Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Bailey's Local Foods ordering ends TONIGHT at 8:00 pm (Tuesday, September 13th)

This is a reminder that you should place your order before 8:00 pm Tuesday September 13th for pickup on Friday September 16th.
Click http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/ordering to log-in and order.
Items that you have placed in your shopping cart will be ordered on your behalf on Tuesday at 8:00pm. There is no checkout button. If you do not intend to order, please ensure that your shopping cart is empty.

Upcoming Bailey's Friday Pickup Dates include: September 23, 30, October 7th
No Bailey's Pickup on: October 14 and after that we'll be running on Mondays twice monthly until the year's end!


Events this weekend!
Have you been to any of the Square2Square events yet? The last one of 2011 is this Sunday, September 18th, from 11am to 3pm. It's loads of fun, so I hope you enjoy it before you head over to Foodlink's Taste Local! Taste Fresh! event in St Jacobs!
Details at http://www.foodlink.ca/index.php?p=16

Welcome Home!
Have you ever wondered what happens with extra food we have at the end of our pickup day? We try to minimize having extra, but inevitably there is food left over. Sometimes volunteers buy a few extra items, but we've been lucky to have additional volunteers who pick up the extra produce and bring it to Welcome Home Refugee Housing Community. A big thanks to Erica, Anita and Jeff for picking up the food and bringing it where it's needed!

Here is more information about this amazing program from Marcée Groen, Supervisor / Program Development:
Welcome Home Refugee Housing Community has a vision to provide newly arrived refuges with a vibrant community and a sense of home. Refugees are people who have to flee their homes because of war, religious persecution, political oppression, or discrimination due to gender, sexual orientation, or ethnicity. At Welcome Home, we have received people who have experienced all of the above. At the time of this writing we have two men, five women, and a mom with her two sons. They have come from the Congo, Eritrea, Sudan, Iraq, and Colombia. The details of the stories can not be shared for their and their families' protection, but rest assured they have journeyed through unimaginable tragedy and heartache. Some have had to leave well-paying jobs, nice houses, and choice vacations because they chose to speak against child labour. Others have run for safety because they chose to believe in a faith that was not legal in their country. In other cases, the political landscape of the country has changed and our refugee friends suddenly found themselves on the wrong side of the government. No matter the context, they arrive at our second-floor, downtown building tired, grieving, and grasping to make sense of their new Canadian surroundings. And that is why Welcome Home exists. With the help of local churches, agencies, businesses, and people, we work hard and love hard to provide one-year of home sweet home to those who suffered most. Thank you for all and anything you do to help!

From Erica:
We also supply a food basket once a month to a Colombian family of 5, a week before they get their monthly check from the government. They used to live at Welcome Home, but now live in government subsidized housing.

I want to sincerely thank you and Mary Rose for your over-flowing generosity! I'm sure that besides filling their bellies, it must mean so much for these refugees to know that there are people welcoming them in our country. There is one pregnant mama there, and she was beyond herself over the flowers when I brought them in on Friday. I think it's amazing what just a few people can do to increase the quality of life for so many individuals! I'd like to think if I was ever in their situation that I'd find myself in a similar welcoming space.

While Erica thanks Maryrose and I, the thanks goes to you also, as you are the reason this food is available. We also have suppliers that send extras knowing that what is unsold will go to Welcome Home.

Fruit from Niagara!!!
We will soon be coming to the end of fruit season. We expect our last run will be Friday September 23rd.

For Friday we have GLOWING STAR PEACHES, ALL-STAR PEACHES, NECTARINES, VERITY PLUMS, EMPRESS PLUMS, and 3 varieties of SEEDLESS TABLE GRAPES!

The Glowing star peach is from the 'stellar' peach series.....same series that the Coral Star, All Star and Blushing star peaches came from . The Glowing has a deep red skin over a bright yellow melting flesh. The flesh has a lovely red colour around the pit. It has sweet flavour and is 'very' freestone. I have been able to sample to Glowing Star and I am very impressed with its flavour and looks! This is the final variety of peach Eva and Rene have available. It is 'very' freestone and is excellent for preserving as it does not turn brown.

The All-star is also from the 'stellar' series of peaches. The All-star peach has a golden skin covered with a bright red flush and has a firm yellow flesh. Peaches from the 'stellar' series are famous for not turning brown after it is cut. It is a high quality freestone peach that is excellent for canning, cooking, baking, drying, freezing and eating! They are a bit smaller this year but they are full of flavour!

The nectarines are finally ripening! The orchard is young and will take a few more years to be up to full production, but we do have an offering of Nectarines. The Red Gold nectarines are a high quality fruit with a great shelf life. It is a larger freestone fruit with a smooth deep red and gold skin. The flesh is gold-yellow in colour with consistent texture that is melting and juicy! It is known for it's excellent flavour.

The Verity prune plum is a versatile plum. It is a medium size blue prune plum over a lovely yellow-greenish flesh. It is a good quality plum that is free-stone. They are good plums for cooking, baking, canning and juicing. They are also nice and sweet so they are good for drying and fresh eating. They are a medium sized plum with a dark purple skin.
We were hoping to have some Late Italian plums this year but the pollination was not good with the spring. The Verity plum can be used the same as the Italian plums.

This is the first year we have had the 'Empress' plum to offer. This is a VERY large plum fantastic for fresh eating. It has a deep blue skin over a nice yellow flesh with sweet flavour!

We have a very few number of boxes of Red Bartlett pears as this is the first year for new trees. The Red Bartlett pears has a rusty red skin with a juicy creamy textured flesh. It gives off a sweet aroma. They are great for eating fresh or adding to salads. Along with being good canners they are also excellent cooked and poached!

We have 3 varieties of seedless table grapes available for Friday....
1.Sovereign Coronation grapes. These grapes have a vibrant deep purple-blue coloured skin. It is sweet and sour with a distinctive musky flavour! They have a thin skin and are seedless! Uses vary from juicing, preserves, jams and jellies, freezing and eating fresh!

2. White (green) Table grapes. The white table grapes are a very sweet seedless grape with a more neutral flavour.

3. Blue Table grapes. These blue table grapes are a nice sweet seedless European type grape. Rene said their family was fighting over these grapes when they first came in from the vineyard!


Cheers,
Maryrose and Rachael
Bailey's Local Foods
baileyslocalfoods.ca

Click http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/ordering to log-in and order.

P.S. We can use your fruit boxes, baskets and jars from preserves again if you return them.

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