Fresh Chicken Sale at Duenk Family Farms

Chickens | Photo Credit: Karen Eatwell On Saturday, June 25 Karen Eatwell and Peter Duenk will be having their Annual Fresh Chicken Sale. Eatwell Foods at Duenk Farms is a small scale farm operation with a big heart! They raise pasture fed chicken, ducks and black angus beef. They are also an amazing farm to visit because there are always a few big friendly black labs and border collies there to greet you with a tail wag and friendly nose nudge. There is also a horse, and a goat called Moonshine. Duenk Farms is one of my favourite places to be and Karen and Peter are some of my favourite people! Karen and Peter raise their chickens with no growth hormone, they let the chickens out in the pasture during the day to forage and frolic and do what chickens do, naturally. The great thing about going to the farm on chicken day is that you can see for yourself where your food was raised and you can ask Karen and Peter anything. Chickens Foraging | Photo Credit: Karen Eatwell Chicken Day Eatwell Foods at Duenk Farms Saturday, June 25, 2011 10 am – 3pm Call ahead: 519-232-4105  Read More

A local Latin BBQ

Meet Paul Spence. You may have met him at the Masonville Farmer’s Market sometime last season. Lo Maximo Meats is the name of Paul and his wife Sara’s farm business. Paul and Sara can be found running a creative and small-scale farm near Kent Bridge in the Chatham-Kent area. Lo Maximo Meats offers up a real specialty product to our community – Latin style cuts of meat. It does not stop there for this creative duo as they are now embarking on a new adventure – The Latin BBQ experience, which they are calling Experience Casa Latina. Paul and Sara hope to create a wonderful evening of introducing people to a new style of eating… the Latin way. What they are doing is really neat – they will let you take a peak at their charming farm, so you can see the journey from farm to plate and at the same time, they want to offer up an inside look at the Latin way of life. Music, salsa dancing, socializing and just plain having fun are all on the Spence menu. After the farm tour concluded, we headed over to The Botany Community Centre, which is an adorable and old one room school house dating back to 1883. This little school house has been converted into a cozy community centre with a working kitchen. It is steeped in history and some of that history runs deep in Paul’s own family tree – his great, great grandfather helped bring the bricks to build it and his own grandfather attended the old school. Sara had been there before us working her magic, and it was set up wonderfully with a gorgeous tableware, folded napkins and even ribbons adorning each chair. It definitively set the mood and made all of the guests feel honored to be there.   We all had a chance to talk to Sara about her hometown which is in Equador and her previous way of life before she moved to the cooler Canadian climate. Sara loves to have people ask her about South America and she wants more Canadians to know about it and experience some of the culture. One of Paul’s Chatham farm area neighbors Don Giffin was there with a whole display of the most gorgeous bottles of maple syrup I have ever seen. He was there to let people know how syrup is tapped and produced. He gave us loads of information on the syrup grades and consistency. He was an amazing guy whose maple syrup has won some pretty prestigious awards in the past. One of the large bottles had a gorgeous trillium displayed and on another favourite of mine – some maple leaves adorning it, they were truly exceptional. While we were inside talking to Sara and Don, Paul was outside grilling the meat on the BBQ – I believe that in Spanish the BBQ would be called a parrilla or open-fired grill and this is a very traditional way to cook the meat. Speaking of meat, there was alot of it. This is where the Latin experience comes in and really shines. We were introduced to the names of many different styles or cuts of meat and offal (hoove, tendons, brains, tongue – nothing is off the table at a true Latin BBQ). I am happy to announce that they did go easy on us at this particular parrilla.   There were regular farmer style sausage, pork and beef cutlets and the two most adventurous items on the menu were heart and kidney. I managed to try them both and I will say that I liked the heart but I think that would be my last time with the kidney. Some others that were present loved the kidney and passed on the heart – so, to each his/her own! Every kind of meat was accompanied with a homemade green sauce called chimichurri = delicious. There were also three gorgeous salads to accompany the meal, which Sara told me was more of a Canadian touch, as at a traditional Latin BBQ there would just be the meat. To finish, there was a delicious dessert which was Sara’s mother’s recipe – I cannot recall the exact name, but I believe it was a dulche de leche-type flan with another Canadian touch – whipped cream. As part of the Latin experience, Sara includes a salsa lesson to anyone interested, which we ran out of time on this particular evening. I have taken loads of other photos of the farm and some of the really creative projects that they have going on there currently, or are in the works. It really needs to be in another post, so if you are intrigued check back in a few days! Amar la vida! Experience Casa Latina Paul and Sara Spence 11945 Selton Line R.R.#3 Kent Bridge, ON, N0P 1V0 experiencecasalatina@gmail.com 519-365-9791    Read More

The Duenk Farm

Chicken | Photo: Kelly Hunt I promised to tell you about this great farm I found and here it is – The Duenk Family Farm. It is run by Peter Duenk and Karen Eatwell. The farm is really not too far from London, it is past Ilderton and on the way to Ailsa Craig, but well worth the hike! Duenk Cows | Photo: Kelly Hunt These are Angus cows (the black ones, that pale one is a Charolais). Angus cows are originally from Scotland – I did not get close enough to hear the accents, lol… but they sure looked friendly enough. Peter went right out into the field with them and explained to me they were one of the more docile breeds of cattle. The pretty white one is the only one that is a Charolais, that means she is a Frenchie. The wonderful thing about these cattle that Peter and Karen raise are that they are almost fully “Pasture Raised”. The cattle roam about the farm all summer long in pasture and then in the winter they come in and are fed some healthy grains and some fresh cut hay that is grown on site. Because they are pasture raised, they naturally stay very healthy and do not need any antibiotics or hormones. The last 60 days of their time at the farm, they are brought into the barn and fed some corn to sweeten up the meat a little bit and improve the marbling – this is what distinguishes a good cut of meat. They are then aged for 21 days for a tender product. Here is Karen showing me the grains that they feed the chickens. Karen took me for a tour of the farm and it is loaded with good things. First off, let me say that they really believe in doing things right at their farm. They are interested in the grains they feed their animals, the habitats they live in and the treatment of them overall. There are meat chickens at the farm and there are egg laying hens at the farm. They are kept seperate from one another. The chickens are ecologically raised, which means that they have indoor outdoor pens. Most of their diet consists of a mixed grain that they mix on site. It includes flax and some other good things. The inclusion of flax (as well as another secret ingredient) increases the omegas in the chicken and make for a more moist and tender bird (sorry vegetarians!). One of the things that was a great fun to see were these baby turkeys. They were so cute, just look at them! I was in there like a “city-iot” and asking to pet them. They were so cute, they actually would stick out their little turkey chests and let you have a pet! They have ordered in about fifty turkeys and will sell these fresh for Thanksgiving – yes,that is right – by October/November these little guys will be huge! I know where I am getting my turkey. There are all cuts of beef and all types of roasts available at Duenk”s. There are fresh brown eggs available,whole chickens as well as turkeys. There is also a pet goat and a small horse and a few friendly and awesome dogs. You have to get there. If you have any questions, call Karen – she will be happy to help you out. Oh – and just a warning to my faithful readers – you are all stuck with this post for quite a while because I am going on a little summer vacation to Vancouver Island. I will have lots to post about when I get back because everything will be in season! We are going into July, which means cherries, peaches, currants, melons and even corn!!! Its all just around the corner. The Duenk Family Farm Karen Eatwell & Peter Duenk 25425 New Ontario Road RR#3, Denfield ON N0M 1P0 519-232-4105 Check the google map!  Read More