Orders due at 9 tonight.
The August chicken pick up time has been moved back to Sept 18 to let
the chickens get bigger. If you forget what you ordered, you can view
it here http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p65AudJ1znNXhOJ59NBq8ew.
The September pick up time has been changed to October 16 for chicken
and Oct 9 for turkey. The chicken is sold out but a few more turkeys
may be available.
Are you sucking all the juices out of these last gorgeous days of
summer? We are!
Nina
Is this week the peak of our local eating year? It could be. The week
when the most variety of local foods are available. We'll have to
remember this when it is February and we are feeling sorry for
ourselves that we live in Ontario and not California.
To be honest, I find this time of year overwhelming with all the local
foods coming in and all the foods I want to can or freeze. I just
can't do all that I want to! I've got peaches getting over-ripe
behind me. Will they become peach sauce that I freeze or will I get
them into jars? Last week I shocked myself by getting seven jars of
peaches canned. I've never done that by myself! I even did it with
three kids in my care and they were mostly happy. After that I felt
like I could do anything. Maybe that is why I then ordered 25 dozen
(yes DOZEN) sweet corn for my family to freeze. On Saturday with three
adults working on it we got 15 dozen shucked, steamed, and cut off the
cob (while repairing the roof, parenting and going to the Busker
Festival). Sat evening I was facing 10 more dozen. I chose to have a
sabboth Sunday morning and gave the last 10 dozen away rather than be
a corn-cutting factory all morning. I'm glad I made that choice. It
gives me joy to give away food and now I feel a bit more rested and
ready for another week. And those peaches behind me... If you want to
feel in solidarity with someone else who is figuring out how and what
to put up for the Winter, you can read a fellow buying club member's
blog. Carrie Snyder (mom with the red haired kids) has her laptop in
the kitchen and so a lot of what comes out in the blog is about food
http://carrieannesnyder.blogspot.com .
The peaches really were amazingly easy to can. This website has clear
directions and photos: http://www.pickyourown.org/peachescanning.htm .
I skip their step of adding citric acid. I don't mind if they darken a
bit. The key is to have all the supplies on hand so that when you get
two hours, you can go for it. We have dozens of boxes of lids, lots of
jars we collected over the years (for sale at grocery stores and home
hardware) and a water bath canner which is just a huge enamel pot
(also at home hardware). A jar lifter is a key tool that you can't do
without.
There's a good chance I can get one last load of blueberries from
Simcoe. While I'm there, I'll pick up that canola oil I am excited to
have found. Here is the lovely website for the canola and soy oil. I
especially like the photo of Jason and his family in a field.
http://www.pristinegourmet.com/default.aspx The canola oil is
described as: "Dark golden colour, with a bold robust flavour makes
this a favorite amongst top chefs. Not to mention that it is the
lowest in saturated fat of all the oils." And the soybean oil:
"Brilliant yellow colour with a nutty aroma and flavour which can be
used with any of our recipes." Their oils have a two year shelf life
if unopened. If you share a 10 litre jug with a neighbour or two (fill
up an empty canola oil jug from Zehrs) it is $5 a litre where as if
you buy a fancy 250 ml bottle it is $24/litre. See also the Blueberry
Infused Wine Vinegar from Jason.
Do you like that blackcurrant jam from Foxmoor Farms? Since I'm
heading to Simcoe I can pick up cases of that again to stock you up
for the Winter (use for Christmas gifts?).
If you are wanting to can tomato sauce, the plum tomatoes will be
coming Sept 19 (probably). Red sweet peppers will be available in a
few weeks.
Do you wish that the Buying Club pick up location was closer to your
home? It can be if you and/or a neighbour want to host a satellite
site. If you can find twenty families that want to be part of the
buying club and pick up from your location, that would help ease the
crowds at this location and make it easier to welcome more people into
the buying club. Email me if you are interested in hosting a site.
The site needs a garage or large carport. I would still coordinate all
of the ordering and emailing from here.
My maternity leave is over and I return to work (21hrs/wk) on Sept 15.
This means we'll need to make our pick up more efficient so that I
can do it while parenting. One way to do this is to have YOU add up
the total of your order and hand me or my dad the cheque (or cash but
cheque is easiest). We'll have a big calculator for you to use if you
need it. Having a volunteer on pick up day like Kelly has done a few
times is also makes pick up times smoother and more fun for me because
I have time to talk to you rather than just taking money. Consider
joining us as a volunteer once in awhile and you can buy your food at
cost for that week. Kelly says it's fun : )
Shall we call this the week of the seedless, local and organic
watermelons? Do you have last-of-the-summer get togethers that would
go well with watermelon? If I get an order for 100 melons, I can order
a skid of them and they are a lot cheaper. If you each order 2 or 3
melons, we'll have enough. Let's see what happens. I'll put an
ordering option for "bulk watermelon" at a cheaper price. Order as
many as you want of that. I'll also put a back up ordering option for
if we don't get orders for 100. You'll get one or the other, not both.
I'm also going to offer Mapleton's organic yogurt this week. It keeps
a month or more in the fridge.
This week you can order 100 Mile Black Forest Ham or 100 Mile All
Natural Beef. These are both meats that I developed with Stemmler
Meats and Cheese and have been selling to Vincenzo's. They come in
packages of a pound or more - shaved. The beef is hormone, steroid
and drug free beef. If you have lunches to pack, these can be frozen
to use later too. My mom makes the whole sandwich (minus the fresh
tomato and lettuce), puts it in the freezer and then pulls it out
frozen in the morning to send along for a lunch. It stays nice and
cool that way too. You can also freeze a few slices in between wax
paper in a stack for easy sandwich making.
The carrots and cilantro seemed extra small last week. I'll be talking
to the farmers about increasing the sizes of those. Did you try the
white peaches? Whoa! They are even better than the Red Haven. This
week there is lower acid white peach called White Lady. It tastes
especially sweet because of the low acid. Bartlett pears and plums
this week too. If you want boxes of pears that are 2nds for canning
pears or pearsauce, see that option on the ordering form. The pears
need to sit out to ripen like the peaches.
Sorry about going overboard with pastries and such last week. I got a
little carried away when ordering. Everything sounded so good : ) Let
me know what pastries you want to see again.
There will be no buying club the week of Sept 12. That is the last
week of my mat leave so we are going to try to get away for a few
days.
Will you join us for a 100 Mile Potluck Picnic on Sept 20? We are
inviting all buying club members to converge here at our place for a
celebration of local food. Miriam and Mervin who raise the chickens
and turkeys will join us too along with their children. It will be a
chance for you to get to know one of our farming families and for them
to see who is eating and appreciating the food that they are growing
for us. You'll also be able to share recipe ideas and meet others who
are excited about local foods. I'll ask for an RSVP on the order form
next week.
Enjoy your last week of summer!
Nina
This week we have all the amazing fruits and veggies of last week plus
bulk seedless watermelon.
We also have 100 Mile Black Forest Ham and All-Natural Roast Beef
offered in time for school sandwiches.
For the first time you can order local canola or soy oil. I won't be
going to Simcoe for a few months so order enough to last awhile. We'll
also have the last of the blueberries this week and organic yogurt
from Mapleton's.
The Niagara fruit will be available this week and next. That may be
the end of it. We'll see.
Happy Local Eating,
Nina
I'm sorry I forgot to remind you earlier.
I have found a few more lovely fresh produce items that will be on the
spontaneous table. All organic:
Purple broccoli
orange sweet peppers
purple potatoes
shiitake mushroom
watermelons
Man! I love this food!
See you Friday,
Nina
Sorry, I forgot to send the reminder earlier today.
I got a hold of a few lovely fresh produce items that I'll have on the
spontaneous table. All organic:
purple broccoli
watermelon
orange sweet peppers
blue potatoes
shiitake mushrooms
See you Friday,
Nina
This week we've got the first of the sweet onions - red and spanish.
We've also got the first eggplants and purple peppers. The organic
canteloupe from Paul is really exceptional in flavour.
Eva and Rene are bringing us more peaches and plums and the first pears.
We've also got sausages from Stemmlers and beef from Jeff Stager for
end-of-the-summer cookouts. Jeff's beef is raised without hormones or
steroids. He uses antibiotics sparingly only when an animal is sick.
Stemmlers sausages are msg, gluten, and lactose free. The Sundried
Tomato and Basil is a treat. The All-Beef Jumbo Weiners are nitrate
free. All meat is frozen.
Bulk beets and green beans are available for pickling or whatever you
do with them. Bulk tomatoes will be coming next week or the next for
those who want to make salsa and such. Bulk green peppers will return
soon.
Happy Local Eating,
Nina
I was struck again this morning by how good it feels to give my kids
peach slices that are not laced with chemicals. I've never been able
to do that before. The woman I buy the Niagara fruit from told me that
with this extra wet season these lovely peaches are not as
exceptionally lovely as usual. The peaches are a little less sweet
because they are more full of water and more prone to insects and
rotting because of the lower sugar content. If the peaches are even
better than this next year, they'll be amazing! None of our peaches
made it in the freezer this week. I'll have to order two boxes this
week. I'm determined to freeze some this year.
Niagara fruits for this week are Red Haven peaches again and the first
of the white flesh peaches which have a bit of a honey flavour to
them. Also Red Plums (Burbank) and the first of the blue plums are
ready. The blue plums are not the prune variety but the kind that are
very good for fresh eating. Finally, the first pears! French Bartlett
pears. I love pears. If I get organized, I want to can peaches in pear
juice. Hmmm, that may be unrealistic with a one year old hanging on my
legs. I've wanted to do this ever since I bought peaches from ValuMart
that were in pear juice. The were delicious - but from South Africa!
I've also been marvelling over the canteloupe from last week. It is
the first organic canteloupe I've offered and it is so flavourful and
sweet. I can easily eat a half of one for a snack. I'm glad I ended up
with eight to enjoy this week : ) We ended up with more vegetables
than we could fit into the fridge last Friday so Matthew chopped up a
pile of them for a vat of soup. We've eaten it every day and he froze
enough for a couple quick lunches.
I've found a few more local foods for us! All-local pasta is coming!
Vincenzo's is making it just for us. Carmine said if I bring in the
bags of local flour, his pasta master, Rosa, will put it through their
machine and sell it to me wholesale. The reason Vincenzo's pasta
really does taste better than others is that they dry it over three
days rather than three minutes. So as soon as the hard flour is ready
(next week), the pasta making will begin! I'll be able to offer it in
bulk, too, for those of us who are tired of those teeny tiny plastic
packages of pasta from the store that are not enough for supper and
leftovers the next day.
The other exciting find has been canola oil that is smaller than a
1,000 litre container yet bigger than a tiny glass jar that costs a
pretty penny. A farm near Port Dover makes and sells organic soy and
canola oil in 4 litre and 10 litre containers. AND (more good news!)
Selema's sister Erma is going to make preserves for us. Local Ketchup!
Can you imagine? As well as BBQ Relish, Chili Sauce, and a variety of
pickles! She and I are discussing recipes right now. Do you have a
tried and true really good recipe for any of these things (and salsa)?
If so please share it with me and your good recipe can be shared with
all the families in the buying club. The pickles and sauces that Erma
gave me to sample are too sweet so I'm eager to find other recipes but
only want ones that are tried and true favourites. I need the recipes
right away as it is time to make the pickles. Thanks for your help!
This week you can order sausages from Stemmlers. I know it's on the
schedule for next week but I can't wait that long. I'm hungry for the
farmers' sausage. Next week we'll be offering the 100 Mile Deli Meats
(All-Natural Roast Beef, Turkey, and Black Forest Ham) just in time
for school lunches.
This week is also your chance to order local beef from Jeff Stager
again. How have you been enjoying your steaks and roasts from him?
The next time beef is offered is Sept 19. I don't like steaks much
but a slow-cooked roast with root veggies is a favourite simple meal
at our house. We also chop the roasts into the borscht that we eat all
Winter. Speaking of borscht, now is your chance to plant dill if you
want to harvest it before Winter. It will just grow enough to harvest
it young and tender before it gets too cold. We plant lots (bulk packs
of seeds are $3 at OSC and last a couple years) several times in the
summer and then pick large handfuls to freeze. We just put it in a
plastic bag and freeze it. Very easy. The frozen dill is much more
flavourful than the dried and way more local (and cheaper) than buying
fresh dill in the Winter.
Speaking of freezing. Betty, a buying club member, informed me that
sweet peppers can be frozen whole (even easier than chopping them!)
and then to use them in the winter just rinse the pepper with water,
and core/chop it for cooking. I'm going to find out when sweet corn
will be available in bulk because I promised myself I'd freeze over 20
dozen this year. Last year we did 14 dozen and the corn was like GOLD
in our soups and stews (and scrambled eggs). The best was a vegetable
chowder with sweet corn. The corn was gone by Christmas. I'd love to
have enough to even serve it as a side dish once in awhile. I heard
rumour there is a tool made for cutting the corn off of the cob. Do
any of you have one of these? I have to research this.
Will I see any of you at this year's Taste Local! Taste Fresh! event?
I'll have cards about it on Friday. I'm proud to say I planned the
first one five years ago. Now I'm looking forward to not doing any of
the work, just hopping on our bikes and taking the Iron Horse Trail to
Victoria Park for an afternoon of deliciousness. It is expensive if
you think of it as going to a restaurant but much cheaper than a
weekend of going to TO or even camping ($55/ticket). You could stay
close to home, go on a long bike ride with a picnic on Saturday and on
Sunday go to the TL!TF! and call it a "weekend away". Plus (bonus!)
the event supports Foodlink - an organization that is doing a lot to
strengthen our local food system.
See you Friday,
Nina
