Bailey's Raspberries Later than Expected

Hi Folks,

The raspberry farmer called me yesterday to tell me the raspberries
are a week later than expected (he doesn't have a phone so I depend on
him to call me). This throws a wrench in our neatly organized pick up
schedule.

I've attached an excel file with all of your names and the revised
pick up days. Please look at it and make sure it has the amount you
intend to order and that you are able to pick up on that day. If not,
please consider asking a neighbour to pick up for you. I can also see
if it will work to switch you to a different pick up day if you email
me.

From the strawberry orders I've learned that I need to charge you for
your orders whether you pick them up or not. With fruits like this,
they are so perishable that when someone forgets to pick up an order
of fruit I am left with a significant investment that is quickly
rotting. I had to give away strawberries after a couple Fridays. It
was fun to bless people with beautiful berries - but it is not
sustainable for me to do that. I do not have the ability to keep
large orders of fruit chilled and do not want to run a big cooler for
just a few pints of berries. So... if the fruit is yours whether you
pick it up or not. I'll wait until Saturday morning to give it away
but will still need to charge you for it.
Thank you for your understanding,
Nina

Bailey's NEWS: No-Spray Tropical Fruits!!

Hi Fruit Lovers,

I can't wait until next week to tell you. I know I've already sent two
emails today (three counting the form!) but this is too exciting to
wait). I found someone who will connect us to no-spray tropical fruits
AND I can pick them up in Waterloo. This week there are two varieties
of sweet cherries available. The farmers use organic methods but are
not certified. See the explanation below:

" Due to the weather this year there have been many Ontario cherry
farmers who have had to abandoned their fruit trees because all the
cherries have split. Eva and Rene (the farmers) have cherries because
of the nature of their farming. They explained to me that they use
compost instead of chemical fertilizer so the trees are not forced
into producing large fruit at a fast pace. Because of this they have
only experienced some splitting compared to the other farmers in the
area.

The varieties available this week are 'Hedelfigen' which are smaller
than the 'Lapins' which is a jumbo cherry. Because the Hedelfingen are
a bit smaller (similar to the size of the Cavalier last week), the
price is $40.00 for 20lbs and $21 for 10lbs. The Lapin are a bigger
cherry and the price is $45.00 for 20lbs. and $24.00 for 10 lbs. "

Please let me know via email if you want any of these 10 or 20lb
amounts before Wednesday at 10AM.

In the future I'll include these on the order form.
Night,
Nina

Bailey's update: lower price for conventional raspberries

Hi Folks,

I will lower the price of conventional raspberries to $3.50 (is
currently $4.25 on the order form) if I get a minimum order of five
flats (12x5=60 pints) from the group. I'll make the adjustment on the
spreadsheet and your list for pick up day.
Night,
Nina

Bailey's Buying Club

Hi Folks,

I've had a request to offer the sausages again. Apparently they
disappeared quickly at her house. So here they are and this time I'll
make sure to get the nitrate free weiners. As before, the sausage is
free of msg, nitrates, and gluten (from Stemmler's).

This is my first week selling eggs. They are from farmers near Elmira
that send them to OK Egg Farm to be graded. The ones I'm offering are
free-range in barns and fed a feed mixture with flax seed to add omega
three.

Tomatoes have been hard to source because only a few farmers are
growing them in greenhouses and everyone wants them with the
salmonella scare. I've offered them this week in smaller quantity in
case the new higher price is intimidating. Field tomatoes will be
coming in a few weeks so hang in there.

We are staying with a Friday pick up day. (Not moving to Wed.). Always 3:30-6.

I look forward to see you all on Fridays,
Nina

Bailey's Buying Club orders for tropical fruits of ON

Hi Folks,

I'm going to go ahead and send an order for some of the succulent
"tropical fruits" from the warmer areas of ON (still within 100 miles,
thank goodness!). I can not guarantee that I will secure these but I
will do my best. If I have your order then I know what kind of buying
power I have. The more I order, the more eager they will be to sell
and ship to me, I'm assuming. Here is what I'll try to source:

Sweet Cherries
Season: yesterday
Note: There was a late frost that zapped many of the blossoms. The
farmer I talked to said that the season was very short and is over
already.
Sour Cherries
Season: starting July 15
Uses: fresh eating if you like sour flavours, frozen for winter
baking, dried for granola, in breads and gorp
Note: I can get these already pitted and packed into 11lb pails with
or without sugar. You can then freeze them in the pail or in smaller
quantities.

Apricots and Peaches
Season: end of August? (I'm not sure!)
Uses: mmm, fresh peach juice running down the chin, canned to eat
straight up, canned or frozen for winter baking. Apricot platz is a
classic.

Pears
Season: September
Uses: fresh, pearsauce, canned to eat straight up, canned or frozen
for winter baking. Dried they are REALLY yummy too.
Note: I'd like to source Bartlett pears and Asian pears. The Asian
ones are the ones you eat crispy and they last longer for fresh fruit
to eat in December.

Blueberries
Season: Mid July to Mid August.
Uses: fresh like candy, frozen for winter baking, smoothies, and to
suck on frozen like little round popsicles.

How to order tropical fruits

Since this is the first year of doing this, I'm going to ask you to
fill out two order forms. First the ESTIMATED order form which is not
a real order form. This will help me in ordering the fruit from
farmers. Closer to the day of pickup I will send a REAL order form.
I don't know what most of the prices are yet. Please go ahead and
order assuming that you are okay with the price. Remember, this is not
a real order form and you will not be held to it.
I'm assuming that I'll only be able to find conventionally-grown
fruits. I'll keep asking for non-sprayed but place your order assuming
that they are conventional.
We'll probably only get one shipment of each of these (transporting
them is the big cost) so assume that you'll receive all you order in
one installment.
Can you place your ESTIMATED order by July 12 so that I can know what
sort of quantities I am looking for? If it is a small amount, I'll
source it differently than a truckload.
Feel free to invite others you know to place tropical fruit orders
through you. They can also order independently if you forward the
Google DOCS link to them.

Canola Oil and Sunflower Oil
I have a lead on local organic canola and sunflower oil. I could sell
it for $3 a litre but I can only get it in 1000 litre container! That
means each of us would need to buy 15 litres of oil. I'm guessing that
is too much. Let me know if you have ideas for how to sell/use 1000
litres of organic local canola or sunflower oil. Maybe your Aunt
makes 1000s of donuts and wants to use local oil?

Thank you,
Nina

PS I sent out an invite to view the raspberry order form so that you
can check what you've ordered if you've forgotten. First shipment of
raspberries is next week!

Bailey's Buying Club - Fruit Estimates

Hi Folks,

Remember, this is not a real order form. This is you helping me
estimate the quantities of tropical fruits I should reserve for us.

Thank you,
Nina

Bailey's Local Foods Buying Club July 4

Hello Folks,

Did you have some good local eating this weekend? We sure did. The
strawberry shortcake is what stands out in my mind. We also picked
saskatoon berries from a u-pick farm near Simcoe. YUM! Saskatoon
berries will be ripe here in a day or two. You can pick them for free
- they are growing all around KW. If you know what to look for you'll
start seeing them everywhere. They are similar to blueberries. They
freeze really well - if they last long enough to make it to the
freezer.

*** Bailey's Buying Club is staying with a Friday afternoon pickup (we
will not be moving to Wednesday) ***

My family and I went on a day trip to the Simcoe area to scout out
local food and have fun. We picked up local peanuts, peanut butter and
popcorn for you. I didn't have time to get orders from you before we
needed to go so these items will be on the "spontaneous purchase"
table. It was neat to meet the peanut farmers, Ernie and Nancy Racz,
and see all the yummy things they make from them. Like BBQ flavoured
peanuts. Even peanut and chocolate swirl icecream - sorry I couldn't
bring that back for you. It would've melted. I'll be taking orders
for peanuts products and popcorn in a few weeks so this week is your
chance to buy a few of each to try them decide which kinds you like
best. Non-perishable local food also makes a great host-gift, I was
realizing. "Thanks for having us for supper. Here's a jar of local
peanut butter."

We've got hamburger for the first time. I'm sourcing it from an old
friend Jeff Stager who raises them on pasture and give them grain. He
does not use hormones or steroids which, unfortunately, are the norm
elsewhere. This week we have just hamburger from him but later we'll
be getting roasts and sommersausage. He can sell 20lbs of hamburger
at a discount so try the hamburger this week and then you'll know if
you want to buy a larger amount. We'll be able to buy beef from Jeff
periodically throughout the year so you do not need to fill your
freezer with a year's worth of beef.

Did you get a chance to taste the turkey sausage samples on Friday?
Matthew grilled some for us. If you'd like some of this super-healthy
and super-yummy and eco-wonderful sausage, I'm going to be sending out
the chicken and turkey order form again today. The turkeys are raised
on pasture with no drugs. The sausage does not have nitrates or msg. I
can resend the ingredient list for the sausage if you ask me for it.
Chicken will be available July 18. Miriam and Mervin raised the birds
on pasture just for us and finally they are ready! There are still a
few available if you want to place an order you can do so on the form
I'm resending. I will also give you viewing access to the form so that
you can confirm what you ordered earlier - if you ordered (no one's
total is visible).

New fresh veggies for this week are: zuchinni, cabbage, and fresh
herbs. All unsprayed. So if you've been craving fresh pesto or a
brothy soup with dill - you can now have it - locally.

And, finally, CHEESE. I was so excited to find Jensen Cheese near
Simcoe (they even make cheddar!) but their factory is in Kingston!
Argh! So, sorry folks, no local cows-milk cheddar. I'm still looking.
We DO have more lovely cheese from Oak Grove Cheese factory in New
Hamburg again. Were you amazed how cheap it was last time? That was
because I forgot to mark it up! Consider it a birthday present. This
time I will be marking it up 25%. I'm only carrying it in larger
blocks. Remember, you can grate half of it and put it in the freezer.
Or sell half to a neighbour. When we buy in uncut blocks, it helps
keep the price down. Less packaging too!

See you on Friday,
Nina

PS If you have a child who would like to sell cookies/lemonade/tarts
with my kids at a pick-up day, let me know. We're happy to share the
prime location and the chance to learn all the skills that go along
with having a "stand".

PSS If you'd rather not receive these emails and don't want to order,
email me a "No Thank You" and I'll take you off of the list.