Producer

Cirrus Hill Farm, 50 acres of windswept grass on fragile clay soils overlooking Georgian Bay, originally set up for horses, has slowly evolved from pasture and forage into a more mixed farm model, with seasonal grow out of poultry and heritage pigs, and market gardens and orchards which expand each year. We produce a variety of traditionally raised gourmet poultry products you just won’t find elsewhere.

In 2002, JoAnn McCall and her then teenaged children found the perfect home for Miss Moneypenny, the show pony who was “in the family way". Moving to 50 horse friendly acres on the Escarpment above Meaford brought out the hidden farmers in a family of animal lovers, and soon the kids were happily baling hay and there were critters everywhere.

A life member of both Rare Breeds Canada and the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, JoAnn built an internationally important flock of critically endangered Beltsville Small White turkeys, especially suited to sustainable small scale traditional husbandry. Partially retired, she no longer distributes day-olds through an annual Spring Hatchery, but can still help new poultry keepers to establish homestead poultry flocks with advice on species, breeds and sources best suited to small scale, traditional husbandry and family use.

Cirrus Hill Farm began with horse hay, and has never needed pesticides with all those little beaks to feed. Though third party certification would be prohibitively expensive, we sincerely believe that our methods meet or exceed all the published standards for humane animal husbandry and organic produce production we have ever found. Show us a better way, and we’ll do it.

We have a “mixed” operation, raising rare breeds and providing traditional gourmet food products. Full organic feed programs supplmented by free-range are used from hatching to sale for our Artisanal Label Rouge flocks. Our Berkshire pigs get a varied diet based on grains and garden and orchard produce.