appearance from Kevin's wife, Margo, bearing homebaked cookies, coffee and hot chocolate.

The tone was set from the very beginning when we started a little late.  Kevin needed to make an emergency delivery of fresh water to some of his cows in a far off pasture. As a group we sported an impressive array of warm clothing; everything from down coats, wool jackets and the latest from outdoors equipment stores to every possible kind of winter boot from Baffins to those green rubber boots from Canadian Tire, with and without the felt liners. But after standing awhile in the cold and wind, toques came out, feet started stamping and arms waving to and fro in an effort to generate a little heat. I think at this point Will took pity and offered to start the tour.  Kevin would take over after the emergency drop was made.

Farms at Work had prepared some questions and topics they thought we might like addressed. But once Kevin arrived it quickly became clear that was not the kind of event this would be. Questions served, not so much to provide specific answers, as to guide Kevin's thoughts in a certain direction. This was obvious when he was asked about the ideal ratio of pigs per acre. His answer was he was not a numbers man. Instead, his knowledge comes from a lifetime of listening and observing life on the farm and that was how we too would learn. This approach to learning was very familiar to me - when I was a flute student I attended a number of master classes given by European flautists. Here too learning took place through a kind of osmosis by being in the presence of an accomplished professional. You watched and listened and hoped to absorb some of the master's knowledge and passion.

This was a workshop for people who are interested in raising livestock on pasture. But looking at Kevin, a beefy man with great smile lines and an open face, dressed in his Carhartts,  jacket unzipped the whole time and no gloves, I had the distinct impression that the first question for each of us had nothing to do with livestock. Rather, could we survive standing in the cold for the whole afternoon? I, unlike most of the others, have no aspirations to raise livestock. I had heard that the farm was beautiful and was a fantastic example of sustainable agriculture and that was enough to draw me.

Kevin preaching to the converted

When asked about marketing and social media Kevin made it clear that this was Will's area of expertise, "Where there's a Will there's a way". But it was also clear that for Will, Kevin is King. The mutual affection and regard they have for each other was apparent over and over. The relationship seems to be the perfect complement of skills and personality types.

We started the tour by visiting the pigs. Kingsholm keeps two types, Large Black English and Tamworths.

The Large Black English is a heritage breed. It is aptly named as it is humungous. An illustration of the kind of approach used at Kingsholm Farms was illustrated by the story of one of the sows. She had gotten sick and they tried all kinds of solutions. Nothing had an effect that lasted more than a few days. So they finally decided to allow her to roam freely. Given the opportunity to forage at will she instinctively chose the foods she needed for a full recovery - problem solved. A sort of variation on "Physician, heal thyself".

Large Black English sow

The Tamworths have a beautiful red coat. They are the most direct descendants of native European stock which in turn descended from wild boars. The large male was in heat - who knew males were capable of this? - perhaps a case of too much information - but it did explain the pronounced and peculiar smell emanating from his direction.

The male Tamworth expressing his sexual frustration

And the sows lining up for his attentions

Next we strolled up the laneway to the pasture where the cows were grazing. The view was exquisitely beautiful - we were at the crest of a hill overlooking valleys edged with hedgerows, with a wetland at the bottom, the whole vista either sunlit or striped with the long shadows of a late afternoon fall sun. Kevin describes his cows as Shaver cows. Dr. Donald Shaver experimented in the 1960's with crossing different breeds of cows. He imported some Lincoln Reds from England and found that when they were included in the crossbreeding the results were consistently the best. The Lincoln Red can be traced back to Nordic invaders and is thought perhaps to have come originally from the Russian steppes. Because cattle breeders in East Anglia had been particularly dedicated to preserving the purity of the Lincoln Red lines it was possible to import cows with a sound genetic profile. Shaver cows always have Lincoln Reds as one of their key lines.

Shaver cows foraging on the crest of the hill

The bull, Max, is a Red Poll.

Max, the bull, gets his back scratched - a place he can't reach himself

As is so often the case, much of the most interesting nuggets came as a result of informal chatting as we walked along the lane. Kevin observed that when customers and chefs come to him they remain loyal customers. But when he has courted restaurants they quite often abandon the relationship after the initial courtship is over. I also found it interesting that one of his most faithful restaurants, at the Woodlawn Inn, takes no issue with frozen meat. Kevin said he once heard David Suzuki preface one of his talks by saying, "If you drove here tonight in an SUV you haven't thought two minutes about the environment." For Kevin the same response applies to frozen pasture finished meat. If an animal is finished in the pasture rather than the feedlot then there is a specific time it needs to be slaughtered. Hence meat needs to be frozen (or only available once or twice a year). Period.

In response to a question about coyotes, on this farm, they get to feast on the meat and bone scraps from their table. Dinner is served at the farthest corner of the property. I think many of us were hoping we could come back in the next life as Kingsholm Farm coyotes. So Will made it clear that the feast only gets served every couple of months or so. Kevin did have numbers here; on average each 100 acres can support a mating pair of coyotes.

The tour ended up at the new barn erected by a crew of Mennonites - and a crane operator!

The End of the Gardening Season

 I have done my last harvest of the season. It is always hard to tell when that will be. Mild wet weather can mean the fall greens go on and on and conversely an early hard frost can bring an abrupt and unanticipated halt. This year things have certainly slowed down the past few weeks but the season has really lasted a long time.  I have missed working as intensively outside as the weather has cooled. But there have been greens to harvest and manure to spread and so fall has really just eased into winter.

With the cold and snow comes the opportunity and time for leisurely walks and other activities.

Wild turkeys had almost disappeared because of habitat loss but were reintroduced about twenty years ago. They are now thriving in Central and Eastern Ontario. Some farmers consider them a menace to their crops and are calling for a cull. But the Ministry of Natural Resources maintains that they only eat what has already fallen to the ground. A cull would also inevitably include hens which would endanger them once again.

An impressive flock of wild turkeys 

There is really much to be enjoyed in the woods this time of year: the particular kind of silence (especially now that there is a lull in hunting season) that allows you to hear the snow falling, the thick layer of fallen leaves underfoot, the silhouette of hardwoods stripped bare. Except for the beeches, whose understated tan leaves can't compete during the riot of colour earlier in the autumn, but now punctuate the monochrome of the woods.

There are outcroppings of granite bedrock with ferns and even trees growing in the  crevices between boulders.

Trees well used by sapsackers are more easily noticed .

Also, unfortunately, are examples of "witch's broom",  an indication of stress in trees and woody shrubs.  It is easily recognized as a mass of shoots originating from a single point which resembles a witch's broom. The cause can be environmental or biological.

Witches' broom

But the really exciting and heartening sighting on Sunday was a river otter. In the low light I didn't even realize at first what it was.  Once I realized it was an otter I was amazed at how close it allowed me to get before plunging into the water. I decided to carry on walking and see if I could see it again later on my return home.

As I ventured further in to the woods I came across the remains of an old sugaring operation.

The support for the stove trays for boiling off the syrup rests on the cast  iron doors.

The stack of wood to fuel the fire looks more like a rock outcropping at first glance

On my way back I swung by the creek and sure enough the otter was back up on the ice at the same spot. It would be nice to think that this watershed is a permanent home to a family of river otters.

A curious river otter

Heirloom Shelling Beans

I have a weakness for growing heirloom shelling beans. I think it's because they're so beautiful dried and stored in glass mason jars - their tremendous variety in shape and colouring.

But it is a bit ironic that something as proletarian as dried beans should be so much work to cultivate. The season has to be long enough for the pods to dry on the plants. Then they need to be picked and shelled, and laid out to dry before storing. Next is skimming off the best seeds for saving for next year's stock. After all that the number of beans seems so stingy. But by the time next June comes I have forgotten all the work and can't wait to start the whole process again.

Fresh beans sorted and drying on a screen

Included with shelling beans is the Borlotti or Taylor's Horticultural bean which is intended to be eaten fresh. Because the pods don't need to have dried these are usually the first to harvest. The beans are white ovals with pink dashes.

Borlotti or Taylor's Horticultural Broad Bean

This year I grew about sixteen heirloom shelling beans - three of them new to me.

The first of these is Orca, also called Calypso or Ying Yang. But I think Orca is the best of the names - the distinctive markings in black and white are so reminiscent of Killer Whales.

Orca beans

Then there is Red Swan which is actually a red snap bean! Since it was new to me and I was too busy to look it up I didn't realize I could harvest it at the snap stage. But that is fine because I really needed to save seed to increase my stock. Next year...

The third new one to me is Blue Jay; a rare heirloom. It is an oblong deep navy blue bean with white splotches. These three new seeds are from Urban Harvest.

Blue Jay beans on the left and Cannellini on the right

There are two beans which I got from Terra Edibles years ago and are no longer in the catalogue. So I'm glad I've saved seed every year. One is Cranberry Pole, a big round, deep red seed which grows in creamy white pods on climbing plants which can reach 10 feet in height. This bean was cultivated by Native Americans in what is now Maine. It is considered very rare. A famous "bean collector", John Withee, read about it in a gardening catalogue from the 1700's and ultimately discovered it growing in the garden of a Mr. Taylor in Steep Fall, Maine. And it really does look like a cranberry.

Cranberry Pole Beans

The other is Vermont Cranberry, a pioneer staple from New England. The pods are pale green streaked with fuschia and the beans are dusty rose with darker red streaking.

Vermont Cranberry

Jacob's Cattle is one of the better known heirloom beans. Also called Trout and Apaloosa, it has many different legends attached to it. Slow Food USA tells the story of how it is thought to have been a gift from the Passamaquoddy Indians of Maine to Joseph Clark, the first white child born Lubec, Maine. Other sources say the name refers to its distinctive splotches resemble  those of Hereford cattle.

Jacob's Cattle 

Black Valentine is an old bean dating from the early 1800's. It has shiny black beans and can be used
at the snap stage.

Dragon's Tongue is a bush bean originally from the Netherlands. It is a butter bean with cream and purply red striping on the pods.

Rattlesnake Snap is a pole bean with dark green pods and purple stripes. The bean itself is a rather nondescript beige. Another of the pole beans is Violetta di Trionfo, a purple podded French type of snap bean with a stark white bean.

I grow a very prolific little red bean called Carmina. When fresh the beans are the most beautiful rich pink. When they dry they turn a deep red colour.

Carmina beans after drying for a week on the left, freshly shelled on the right

There is another very prolific bean which I grow. It just seemed to appear one year. And so has no official name (that I know). It is not particularly striking, being a white oval with beige/brown splotches. But it has gained my affection - it seems to be reminiscent of a Dickensian orphan - proud and determined. As wonderful as their appearance is, so are the names of so many of these beans. I hate to admit that for me this little bean has just become "Brown Mottled".

My "Brown Mottled"