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).
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 (SurveyMonkeyTM) 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. This survey will be collated by a third party (University of Waterloo researchers) and the online host (SurveyMonkeyTM) 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
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 SurveyMonkeyTM whose 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 MonkeyTM, 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
Hello Local Eaters,
This is our last WEEKLY pick-up. From now until the end of May you can order MONTHLY from us. Here are the dates of our monthly pick-ups:
Nov 23
Dec 21
Jan 18
Feb 22
March 22
April 19
Put these on your calendar with the ordering period before each one highlighted (see link for calendar showing ordering periods.) Pick-Up Days will be MONDAYS November to April.
The church is not available on Fridays because of the Out of the Cold program. Let's see how Mondays go for all of us!
Hit PRINT
Print out a handy Bailey's Winter Schedule Reminder (Rachael will try to get a better copy up soon!). It is a handy half page calendar of November - April. We hope to have some printed for you on Friday.
Tips on how think MONTHLY when ordering food
Getting a month's worth of groceries requires a head shift for most of us. We have to think about what we eat each week and multiply it by 4. I also look at the calendar and see if there are any special occasions (birthdays, company coming, potlucks...) for which I want to order specific foods. At the bottom of this email you'll see my family's winter monthly grocery list to give you an idea of what a family of five would eat. It looks like so much when I write it out! Our local food intake stays pretty much the same through the Winter. The variety comes from what we pick up at the supermarket and what we pull out of our freezer.
Thanksgiving
The mushroom gravy for Thanksgiving Dinner was divine. Even the kids liked it with the mushrooms siphoned off. I think it was the first time I've cooked with shiitake mushrooms. They were lovely. Not so much amazingly better than buttons, I'd say. But they ARE funkier looking. A bouquet of mushrooms would be nice. I should've tried that. Speaking of bouquets, did you have fun making your centrepieces? After all of my great ideas I gave last week I didn't even make one. Instead of fussing over the table I decided to take a walk up to a lookout spot where we could see for miles and miles over the Muskoka lakes. I should've picked up a few twigs at least. Foster ended up making a leaf and grass arrangement on our Thanksgiving table. It was beautiful, I'm sure, but it blended in with the floral tablecloth and was quickly covered up with dishes. He didn't seem to mind. He was busy sculpting rivers and dams in the mashed potatoes.
Granola Season
This is a little pep talk to make granola for those of you who love to crunch. I finally made it yesterday after a few months of not getting to it and was reminded how very easy it is when I have the ingredients on hand. It is easy and satisfying. I have a simple recipe that a buying club member gave me last year. I'll try to get it posted on the website this week. Just oats (I use quick oats for easier chewing), honey, soybean oil and then I buy sunflower seeds and almonds or walnuts from Eating Well. Or you can buy the tasty granola form Golden Hearth! I wish we had shelled local nuts...
Local Nuts are Ready!
We WILL be offering nuts this week! So if you like to sit around and crack nuts at your house, or want to see why it is the evening activity of choice (after TV - actually, it goes well with TV), buy some of each and do taste tests. You can even crack enough for your granola. I am not able to find someone who can sell us shelled nuts but I'll keep looking. Right now we're lucky to have farmers willing to grow nuts in Ontario at all! Imported (and shelled) nuts are SO CHEAP that a farmer cannot make a living tending a nut orchard. Have you ever wondered how a nut farmer keeps the squirrels from eating the harvest? Well, if you have any ideas, pass them on to the farmers. Squirrels are a serious impediment to raising nuts. They are very difficult to deter. You've probably seen the damage they can do to your urban garden. Just think what they can do to acres of nut trees! If everyone would eat five squirrels a year, we wouldn't have this problem.
Have you ever tried a heartnut? They are actually shaped like hearts! They taste like a mild walnut. My kids love them. Now if we could just get them to crack their own. The shell is harder than a walnut and cracking is best done with a hammer and a brick or with a large vise grip (my husband's favourite method). The chestnuts are not as large as the imported ones but Rachael says they taste wonderful (Her Great Grandmother's maiden name was Rosa Castagna - chestnut in Italian - she knows).
Bulk Potatoes
Have you got a cold cellar or want to donate big bags of potatoes to the food bank? Ivan Brubacher is selling us 50 lb bags of conventional potatoes again this Fall. I'm always astounded that he sells them for so little. He has white, red or Yukon Gold. We are also offering 50 lb bags from Pfennings. Another idea for foodbank donations is to buy 10lb bags of dried beans. The KW Multicultural Centre has a list of foods needed for donations to meet our multicultural food preferences. Dried beans and lentils are on the list.
Meat Pies and Cabbage Rolls
The selection of fresh local foods is dwindling but the selection of prepared foods is increasing. I'm thrilled to have found a farmer-turned-baker who will make us meat pies and cabbage rolls. Anna Szabo and her mom, Mary, run a small bakery on their farm called The Nutty Bakers. They sell at the Stratford and St. Mary's farmers' markets. They use pork from their farm and many other local ingredients: "Our eggs come from a vendor at the Stratford market, Orval Zehr in the Millbank area, the spinach from Neubrands, also at the market. Most of the other vegetables are from Olivers who are near the Embro area. They grow cabbage, carrots, peppers..." We'll start out offering two of their meat pies, meat lasagna and the cabbage rolls. Soon we hope to offer their vegetable lasagna, famous meatloaf, beef stew and tortiere. You can find the ingredient lists here for these new foods (LINK) to help you decide which one you want to taste. They actually use local chicken to make broth (and then add bullion cubes...) and make the pastry from scratch. Here is the description of the Chicken Pie: "Chicken Pie -from a farmer near Dublin, we boil the chickens and make a broth, cut up the meat, make a gravy and it has carrots, celery, peas"
Miriam and Mervin Gingerich
Some of you will remember Miriam and Mervin Gingerich. They provided us with the world's tastiest turkey sausage last year and came to our potluck picnic with ground cherry cheesecake to share. (They do not have an inspected facility so we are not able to offer the turkey this year.) Miriam has raised us a few Fall crops that we will now carry. She is even going to store carrots and squash for us! The Gingerich's have taken the step of being certified organic this year. They have a daughter in her late teens, a sixteen year old boy who prefers to work at the neighbour's shop than in the fields, a boy about ten who gets dreadfully carsick and the sweetest five year old, Bernice, who barely speaks English. Look for Miriam's pie pumpkins, butternut, acorn, Chinese cabbage, green cabbage and artichokes.
Hamburger Prices Going Up
Noah says the ground beef prices are going to go up so stock up now. He recalculated how much the farmer is getting and it is just not enough to cover expenses. Traditional Foods ground beef price will be higher because more high quality cuts are being ground into hamburger. This means it is a leaner and higher quality hamburger.
Red October Squash - no need to peel
Have you seen the strikingly beautiful yet humble Red October Squash that Elmeda grew? I have about 4 sitting around my house - looking pretty. I have an event at work where I'll be using a few of them for decorations. My neighbour and friend Josie made us the most amazing squash, coconut and lemongrass soup from a Red October on the weekend. She said the squash was really easy to cut open despite its largess and easy to prepare. She took out the seeds, cubed it, boiled it and then blended it (no peeling). It is a lovely deep orange inside.
Where are the Chicken Breasts?
We're working on it. Sigh. Did I tell you that the one farmer I could buy chicken pieces from ships his chickens to Mississauga to be cut into pieces because he can't find someone nearer to do it?? Is it still local if the chicken travels from near Linwood to Mississauga and back before coming to KW? It just seems ridiculous. So I'm working on talking Noah into getting chicken pieces for us even though it costs more. He is afraid that people will not pay the higher prices for chicken pieces. I was trying to talk Kevin, the turkey farmer, into selling us turkey breasts, legs etc.. but he says it is too complicated. I suggested it could be a project for his teenage daughter. He said he'd think about it.
Meals that Heal is a Hit
We are hearing rave reviews from members who have tried selections from Meals that Heal. My family loved the pumpkin hummus. A friend reported that the Kim-Chi is wonderfully hot.
Dessert was Delish
It was lovely to sit down with some of you and savour a plateful of sweets after buying club yesterday. The ground cherries dipped in dark chocolate were like a work of art and somehow the chocolate made the ground cherry taste even more cherry-like. Noah and his wife sent in canned peaches and canned quince - and a cherry pie. Did you know that Quince is too hard, astringent and sour to eat raw? Pete, the organic apple farmer joined us and we had a chance to talk about the crops he and his his partner Mary might grow for us next year. He's thinking about cherry tomatoes in the greenhouse.
I'll miss chatting with you weekly. Maybe I'll send an occasional hello even when it is not time to order. Don't forget to print your handy Winter schedule or pick up a hard copy on Friday.
In gratitude for local farmers and local eaters who are changing our food system. We're doing it!
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.
Bailey-Dick's Winter Monthly Grocery List For Bailey's Local Foods
6 pounds of cheese
2 containers of chevre
12 plain yogourt
16 loaves of bread
1-2 half bushels of apples
4 butternut squash
10 lbs of potatoes
2 bags of salad mix
3 celeriac
2 Chinese cabbage
25 pounds of carrots
1 bundle of leeks
10 pounds of onions
5 boxes of grape tomatoes
1 beef roast
2 lbs of hamburger
1 roasting chicken
2 packages of deli ham
2 packages of deli beef
12 packs of whole wheat tortillas
2 packages of hot dogs
2 packages of sausages
big bag of oats for granola and oatmeal
4 litres maple syrup
2 kg honey
1 kg peanut butter
4 blocks of butter
4 pounds of beets
6 pounds of nuts
4 bags of peanuts
1 lasagna (for emergencies)
1 hummus
1 Thai Green Curry
1 Chicken Pie
2 bags of popcorn
4 bottles of sparkling cider (to go with the popcorn)
4 lbs red Mexican beans
4 lbs black beans
12 kg soft whole wheat flour (for pancakes, muffins, biscuits, pie crusts....)
1 vinegar
1 oil
2 pickles
2 canned peaches
4 jars of stewed tomatoes
2 fifty pound bags of chicken feed
Groceries From the Supermarket
Bran flakes
milk
almond milk
ice cream
pretzels
avocados
hot house red sweet peppers
hot house cucumbers
OJ
sunflower seeds
almonds
walnuts
cashews
chocolate chips
fair trade coffee
whipping cream
olives
raisins
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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