Grazing Days

NFU Seeking Executive Director (ED)

admin — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:17:54 +0000

Executive Director (ED)

The Executive Director (ED) will work with the Board and Executive of the NFU to successfully implement the policy directives of the membership. The ED will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the National Office of the NFU and work in a management role with the Director of Finance and Director of Policy and Research. The ED will take a leadership role in identifying emerging issues, setting priorities and maximizing the effectiveness of the resources of the NFU. The successful candidate will demonstrate the ability to take an active responsibility for the operations of a national not-for-profit organization. He or she will:

 possess a genuine interest in farming and food issues;

 have experience working with an elected/nonprofit/volunteer board;

 understand budgeting and accounting processes;

 have experience in managing staff and volunteers;

 demonstrate effective written and verbal communication;

 have experience editing and publishing documents;

 have confidence in speaking to the media and public; and

 will be self‐directed, creative, enthusiastic and organized.

The position will be located in the NFU National Office in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and will involve occasional travel.

Interested parties please send resume and cover letter by email to nfu@nfu.ca by February 21, 2012.

Gift a Box-o-Grass-Fed Beef this Holiday Season

admin — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 18:51:52 +0000

Great news everyone, Grazing Days is selling gift boxes of Grass-Fed Beef this holiday season. Finally the perfect gift for those hard-to-buy-for friends and relatives and just in time for some slow-cook comfort during the January and February cold.

Sign up now to gift a box of grass-fed beef. Just follow this link: http://www.grazingdays.com/our-food/our-beef-csa/gift-box/

The Attack on the Canadian Wheat Board: Seven Reasons Non-Farmers Should Care … and Act

admin — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 04:10:12 +0000

Bill C-18, the “Marketing Freedom for Grain Farmers Act” was tabled in the House of Commons in October. It is aimed at dismantling the single desk of the Canadian Wheat Board, the farmer owned and controlled organization that markets all of the Barley and the Wheat from the Canadian Prairies.

The Canadian Wheat Board is an amazing piece of infrastrucutre that puts power into the hands of Canadian grain farmers in a global grain market that is controlled by a few huge multinational corporations such as Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland, and Bunge to name a few. In a plebiscite in August of this year, 62% of wheat farmers and 51% of farmers voted in favour of the Canadian Wheat Board single desk, yet the Conservative Government is steamrolling ahead with Bill C-18 – aiming to have the bill become law by Christmas.

Today the National Farmers Union, released a call to action of Non-farmers to join farmers and act against the attack on the Canadian Wheat Board. Please click on the PDF below to find out the Seven Reasons why Non-Farmers should care…

Grazing Philosophies

admin — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 14:46:42 +0000

This video is about the Grazing Philosophies that are practiced on a farm called Maplewood Farm in Highgate, Vermont. The types of things that Eric Noel, the farmer, is talking about in this video are very similar to the philosophies behind Grazing Days as well. Enjoy the video.

Thanks so much Jacqueline Jolliffe from Stone Soup Foodworks for sending me this video!

Celebrating Local Food with Paul Dewar

admin — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:25:00 +0000

Grazing Days has been invited to bring a farmer’s perspective to the following discussion about Celebrating local food: Innovations and challenges! Hopefully we’ll see you there!

Celebrating local food: Innovations and challenges

Saturday October 15, 2011
464 Metcalfe St. (at Catherine)
10:00 – 15:00

With speakers from the NCC, Just Food, Centretown Community Health Centre, Community Shared Agriculture, and your input in discussion groups.

Appetizers and snacks provided by Zen Kitchen

Hosted by Paul Dewar, MP for Ottawa Centre

Space is limited, pleasure reserve by emailing paul.dewar@parl.gc.ca or calling 613.946.8682

Grazing Days Open House and Potluck this Saturday

admin — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:38:22 +0000

Come one, come all to the Grazing Days Open House and Potluck!

On Saturday, 24 September 2011, Grazing Days is hosting an Open House and Potluck at the farm in Manotick Station. Anyone who is interested is welcome to attend. The event is family friendly and if you know of people who might be interested in getting some Grazing Days Beef this year, please invite them along. If you are on facebook, please RSVP here.

Itinerary:

We have some fun things planned for Saturday afternoon / evening. Please feel free to participate in as much or as little as you would like! This open house is child friendly, although some of the activities are more child friendly than others…

15:00 Farm Tour and Pasture Walk – 6191 Mitch Owens Drive

Starting at the Grazing Days farm gate a tour will head through the Grazing Days pastures and soon to be pastures. As part of the tour, you’ll get a chance to see how the cattle get moved to fresh grass every day. If you attended the pasture walk last year, check out what has changed this year.

17:00 Potluck – 6191 Mitch Owens Drive

After the Farm Tour and Pasture Walk we will head back to the starting place for a potluck and good ol’ socializing! If you plan on bringing something in a crock-pot, please remember there is no electricity available at the farm.

19:00 Campfire at the farm – 6191 Mitch Owens Drive

Please join us for some more socializing and warmth around the farm campfire.
Directions to the Farm

If you are driving to the Farm, you can get directions by clicking on this link: Directions to Grazing Days, clicking on “Directions” in the Grazing Days Balloon and typing in your starting address.
Parking

Parking will be available in along the shoulder of Mitch Owens Road.

What to Bring

General:

All of the activities for the farm open house will be happening outside so please dress accordingly. Currently, the weather forecast is calling temperatures between 15°C and 21°C with a 70% chance of showers.

- Rain gear
- Something warm to wear
- Sun Screen
- Something to cover up against insect bites…
- Camera
- Comfortable shoes or rubber boots that you
  don’t mind getting dirty or wet

Potluck:

- Food dish to share with others
- Something to sit on
- Plate
- Cutlery
- Cup

Grazing Days Open House and Potluck- Saturday 24 September 2011

admin — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 14:38:02 +0000

Come One. Come All

As the 2011 grazing season is quickly drawing to a close, Grazing Days would like to invite all those who interested in seeing the farm, taking pictures, scavenging for frogs and other critters, or finding out more about the farm to the Grazing Days Open House and Potluck on the 24th of September. This has been quite an exciting year for Grazing Days as we’ve more than doubled the number of cows on the farm. Come meet them all!

The exact happenings of the Open House and Potluck will be available next week sometime, but here are the basic details:

Who: Anyone who is interested – this is a family friendly event, although there will be walking in tall grass on uneven terrain.
Where: At the Grazing Days Farm (6191 Mitch Owens Road, Ottawa – MAP)
When: 24 September 2011: Tour starting at 3:00pm, Potluck at 6:00pm

Please invite your friends and family to join us on what will be a fun-filled afternoon. We look forward to seeing you all here and sharing our passion with you.

Grazing Days at the Great Glebe Garage Sale

admin — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:54:06 +0000

Every year on the last Saturday of May, the entire Glebe neighbourhood turns into a garage sale. This year Grazing Days was there and managed to speak to about 200 people about Grazing Days and how people can sign up to start receiving deliveries of delicious Ottawa grass-fed Beef!

Making these videos was pretty fun – I hope you enjoy:

This video provides a brief overview of Grazing Days, how we deliver beef and some of the reasons behind why we do what we do:

This second video is an average day in the life of a Grazing Days farmer:

Splitting a Grazing Days Share with a Friend

admin — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 15:02:11 +0000

This Blog post was written by one of Grazing Days’ eaters Tabatha Soltay at her blog: http://talking2tabatha.blogspot.com on 23 May, 2011.

Meat and vegetables –

Sometimes Sharing Beef with a Friend is the Best Option

It is the May long-24, the first official day of the Canadian planting season. I put in a few vegetables last weekend and hope to have home grown lettuce and tomatoes, as well as some herbs and cat-nip. The farmers markets are now open as well, and while I am looking forward to the selection of fresh fruit and vegetables, what I will miss is my monthly meat delivery.

Last fall, a friend of mine and I signed up for to share a cow. We technically didn’t get the WHOLE cow, just choice cuts from her friend, Farmer Paul, who spent last summer raising these beautiful bovines, and this year will be raising even more. A few things that rocked about my shared cow:

It was honestly some of the BEST beef I have ever had in my life. Purests will tell you that great meat should never be frozen, but I beg to differ. I defrosted a Porter House to open the BBQ for the season, and with very little marinating, the steak just melted in my house. It was fresh and juicy and a moment of pure bliss … times like that I am glad I am single; I don’t have to share it with anyone!
Farmer Paul drops it off all through the winter. When I first started looking into whole beasts purchased from local farmers, I found that they often just give you half the animal. How am I supposed to store that much meat? Receiving a drop-off every month, meant that I only had enough to eat through the month and didn’t have to worry about losing choice cuts somewhere deep in the bowels of a chest freezer.
No tyranny of the cow. I once signed up for a vegetable box and I felt that every week I was beholden to the goodness in the box … there was just too much to consume and sometimes produce had to be disposed of. It was heartbreaking and a huge waste! With a shared purchase, there is only a small drop-off with a variety of cuts every month for six months. Three-to-five pounds is more than enough to keep someone satisfied for a month without feeling beholden to emptying the freezer before the next delivery and giving me the space to eat other things during the month.
No commitment. Paul did door-to-door deliveries once a month, but sometimes I was just not around to receive them … but with a shared purchase, someone is bound to be home on the cold Saturday morning when the meat is delivered. It resulted in the freedom to enjoy winter to its fullest without having to worry about being around to receive the monthly drop-off.
Variety every month. On the whole, we knew what was coming in each box, but as it was shared some months I would get mince – leading to wonderful spaghetti sauces – and just as I was getting tired of that, a new box would arrive and this time I would have a roast and sausages. There is something fun about not exactly knowing what you will get this month, that leads to creativity in the kitchen.
Sharing brings you closer to your friend. Winter can be cruel, with people disappearing for months either because they revel in every second of the season or they are holding tight waiting for spring. Sharing meat with a friend means you get to see them at least once a month. You can share recipes, barter over cuts, invite them over for dinner to help devour the roast.

This summer, I hope to actually meet the cows that will sustain me over the winter at Grazing Days farm. And I plan to share a purchase again this winter. To summer, and the produce it will bring us, the rain, the sun and the cows that will grow healthy over the next few months so that I can make sauces, stews, sausages and steaks through the winter months.

Ottawa Grass-Fed Beef Herd Arrives

admin — Tue, 31 May 2011 17:37:39 +0000

Finally, after a few weeks of waiting for the weather to clear and the ground to dry so that we could get a truck into the field, 30 one year old heifers (a young female bovine that has not yet had a calf) arrived in the Grazing Days pastures on Wednesday, 26 May 2011.

At 9:30 am, the truck delivering the first group of 15 heifers pulled into the field and dropped off 2 red angus, 12 black angus, and 1 black angus with white patches on its face. Later, at 4:00 pm the second group of 4 red angus and 11 black angus arrived. It sure is easier to get the cattle off the truck than it is to get them on one!

The average weight of each cattle when they arrived was about 810 lbs. We know that the average calf weighs about 55lbs when they are born and they gain about 2 lbs a day until they are full grown. From this we can calculate the approximate birthdate of these heifers was approximately the 13th of May in 2010…

On behalf of all of us, I would like to extend a warm welcome to all 30 of you to Grazing Days. Oh yeah, and happy belated birthday!