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! If you can't find the jam, look in the 'jam' subcategory under 'preserves'!
New Service: FREE Pre-Packing for large orders
Do you love the idea of the buying club but don't have the time or energy to pack your order? We'll pack it for you!
These can be picked up 5-7PM near the self-checkout table.
Click on Pre-Pack under the "other" category to indicate that you want us to pack your order for you.
(Want to volunteer with us and pack orders? Send us an email.)
Hi Folks,
It is an honour to be able to sit down and chat with you all each week about the local food coming in. This is a momentous week for those of us who eat. What a great idea to have a holiday to celebrate the harvest! HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Thanksgiving is often also a precious ritual of taking TIME and CARE to make special foods. I'm looking forward to that. I feel like I rush through making each supper - almost always doing whatever is easiest and fastest. For Thanksgiving I want to take time to make something with care. I'm not sure what it will be yet. Probably not a turkey dinner. Maybe a goat cheese pancake roll or something like that which I'd NEVER take time to make in regular life. What will you do to give thanks for the goodness from the fields this year? Would you like to be able to thank each farmer, miller, cheese maker, baker, and canner by name when you sit down together to eat? I find that my food tastes especially good when I take time to name the people behind the foods. We try to give you names of all of the suppliers for Bailey's Local Foods but I'm realizing that for some of them you only have farm names. I'll include a thank you to some of the suppliers this week so that you have their names if you want them. There are 62 suppliers (farmers, millers, canners, bakers...) who have been supplying us this year! I cannot list them all but here are a few:
Organic Apples and Cider
I'm so thrilled to have found Pete (Apple Creek) who has an organic orchard near Drayton! He works in Cambridge so he is able to drop the apples off on his way to work. Did you taste his apples? They are LOVELY. (Last week he sent #2 of the Paula Reds and Jersey Macs because that is all he had left. We won't switch the grades of apples on you again now that you can choose the grade on the order form.) The #1 apples are perfect. This week we can buy #2 apples from him. The #2 may have 1-3 scab spots on them. These will be much nicer than Naamon's apples. Naamon did not warn me of the protein additives in his apples (worms). Pete has been carefully managing his orchard to keep worms away and he sorts them very carefully. He is also going to be able to offer us organic ciderthis week! The cider will come in milk bags which are very convenient for freezing (toss in freezer). The cider is not pasteurized. Pete does not believe that cider is worth making or drinking if it is pasteurized as pasteurizing kills all of the good stuff in the cider. Look for cider under "other".
Pumpkins or Squash for Pies?
In case you don't know, butternut squash makes the best "pumpkin" pie around. Lena also recommends the orange buttercup for a rich squash flavour and orange colour. This is your chance to stock up on squash. I have not been able to find a farmer who will store it for us so we will probably run out of local squash by December. You can store your own squash in an unheated closet or upstairs room - but not in the basement (they like cool and dry). If you notice a brown spot beginning to form on a stored squash, just use it right away (and cut out the spot). The varieties that keep the best are the hubbard varieties (Red October) and butternut keeps decently too. All winter squash keeps for at least two months after it is harvested. That is why it is called WINTER squash.
Checklist for Thanksgiving Feast
Are you planning a traditional Thanksgiving feast? If so, here is a checklist of local foods that are available now from Bailey's Local Foods for your celebration.
Ingredients for a Local Feast:
Do you love the idea of the buying club but don't have the time or energy to pack your order? We'll pack it for you!
- Small orders under $75 = $10 pre-packing fee
- Orders $75-$150 = $5 pre-packing fee
- Orders over $150 = $0 pre-packing fee
These can be picked up 5-7PM near the self-checkout table.
Click on Pre-Pack under the "other" category to indicate that you want us to pack your order for you.
(Want to volunteer with us and pack orders? Send us an email.)
Hi Folks,
It is an honour to be able to sit down and chat with you all each week about the local food coming in. This is a momentous week for those of us who eat. What a great idea to have a holiday to celebrate the harvest! HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Thanksgiving is often also a precious ritual of taking TIME and CARE to make special foods. I'm looking forward to that. I feel like I rush through making each supper - almost always doing whatever is easiest and fastest. For Thanksgiving I want to take time to make something with care. I'm not sure what it will be yet. Probably not a turkey dinner. Maybe a goat cheese pancake roll or something like that which I'd NEVER take time to make in regular life. What will you do to give thanks for the goodness from the fields this year? Would you like to be able to thank each farmer, miller, cheese maker, baker, and canner by name when you sit down together to eat? I find that my food tastes especially good when I take time to name the people behind the foods. We try to give you names of all of the suppliers for Bailey's Local Foods but I'm realizing that for some of them you only have farm names. I'll include a thank you to some of the suppliers this week so that you have their names if you want them. There are 62 suppliers (farmers, millers, canners, bakers...) who have been supplying us this year! I cannot list them all but here are a few:
- Thank you Edna and Melinda of Country Flavour for starting a canning business and preserving jams, relishes, pickles and now peaches for us.
- Thank you Antony John of Soiled Reputation for your innovative farming and commitment to organic farming methods, public education and paying a fair wage to your workers.
- Thank you Karen and Jamie of Bread and Bretzel for sourcing Dover flour from Cambridge to use in the breads and sweet treats for us.
- Thank you Paul and Saloma for bravely going organic and growing juicy watermelons and so much more for us.
- Thank you Eva and family for the super sweet and easy to chew carrots.
- Thank you Selema and Edward for the lovely unsprayed sweet corn, lettuces, butternut squash and so much more.
- Thank you Ed Bennett and Linda for organizing the Millbank Cheese Factory and even delivering goat cheese and sheep cheese to us.
- Thank you Eva and Rene for the succulent soft fruits (and roses) from your farm (Palatine) which you lovingly raise with almost no chemicals and while treating your workers with respect.
- Thank you Erma for growing a steady supply of cilantro for us and for canning the Dilly Beans, Pickled Beets and Salsa.
- Thank you Stuart for investing in greenhouses (and Melissa for organizing) to bring us tomatoes almost year round.
- Thank you Melissa and Dennis Baer (of Vibrant Farms) for raising grass-fed organic beef with care.
- Thank you Noah and partners of Traditional Foods for choosing natural ways to raise the hogs, steers, and chickens.
- Thank you Aura and Tim for baking sourdough breads, granola and gourmet sweets for us.
- Thank you Perry and family of Oak Manor for milling organic grains into flours for our baking.
- Thank you Michael of Arva Flour Mills for milling local wheat flours - and cream of wheat cereal for cold mornings.
- Thank you Debbie and Mike of Kingwood for growing greenhouse English cucumbers and so many kinds of squash.
- Thank you Lena for the beautiful vegetables and flower bouquets to feed our bodies and souls.
- Thank you Nancy and Ernie for the peanuts and peanut butter.
- Thank you Jason and family of Pristine Gourmet for the oils, vinegars and soy sauce.
- Thank you Steve and family (of Martin's Family Fruit Farm) for investing in the best apple storage facility in Canada.
- Thank you Doug of McKechnie Foods for making the best tortilla chips and tamales around.
- Thank you Debbie and John for making the softest tortillas (and selling them through your brother Doug) and a lovely selection of pastas and noodles.
- Thank you Kevin and Ann (of Snyder Heritage Farms) for raising turkeys without drugs and WITH lots of fresh air and good quality feed.
Organic Apples and Cider
I'm so thrilled to have found Pete (Apple Creek) who has an organic orchard near Drayton! He works in Cambridge so he is able to drop the apples off on his way to work. Did you taste his apples? They are LOVELY. (Last week he sent #2 of the Paula Reds and Jersey Macs because that is all he had left. We won't switch the grades of apples on you again now that you can choose the grade on the order form.) The #1 apples are perfect. This week we can buy #2 apples from him. The #2 may have 1-3 scab spots on them. These will be much nicer than Naamon's apples. Naamon did not warn me of the protein additives in his apples (worms). Pete has been carefully managing his orchard to keep worms away and he sorts them very carefully. He is also going to be able to offer us organic ciderthis week! The cider will come in milk bags which are very convenient for freezing (toss in freezer). The cider is not pasteurized. Pete does not believe that cider is worth making or drinking if it is pasteurized as pasteurizing kills all of the good stuff in the cider. Look for cider under "other".
Pumpkins or Squash for Pies?
In case you don't know, butternut squash makes the best "pumpkin" pie around. Lena also recommends the orange buttercup for a rich squash flavour and orange colour. This is your chance to stock up on squash. I have not been able to find a farmer who will store it for us so we will probably run out of local squash by December. You can store your own squash in an unheated closet or upstairs room - but not in the basement (they like cool and dry). If you notice a brown spot beginning to form on a stored squash, just use it right away (and cut out the spot). The varieties that keep the best are the hubbard varieties (Red October) and butternut keeps decently too. All winter squash keeps for at least two months after it is harvested. That is why it is called WINTER squash.
Checklist for Thanksgiving Feast
Are you planning a traditional Thanksgiving feast? If so, here is a checklist of local foods that are available now from Bailey's Local Foods for your celebration.
Ingredients for a Local Feast:
- squash for pies (or pumpkin pie squares)
- potatoes for mashed potatoes (add 1/4 mashed squash for a lovely colour)
- herbs for stuffing (sage, rosemary, parsley,...)
- turkey
- soybean oil for the salad dressing
- wine vinegar for the salad dressing
- Bistro salad mix from Soiled Reputations farm (to put the dressing on)
- green onion and grape tomatoes for the salad
- small carrots, baby parsnips, and brussels sprouts (or broccoli) to steam for a side dish
- butter
- sparkling cider
- soft flour for the pie crusts
- hard whole wheat flour for the dinner rolls
- chevre cheese and hot jam (appetizers served on... crackers)
- apples (for the stuffing and a pie)
Host Gifts: honey, jams, maple syrup, sparkling cider, a basket of grapes
Centrepieces- looking for something beautiful to put in the middle of your thanksgiving table? How about a basket of grapes with twigs/leaves added strategically. A Purple and Cheddar Cauliflower bouquet. Or a clear large vase of pears - or brussels sprouts. If you pour water over them, they are magnified and the colours are amazing. I saw a vase with layers of colourful vegetables: carrots, beets, brussels sprouts. Go crazy. Local foods feed the eye and soul too.
Goodbye to Sweet Peppers, Watermelon...
This is the week to say goodbye to more seasonal foods. This week will be your last chance to savour (and say goodbye) to sweet peppers. Lena is picking them and storing them for us for Friday. They will not be as super crisp fresh as usual but Lena says they are still nice (the tip may have a wrinkle in it). This may be the last week for watermelon and cucumbers. Sigh. Just greenhouse tomatoes available now (thank you Stuart for putting up the greenhouses).
Hello White and Blue Grapes!
This week we get to savour a taste that is not available to us any other time of the year. Rene of Palatine Fruit and Roses works hard to prove that Niagara can grow delicious table grapes. These grapes are a different animal than the California grapes and very different than the Niagara juicing grapes you might've grown up with. If you like grapes, try these. They are a local delicacy.
Bad News on Garlic
I bought two bulk bags of garlic (seconds) from Paul a few weeks ago and am sorry to report that some of them are not keeping well. Paul assured me that seconds would keep as well as firsts but I think he was being overly optimistic. It makes sense that if the seconds have any mold/fungus (whatever it is that shrivels the cloves) they will not keep well. So when I opened my bags, I found that about 10% of the heads need to be used right away and some of the cloves needed to be composted. I suggest that if you bought seconds like I did, you go through them and pull out any that feel soft. Now you're going to ask me what to do with the soft heads? Baked garlic? Hummus? Pesto? I used about 10 heads to make pesto yesterday. I pulled out my basil plants, roots and all, stuck them in the kitchen sink and picked off all of the leaves. This resulted in more leaves than I've ever had at one time! Fortunately I had a storage closet of peanuts, a big jug of soybean oil, a block of Parmesan, and tonnes of garlic so Mona (four years old) and I started a pesto factory. She was in charge of dumping in the peanuts and cheese and then pressing the on button. I was in charge of staying patient and cheerful. We made 36 large muffin-size cubes of pesto to freeze. We're rich!
No Carrots From Eva - But Yes Baby Parsnips
Eva surprised me by sending a note on Friday saying that was the last of the super sweet carrots from her. Sigh. We'll offer the baby carrots from Pfennings and Paul this week and see how those compare to Eva's. Eva and her daughters are digging baby parsnips for us this week. Eva says that she likes to use parsnips in place of potatoes - adds them to a pot roast or a roasting turkey or chicken. She also likes to make scalloped parsnips (think: scalloped potatoes with bubbly cheese on top...)
This week
- Look for a full line of tortillas, tortilla chips and tamales
- Look for a wider selection of noodles/pasta
- Check out our expanded line of soups in a jar from Barrie's Asparagus: Sweet Potato and Red Pepper Soup, Asparagus Soup Base (use to add flavour and nutrients to a soup you make or just add milk or water to make an easy cream of asparagus soup, Broccoli Soup, Cauliflower Soup, and coming soon is Butternut Squash Soup (see these in the Heat and Serve section)
- Lots of Pies! - We have pumpkin from Erma again plus a line of fruit pies (and pecan) from Bread and Bretzel. Remember that you can always freeze these pies and use them for next week.
- Heat and Serve - we are working to add convenience foods to our offerings. This is a challenge because the pot pie may be made locally but not with any local ingredients. We have a few items from Stemmler's this week that are at least mostly local. If you know of someone who would like to make and sell us ready-made foods (lasagna, pot pies, etc...) let us know
- Economy Box of beef will go up next week. Now is your last chance on the sale price
- Two more weeks of the sale price on the eggs
- This is your last chance to get a big box of red sweet peppers (for roasting or freezing)
- Last week for local drug-free turkeys
- Stewed tomatoes in a jar just in time for Winter sauces and soups
- Apricot jam has been added to our list
Thank you for using your grocery money to bring about positive social and economic change,
Nina Bailey-Dick Bailey's Local Foods
www.baileyslocalfoods.ca
P.S. We can use your fruit boxes and jars from preserves again if you return them.
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.
If you do not wish to receive Nina's messages in the future, please uncheck the Nina's messages box associated with your email address in Account Settings at https://www.100milesystems.com/baileyslocalfoods.ca/account.php
No comments:
Post a Comment