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, March 22nd 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 the pre-packaing option your order will be packed and ready for 5pm. Items that require refrigeration will not be pre-packed for health reasons.

Extra Spinach!
Paul called (and then later Debbie called too) and said with the lovely sunny days they both have extra spinach for us! If you've been craving a tender young salad of local greens, you're in luck.  We'll have the extra bags on the spontaneous table.  Lena has fresh parsley for us too!  Spring is the taste of fresh parsley singing in a salad.

New Pickup Slips
We have changed our pickup slips slightly. Items that are unavailable will have 'u/a' in the quantity column. There are check boxes so that you can check off items as you pick them up. Variably priced items (Meat and cheese) are highlighted in green and still need to be added to your total. We welcome your feedback on how these slips work for you and how we could further improve them.

Samples from The Nutty Bakers and Stratford Pies
If you like pie, today is your day!

Swing by and say 'hi' to The Nutty Bakers, Anna (and maybe her mom), who make us many flavours of pot pies, cabbage rolls and lasagna. If you haven't ordered and tasted their products yet, you will get a chance to try them today!

Susie from Stratford Pies says she'll try to stop in today to serve samples of apple and elderberry pie too!

Ground Beef from Traditional Foods
The ground beef from Traditional Foods has been removed from your orders due to poor quality butchering. Thank you for your understanding until we can work with a new butcher who can make ground beef of a better quality (without "gristly" chewy bits).  Noah will still bring the ground beef you ordered today. If you choose to purchase it the cost will have to be added to your total.

Items not available and things to look for on the Spontaneous Table:

• Look for Organic Spinach and Parsley on the Spontaneous Table!
  
• Vibrant Foods Bone Packages and Outside Round were not available
• Traditional Foods Ground Beef will not be offered until butchering quality issues are resolved
• Pfennings baby and regular beets will be substituted with Cylindra Beets. The price for baby beets (3 lb bag) is adjusted to reflect the lower cost of the smaller bag
  
• Flat Kamut Noodles will be substituted for Medium Kamut Noodles from J&D Peters
  
• Medium Pasta will be substituted for Medium Old Fashioned Egg Noodles from J&D Peters
  
• We will be short 2 packages of Natural Roast Beef from Stemmler's. Two frozen packages available on request.
  
• We may be short on Sunflower Oil from FlorAlp Farms
  
• We may be short on Crackers from Barrie Bros.
• We may be short of Blueberry Jam from Country Flavour
  

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 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 coolers, 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 2010!) 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.

Ordering for March 22 ends Thursday at 8:00 PM

This is your reminder that you should place your order before Thursday at 8:00PM for pickup on March 22.
 
Click http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/ordering to log-in and order.

Please Note!
This month we have shortened the ordering period. Ordering will be open until this Thursday at 8 pm. Pickup is still March 22.

Shakespeare Pies
Were you looking for the Dutch Apple pie on our order form? It's there now!

Also, We asked Susie to use cream, milk and butter in her pies and she is! Tasty ingredients are online at http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/ingredients and below:

• Apple Pie Filling: Apples, sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon.
• Dutch Apple Pie: Filling: Apples, sugar, flour, Harmony Organic cream, cinnamon. Crumb topping: Oatmeal, brown and white sugar, flour, butter.
• Elderberry Pie Filling: Elderberries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice.
• Pastry top and bottom: Unbleached flour from wheat, butter, farm fresh eggs, Harmony Organic milk, sugar, vinegar, salt.

Cheese Oops!
While updating the website I incorrectly put smaller than bulk sizes on the BULK cheddar cheese from Millbank. Please note that the bulk cheese is a 5 kg portion and a great deal if you love cheese or want to split a big block with a friend. We can get almost any variety of cheese in th bulk size, so if you don't see the cheese you like, just ask!

Some Apple Creek Products unavailable
Pete called me on the weekend (after the order form went live, unfortunately) and updated his list of available apples. We have eaten through much of his 'stock' already!
Still available are:

• Organic McIntosh Seconds
• Conventional Cortland
• Honey
• Apple Sauce
• Apple Cider
  

We do not have Organic Cortlands or Spartans, and no organic apples in 3 L baskets. Sorry!

Transpire Organic Community Shared Agriculture (CSA)
With so many great CSA options in the region, how do you choose? Another CSA option is now available! Candace, one of our members, has details of her new CSA at http://www.transpireorganic.ca/

Donations
We have a convenient option for you to donate to local food programs through Bailey's. We will be providing local beans to the Waterloo Region Food Bank with the money you donated in January and February. Donations over $10 (through the 2010 year) are eligible for a tax receipt. We will be donating 100% of what you give to the food bank directly or by sending local food from our suppliers in the coming months.

Some of our donated beans will be used for Leadership Waterloo Region's CANstruction Team. More details are at  https://www.thefoodbank.ca/Canstruction1.shtml.

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

Enjoy this weather!
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 Buying Club - Ordering is now open for March 22, 2010

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).

A few notes from Rachael:

• The website has been updated. You will notice that items that are priced per pound or kilogram have the prices per unit and estimates indicated. If you ever notice that something isn't working right, please send us an email!
• Sarah has offered to grow seedlings for us! Tell her what you are interested in buying by filling out her survey at http://snipr.com/seedlingsurvey
  
• Ordering closes on Thursday, March 11 at 8:00PM. Please order early so you won't be disappointed!
  

Have a great Week!
Rachael

-----------------------
 

Hi Folks,

Happy almost Spring!  We made it through the deep dark days of Winter.  I hope you got a chance to hibernate.  I kind of hibernated last weekend during my weekend silent retreat at the Loyola Retreat Centre in Guelph.  Silence for 36+ hours in a quiet world surrounded by snowy fields... 

 

The bad news is that asparagus is still a long wait away. The good news is that a few dear farmers are extending the season with greenhouses so we can offer local grape tomatoes and salad mix (from Soiled Reputation and Paul Bowman)!!  My kids will be so happy to see those grape tomatoes again.  They've not been complaining abut the lack of them.  The two older kids are still eating coleslaw well. I added fresh cilantro to the coleslaw today (from the buying club) and it was such a poignant flavour of summer.  Delicious. Last year Matthew made a winter hothouse cucumber salad with frozen dill which was ALMOST as good as fresh dill.  Too bad we used our many bags of dill in borscht already.

 

Winter Eating

I asked a neighbour for a photo of her freezer and canning jars for a powerpoint presentation I gave at the Bring Food Home conference.  Her freezer is so beautifully organized I wish I could include a photo of hers and one of mine just to make you smile at the contrast.  My freezer is getting empty these days so I filled it with bags of flour to keep it more efficient.  Are you still finding treasures in your freezer?  I tell myself that now is the time to go ahead and enjoy them.  This stretch of March to May is when we need the freezer to expand our local food options and help us wait until the spinach, asparagus and strawberries come in.  I think I'll pull out some frozen rasperries tomorrow. The kids like eating them frozen and then we can stir them in yogurt when they thaw.  In the summer I was wondering why I was putting so much steamed kale in the freezer (extras from the buying club) but they've been like gold this winter.  If we cut it up fine enough, the kids don't blink an eye at little bits of leaves floating in their soups or in the pasta.

 

I pulled out a roast from Vibrant Farms yesterday for an easy crockpot supper with baby potatoes and carrots.  It was the perfect convenience food for a day when I was juggling the conference, parenting, yoga and a meeting for the buying club.  I think it is amazing that a roast can taste so good with absolutely no seasoning. It was so tender and flavourful it made my gums ache.  The beauty of a crockpot meal like that is the super easy stew it makes for the next day.  I set the leftovers on the backporch overnight to chill and then added black beans, onions, garlic and peas and turned the crockpot back on this morning (didn't even have to wash it!).  When I came back from the conference we had supper waiting.  Crockpots are an ingenius and timeless invention from the 1970's that make eating local (i.e. from scratch) more convenient.  I often use mine to simmer bones overnight to make rich broths.  I also use it a lot to soak and then cook beans.  What do you use yours for?

Slide Show of the Future

I'm so inspired from being at the Bring Food Home conference yesterday and today. I was asked to speak about Bailey's Local Foods, the supports and barriers to running a local food buying club, and how we are "taking back the middle" of the food value chain between producer and consumer.  I was surrounded by foodies who were just as passionate about changing the local food system as I am!  I focused my talk on my vision for a relocalized food system. I believe that having a clear and beautiful vision of what we are working toward is so important to give us the energy to do the work that needs to be done to make the vision happen.  I wish I could share that presentation with all of you. I included photos from the buying club, cute photos of my kids in the garden, our hens, sexy fresh produce and other inspiring visuals.  Maybe we could have a potluck at the church and I could share the photo slides... If you're interested send us a quick email and we'll find a date. Let us know what night of the week works best for you.

 

New Pies

I found a baker of wonderful pies (well, she found us)!  To be honest, I was not happy with the quality of the other pies we carried (I'm a pie snob).  Susie Wagler, owner of Shakespeare Pies, is offering us three kinds of local pie this month: apple, dutch apple and elderberry.  We had a pie fest at supper today tasting all of the samples that Susie dropped off this morning (6!)  Fortunately both sets of grandparents were visiting and could help us eat the pies.  We all agreed that the pies were divine.  The elderberry pie is a unique texture and not my favourite pie but if you like elderberry pie, Susie makes a really good one!

Carrot Soup

If you're looking for a meal idea, I'm making carrot soup on Monday and you can join me. I have a big bag of carrots that did not fit in my fridge so they are a little sprouty from being in the basement so they'll be perfect in the soup. I think I'll add a celariac, onion and a small bag of frozen butternut squash from Lena Burkhardt to round out the flavours. I'm making a huge vat and freezing half for an easy soup in a week or two.

 

Nina's March Order

Here's what I'm ordering for my family this week (even though my freezer and pantry are full from the last buying club):

 

HUGE block of old cheddar (to grate and freeze in bags for pizzas, burritos and such)

sundried tomato cheddar (kids' favourite)

chevre

12 plain yogurt (I know, I should make my own)

crema la vaquita 

butter

beef roast

Turkey breasts (sooo handy)

roasting chicken

hot dogs (yes, kids' favourite)

roast beef deli x3

 

chinese cabbage

potatoes

carrots

celariac (sublime in any soup where you might put potatoes)

grape tomatoes

salad mix (YUM!)

greenhouse lettuce

greenhouse cilantro

frozen butternut squash

 

half bushel of organic apples (thank goodness for the canned peaches and pearsause, as well as frozen blueberries, cherries, raspberries, currants, apricots, and strawberries)

 

LOTS of whole wheat tortillas (at least 10 packages - gotta make up for not having them this month)

two kinds of tortilla chips

pork hot tamales

 

8 loaves of bread (my dad - our bread baker - is leaving town)

peanutbutter (goes fast when we make pb cookies)

popcorn

red mexican beans (my favourite)

 

Order before Thursday the 11th 
Marg says to let you know that April will be the last month to order lamb for a while.  Let us know if there's something else you'd like to see your buying club offer and we'll work on it.

Don't forget to order right away this month as the ordering closes early (Thursday at 11 PM) so that Rachael can help phone and email the farmers before she leaves for March Break.

 

Happy cooking and eating,

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.

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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