Baileys Local Food Buying Club - Pickup Reminder

If you put in an order this month it will be ready for you to pick up on Monday, December 21st from 3:30 until 7:00PM in Hilliard Hall at the First United Church at 16 William Street West in Waterloo. You can check your order by logging in at http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/ordering. If you checked trhe prepackaing option your order will be packed and ready for 5pm. Items that require refrigeration will not be pre-packed for health reasons.

I'm sending this a bit late, but I'm looking forward to seeing everyone who ordered today between 3:30 and 7pm today.

Food the Really Schmecks winners!
I'd like to congratulate Terri P and Cheryl M who each won a copy of Food that Really Schmecks by Edna Staebler. Thank you again to Clare Hitchens and the Wilfrid Laurier University Press for this kind donation.

Last week it seemed that every phone call was one from a supplier who had run out of stock or couldn't grow due to the weather. Luckily this list hasn't changed since last week!

 Items not available:

• Lena's beets, rutabaga, stevia and acorn squash are sold out until next fall.
  
• Kingwood is unable to supply baby spinach or salad greens
  
• Beefsteak tomatoes from Floralane (there will be extra grape tomatoes on the spontaneous table)
  
• Black walnuts and hickory nuts from Grimo's Nuts
• Savoury, parsley and mini sweet peppers from Pfenning's
  
• Soiled Reputation does not have red beets, turnips, romanesco cauliflower, or kale

One of the things that we do have in stock that I forgot to put on the order form is Cranberry Apple Sparkling Cider. It will be on the Spontaneous Table if you need some bubbly for your holiday table!


Self Checkout Reminder
We continue to offer a SELF CHECK-OUT option to those of you who are paying by cheque! We hope that this will help speed up the check out process for some of you who want to work out your total yourself. We did all self check-out last year and now we are returning to our roots.
We choose to trust our members. You know that if we lose money due to missing items or math mistakes, we won't survive. We will still have the regular check-out option for those of you who prefer it. If you notice an error (ours or yours), please let us know.

Pre-Packed Orders
If you indicated that you would like your items pre-packed when you ordered they will be ready after 5pm. Please ask a volunteer to get your order. Items requiring refrigeration will be added when you arrive.

Please enter through the white kitchen door off Caroline Street.
You will find a pickup slip with your name on it listing the items that you ordered this week. Pick up all your items (including those in the fridges and freezer), check out our Spontaneous Table then head to our checkout area.

We will have extra items for you to purchase on our Spontaneous Table in front of the blue cupboards just in case you forgot anything. Anyone can purchase items from the Spontaneous Table. You don't even have to be a Member!

There will be room to socialize and mingle. Expect your pick-up to take awhile. If you need help collecting your order, please ask!

In out checkout area, please help us and our volunteers by having items available to view for the checkout process. Please be patient as this area will likely be quite busy.

We accept payment in cash or cheque (made out to Bailey's Local Foods). The total from your shopping cart is always approximate. We will try to ensure that you only pay for the items available this week as local food can sometimes be unpredictable and items that are priced by the pound are approximate on the order form.

When writing cheques, please ensure that the date is correct (it's 2009!) and that the numbers you write (digits and words) match. Also, if you make your cheque out to anything other than "Bailey's Local Foods" the bank won't cash it. We need you to sign it too! Please help us to avoid these costly errors.

You need to bring your own bags to carry your items home. We have boxes, but do not have plastic bags. A limited number of cloth bags will be available for sale.

If possible, consider walking, biking or bringing a wagon to pick up your order. If you are driving, please Park in the Waterloo Town Square Public Parking Lot. You can access the Waterloo Town Square Parking Lot by Caroline Street, Alexandra Avenue, Willis Way or King Street by the LCBO. We have been asked not to park in the church parking lot.

**Please don't forget to pick up your order! At approximately 6:30PM, if you have not picked up your order, we will call the number you provided (when you registered) with a friendly reminder. At 7:00PM we will pack up your order and add the $15 packing fee to your order total.If you have not picked up your order by 7:30PM (or when we finish cleaning up) your order will be donated - and you still get the pleasure of paying for it. We need to receive payment for this week's order before you can order for the following week.

If you are not happy with what you receive, all claims for missing/damaged items must be made at the pick-up site before 7:00PM that same day. After 7:00PM all sales are final.

Thank you,
Rachael and Nina
Bailey's Local Foods
www.baileyslocalfoods.ca 

P.S. We can use your fruit baskets and boxes as well as jars from preserves again if you return them.

Is this your first email from us? Read more at baileyslocalfoods.blogspot.com.

You are receiving this notification because you are a member of Bailey's Local Food Buying Club.
If you do not wish to receive Notifications in the future, please uncheck the Notifications box associated with your email address in Account Settings at https://www.100milesystems.com/baileyslocalfoods.ca/account.php

Click http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/ordering to log-in.

Oops! Pickup is December 21

This is your reminder that you should place your order before Tuesday at 8:00PM.

Click http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/ordering to log-in and order.

Items that you have placed in your shopping cart will be ordered on your behalf on Tuesday at 8:00PM. There is no checkout button. If you do not intend to order, please ensure that your shopping cart is empty.

Dear Members,

I was in a rush this morning when I sent the email. I typed the wrong date!

I was reminded by Meg that the pickup day is Monday, December 21 (not the 22nd as I wrote in the subject of my last email). Thanks Meg!

Thanks also to Kevin of Snyder Heritage Farms who just sent an email telling me that he has 30 lb of Ground Turkey Meat available. It is in the poultry section of our order form if you would like to order it for pickup on the 21st! It is 1/3 breast meat and 2/3 thigh meat all ground up.

Rachael
Bailey's Local Foods
baileyslocalfoods.ca

Click http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/ordering to log-in and order.

Is this your first email from us?
Read more at baileyslocalfoods.blogspot.com.

You are receiving this notification because you are a member of Bailey's Local Food Buying Club.

If you do not wish to receive Notifications in the future, please uncheck the Notifications box associated with your email address in Account Settings at https://www.100milesystems.com/baileyslocalfoods.ca/account.php

Ordering for December 21 ends Tuesday at 8:00 PM

This is your reminder that you should place your order before Tuesday at 8:00PM.

Click http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/ordering to log-in and order.


Items that you have placed in your shopping cart will be ordered on your behalf on Tuesday at 8:00PM. There is no checkout button. If you do not intend to order, please ensure that your shopping cart is empty.

Items to look for:

• Mapleton's yogurt almost sold out! Make sure you have enough for a month!
  
• Gift Baskets for that special someone. You can see an example online at http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/GiftBaskets.php. The items that you receive will be in a peck basket and wrapped in cellophane.

 Items not available:

• Lena's beets, rutabega, stevia and acorn squash are sold out until next fall. Rutabega and beets are available from other suppliers. If you would like some please change your order.
  
• There will be only 7 bags of salad mix from Kingwood Farms available. We will notify you by email if your order cannot be filled. Those who ordered first will have their orders filled.
  

Are you able to volunteer?
We are looking for volunteers to help us keep Bailey's running well. If you are interested, we are now accepting applications for more volunteer help. Please email us and Josie, one of our volunteer coordinators will be in touch with you.


About 80% of every dollar you spend at Bailey's Local Foods goes to the farmers and producers who grow and make the amazing food. We thank you for your support.


Rachael
Bailey's Local Foods
baileyslocalfoods.ca

Click http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/ordering to log-in and order.

Is this your first email from us?
Read more at baileyslocalfoods.blogspot.com.

You are receiving this notification because you are a member of Bailey's Local Food Buying Club.

If you do not wish to receive Notifications in the future, please uncheck the Notifications box associated with your email address in Account Settings at https://www.100milesystems.com/baileyslocalfoods.ca/account.php

Bailey's Updates for the December 21 order

Click http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/ordering to log-in and order.

Items that you have placed in your shopping cart will be ordered on your behalf on Tuesday at 8:00PM. There is no checkout button. If you do not intend to order, please ensure that your shopping cart is empty.

How are you enjoying this snow?

Yesterday was the perfect day for building a snowman. And the kids and I did. We used a carrot for her nose and while trying to decide what to use for other decorations we found our bag of heartnut shells (they are so pretty that I keep them). They were perfect for eyes, mouth and buttons. I found an old scarf and trimmed some branches for the arms and the kids declared that CarrotCake the snow girl was done! I hear that today's snow is better suited for snow angels. I'm staying inside in the warm, I think.

Lost Mittens
I needed to dig out my warm mitts yesterday as mine got wet rather quickly while shovelling. This reminded me of the pair of mittens that were left at the November pickup. If you lost a pair of knit mittens please let me know so that I can get them back to you.

Spiced Carrot Soup
Last night I rushed out the door to take my daughter to ballet and suggested that spicy carrot soup might be nice for dinner. While I was gone, Andrew fried us some onion, then added carrots and potatoes just covered them with water to cook, added ginger, red curry paste and coconut milk, salt and sugar and  pureed it all. The result was super yummy. I'd share theexact recipe, but there isn't one. Andrew's suggested garnish was salted peanuts from Kernal, thought the garlic ones would have been great too.

Pre Packing Orders
There have been quite a few emails about the missing pre packing option on our order from. In November we had about 30 pre packed orders requested. With only a few people to help packing, we did not fill all the pre packed orders in time (before 5pm). I'm about to put it back on with a maximum of 20 and will change the pricing to $5 for orders over $200; $10 for orders $100-$200 and $15 for orders less than $100.

I also want to take this opportunity to remind you that we are only able to pre pack the fresh and non-perishable items on your order. Due to health regulations we can not pre pack items that need refrigeration. This includes meat, cheese, yogurt and most prepared foods. You can ask for help in collecting these items when you arrive, or you can collect them yourself and when you go through the checkout we will check through your order to ensure that you got everything. If you choose to do self checkout please do make sure that you got all the items that you ordered.

Out of Stock
Lena called to say that she only had Rosemary and Frozen Butternut Squash (now in the 'vegetables' section) still available. If you ordered:

• Beets Red bag - 2 lb - you can change your order and buy them from Miriam and Mervin Gingerich
• Herbs Stevia bunch - not available! too cold!
• Rutabaga Big rutabaga you can change your order and buy them from Edward W. and Selema Martin
• Acorn Squash you can change your order and buy them from Miriam and Mervin Gingeric

Mapleton's Yogurt
I know that there is a new yogurt on the order from this month from Local Dairy, but before we knew we would be able to offer it to you we pre-ordered what we thought was enough Mapleton's Organic yogurt for you this month based on your orders from last month. I'd like to sell it all to you instead of having it go to waste so I'm offering a sale on a few varieties and the maximums are online too so that you can see what we still need to sell. This is a concern only when we are running the Buying Club monthly based on the lead time needed to milk the cows and make the yogurt. Next month we'll order less and indicate the maximums on the order form. I hope that you can help me by making sure we sell out of Mapleton's Yogurt this month!

Food that Really Schmecks
Clare Hitchens has generously offered to donate a couple copies of Food that Really Schmecks for our members. If you want to win a copy please go to the 'other' section of our order form and check the *Draw Entry box. We'll pick randomly from those who have selected that item and give the books out at the December 21 pickup. Here is some info about Clare and why she has decided to share these books with you!

Wilfrid Laurier University Press has been publishing books since 1974 and often publishing books since 1974 and often publishes books of local interest. When we were working on Edna Staebler's Diaries (Must Write) we were lucky enough to acquire the rights to her first local cookbook, Food That Really Schmecks, first published in 1968 and long out of print. Staebler was a journalist and writer who moved in with a Mennonite family to research the book. As with all the people in her life, they soon became fast and life-long friends. Our agreement with Edna was that we could reprint the cookbook, as long as we agreed to keep it in print. The spirit of Bailey's Local Food Club reminds me of the community that Edna became part of as she wrote the cookbook, and since I spent hours reading it when I was a child, as much for her humorous anecdotes as for her simple but delicious local recipes, I thought it an appropriate contribution.
Clare Hitchens, WLU Press Publicist, Bailey's Local Food Club Member

Bone Broth
Marg Steele, who sells us lamb through Traditional Foods was wondering why our customers weren't buying more of the 'bone in' lamb. I asked her why we should and she wrote the following email to share with you:

If you are looking to get more from your grocery dollar, I encourage you to buy cuts of meat with the bone in. Use the bones to make bone broth for your soups, stews and gravies. You can also braise your vegetables in broth and cook rice with broth.

There are numerous health benefits to using bone broth. As the bones cook in the water, minerals and other nutrients leach out of the bones and into the water, especially if the water has been made a bit acidic by adding apple cider vinegar. Homemade broth is rich in calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and other trace minerals. These minerals are now more easily absorbed by the body.

Making broth is very easy. Begin with bones, some pieces of meat and vegetables, cold water and a splash apple cider vinegar. Heat the broth slowly and once it begins to boil, turn it down to a simmer. If scum rises to the surface skim it off with a spoon. Scum usually appears as it is boiling. Let the broth simmer all day, especially for chicken, turkey or beef or lamb bones. The longer it simmers the more flavour and gelatin are extracted from the bones and vegetables. Gelatin helps to support the connective tissue in your body and helps your hair and fingernails to grow. Broth should be strained after cooking. Chill the broth to remove the fat if you so desire. Stock will keep for several days in the fridge or may be frozen in plastic containers or ice cube trays. It may have a jelly-like consistency which is just fine. Now it is ready to add to any recipe that calls for broth or you can add it to the cooking water of your vegetables and rice!

For more information on the health benefits of bone broth or for specific recipes google 'bone broths' and enjoy!

Marg Steele
Steele Wool Farm

Organic Apple Sauce!
Pete of Apple Creek Farms has made some apple sauce from his organically grown apples (they are transitional this year and next year will be fully certified!) and is offering it to you in 1 L jars or in cases (it's like getting 2 jars free!). You'll find it in the ''preserves' section with some other yummies.

I never understood why Nina's emails were so long. Now I'm guilty of the same! I hope that you're still awake and reading.

See you on the 21st!
Rachael
Bailey's Local Foods
baileyslocalfoods.ca

Click http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/ordering to log-in and order.

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Read more at baileyslocalfoods.blogspot.com.

You are receiving this notification because you are a member of Bailey's Local Food Buying Club.

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Bailey's Buying Club - Ordering is now open for December 21, 2009

Click http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/ordering to log-in and order.

Please be sure to read the wavier on our website when you log in. It reminds you that items placed your shopping cart are automatically saved (there is no 'checkout' button).

Hi Local Buying Club Members,
What are your food traditions during the holidays? Do local foods fit in?

I'm looking forward to mashed sweet potatoes with the Crema Fresca from Amarjit. Amarjit, owner of Local Dairy Products, is a cheese maker from Ingersoll who makes an amazing array of local cheeses and creams including Paneer, Queso Fresco, Queso Duro-Blando, and Crema la VaQuita. Paneer is that unique Indian cheese that does not melt and is perfect in soups, and curries or on salads. It's low fat too. The Queso Fresco is a Latino cheese that I've enjoyed at Mexican restaurants and am eager to try it on tacos, nachos and fajitas at home. I'm not sure how the Crema la VaQuita (cream from the little cow?) and the Crema Fresca are different. I'll have to try them both and compare. I'm hoping that one of them tastes like the cream that my host family in Guatemala City served us with refried beans and crusty french bread. We'd have a simple supper where we'd gleefully tear into the loaves of bread and dip them into the beans and into the cream. They were thrilled that the gringa liked it. Like it? I couldn't stop eating it! Maybe my kids will love it too and it can become a new family favourite.

New Yogurt, Creams and Cheeses from Local Dairy Products
Amarjit says that the finest chefs in Toronto use his Crema Fresca for making cream sauces (it doesn't boil out) and he suggests eating it with fruit or on nachos. Amarjit also makes the line of Perth County Yogurts (who knew!) so we can offer those too. These are made with fresh milk and only milk powder is added to help it thicken (no gelatin or whatever else). He says they only offer plain so that customers can add the fruit and sweetener that they want. He describes the yogurt as smooth and claims the 2% tastes like whole milk yogurt.

Now Turkey Breasts, Thighs, Wings...
Our turkey farmer Kevin Snyder just told me that he has turkey parts for us now, not just whole turkeys! In October I was encouraging him to get his birds cut into smaller parts for people who like to eat turkey meat but do not want to make a big production of it. He said it was just too complicated to find a butcher who would do it. Now he tells me he has boneless turkey breasts, boneless thighs (and bone in) and more! He does not like that he has to drive to Listowel to a processor there to who will cut the birds into smaller pieces but the ground turkey he got is already sold out. He promises to get more so we can offer it in the new year. So now we have super-convenient boneless turkey thighs and breasts. What are you going to cook? I was thinking fajitas. If I put Amarjit's cream in there, pick up some hot house sweet red peppers, and use Doug McKechnie's whole wheat tortillas it would be super local and SUPER delicious!

Planning for 2010?
Erma (baker of maple tarts and the farmer who grows a lot of our fresh herbs) called me this morning at about 8am to ask what I want her to grow and preserve for us next year. Uh, 2009 is not over yet, how can I have a plan for 2010?? So that is my nudge to start planning and estimating for 2010. How much cilantro do you plan to eat in 2010? We'd like to offer two pick-up days next year - preferably a Tuesday and a Friday. We're working on figuring out where to hold the Tuesday one. If you have a church near you with a ground-floor gymnasium and you think the neighbourhood around the church would be keen to buy local food, let us know.

Kim Chi Meal idea
We had an odd meal tonight but everyone liked it. I planned the meal around a big jar of mild Kim Chi (made by Rachael and Andrew). So, what goes with spicy fermented cabbage? Hot dogs, of course. I broiled hot dogs, made a pan of baked beans (not really baked but had molasses in it), and cheesy noodles. The flavours all worked together well. My kids preferred the fresh chinese cabbage salad but the adults all dug into the Kim Chi. Besides that we've been eating soup soup and more soup. Matthew made a vat of butternut squash soup that had the perfect bite in the back of the throat after I swallowed. It nursed me back to strength after a 24hr flu on Monday. He made it thinner than I'm used to but I liked it that way. 

Masters of Local Eating is the ticket to happiness?
I was talking to a researcher today about why Waterloo Region is a leader in the shift to relocalize the food system. She asked me why I started this buying club. Three reasons:

1. I wanted to make it easier for urban families like mine to eat a higher percent of local food. I was trying to source more local food for my family and it was TOO MUCH WORK and too much driving around.
2. I wanted to calm my anxiety about our vulnerable food system (we'd run out of food in three days if the borders closed) and knew this would be a way to encourage local farmers to grow and store more people food.
3. I saw local food as a way to "save the world".

I don't think that buying local food will really right all the injustices of the world but buying local food saves me from paralysis and depression in the face of climate change, peak oil, economic recessions, and so on. I figure if it saves me from going numb or being paralyzed by anxiety then it might have positive effects on others too. When it feels that nothing I do matters, I hold onto the fact that eating local really DOES matter. It matters to Paul and Saloma and their family who now know that their children can make a living growing organic people food rather than having to go to the city to survive. It matters to Perry who is working hard to source and mill local organic flours for us so I can't stop buying or he may go out of business and then we'll have to drive another 40 minutes further away to find locally milled grains. It matters to our local economy. It matters because it heals the land when I buy from sustainable farms. Local food has so many positive ripple effects. Why would I NOT eat as much local food as I easily can?

What if eating 25% or more local food is like a Masters degree. You don't have to pay tuition and yet you will learn an enormous amount (about your food, farming, seasons, local food culture, and probably get to know your neighbours better). This Masters of Local Eating opens doors for you that would not open before. Suddenly you see connections between things that you did not see before. You find yourself part of a community of local eaters and far from alone. The Masters of Local Eating means that not only are you more food secure, you're also more job secure as local food creates many "green jobs". The Masters of Local Eating is your ticket to open doors, new learning, more security and maybe increased happiness as you savour the simple joys of good eating and your whole community's anxiety levels decrease from knowing that there is enough good local food for all.

Bread Bakers
Are any of you bread bakers who want to bake bread for our buying club (crusty loaves, not soft squishy loaves)? You need to make the bread in an inspected kitchen (maybe that Rise and Shine Bagel place on Bridgeport will rent out their kitchen). If you know of someone who will use local flour to make us bread for our pick up days, please let me know.

Speaking of bakers, Lindsay is baking us a few Holiday treats. Check out his Christmas Fruit Cake (a rich and flavourful rum cake; heavy with fruit and nuts), his Italian Style Panettone (a citrus scented yeasted loaf; rich with eggs and butter) and little Gingerbread People.

Running out of Local Root Crops Already?
Do you realize that we are nearly out of locally stored squash, carrots and possibly cabbage?  Next year I hope the farmers will store more for us because they now know that we are here (they need to plant enough seeds in the Spring to store the harvest in the Fall) and that we will buy all they can store throughout the Winter.  I'm so thankful we have Pfennings and their big storage facility near New Hamburg!  Angie Koch of Fertile Grounds CSA is digging carrots for us in the next week or two.  She does not have a vegetable washing machine so the carrots will come to you with the Good Earth still clinging to them.  If you are storing them for a month or two, do not wash them. If you will eat them in the next 2-3 weeks, I suggest filling a big bowl with water and washing them all at once. You can then put them in your fridge cleaned and ready to eat. (note from Rachael - When I talked to Noah from Traditional Foods the other night he talked about using the laundry machine to wash veggies in a pinch!)

On the order form look for:

• Turkey parts (raised without hormones or drugs or animal by-products)
  
• new cheese (soon - we need a few more details)
  
• new creams and yogurts
• specialty chocolates (some local ingredients and made in Kitchener but, no, the cocoa is not local)
• frozen "Strawberry Goose" from Paul (these geese weeded the strawberry patch this summer)
• organic popcorn - in a 'sugar sack'
  
• sparkling ciders
• frozen pureed squash from Lena (in the 'other' section)
  

Thank you for choosing to support local farmers and local food processors.
Thank you for choosing hope,
Nina
Bailey's Local Foods
www.baileyslocalfoods.ca
P.S. We can use your fruit baskets and jars from preserves again if you return them.
 
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Bailey's Local Foods - Some updates

We celebrated a big third birthday for my son this weekend. The food was Mexican and we (well, Andrew) used up all the Pinto beans making refried beans to go with pork mole (and tofu mole for a friend who joined us). It's time for us to order more dried beans in December! We enjoyed tasty corn tortillas from McKechnie Foods and salsa from Meals That Heal. The items we didn't have on hand we bought at the America Latina Grocery. If you haven't tried it yet there is a little piece of Latin America in downtown Kitchener that has some great authentic ingredients and very tasty local sour cream.

You will find some notes below from our suppliers:
-an apology from Meals that Heal regarding expiry dates
-an excerpt from Debbie's email to Rachael about her love of Salad greens and asking what you want them to plant for next year (tell us!)
-a note from Lindsay regarding sulphites in some of his items

I'm working on the order form so that it will be ready for Saturday. Time flies!
Rachael


Hi Folks,
I wish all the people who say that it is hard to eat local in Ontario in the off-season would have seen the piles of amazing food at the gym last Monday.  WOW!

We are sorry for the chaos on Monday. We realized too late that we did not have enough people power to get all of that food ready. It was more food than we've ever moved in one day.  We had over 30 pre-pack orders which need a lot of people power to get ready.  We're still trying to figure out if we can make this pre-order idea a sustainable reality.  I think we need to ask the suppliers to drop off their food earlier in the day to give us more time to organize it before you come. So, we're still learning. Thank you for your understanding and good humour on Monday.

You hear how local eating is going at my house a lot and sometimes from Rachael.  I thought it'd be great to hear from some of you about how the local eating is going.  Send us a few paragraphs about what's happening in your kitchen and head as you are working to eat more local foods.  Here are a few thoughts  Ann Liebau wrote down last week.

So, what have we been eating lately?  Whatever it is, it's been coming from our fridge or basement, freezer or pantry. I've rarely been to the grocery store, except for a quick run for milk or bread.

Tonight we had borscht (saleable to the kids only by the dollop of sour cream on top). For additional buy-in, and as a help, I also asked my boys to go out to the herb garden and see if they could find any parsley and chives to snip. They did. Who would have thought we'd still be picking fresh herbs in mid-November?

We also had grilled cheese with the last of our TREMENDOUS slab of organic cheddar (more of it is still grated and frozen) on City Café seven-grain bread. I really must try making ketchup next year, we go through so much of it. "Company muffins" (Simply in Season) for dessert, made with almost everything local:  grated apple, carrot, flour, eggs, flax, oatmeal.

I was wishing I'd left some rosemary in the ground last week when I was roasting one of those lovely whole chickens with potatoes, carrots and onions.

We made a great meal of quesadillas using some of the leftover chicken, a bag of kidney beans I'd pulled out of the freezer (I've started freezing small bags of cooked beans, to approximate the convenience of cans), leftover squash mixed with grated cheddar, sour cream, home canned salsa, and those wonderful tortillas. The inspiration came from Deceptively Delicious.

My husband thought I was off my rocker buying 30 lb of peas last summer. He now thinks I'm smart like a fox (his words).  We make wonderful pea soup with both split and frozen peas (I add the frozen peas at the last minute, just before blending, to give it a sweetness and beautiful green colour).  We also throw in carrots and potatoes, plus swiss chard, asparagus, or any other veggie I'd have trouble passing off otherwise.

Speaking of greens, I'm happy to have bags of pureed  blobs of various greens in my freezer. I'll admit I'm not above sneaking extra veggies into my kids. Green blobs go into any soup. Sometimes I'll thaw a green blob and mix it with pesto for my kids. They don't bat an eye.

My husband is desperate for me to mention how disappointed we are (he is) in the large batch of tomato sauce we made following Barbara Kingsolver's recipe from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. It had cinnamon and ... maybe cloves? I don't dislike it, but it's definitely different. Luckily we made several other types of tomato sauce as well.

Just finished canning applesauce, my son's favourite school lunch dessert.  We also use it with yogurt and a drizzle of maple syrup to top oatmeal pancakes, our breakfast of choice.  We make a big batch and always have some on hand in the freezer for weekday mornings.

I've been keeping better notes each year about my local food initiatives. It's hard to remember otherwise, how much we ordered, what we made, when we ran out of something crucial like blueberries.

Suffice it to say, our pantry and freezer are getting fuller every year. I feel slightly guilty about having kept our old fridge that was destined for the landfill, but it's just so handy during the growing season to throw flats of strawberries into. I swore I'd unplug it after we emptied out all the extra root vegetables last fall, but it never quite happened. We're still finishing our Palatine pears, they've kept beautifully.

Man, this eating is fun.  My kids are loving the granola bars from Lindsay's.  I about swooned over his brownies.  The lemon lentil soup from Meals that Heals was so nice. Just a touch of tangy and so satisfying.  It inspired me to find a favourite lentil soup recipe. 

Talk to you next week when the order form opens again,
Nina

----------------------

From Caroline (Meals that Heal)

Dear Bailey's Local Foods Members,
  It was great to meet many of you this Monday.  We are thrilled to be part of this ordering program and are grateful for your patronage.  The feedback we received was so kind and positive!  We thank you for your kind words.
  It seems that although Caroline is the only one who has recently given birth to a baby, she is not the only one suffering from baby brain, that is, making clumsy mistakes.  Namely, it has come to our attention that some of you ordered shepherd's pies and the labels list expiry dates such as April 2009 and August 2009.  This is a printing error.  The dates should read 2010.  We assure you that these pies were freshly made for your order using high quality local ingredients and are more than safe for consumption!  (To be sure, we make mistakes but would never sell old products).  We sincerely apologize for this oversight. It will not happen again folks!
  That being said, should there ever be any concerns regarding any of our products, please contact us right away at the number listed on the label.  We are always trying to improve upon our products and services, and therefore welcome any of your comments.  During business hours, there is always someone available to respond to our customers.
  Again, sincerest apologies for the oversight.

Best Regards,
Caroline

_________________

From Debbie (Kingwood):

I have to get back into the feel of knowing how much spinach to harvest to get the qtys, but that will come quickly!

I try to harvest it as close to the time of delivery to have a "fresh" out of the garden salad! so that's why I am struggling giving you an exact amount at the start of this growing season.

MMM talking about the spinach it's making me want to have a salad, oh I can't wait for the greens, my favourite is the arugula.  Last winter there was many times after harvesting and packaging the spinach and greens I would sit down late at night just to have a salad before going to bed.

Anyways sorry enough side tracking.

Yes I look forward to harvesting the spinach for you.

One last thing, I/we want to thank both you and Nina for your support this past year in bringing local organic food to our community.  We look forward to continuing to work with you next year, and would like to connect with you for planning crops and things the customers are looking for that may not have been available this year.

---------------------------

From Lindsay (Lindsay's Bakery):

We found that the Coconut Macaroons and the Granola Bars and Granola contain sulphites. The sulphites are components of the coconut, ginger and golden raisins. They will be labelled in the future.

Nina and Rachael
Bailey's Local Foods
baileyslocalfoods.ca

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Baileys Local Food Buying Club - Weekly Pickup Reminder

If you put in an order this week it will be ready for you to pick up on Monday, November 23rd from 3:30 until 7:00PM in Hilliard Hall at the First United Church at 16 William Street West in Waterloo. You can check your order by logging in at http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/ordering.

It's already been a month since the last pickup! How time flies.

Tomorrow there are a lot of orders and there will be a lot of food! I guess that I'm not the only one stocking up for the next month.

This our first winter pickup ever and we may be a bit rusty from a month 'off' so please be patient with us tomorrow. You can always ask if you have a question.
 
Josh and Caroline from Meals That Heal asked if they could come tomorrow to feed you samples. Of course we said YES! I don't know if you can plan to sample instead of making dinner, but if you ever wanted to see how spicy the Green Thai Pumpkin and Cashew Curry is, here is your chance. You might want some yogurt as a chaser.

Here is an update on changes that may affect your order this week:

Substitutions: 

• We are short on baby garlic dills from Erma. We have regular garlic dills or sweet dills from Country Flavour to substitute
•  Bulk Carrot Firsts from Miriam will be substituted by two 5 lb bags from Pfennings. You ordered so many that Miriam was 360 lb short!
•  9 lb dark kidney beans were not available - substituted with light red
• We are short on Persian Walnuts. There will be Heartnuts to substitute
• Traditional foods was out of stock on bone in ham roasts and steaks. They will send boneless to substitute
• Summer sausage is not only available in 1.75 lb chubs. If you ordered a smaller chub we have extra chubs available if you choose to buy one
  

 Not available: 

• Red October Squash
• Gold beets from Lena
• In shell peanuts!
• Antony does not have chard anymore. Darn that cold weather
• Black Walnuts not available this month . Next month we will have them pre-shelled if you would like.
• Traditional Foods is out of Chicken liver and pork schnitzel too

Self Checkout Reminder
We continue to offer a SELF CHECK-OUT option to those of you who are paying by cheque! We hope that this will help speed up the check out process for some of you who want to work out your total yourself. We did all self check-out last year and now we are returning to our roots.
We choose to trust our members. You know that if we lose money due to missing items or math mistakes, we won't survive. We will still have the regular check-out option for those of you who prefer it. If you notice an error (ours or yours), please let us know.

Pre-Packed Orders
If you indicated that you would like your items pre-packed when you ordered they will be ready after 5pm. Please ask a volunteer to get your order. Items requiring refrigeration will be added when you arrive.

Please enter through the white kitchen door off Caroline Street.
You will find a pickup slip with your name on it listing the items that you ordered this week. Pick up all your items (including those in the fridges and freezer), check out our Spontaneous Table then head to our checkout area.

We will have extra items for you to purchase on our Spontaneous Table in front of the blue cupboards just in case you forgot anything. Anyone can purchase items from the Spontaneous Table. You don't even have to be a Member!

There will be room to socialize and mingle. Expect your pick-up to take awhile. If you need help collecting your order, please ask!

In out checkout area, please help us and our volunteers by having items available to view for the checkout process. Please be patient as this area will likely be quite busy.

We accept payment in cash or cheque (made out to Bailey's Local Foods). The total from your shopping cart is always approximate. We will try to ensure that you only pay for the items available this week as local food can sometimes be unpredictable and items that are priced by the pound are approximate on the order form.

When writing cheques, please ensure that the date is correct (it's 2009!) and that the numbers you write (digits and words) match. Also, if you make your cheque out to anything other than "Bailey's Local Foods" the bank won't cash it. We need you to sign it too! Please help us to avoid these costly errors.

You need to bring your own bags to carry your items home. We have boxes, but do not have plastic bags. A limited number of cloth bags will be available for sale.

If possible, consider walking, biking or bringing a wagon to pick up your order. If you are driving, please Park in the Waterloo Town Square Public Parking Lot. You can access the Waterloo Town Square Parking Lot by Caroline Street, Alexandra Avenue, Willis Way or King Street by the LCBO. We have been asked not to park in the church parking lot.

**Please don't forget to pick up your order! At approximately 6:30PM, if you have not picked up your order, we will call the number you provided (when you registered) with a friendly reminder. At 7:00PM we will pack up your order and add the $15 packing fee to your order total.If you have not picked up your order by 7:30PM (or when we finish cleaning up) your order will be donated - and you still get the pleasure of paying for it. We need to receive payment for this week's order before you can order for the following week.

If you are not happy with what you receive, all claims for missing/damaged items must be made at the pick-up site before 7:00PM that same day. After 7:00PM all sales are final.

Thank you,
Rachael and Nina
Bailey's Local Foods
www.baileyslocalfoods.ca 

P.S. We can use your fruit baskets and boxes as well as jars from preserves again if you return them.

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Click http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/ordering to log-in.

Ordering for November 23 ends Tuesday at 8:00 PM

This is your reminder that you should place your order before Tuesday at 8:00PM.

Click http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/ordering to log-in and order.

Items that you have placed in your shopping cart will be ordered on your behalf on Tuesday at 8:00PM. There is no checkout button. If you do not intend to order, please ensure that your shopping cart is empty.

It feels like have another big email for you with details for the pickup on Monday.

Items to look for

• You'll find the cases of Pear-Apple Sauce on the order form now. When you buy by the case it's like getting one jar free!
• Sundried Tomato and Garlic Curds are available from Millbank at long last. If you tried them last year you know what we've all been missing!
• Roasted In Shell Peanuts are also available from Kernal Peanuts.
• Peaches from Palatine are also on the order form. Naamon and Selema of Orchard Hill Produce canned them in a light syrup for us. They are divine on cereal, ice cream or straight! 
• Nina has been working on Gift Baskets and you can see an example online athttp://baileyslocalfoods.ca/GiftBaskets.php. The items that you receive will be in a peck basket and wrapped in cellophane.
• More varieties of apples from Martin's. If you want to know more about the varieties, go to http://www.martinsapples.com/apple_types.cfm.
• Chocloate from Anna Tolazzi. The Chocolate isn't local but these works of art are made locally by hand with local ingredients where possible.
  

 Items not available

• Not enough Stewing Lamb to fill all the orders. Marg called the butcher and was not able to book her lambs in. She has enough to cover all the other items, but not quite enough to fill the orders those for lamb stew.
• Lena's Golden Beets are sold out until next fall
• Barley from Oak Manor is out of stock. All the flour prices are now updated and you can check where the grains are from at http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/ingredients.php
  
• Flemish Beauty Pears from Martin's are not available but you can order small Bosc pears if you want pears.  

I've never had a Christmas Goose, but we have two farmers who have asked us if we would be interested on offering theirs. Paul's were in charge of weeding his strawberries. What a great job to have!

With the cold weather coming soon what is better than soup? Tim Barrie has locally made soups ready to go with his crackers. Have you tried the Butternut Squash or the Sweet Potato & Red Pepper yet?

Are you able to volunteer?
We are looking for volunteers to help us keep Bailey's running well. If you are interested, we are now accepting applications for more volunteer help. Please email us and Josie, one of our volunteer coordinators will be in touch with you.
Are you able to help us to set up all the amazing food, check customers out, and I'm especially looking for a volunteer that would help us donate the extra food to a good cause at the end of the pickup. I'm usually too tired!

About 80% of every dollar you spend at Bailey's Local Foods goes to the farmers and producers who grow and make the amazing food. We thank you for your support.

Rachael
Bailey's Local Foods
baileyslocalfoods.ca

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Bailey's Updates

Click http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/ordering to log-in and order.

Items that you have placed in your shopping cart will be ordered on your behalf on Tuesday at 8:00PM. There is no checkout button. If you do not intend to order, please ensure that your shopping cart is empty.

My son is a squirrel. He loves to hide walnuts in our house. I find them in his sister's bedside table drawer as well as in various bags and containers. Chestnuts too. I continue to be amazed at how sweet the nuts from Niagara are. The heartnuts are fun to crack (we keep a box with a brick and hammer handy in the kitchen) and they always taste better toasted a little in a dry frying pan (the same way I toast pine nuts). I could eat a pound of chestnuts a day and have learned that they store best at -3 to 0 C. I have dedicated a fridge to chestnuts to keep them at their best. If you don't have a fridge to turn down to a lower temperature and you find your chestnuts with some mold, you can wash off the mold before you roast them. Did you get the Black Walnuts? I did not taste them and would like to know what you think.

I made a list of all the things I wanted to tell you in my email today. Getting the order form ready always seems like so much to do (and I haven't even finished!)

Andrew made cashew curry lamb tonight with some of the stewing lamb from Traditional Foods and was it ever good! I hadn't tried the lamb yet and Marg has been asking what we think. I'll be sending some feedback on how tasty it was to her tomorrow so if you want to pass on any information on what you thought of your lamb please let me know! Marg also needs to book the butcher by the morning of the 13th, so please put in your lamb orders by the end of Thursday! I'll put maximums up after that if you don't get your order in you might get lucky if someone changes their mind.

Did you see all the extra organic beef available from Vibrant Farms this month? In addition to the roasts, steaks, ground beef and ribs that I hope you will enjoy we asked for suet, bones and 'throwaways' if you want to feed the birds or your pets. I'm guessing at the sizes of the packages, so I hope that my guesses are close. At the prices ($0.50-$2 per lb) for these 'extras' I hope you don't mind a little uncertainty. You can read more about their the mineralization that sets Vibrant Farms' beef apart at http://www.vibrantfarms.com/customer-page/science.

I haven't yet updated the prices (I will!), but this month we have 15% off Oak Manor flours (not flakes, kernels, etc). The prices will be 15% off our regular price and once they are updated will say "SALE" .) Are you planning on baking as an inexpensive holiday gift or for a cookie exchange? What a great incentive to use local organic flour!

Nina asked me to include a bio for Lindsay the baker. It turns out that HE is running the bakery with his sister!

This past winter was spent building a bakery kitchen in his home in Sebringville and testing recipes. This spring he has launched Lindsay's Bakery â€" supplying local cafés and retail shops with fresh artisinal baked goods â€" as well as custom orders for individual clients. He is starting small, but is looking forward to the journey on which this new venture will take him.

In his spare time, Lindsay is an avid gardener and home cook. He is an enthusiastic cross country runner and cyclist and is always seeking balance and harmony in life.

I haven't added it yet, but I have 11 bottles of local sunflower oil to add. I asked for more 1L bottles before November 23, but Hans and Pia at FlorAlp Farms make it fresh all the time and don't have time to make more for us with their existing orders before the end of November. It is also available in a 20 L size. If anyone is interested in bulk oil let me know!

Thanks to one of our amazing customers we now have raw, unfiltered honey to offer in addition to the liquid and creamed honey from Bauman Apiaries. Another new item is horseradish from Louisa at Triple H Farms thanks to a tip from Erma Martin.

OK. The reminders are mostly out of the way. Now a cooking bite. Paul is still offering endive (aka escarole) and I don't think I shared the awesome recipe that I found after we bought a whole lot and it turned out to be leafy instead of 'Belgian' endive (I was looking forward to dipping). The memory of the soup Andrew made when I showed him this recipe: http://www.ehow.com/how_4728700_prepare-italian-escarole-bean-soup.html still lingers. If you are using dried beans instead of canned beans you'll have to soak and cook them starting the night before. The escarole really cooks down. You can use almost twice as much as you think (fill the pot and then some!) to have enough in this soup. Asiago cheese grated on top is the best!

The 'Yams' are now properly listed as Sweet Potatoes and the 'Big Turnips' are now listed as Rutabaga. Artichokes are now listed as Jerusalem Artichokes (aka Sunchokes). One of my wishes is to be able to read the farmer's minds or get them to send me their seed packets after they are empty. =)

I'll also be adding some mini carrots from the Webers and more items from Pfennings. You can keep checking back or I'll send a list of added items in my reminder email on Monday.

Sorry for the long email but I wanted to let you know that Katherina of Anna Tolazzi will be supplying about 300 pieces of chocolate for the November pickup. I'm still trying to get those on the order form! Boxes of varying sizes will be available. A box of chocolates or a Bailey's gift basket (http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/GiftBaskets.php) would make an amazing gift for those hard to buy for people who don't like to dust their presents... like me!

Keep your feet warm!
Rachael
Bailey's Local Foods
baileyslocalfoods.ca

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Bailey's Buying Club - Ordering is now open for November 23, 2009

Click http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/ordering to log-in and order.

Please be sure to read the wavier on our website when you log in. It reminds you that items placed your shopping cart are automatically saved (there is no 'checkout' button).


Hi Folks,

How is the cooking and eating going out there?  If you're like me, you have good intentions that don't always come to fruition. Friday I was going to make Vegetarian Groundnut Stew from the Simply in Season. It is full of winter vegetables with a peanut sauce.  Late naps combined with working on gift baskets for the buying club and then my seven year old son nearly passing out in my arms after a hard fall, all led to the frozen lasagna going into the oven with a word of thanks to Anna and her mom Mary at The Nutty Bakers. I was so shaken up by it that I couldn't think straight to parent and cook and discuss gift baskets at the same time.  The good news is that Foster is FINE and the lasagna was DELICIOUS.  Mona (my four year old) did not like the mushrooms in it - and those were my favourite part. 

I'm really happy with the quality of the prepared foods from Anna and Mary.  We have more options from them this month such as tortière. I did not know what this was before (I grew up in Indiana so please forgive my ignorance about Québécois culture and am delighted to have tasted it.  Mona loved it and begged for more.  I like the herbs or spices that are in there that I can't place. I just looked up a recipe for tortiere on-line.  Get this!  It has cinnamon, cloves, parsley and summer savory in it! What a combination.  The website said it is a favourite for Christmas Eve dinners. Okay, now I know.

I hope you are getting outside in this amazingly balmy late-Fall weather.  My plan for Saturday was to cage the blueberries so that the rabbits don't eat the plants in the Winter and the squirrels don't eat the berries in the summer, let the hens out to roam and scratch, and roast hot dogs over a backyard fire.  If I can tear myself away from the outdoors, I'll make the ground nut stew. I have a butternut squash with a spot of mold that is begging to be used in the stew.  If you don't have the Simply In Season cookbook, it is at the 10,000 Villages store on King Street in uptown Waterloo.  It is a very helpful book for when I'm feeling uninspired about cooking with root vegetables again.  I just turn to the Winter section and choose a recipe to try.  If I can't tear myself away from the outdoors, I'll pull a container of borscht out of the freezer.  It seems to taste even better after freezing.

So far so good on the food from last buying club holding out for a month.  I shouldn't get too cocky, though, because I just realized that I have 17 days to go!  That's over half of a month!  I think that the carrots, apples, cabbage, potatoes, sweet potatoes and onions will hold out.  I've been harvesting a late planting of spinach from my garden for lovely spinach salads.  I find with my two and four year old salads don't go over as well as a bowl of spinach that we then model how to eat it "like a rabbit."  Those of you who are fans of proper etiquette will not appreciate this.  Basically we stuff handfuls of spinach leaves into our mouths with great gusto and much "Mmmming" and gushing over how delicious it is.  Foster joins us in this and it must be convincing because at supper today the younger two joined in.  Sometimes I "market" the spinach as a "leaf roll" that I roll into little tight at the table and then hand to a toddler.

How is your local food holding out?  Have you found places to buy more when you've run out?  If you're ever in a pickle, the Gerbers will deliver an order to KW if you place an order of $100 or more.  Here is their website: http://www.oakridgeacres.ca

Parsnips and Eva
Eva, the farmer who grew us those amazing sweet little carrots this summer, now has parsnips for us. She would've had them for us in October but she broke her foot and that has slowed her down.  Her daughters and her are harvesting them for us in November and then they take them to their neighours, Paul and Selema Bowman, to wash them in their big vegetable washer that they just bought this year. If you've ever washed vegetables for hours in bins of cold water, you'll know how SIGNIFICANT it is to have a machine that does most of it for you.  It saves a lot of hours of painfully cold hands.  I'm working on talking Eva into planting twice the carrots for us that she did and storing them so we can buy them through the Winter.  Her neighbours have said that her carrots are the best-tasting around.

New Baker from Stratford
I'm excited to announce a new baker from Stratford, Lindsay of Lindsay's Bakery.  She comes highly recommended from Antony John (as did the Rundles Chef, Neil. Antony knows his food!) who will deliver her food to us along with his food.  Check out her website at http://www.lindsaysbakery.com. We will not be offering ALL of her goodies this month but many.  Look for her whole wheat crackers, butter tarts, granola bars, biscotti, lemon squares, and cookies. She uses some local ingredients including frozen local fruit!  She is going to contact Oak Manor about using their flours and grains. I have not tasted her baked goods yet but am looking forward to it. I'm intrigued with the granola bars.  Let's support Lindsay as she works to use more local ingredients.  Let me know what you think of her foods.

Gift Baskets for Christmas or Illness - or Just Because
By the time you pick-up your order, Christmas will be in 32 days.  Have you thought about giving a gift basket of local food? You can assemble your own or save yourself the extra effort and buy one of the gift baskets that we've created.  Emily and I have been scheming for weeks about what to put into these baskets. We have five baskets varieties for you to choose from. We will offer these again for the December 21 pick-up. Check out all the details at: http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/GiftBaskets.php

Buy in Bulk and Save Money
We will be offering full cases (12) of preserves from Country Flavour and Erma so that you can stock your pantry and save money.  We can sell cases for a deal because we do not have to put hours of work into inventorying it - we just move it directly from Country Flavour to you. So, if you know you like a certain pickle or jam or you know you'll use 12 jars of stewed tomatoes by August (or you want to give them away as gifts), then buy the case and save yourself money over the next 8 months.  Imagine having a box or two of apple pearsauce (now available!) in your basement to pull out for a healthy dessert (with cinnamon on top) or to put on top of granola or on yogourt.  We eat 2-3 jars of apple pearsauce a week.  The extra exciting thing about the apple pearsauce is that the pears were not sprayed at all and the apples were sprayed about 1/4 the normal sprays at the very beginning of the growing season.

Plan C - The Power of Community
Do you want to join others in KW who are raising awareness and excitement about the joys of sustainable living?  Some of us realize that we won't have cheap fuel for much longer and rather than panic when that happens, we want to change how we live now so that we are resilient and ready for the changes coming.  If you want to find out more about the people working on this and how we can do this together, join me in attending a movie and conversation at the Princess Twin on Thursday.  The film shows the very inspiring example of how Cuba ramped up sustainable agriculture when they no longer had access to cheap fuels.  Here is more info:

Plan C and The Power of Community
An Evening with the Author, the Film, and the Director.

Lecture, Film, Q&A - with Pat Murphy and Faith Morgan
 
Thursday November 12th

Princess Twin Cinema, 46 King Street North, Waterloo    

www.princesscinemas.com

Doors Open at 6:45 Talk at 7:15, Film at 7:45 followed by Q&A session.
Addmission $2

Foods to Look For This Month

• Maple Tarts - I talked Erma into making us maple tarts. I had to convince her that we really do want REAL maple syrup for the tarts - no corn syrup or sugar to cut the costs.
• Freestone Peaches in a Jar - These are peaches from Eva and Rene's farm (Palatine) where they raise soft fruits with very few chemicals.  They have a different taste and texture than the peaches from Country Flavour.  These peaches are freestone which means that the pits separate easily from the flesh.  The clingstone peaches that Country Flavour cans are MUCH firmer when processed and each pit needs to be cut out rather than pulled out by hand.  The result is that the freestone peaches are a softer texture.  I prefer the freestone. I know others who prefer the clingstone.  How about you get a jar of both and do a taste test?
• Apple Pearsauce - We offered this last year and it was a big hit. Many people have not tasted this amazing combination of apple and pear (about 50/50).  This year the sauce is thicker than last year and lovely. The ingredients are: apples and pears. Period. They just use steam to cook them.
• more...
  

 
Remember to buy enough to last until December 21.  See you November 23!
In gratitude for health and good food,
Nina
Bailey's Local Foods
www.baileyslocalfoods.ca
P.S. We can use your fruit baskets and jars from preserves again if you return them.
 
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Bailey's Buying Club - No ordering this week

Please see the end of the email for notes on nuts, the customer survey link, and the link to an article mentioned previously.
R.


Hi Folks,

We're feeling ready for a blizzard over here with enough food to feed us and the neighbours for at least a month.  We're rich in food!  Our freezer is full, our pantry is full, our fridge is full and we've got about 11 squash sitting around keeping us company.  (They remind me of hens but they're quieter and don't lay eggs.)  What a blessing to be so well-stocked!

I promised a few of you that I'd email heating instructions for the meat pies and lasagna from Anna at The Nutty Bakers.  We've already snarfed our meat pies down. The pastry is lovely!  Better than any I've had from the store.  The pies are so good they inspire me to make my own roast beef and root vegetables pie!  Anna said she's going to also offer the Tortiere in November.

Heating Instructions:
When fresh or thawed - 20 min at 350.  Frozen - 40 min at 325 (lower temp so pastry doesn't burn).  Thawing first is best.

I also promised a few of you to send you info on Jerusalem Artichokes and how to cook with them.  I did not realize that Miriam meant JERUSALEM artichokes when she said she had artichokes for sale. Sorry about that surprise : )  Let's think of it as an opportunity to try something new, shall we?  I've added mine to the cabbage borscht simmering on the stove right now.  Check out this link for a description of the knobby root and how you can use it anywhere you'd use potatoes or parsnips.  We also enjoy it raw - thinly sliced. It has an impressive crunch.  http://homecooking.about.com/od/howtocookvegetables/a/sunchoketips.htm

I hope you are enjoying cooking with squash and root crops. I am! I made a most delicious butternut squash soup from the Simply in Season cookbook. It is so easy! Just boil squash (unpeeled) and root veggies and then blend with sauteed onions. The celeriac I added to the mix was a nice flavour.  The maple syrup is what pushes it over edge delicious.  I loved seeing my two year old shovelling it in and asking for "More quash soup, pease."  Warms my cook's heart...

Are your apples running low and can't wait until Nov 23 for more?  Pete the organic apple farmer says that he can deliver apples to your door if you buy 3 half bushels or more.  He'll charge you the same price you get them from Bailey's ($25 for #1 apples).  He has Golden Delicious, Spys, Cortland, and Macs available.  A few of you could place an order together from him.  He asks that you phone him to arrange an order (519-638-9996).

Did you get a copy of our winter schedule? We handed them out on Friday. If you'd like one (they are quite pretty) you can download it fromhttp://baileyslocalfoods.ca/files/Bailey's Winter%202009-10.pdf or http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/files/Bailey's Winter%202009-10.jpg or send us an email and we'll mail one to you.  It is a handy way to remind yourself when to order and pick up.  Now that we are doing Winter pick-up on Mondays, the schedule is new. Thanks to Michelle for your help on creating this!

Thank you for supporting local farmers and local food system change,
Nina
Bailey's Local Foods
www.baileyslocalfoods.ca 

Is this your first email from us? Read more at baileyslocalfoods.blogspot.com.
 
You are receiving Nina's messages because you are a member of Bailey's Local Food Buying Club.
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A few more notes:

A few emails ago Nina mentioned the article "Eat this Recession" in Alternatives Journal. If you would like to read it go to http://alternativesjournal.ca/articles/eat-this-recession

Some more tips:
I roasted the first of my chestnuts this morning. They are sweeter and easier to peel than any I've had before. I tried eating chestnuts raw for the first time too. Wow!

Sweet Chestnuts

How to prepare and eat them:

1. Eat fresh using a paring knife to cut off the skin and fibrous covering
2. Boil - Please sweet chestnuts into a pot with cool tap water. Cover pot while boiling ans stir occasionally on medium high for:
• medium size - 10-12 min
• large size 15-20 min
  Using a slotted spoon scoop out a few nuts at a time and as soon as they are cool enough to handle, but still hot, cut them in half and pop them out of their skins.
  
3. Roast - First pierce the skin to allow hot air to escape while cooking. Use a sharp paring knife to cut a slash or an "X" throught the skin, but not the nut meat. The larger the cut the easier it will be to peel.
   
   Chestnut Pan - Roast them by shaking the pan over medium heat for 20 minutes.

Microwave oven - place a dozen chestnuts around a microwave plate and cook on high for 4 minutes
Oven -  Place chestnuts on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with water. Bake at 400 degrees F for 15-20 minutes. Place one uncut chestnut on the sheet with the others. When it "pops" they are ready to eat.

Enjoy!

How to crack a Heartnut: See http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/files/heartnut.JPG

Customer Survey

What makes local food convenient enough to be 50% of a household's food intake? Please take 5 minutes to help answer 8 short questions. We're particularly interested in hearing from people who have ordered only a few times or have yet to order.
This survey will be collated by a third party (University of Waterloo researchers) and the online host (SurveyMonkey^TM) does not track the origins of those accessing the survey. All responses will be anonymous and confidential. Should you have any questions regarding this survey please feel free to contact Steffanie Scott at sdscott@uwaterloo.ca or Court Ellingson at cellings@uwaterloo.ca

This surveywill be accessible until Friday October 30, 2009. Please take a moment to read the following note from the researchers. The link to the survey can be found following this note.

You are invited to participate in a research study conducted by Courtenay Ellingson, under the supervision of Dr. Steffanie Scott, Department of Geography of the University of Waterloo, Canada. The objectives of the research study are to determine local food distribution systems impact on improving access to local and other healthy food and sustaining rural livelihoods.  The study is for a Master’s thesis. 

If you decide to volunteer, you will be asked to complete a 5 minute online surveythat is completed anonymously. Survey questions focus on your access to local and other healthy food.  Participation in this study is voluntary. You may decline to answer any questions that you do not wish to answer and you can withdraw your participation at any time by not submitting your responses.  There are no known or anticipated risks from participating in this study.

It is important for you to know that any information that you provide will be confidential and anonymous. All of the data will be summarized and no individual could be identified from these summarized results. Furthermore, the web site is programmed to collect responses alone and will not collect any information that could potentially identify you (such as machine identifiers).

 

This surveyuses SurveyMonkey^TMwhose computer servers are located in the USA. Consequently, USA authorities under provisions of the Patriot Act may access this survey data. If you prefer not to submit your data through Survey Monkey^TM, please contact one of the researchers so you can participate using an alternative method (such as through an email or paper-based questionnaire).  The alternate method may decrease anonymity but confidentiality will be maintained.

The data, with no personal identifiers, collected from this study will be maintained on a password-protected computer database in a restricted access area of the university. As well, the data will be electronically archived after completion of the study and maintained for two years and then erased. Note you are receiving this invitation directly from your organization and, in accordance with privacy legislation, I as the researcher, have not been provided with your name or contact details.

Should you have any questions about the study, please contact either Courtenay Ellingson at cellings@uwaterloo.ca  or Dr. Steffanie Scott at sdscott@uwaterloo.ca.

Further, if you would like to receive a copy of the results of this study, please contact either investigator.

I would like to assure you that this study has been reviewed and received ethics clearance through the Office of Research Ethics at the University of Waterloo. However, the final decision about participation is yours. If you have any comments or concerns resulting from your participation in this study, please feel free to contact Dr. Susan Sykes, Director, Office of Research Ethics, at 1-519-888-4567 ext. 36005 or by email at ssykes@uwaterloo.ca .

Thank you for considering participation in this study.

If you wish to participate, please visit the Study Website at http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/survey

Take care,
Rachael