Blueberries Aug 8
So the blueberry farmers say I need to pick up the blueberries Aug 7
or I may be sorry because they won't have enough the next week. So
much for a holiday... We will do a revised holiday which means that on
Friday Aug 8 there will be self-serve pick up for BLUEBERRIES ONLY.
This pick-up time for blueberries actually starts Thursday at 8PM so
that you can get your berries as fresh as possible (I don't have a
walk in cooler). Just come to the carport, help yourself to your
flats of blueberries and leave a cheque in a box. If you are going to
be out of town and REALLY want local blueberries in your freezer, I'll
offer the service of putting your berries in bags and freezing them
(unwashed) for $4 a flat. You then have a week or two grace time to
pick them up.
Organic Blueberries?
I'm still working on sourcing local organic blueberries. I'm talking
to the farmer. He's just not sure if he can hire the pickers. I'll
include them on the list in case I can get my hands on them. They
would be ready for pick up Aug 8 as well, I think. There IS a local
organic blueberry U-Pick farm near New Hamburg. Look in The Record
classifieds under Agricultural Products or Farm Fresh Foods or
whatever. They had an add on Saturday. They'll be $4.50 a pint if I
can get them.
All the other amazing foods on this order form will be ready for pick up Aug 15:
Flours from Oak Manor near Tavistock
Cheeses from Millbank Cheese in MIllbank
Black Currant jam from Foxmoor Farms near Simcoe
Sparkling ciders from The Cider Keg near Simcoe
All Natural peanut butter from Kernals Peanuts near Simcoe
Flours
Thinking of switching to local flours in your household? Good news!
We have them! Remember in 100 Mile Diet how the only local wheat they
could find were wheat berries with mice turds mixed in? No mouse turds
here : ) The flours from Oak Manor (see http://www.oakmanorfarms.ca/)
are so good because not only are they grown by local farmers, and
organic, they are also milled by stone ("stoneground") which keeps the
temperature much lower and retains more nutrients. It is MUCH more
affordable to buy big bags of flour. Consider buying some big pails
with lids and keeping your flour there. They'll keep for at least six
months in a cool dark place. I particularly love to use the soft
whole wheat flour in all of my non-yeast baking. It keeps the muffins,
cookies, cornbreads much lighter than other whole wheat flours. The
next time I offer flours will be October 10. Hopefully the Hard Wheat
Flours (for yeast baking) will be available then. The farmers are
growing them for us right now. Hard flours have almost always come
from out West. It is exciting to have local hard flours coming. Then I
hope Karen at Bread and Bretzel will use this flour for our orders of
bread.
Black Currant Jam and Berries
This farm has 9 acres of black currants! www.foxmoorfarm.ca The jam is
really delicious! I had a jar out for sampling a few weeks ago so you
might've tried it. My kids love it too. It is just currants, sugar
and lemon juice. They also have a no sugar variety that is just
currants. If you want to eat local jam all year but don't want to make
it yourself, consider buying a case of this amazing jam. Who wouldn't
love a gift of this jam? $5 a jar for black. If you want to make your
own currant or gooseberry jam, this farm also offers these berries
frozen. See the order form.
Sparkling Ciders and such
See, local food isn't boring at all! Sparkling apple-peach
cider...YUM. Yes, my kids guzzled this like pop. We had it for a
birthday party and it was gone in minutes. The apple-raspberry is also
very good. It IS like pop. Just a local and healthier version because
it is all juice - no sugar. And it's cheaper than wine. I can sell it
for $6 a bottle if you buy a case of 12. If you want just one, it is
$6.50.
Cheese
My family snarfed down the Millbank cheese. The cheddars were great! I
still want to try their Havarti. Oh! And the Sundried Tomato and
Garlic Cheddar... WOW. Matthew made made grilled cheese sandwiches
with it and they tasted gourmet. Also cubed in a salad and they were
kind of like olives but different and local. I'll offer the smallish
(.455) packages again but for cheddar will add a larger size for those
of us who want the lower price and know that we will eat a big block
of it in a month. Remember, you can always buy a big block and grate
half of the cheese and freeze it for easy meals later.
Peanut Butter and Peanuts
I brought back samples from Kernals last time I was there so many of
you have had a chance to taste how good their stuff is. Now I can
take orders for salted peanuts and peanut butter. You can also buy a
case of flavoured peanuts but you'll have to email me before Wednesday
if you want that. See their website for all of their flavours. A
case will cost you $75 and is 24 packages of 400g each. I've enjoyed
having a couple cases in my closet and I hand them out when someone
has a birthday or a new neighbour moves in. See
http://www.canadianpeanuts.com/ for more details about Ernie and Nancy
who are the farmers, processors and retailers. The challenge with
ordering from Kernals is that we need to order by the case. So please
consider buying extra and giving them away as great local-food gifts
(many people are surprised that we have local peanuts) and having
extra in your pantry because I won't be going to the Simcoe area again
for months. Peanut butter keeps a very long time sealed or unsealed.
I've never had peanut butter go bad at my house, have you? I like
Kernals' peanut butter because it is from Valencia peanuts, includes
the skins, and it is not too dry like the stuff I've gotten from
Picards. It does not have salt or anything added to it.
Veggies
Now is a good time to buy bulk green beans for freezing or canning.
Murray says the grape tomatoes will be ready and the first real field
tomatoes. Leeks are now ready from Selema and she also has gladiolas.
I may have organic canteloupes! And I'll see if I can find some
watermelons (conventional). The lettuce still won't be ready so don't
look too hard for it.
Tropical Fruits
I'll send an order form for the Niagara fruit on Aug 11.
Baked Goods
I'm really liking Bread and Bretzel. It is owned by Karen, her husband
and their sweet teenage son works with them too. They have up to 12
employees and you may have seen them at the farmers' markets. Karen
says she's willing to do special batches for me so tell me what you
want and I'll ask her to make it. Pies with local fruit? Bread with
local flours (rye or wheat?), spelt products?, cookies with local
flours...? I'm going to talk to her soon about considering starting a
line of 99% local baked goods (the yeast, where does that come
from??). Doesn't it seem like that line would sell well at the farmers
markets if it had good signage? I've got to find local almonds, their
almond horns are to die for. No added fat, just almond paste. I don't
think almonds grow here. But pecans do. Pecan horns...
I prefer the streudel without styrofoam. Is that okay? You bring your
own container and then we can avoid that un-recyclable stuff.
How is it going using this order form and coming to pick-ups here?
I'm eager to hear how we can make this work better. We are just making
it up as we go.
This is my first time attempting a blueberry pick up in Simcoe. We'll
see how it goes. My dad and I are taking the kids along...
With respect,
Nina
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