The Year in Review, Part Two

We made some wonderful memories at the farm in 2011 and we’re happy we could share so many of them with you. From our Royal Wedding Marmalade campaign to rubbing elbows with celebrity cookbook authors to whizzing down the new 40 ft pipe slide, we enjoyed every minute of life on the farm! Even our resident rooster Rocky had fun this year shaking his tail feathers in the barnyard!

Without further adieu, here’s our end of year ‘round up of our favourite farm moments!

Best use of a Chuck Wagon
Randy & Sandy at Harvest Festival

Favourite Literary Work Available at the Farm
How to Survive a Gnome Attack by Chuck Sambuchino

Hottest Jar on the Shelf
Royal Wedding Marmalade

Favourite Twilight Shopping Night
Town & Country Christmas House Tour

Most Photographed Farm Guest
David Rocco

Best Early Morning
6am with Lori De Angelis from CHCH

Best Farm Word Coined by Springridge
Jampaign, noun: a series of organized actions done for a purpose (with jam)

Most Likely to be your Best Friend
Tie between Hudson and Rocky

Favourite Local Foodies
Tourism Burlington

Best Kept Secret in Town
The Gift Loft

Best Twitter Connection
@VGonzee for taking our Royal Wedding Marmalade to London!

Fan Favourites
@HeartofOntario loves the food, the staff, the book evenings, the Easter & Harvest Festival!
@jesselauzon loves the cover of YFM magazine, December 2011!

A Post About Parties

It's December 1st and the invitations are already rolling in. You're invited to a plethora of holiday parties with work colleagues, neighbours, family, friends - wow, you're popular! With a tight social calendar you might need some help from the Springridge elves!

Glitz and Glam from the Gift Loft
Adorn yourself with faux diamonds from our Gift Loft! Our modestly priced costume jewellery will add sparkle to any little black dress. The crystal beaded cuff bracelet is our top pick for the season - perfect for taking you from daytime Christmas shopping to holiday-happy hour crantinis! Looking for a practical party accessory? We have a stylish selection of purses and handbags with a little somethin'-somethin' like colourful satin materials, beads and bling! We also have a dazzling collection of necklaces, earrings and brooches in winter designs.

Holiday Host
The invites are piling up but you're hosting a Christmas party of your own too! We are a one-stop-shop for everything appetizer to dessert. One of our easiest and most delicious appetizers is Raincoast crackers with brie cheese and roasted garlic red pepper jelly. For another palate pleasing hors d'oeuvre you can bake our frozen sausage rolls (cut into 1 inch pieces) and drizzle raspberry honey mustard over them before serving. For a main course, we have gourmet quiches, lasagna and savory meat pies in our frozen section. And for dessert, a platter of freshly baked gingerbread cookies. Voila, dinner a la Springridge Farm!

Don't be a Grinch Guest
We all know it's etiquette to bring something to the host or hostess of a party. Our staff is ready to help you select the perfect hostess gift! We can add some holiday cheer to a bottle of wine with a glass elf wine stopper - or pair your regular paper napkins with a Spode cheese knife set in their traditional Christmas tree pattern. For a host: we recommend our beer can chicken roasting set (sure to score you an invitation again next year!).

Party on!

Springridge closes for the season December 24 at noon.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Save the date! Mr. Claus is making his first stop of the season, right here in Milton.

For one weekend only on November 12 & 13, Santa is helping us kick-off our Christmas activities. Bring your letter for Santa and your camera because he's here to visit and take some jolly old photos with families in our party room.

Christmas activities continue every weekend until December 10 & 11, 10am-4pm. Join us at the farm and make a Springridge memory painting a glass ball ornament or decorating a freshly baked gingerbread cookie.

Our barn is all decked out with holiday home décor, ornaments, gifts, gourmet foods and gift baskets. Fraser Fir Christmas trees are available mid-November.

Once you've selected the perfect tree to take home, we want you to decorate it in style! So, we present to you our top 5 tips for making your Christmas tree shine.

1. Immediately place your tree in water and remember to water it throughout the holiday season. Let the branches open up and settle before decorating. Your tree will look full and have a naturally healthy glow!

2. Use LED lights. Make your tree radiant with energy efficient lights that last longer and don’t burn out like regular incandescent bulbs.

3. Add a little sparkle – we have glittery ornaments, picks and decorative balls available in our gift shop. Dress up a traditional tree with several ornaments that stand out!

4. Adorn your tree with sinamay. We have a wonderful selection of colours so you can use this crafter's fabric to create a theme or go wild!

5. Keep your tree shining by using it as kindling when Christmas is over.

Visit us for ideas and inspiration for entertaining and gift-giving this holiday season.

Pumpkins Pumpkins Pumpkins Pumpkins

Picture this: it’s an eerie Halloween night. The fog is rolling into Milton off the Niagara Escarpment. In the distance a coyote howls. You’re getting the kids ready to go out trick-or-treating. You gaze up at the dark October sky and the moon looks exactly like… a pumpkin you got at Springridge Farm!

For the first time ever, we are featuring Full Moon Pumpkins! These white pumpkins are as big and bright as the moon and will surely eclipse all other pumpkins on your neighbourhood block!

Now in stock:
Orange pumpkins – great for Jack-o-lanterns
Ghost
Knucklehead
Red warty thing
Tomato
Cinderella
Prize winner

One of our favourite ideas for carving pumpkins this fall is ‘the Twinkle Pumpkin’. This idea will add sparkle to your Thanksgiving décor or light the way along your porch stairs at Halloween. First select pie pumpkins or jack-o-lantern style pumpkins from Springridge Farm. Cut an opening around the top of the pumpkin. Scoop out the seeds and guts. Next, use a drill to make holes 1-2 inches apart around the entire pumpkin. Place candle inside and admire the Twinkle!

It’s no secret that Martha Stewart has some of the most creative ideas for celebrating holidays. Get inspired by her pumpkin carving photo gallery.

We are certainly passionate about pumpkins at the farm! This month, our bakery is featuring homemade pumpkin pies and tarts as well as our famous pumpkin face cookies! And the pumpkin doesn’t stop there…we have a delectable selection of pumpkin butters in our gourmet department.

In fact, we love pumpkins so much we’re celebrating this season’s crop at our annual Harvest Festival! Activities include wagon ride, 5-acre corn trail, Boo Barn, face painting, professional puppet show and access to the Fun Farm Yard including our new 40ft pipe slide. Harvest Festival takes place every weekend in October, including Thanksgiving Monday, 10am-4pm.

Springridge Farm is the ultimate destination for pumpkins this fall.

Drive by for a Pie

What did one old apple pie say to the other?
You’re getting a little too crusty!

At Springridge, pies are no joking matter! We make our pastry from scratch, fill it with the most delicious fruit and carefully hand-flute the edges before baking a perfect golden brown crust. Many of our recipes have been passed along from generation to generation on the farm.

September is all about bridging the gap between summer and fall and we’re filling this month with homemade apple crumble! It has a traditional pie shell bottom with a sweet crumble top and it’s our very own version of the satisfying, comforting, old-fashioned dessert.

Oh me oh my, we love pie! We asked some of our staff what their favourite Springridge pie is and everyone had a different one in mind! Sarah chose peach raspberry, Palma selected our classic apple pie, Kathy thought no one could beat our cherry recipe, June loves the spring-like taste of strawberry-rhubarb and Sandy is anticipating pumpkin pie!

Our pumpkin pie is made with a special blend of spices and will be available in the bakery early this month. We recommend a dollop of whipped cream and several forks for sharing! This pie is a true symbol of the harvest season.

Freshly pressed apple cider and apples are already in store. Our barn is brimming with new fall merchandise. Soon enough we’ll have all shapes and sizes of pumpkins available in our barn market as well as potted garden Mums. This could only lead us to one thing: HARVEST FESTIVAL!

This year’s festival kicks off September 24/25 and continues every weekend in October, including Thanksgiving Monday. Join us for tractor-drawn wagon rides to a 5-acre corn trail, face painting, Boo Barn, professional puppet show and fall family activities in the Fun Farm Yard.

Come celebrate good food, good fun and good pumpkins with us!

Make Your STAYCATION Sizzle

Does mid-summer leave you dreaming about that European vacation or relaxing week at a cottage rental you never booked?! While a ‘staycation’ fits any budget, the dog days of summer can be hot and long. Here’s a list of our best suggestions of how to make your staycation sizzle!

Entertain Your Brood

Let your kids rule the roost in the Fun Farm Yard! Rocky, our resident fowl, invites you to come and visit him! You can race on the pedal tractors or hike up to the lookout and see if you can spot the CN tower. Plus, Rocky will show you all around the Animal Barn and introduce you to his best goat friends!

Day Trip

Pick up a copy of Ron Brown’s book, ‘Top 100 Unusual Things to see in Ontario’ from our farm shoppe and choose your own adventure. The book outlines locations that are easy to get to from city centers as well as some for more serious explorers. Say goodbye to expensive plane tickets and visit Ontario’s Stonehenge, Ontario’s Taj Mahal or North America’s longest wooden bridge!

Backyard Beautification

Since you’ve had all the time in the world to hang out in your backyard during your staycation, you must have noticed that bare spot in the corner of your garden or the empty table on the patio. A summer at home is the perfect excuse to spruce up your backyard. We have a wonderful selection of garden statuary (for whimsical, rustic or modern gardens), lanterns to brighten your evening entertaining and trinkets that will add charm and character to your outdoor space.

Eat Local

We addressed the importance of eating local foods in our July blog, but August is a bountiful month for fresh fruits and veggies! Visit our barn market for peaches, corn, blueberries, everbearing strawberries and early apples (call ahead for availability). Farmers' markets are a great place to find fresh summer produce like sweet corn. Collect your harvest and try grilling corn on the BBQ. Pull away a few outer layers of the husk, grill for 20 minutes rotating the cob, peel the rest of the husk, butter up and enjoy!

Tour the Country (Roads)

Take a self-guided bike tour of the country roads in Milton! See the farms, landscape and wildlife as you wind around the back roads of the Escarpment. Make sure you put on the breaks as you whiz down the hill on Bell School Line and stop in for a refreshing drink and a seasonal fruit muffin!

From Our Own Backyard

We are looking forward to all of the local, seasonal foods Ontario has to offer over the summer! At Springridge, we can’t get much more ‘local’ than enjoying the strawberries grown right in our own backyard on Bell School Line. Even though strawberry season is winding down for us in July, we hope our Springridge friends will continue to 'eat local'.

Over the next few months, Farmer John and Farmer Tom will keep our barn market stocked with the freshest produce, grown in Ontario, by some of their farming friends. The first sweet peas of the season are now available in our market and soon we will have sour cherries, sweet cherries, new potatoes, raspberries, blueberries, peaches and corn.

In celebration of local food, we are hosting an Evening with Lynn Ogryzlo, culinary expert and author of The Ontario Table. With a background in Niagara’s wine industry, Lynn has shared her knowledge as a food, wine and travel writer. She has developed more than 1400 recipes devoted to local and seasonal food. Her latest book, The Ontario Table is more than a cookbook; it is an agricultural journey designed to introduce you to the people, food and culture of Ontario’s local food.

Lynn Ogryzlo will also highlight her Buy, Eat, Drink and Think Local Challenge. She is rallying for consumers to adjust their shopping habits and make an effort to spend just $10 of their grocery budget on local food each week. This will lead to an influx of money staying in our own communities.

We invite you to join us on Wednesday, July 13 from 5:30pm-8:00pm for an evening of hors d’oeuvres featuring local, seasonal farm foods, special guest Elizabeth Baird - Food Editor Emeritus of Canadian Living, after hours shopping and an exclusive book talk and signing. RSVP to events@springridgefarm.com as space is limited.

We are also welcoming our friends from A Taste of Burlington at the event. This summer they are focusing on local food promotion and encouraging restaurants to include Ontario ingredients on their menus. This summer’s A Taste of Burlington is taking place from July 18 – August 1 and is a wonderful opportunity to sample some of Burlington’s finest restaurants that help make the city a growing culinary destination. Look for the ‘Eat Local’ logo on menus.

Click here for A Taste of Burlington event flyer.

Eat local all year ‘round! Try freezing or preserving your Springridge strawberries so you can enjoy them in the depths of winter. Just hull the berries, place whole on a cookie sheet and freeze. Package quickly and return to freezer. Or try Foodland Ontario’s recipe for Freezer Strawberry Jam.

Bon Appetit!