sosnicki organics

Ben's mother, the farm's Matriarch, Sophie Sosnicki deserves some praise.  This woman has worked hard her entire life. And she's still going.  She comes to help out on the farm year round.  She mentioned some comfort food meals that she grew up on in Poland when money was tight.  At first I thought they sounded odd and not very good, but then I made them!  Potato Cabbage Rolls are fantastic!  Rendering down a lot of onions with a good quality fat (I'm sure they used lard in Poland, but I opted for organic sunflower oil), then mixed with raw shredded potato, (squeeze out all the starchy liquid!!) egg and a touch of flour to bind, sea salt and pepper.  Roll this mixture into prepped boiled cabbage and roast for an hour or so!  No sauce, just topped each layer with a drizzle of oil and salt and pepper.  It is like a savory potato pancake wrapped in soft spicy roasted cabbage!  They are even better the next day as ultimate leftovers!  ...

And so it begins again.  New Year's eve was spent on farm this year with some good friends and their insano Jack Russel's.  A BBQ supper and later a trek over to a late night garage party at another farm with an awesome motley crew of hilarious folks!  I never give up an opportunity to get the two funniest guys I know together - Paul and Erwin.  It's nice to be back to the grind though.  We've overhauled the farm office, packed away old receipts, but not to far, never know when you'll get pegged for another audit! The binder is ready for a new growing season with the new 'Crop Production Records'.  Made a phone call up to Pro-Cert to remedy some minor compliance issues this afternoon.  If I can get Ben to record the temperature of the compost pile this year it will be a miracle!! Smashy , we cleaned out your room finally and have half a dozen huge plastic bins full of horse stuff and old clothes we are storing in the barn for memories one day! ;)...

Well, it's that time of year again and how quickly it all comes and goes! Christmas on the farm has always been special.  We all come together to eat and drink with family and friends, sharing the bounty from our harvest and buying in other great foods from local producers. For kids, well it's a spectacular time, especially if your lucky enough to actually SEE Santa outside with his big sack and know for sure his sleigh and reindeer are parked behind the big hedge in the field!!!  We've had a lot of fun during past Christmas's!!   Ben and I have been rushing around - not buying gifts or dealing with mass shoppers -we don't buy into the retail aspect of the holidays, instead keep busy like elves ourselves grading storage crops, delivering produce and attending markets!  It's been a busy, busy season!  We get two Saturdays off, but the Thursday markets continue!  Christmas eve will be a celebration packed with 'Prawn Wontons' and  'Duck Poutine...

  The farm is awash in a nice snow cover, but luckily we have missed the massive snow squalls other county's have received.  This means my perogie crew had no trouble driving in from all the back roads and neighboring towns.  We hit the kitchen both Monday and Tuesday of this week and have created enough holiday food now for the markets!  A quick photo blog before I discuss NEW PREPARED FOODS being made! Time is flying and we are busy, busy, busy and I cannot believe the year is almost at an end!!  Above Mary and Ben rolling the dough and cutting the circles for the Perogies.....   Above Anne making the Potato Cheddar Perogies.... Above Boiling the Perogies....   Above Cooling the Perogies.....   My favorite machine, Mr. Hobart nicely put away after all it's service making dough and mashing potatoes....I love the Ukrainian Cloths the women have it wear when not in use!  This machine is respected - once you've made dough and mashed po...

I am absolutely inspired most days by my surroundings and what I can create with what we produce on the farm. Currently we do not sell our farm`s fresh eggs at market, but yet another project to look into. Making the time to basket my eggs and head to a grading station never seems to make it into my schedule!  I can have bragging rights though, as the following pictures are of my roosters, hens, my eggs and the most yellow yolks (just call them orange! ) because of their healthy diet!     It was chaos around the farm this morning as I went into the barn before dawn to catch the new, free range birds to clip wings and put in the outside pen with the others.  Snow is coming, it`s better for them to get used to the coop area. Also, I seem to have a 5 month old German Shepherd with a taste for chicken! Fresh, organic, free range eggs in your diet is such a good thing! Your own meat birds are good too! And I can`t wait to sample the first of our own rabbit meat.  ...

Whew!  What a ride this year and it’s not letting up!  I know, I know everyone waits for a long time for the years first batch of perogies and one day I hope to keep them going year round.  It’s just impossible at this time due to time constraints with growing a ton of seasonal fresh veg! When we can afford to employ more field labour and grading/market staff I will be able to look into prepared foods year round.  Believe me, I’m working on it!  Don’t I say this every year? This week was the introduction of our Organic Sauerkraut.   Made from our own certified organic cabbage and certified organic onions and course salt,  it is the real deal.  We make huge batches and they are left to ferment in the hall kitchen for just shy of two weeks.  The kitchen is kept warm to aid in the fermentation process.  During this time each morning and evening it is essential to ‘check in’ with the kraut and clean off any foam and check brine levels....

(PPSSSSSSSTTT: For a 68 picture tour of our farm during fall time, head to our public page on Facebook: SOSNICKI ORGANIC PRODUCE  ; ) Okay, so we've had a beautiful fall.  We are still playing catch up for last year's tomato disaster, but all in all, much better.  We are getting very good at holding our own.  I think it has to do with something called pride.   We've recently witnessed the horrible downfall of a neighboring farm and it made my heart sink.  To think, that could be us.  It is not easy making a living farming just 60 workable.  It seems expenses and even wages keep heading skyward, but no one seems to want to pay more for veg.  Ben and I will not pirate our produce either, meaning we know it's top notch quality, but will never charge $5 for a bunch of carrots.  So a lot of other ideas are in the works to amplify earnings here at the farm.  Changes implemented will take a 10 year plan to take effect and grow this farm ...