Sunday, August 30, 2009

Bailey's Buying Club - Ordering is now open for September 4, 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).

Many of our main categories (vegetables, meat, baked goods, etc.) have subcategories. Look for them under the main categories. If you hadn't noticed them yet, you can now check out the beef, pork, cheese and other products that you may have been missing!


Hi Folks, The first week of September. Sigh. Life is so fleeting. I remember when summer lasted a loooooong time. I'm not sure if it is being older or being into local food but I think that eating locally makes the summer feel like it flies by faster. First it is strawberry season and then, whoa, all of a sudden it is blueberry season already and now we're into peaches! Why is it I always think in FRUIT seasons rather then vegetables? My kids are watching Franklin so I have 49 minutes left to write this email to you. Looks like the rain is going to miss us and then sunny skies all week! That will be a delight. It will also help those green tomatoes and sweet peppers to turn red. Some of you are planning to make salsa and need your bulk tomatoes. No sign of them yet but I'll let you know when (if??) they come. My house is full of such good food. My sister and her family are visiting from Georgia this week so it feels good to know that we have lots of local food to nourish everyone. They are from the Peach State. I wonder what they'll think of my White Ladies : ) I can't remember the last time I cooked for the pleasure of it. That is a sad sign of an imbalanced life, I believe. I cook, but just easy stuff. I want time to try a new recipe. Don't get me wrong, I love the easy stuff and it is the staple of our lives. I just like to add a bit of creativity and excitement here and there. I wish one of you would adopt the recipe section on our website and put new recipes up weekly. Then I'd just try one of those every week (in theory) and let you know how it goes. Here is my plan for simple meals this week: Monday Noah's sausages over a fire with buns corn on the cob raw sweet peppers Italian green beans tossed with oil and garlic Peach cobbler Tuesday Lamb in the slow cooker Steamed in a pot: fingerling potatoes, baby carrots, broccoli Bean salad Melons for dessert Wednesday Stirfry with chicken breasts (coming soon), sweet peppers, onions, carrots, broccoli (peanut sauce with Pristine's soy sauce) Rice Lettuce Salad with tomatoes Peach and blueberry smoothies Thursday Leftovers from Tuesday and Monday in a stew Grilled cheese grape tomatoes cucumbers Peaches and ice cream New Chicken from Traditional Foods Are you enjoying your lamb? I slow-cooked a lamb with potatoes this week and it was sooo tender and good. My first taste of lamb, ever. My kids didn't even blink at eating a lamb. I'm sure there are more creative things to do with lamb but the simple slow cook method was mighty fine. Noah sent a batch of meat chickens to the butcher last week so they are ready to order now. Look for whole chickens and liver. We'll get the chicken parts on the order form next week when he knows the inventory. These chickens cost more than at the grocery store for good reason. They are raised in small batches with access to pasture. They eat high quality feed with no gmo, no hormones, no antibiotics and no steroids. They are 3-6 lbs and make the loveliest broth. That is a sign of a happy bird: golden aromatic broth. A friend of mine cooked a chicken that was raised on pasture for the first time last year and he was exclaiming over how it was like a different animal than what he buys in the store. He described it as a football player compared to the puny chickens at the store. He said the broth was golden instead of grey and it smelled amazing as the bird was boiling. I suggest that you see for yourself how happy, high quality chickens look, smell and taste compared to factory chickens. They cost more because of the economy of scale. Noah is not raising 8,000 chickens in a batch. More like 90. Those 90 chickens take just about the same amount of farmer hours as the 8,000 in a factory-farm (which is mostly automated). The cost is higher also because the feed is better. You pay for what you get just like a house or car. But very different because you are not putting the house or car into your children's bodies to nourish them. Look For: This week there are not many new items. Just more of the same foods that you are coming to love and depend on. I sure missed this food when I had to go two weeks without an infusion! I wonder how the Winter will feel when we have monthly pick-ups. We eat so differently in Winter that I think it will be okay. We'll just have to be careful to stock up each time on enough foods to last the whole month. This week look for...
  • bulk beets and garlic
  • hot peppers - JalapeƱo and Beaver Dam (sweet and not too hot according to Lena)
  • ground cherries
  • Glowing Star and PF24 Peaches
  • Organic cheese curds... Mmmm!
  • Apple cider!
  • sauerkraut on sale!
Thank you for being on this journey with us. When you buy food through this buying club you are doing so much good.
  • You are nourishing your body and your soul by knowing (and caring!) where your food comes from.
  • You're teaching your children about where food comes from and the growing seasons.
  • You are supporting farmers and your community by putting your money into the local economy and, more specifically, the local food system where it will circulate many times before it goes global.
  • You are supporting a downtown church (First United) that receives rent from your buying club.
  • You are nurturing interdependence and building community as we depend on each other to make this work and get to know each other.
  • You are expanding local food businesses by increasing demand for local foods.
  • You are increasing our food security by causing more food to be stored for the Winter (in your cellars and in farmers' storage areas) and encouraging farmers to plant more people food next year.
  • You are increasing business at the local Mennonite Savings and Credit Union where we have an account.
  • You are giving Rachael and I a chance to live out our vocations, learn so much, get to know so many kindred spirits, and enjoy the wild and wacky ride of running our own small business.
  • You are increasing the levels of joy in your house as you decrease mindless eating and increase thankfulness and savouring of life's simple pleasures.
With gratitude and love, Nina Bailey's Local Foods
www.baileyslocalfoods.ca

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

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