Welcome back to "real life." Some of you may be ready to dig into
this local food stuff now that you're into regular schedules. If so,
good timing! Did you know that September is Local Food Month? It's
true! The 100 Mile Authors will be speaking at WPL on Sept 16 (I
think that's the evening). One thing to consider is joining in a
workshop. We've got a workshop on canning salsa Sept 11 7PM at Erb St.
Mennonite Church (corner of Erb St. and Dunbar).
Join Paul Born and Matthew Bailey-Dick for an evening of salsa
canning. Matthew and Paul will demystify the process of canning and
you will learn (hand-on!) how to make salsa in your own kitchens.
Bring $5 to cover supplies and take home a jar of your own salsa. To
register email paul ASAP! (if you can't make the date but are interested, email Paul). Tortilla chips and tissues provided. While the jars are in the canner you can discuss other
things you want to can and talk about starting a community canning
centre.
Local Food Workshops and Events
Have you ever wanted to collect buckets of honey from your backyard or
rooftop? Little City Farm is offering a workshop on beekeeping on
Sept 27. Matthew and I are excited to attend since we've talked about
having a few hives on top of the carport. Also, if you're thinking
about going to the Taste Local! Taste Fresh! in Victoria Park on
September 21, get tickets before it is too late. Go to the foodlink
website http://www.foodlink.ca/index.php?first=41100ddb5337c It'd be
fun to see you there.
Our 100 Mile Potluck Picnic is Sept 20 at 5PM here at 72A. You are all
invited. Bring a dish to share and include a label with the recipe on
it and the origins of the ingredients (at least the ones you know). It
is not a purist 100 Mile picnic. If you use olive oil, I'm not
complaining. It is a chance to feast on the bounty of local foods
that are available in September. Also a chance to pick up a few new
favourite recipes. Please bring: a dish or two to share depending on
the size of your group (with recipe label), your own tablewear, lawn
chairs, and/or a picnic blanket. If it rains, we will postpone it to
another day so check your email for updates.
No Pasture-Raised Turkeys for Thanksgiving
Bad news on the turkeys, folks. No, they were not all eaten by
coyotes. But we won't have any pasture-raised turkeys from Miriam and
Mervin because the the butcher is too busy to butcher them. So, the
earliest you can taste a pasture-raised turkey is November 7. I'm
assuming that most of you have a Thanksgiving meal where you wan to
serve turkey. Good news! I've found a farmer who can sell us
drug-free turkeys that will be ready Oct 10. So, I'll lower the price
per pound to reflect this farmers' lower costs and have your turkey
here as planned. Kevin Snyder from Breslau mixes the feed himself so
he knows exactly what goes in. (If your heart was set on a
pasture-raised turkey and no other kind will do, email me before
Friday and I'll cancel your order.) The other good news is that Kevin
has a few extra so if you still want to order a turkey for
Thanksgiving, it is not too late.
To order a turkey for the new pick up time of Nov 7, see the order
form I'll be sending out again. If you want to order more than once,
go ahead, I'll combine your orders in the spreadsheet. When you get
the link to the poultry order form, you'll also have a chance to order
some of the world's best sausage. Turkey sausage made from
pasture-raised turkeys. Here are the ingredients for the sausage:
turkey, potatoes, oatmeal, water, sea salt, black pepper, ascorbic
acid, and garlic powder. It's even better than Stemmler's sausage. I
know, hard to believe : ) I'll see if I can have some for sampling at
the potluck picnic.
Waiting List to Join Buying Club
Do you know others who want to join this buying club? If so, have them
email me. Our website will be ready next week and you could pass that
on to others too. Right now I will put new members on a waiting list
to join October 30. We are at our maximum capacity right now but by
the end of October we can welcome more people who want easy access to
a variety of local foods all Winter. The Winter pick-ups will be once
a month. The last summer pick-up is Oct 31 and then the next ones are
Nov 28, December 19, and January 16. I'm attaching the schedule for
the pick-ups and when certain items are offered.
New Offerings
We have butter from Alliston. This butter is made within 100 miles of
us and the milk is probably from within 100 miles but I cannot be
certain since milk is pooled from many farms. We also have North
American Saffron from Lydia Bauman near St. Jacobs. She says it is
milder than the imported saffron but still gives a lovely yellow hue
to food. See also heirloom tomatoes and big jugs of maple syrup.
Preserving Idea
Make your own sundried tomatoes. Widemans are offering bulk grape
tomatoes this week. These tomatoes are excellent for drying. My 3 and
6 year old kids like to cut them in half and put them in the
dehydrator trays. They can do at least 10 pints in a sitting!
This is a great year for pears. Our tree just gave us 6 bushels. We
can pearsauce and apple-pearsauce from them and our kids ask for it
all year. I think we canned about 60 quarts last year and it was gone
by the end of May. They like it on yogurt and cereal. We figured out
an easy and nutritious way to make it: stem and core them, cook em in
a bit of water, and then blend them in the blender. This way there is
no peeling needed and the peel adds extra goodness. Pour puree into
hot sterile jars and put into a hot water bath for 30 min.
Challenges
Those mushrooms last week were not Crimini and were not from within
100 miles. Sorry about that. I'm trying to be careful to only order
local foods from Pfennings but that one slipped through.
Has anyone else had trouble with their raspberry jam not sealing and,
therefore, moulding? One person did; I'd like to know if it is a
wide-spread problem.
No Buying Club September 12
No buying club next week so order enough for two weeks. My dad will be
gone next week and it is too hard to do it without him.
Happy Eating,
Nina
Bailey’s Local Foods Buying Club Schedule for 2008
Fresh vegetables every pick-up day plus the following items on certain pick-up days.
| Pick up day | Honey & Maple syrup | Frozen chicken | Frozen turkey | Frozen beef | Peanut- Butter, Popcorn, black currant jam, Canola oil & Sparkling Apple Ciders | Grains & Flours | Baked goods | Preserves | Southern fruits | Sausage | Cheese |
| June 6 | x | x | |||||||||
| June 20 | x | ||||||||||
| June 27 | x | x | x | ||||||||
| July 4 | x | x | x | x | |||||||
| July 9 | x | x | |||||||||
| July 18 | x | x | x | ||||||||
| July 25 | x | x | x | ||||||||
| Aug 1 | x | x | x | x | |||||||
| Aug 8 | x | x | |||||||||
| Aug 15 | x | x | x | x | |||||||
| Aug 22 | x | x | |||||||||
| Aug 29 | x | x | |||||||||
| Sept 5 | x | x | x | x | |||||||
| Sept 12 | x | ||||||||||
| Sept 19 | x | x | x | ||||||||
| Sept 26 | x | x | x | x | |||||||
| Oct 3 | x | x | x | ||||||||
| Oct 10 | x | x | |||||||||
| Oct 17 | x | x | x | ||||||||
| Oct 24 | x | x | |||||||||
| Oct 31 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | ||||
| Nov 7 | x | ||||||||||
| Nov 28 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | ||||
| Dec 19 | x | x | x | x | x | ||||||
| Jan 16 | x | x | x | x | x | x | |||||
| Feb 20 | x | x | x | x | x | x | |||||
| March 20 | x | x | x | x | x | x | |||||
| April 17 | x | x | x | x | x | ||||||
| May 22 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | ||||
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