Featherstone Bison Farm

One of the things that excited me most about the 100-Mile Diet was meeting local producers. This morning, our family set out to Gananoque to meet Harold and Nancy, owners of Featherstone Bison Farm. They have 60 head of bison.

The bison are pastured on a huge acerage throughout the spring, summer, and fall. In the winter, they are supplemented with hay (1-2 bales per day) but they require no shelter. Harold explained that they are accustomed to prairie winters. They are given no hormones or anti-biotics.

Pheobe, a fifteen-year old border collie, learned many years ago that bison don't like to be herded. She still tries to boss them around, but they don't listen. As fluffy and friendly as the bison appear, Harold and Nancy made it clear that they cannot be approached. They are quite dangerous--both males and females have horns. The alpha female stared me down. Yikes.

Harold prepared a bison roast in his adobe oven. It was wonderful. The meat was flavourful, tender and lean. Bison meat must be cooked only to rare or medium rare because it is so low in fat. We also enjoyed a glass of fresh apple and carrot juice.

As you can see, the herd was breathtaking.

Day Three wasn't our best day in terms of sticking to our challenge. Mike was extremely ill last night, presumably from caffeine-withdrawl. My headache also persisted. Mike researched the symptoms and found that they can persist for 3-9 days. Because we have to parent and work with kids at school, we decided that we would have one cup each morning. Hopefully, we can continue to drink less coffee after the challenge.