My house smells like rhubarb coffee cake and I'm looking forward to
MORE asparagus for lunch. I like it steamed, on top of toast with
melted cheese on top...everyday. Thank goodness it is Spring!
Okay, this week we'll also be offering local flours, grains and cheese
from the New Hamburg area. The flours/grains are actually grown AND
milled within 100k of uptown waterloo. Oak Manor Farm is the place
that mills it. It is also organic! Organic may not be important for
some of you but when I found out that it is normal practice to spray
the inside of non-organic flour bags with insecticide to keep bugs
away, I suddenly found the organic not quite so expensive : ) This
flour is stone ground with nothing removed. Did you know regular whole
wheat in the store is white flour with bran thrown back in? This flour
has all of its original goodness intact (if you get the whole grain).
I keep my flours in big sealed buckets. That way I can buy big bags
(which cost less than little bags). The cornmeal is the only thing I
buy in small bags because it gets old quickly. I even keep it in my
fridge or freezer. Are you wondering where to get big sealed buckets?
I've got a few extra for the first who ask for them. I also know that
the DQ near us on King will save big buckets with lids if you request
it. Hard wheat flours will be available this Fall.
The local cheese is from Oak Grove Cheese in New Hamburg. I'm only
listing the varieties that they make there (they sell some from
Quebec). The great thing about Oak Grove is that the cheese is made
from real cows milk rather than "milk products". If you look at the
cheap cheese at the supermarket you'll often see "milk products"
listed. This is imported from the States because it is cheaper than
the regulated Canadian milk. The States allows growth hormones in
their dairy cows and is more lax about testing for antibiotics and
such. I know, I milked cows at a farm in Indiana for two very cold
winters. So I don't want to eat US cheese. I want to eat cheese from
within 100k (okay, maybe miles) of my house. The cheese comes in
blocks about 2.5kg. Opened, this lasts a month in the fridge. Unopened
it will last for several months. I buy a few blocks and use the food
processor to shred up two of them and put them in smaller bags in the
freezer. We then easily eat the other block in the fridge before it
molds.
It may sound like a lot of cheese (2.5kg) but if you are hosting a
party in the next couple months or your family likes cheese as much as
mine, you'll have no trouble using it. Even though the block will not
be exactly 2.5kg it WILL have an exact price on it when you come to
pick it up.
We're trying something new this week. I'm sending you a link for a
google "form". Click on it (coming in an email soon) and you'll see a
handy order form. Let me know what you think of doing your ordering
this way as I'm considering using this every week.
Apparently procrastination DOES pay. For those of you who missed the
deadline to order chicken and turkey, I'm sending it out this week as
a handy order form and you have until May 30 to order. If you already
ordered, there is no need to fill in the form. I have your order.
Good news! Next week you can order ahead for local beef.
See you Friday,
Nina
No comments:
Post a Comment