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*** Mark Sunday, August 15th on you calendar for Bailey's Picnic Pot Luck in Waterloo Park! We have reserved the Servery by the Bandshell for our group! More details to come!
From Rachael:
Look for
- Frozen strawberries and bulk frozen apple sauce from Apple Creek Farms in the 'other' section
- Palatine Peaches - they had been hiding! Get them before they are all gone!
- Erma's BBQ Relish is ready for your next grilled meal. She uses Apple Cider Vinegar when she makes this tasty treat! Save when you buy by the case - A great hostess gift!
- Vibrant Farm's 'Throwaways' are a great deal! A couple packages in the crock pot makes an excellent bone broth! Tenderloin is on sale too!
- 'Wild' greens from Soiled Reputation - Sorrel, Chicory, Arugula and more!
- Oak Manor items will be back on the order form next week!
Rachael
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From Nina:
Hi Folks,
I wish I could write this email after chowing down on my order but I can't pick that up until Friday and this email needs to go out Thursday. Maybe that means this will be a short and sweet email. Sweet with anticipation.
Have you ever tried the dish Haystacks? I've heard people around here call them Pile-Ons. Now is a good season for them as the tomatoes and sweet peppers are available from greenhouses and the spinach and green onions are growing in abundance in fields and back/front yard gardens. A Haystack is a pile of layers of yummy foods. Here is what you put on your plate in order:
- rice
- hamburger in tomato sauce (ground turkey is a good alternative)
- beans (black or kidney)
- spinach cut into ribbons
- diced sweet peppers
- diced tomatoes
- diced green onions
- olives sliced (any kind)
- sunflower seeds (salted)
- crushed tortilla chips (Mexican Spice is the best)
- and then top it all with a warm cheese sauce (white sauce with old cheddar thrown in is divine)
My 8 year old requests haystacks every year for his birthday meal. I like it because it makes everyone happy as each person can pick and choose what they want to include. I also like it because it makes GREAT leftovers. With almost no effort leftovers can be made into a taco salad, casserole or burritos.
Farmers asking for rain
Paul Bowman said they started irrigating the strawberry patch yesterday. It is just so dry that the 1/10 inch of rain on the weekend was not enough. The farmers all are hoping for rain. Are we hoping for rain? It's impossible to irrigate as well as a good soaking rain. Hopefully we'll get a good soak on Friday.
Inside Perspective on Bailey's Local Foods
I asked Natalie (our newest amazing helper) how it is going figuring things out at Bailey's. Here are her reflections from her first week of contacting suppliers with your orders:
"Everything seems to be going really well. I'm enjoying the work, the suppliers are great to deal with, and Rachael and I are proving to be a good team. I continue to be astounded at how BIG this thing is. What a wonderful group your suppliers are, and what a buying force you have in your customers! I have to admit, I felt an odd surge of power while placing $100s and $1000s worth of orders for local foods. YAY!"
Here are a couple of paragraphs that I wrote late May last year that are worth sending out again as they speak to the awkward issue of why our asparagus may cost more than the supermarket's:
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
I was feeling down yesterday because I noticed that two stores in Uptown Waterloo are selling local asparagus for $1.99/lb. Farmers are selling it to me for $2.50 so I don't know how they are able to sell it at that price. I was feeling low because I'm torn between wanting to keep our food prices as low as possible AND wanting to pay farmers a fair price. I am also worried that buying club members will think that the farmers or I am overcharging them. When our buying club was small and run out of our home last year, most of the members knew me and trusted me to not take advantage of them by hiking prices. They also trusted me to buy from farmers who were not overcharging. Now that many of our new members do not know Rachael, Wendell or me personally, you may not know if you can trust us not to gouge you with high prices. I want to build this trust between us. One way we do this is by being completely transparent in how we decide a price. We mark up the foods by 25% or sell them for the suggested retail price - not lower than you would pay if you went directly to that farm or business. (The food on the spontaneous table has a higher mark up because we have to absorb what is left over.) We are committed to paying farmers a fair price. The way I do this is I ask the farmer: what do you need to charge me so that you receive a fair amount and at the same time sell it to me for less than retail since I am able to save you a lot of time and hassle by buying large quantities? If you are ever wondering why something is priced the way it is, send us an email and we'll be happy to tell you what we pay the farmer. I'll also include info about the true costs of food in the weekly emails I send.
The bottom line is: shopping for food through the buying club means that your money is going directly from us to local farmers and food processors. They love selling to us because we are a steady buyer with whom they can plan ahead to increase production for coming seasons. Together we are increasing the amount of local food that is grown and processed in our area. Together we are increasing the resiliency of our communities. When we grow a large percentage of our own food, we can better survive natural and human-made disasters (floods, epidemics, food contaminations, economic collapse, high fuel prices,...). Together we are increasing the incomes of local farmers and food processors and encouraging young people to become farmers. Together we are inventing a new way of moving local food into a city that others are interested in replicating in their cities.
Things to look for this week:
- Asparagus and Cauliflower Tortilla Chips from Barrie's Brothers (made by McKechnie foods so they taste as good as Luke's Tortilla Chips - just a different flavour!)
- Rhubarb pies from Susie at Shakespeare Pies
- Small Red Mexican Beans (my favourite)
- Red Prince Apples (new favourite apple - it is STILL crisp and sweet/tart!)
- Pear Applesauce for homemade freezer pops (just pour into the mold)
I look forward to seeing you at the pick up on Friday.
Still in love with local food and farmers,
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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