Ordering for May 29th ends tonight at 8:00PM

Good Morning Members of Bailey's Local Foods Buying Club,

How is the ordering going for you? We've had some technical kinks in the order form but have them straightened out now. If you had trouble ordering, log in again and give it another go. Please let us know if the order form doesn't work for you, we need to know where the bugs are so that we can get it running smoothly. Thank you for your patience as we figure all of this out!! Rachael and her husband Andrew have been working hard on this order form for many days and weeks. I often receive emails from them from the wee hours of the morning as they work on it. It is my first experience with developing a web-based order form. So many details!! It is good to know that computer programmers CAN contribute to a better world in concrete ways :)

Some people have not been receiving our emails. If you know someone who was wanting to order, please mention to them that now is the time (ordering closes at 8:00PM tonight). If you did not receive either of the two emails sent last week, you can read them at our blog: http://baileyslocalfoods.blogspot.com/. The emails have important info about farmers and products.

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.

No Head Lettuce
Selema let me know that the head lettuces she thought would be ready this week are not yet. So we'll have to be patient. Maybe next week. She is babying it along with feedings of fish emulsion and TLC but it needs a few more warm days.

100% Spelt Bread from Golden Harvest Baking Co.

Were you looking for our 100% local bread? It was not on the form until Sunday night. There are only 6 available, so hurry up and order if you want a loaf of the yummiest spelt bread we've ever tasted!

Simcoe Run
My Dad is heading to Simcoe on Thursday to pick up the local foods there that we can't find here: peanuts and peanut butter, popcorn, and canola oil. We will be making this Simcoe run less than once a month so if you want any of these products, be sure to order them this week. If there is some left over, we'll offer it next week.

I'll be phoning and emailing farmers at 8:00PM tonight with your orders. On Friday please come expecting your pick-up to take awhile. It is our first time doing this in a new place so we won't be as efficient as we will be in the coming weeks. I think there will be some photographers coming from the The Record so try to look happy! Just kidding.

Again, please email info@baileyslocalfoods.ca if you want your order pre-packaged.

See you Friday,
Nina

Bailey's Buying Club - May 29, 2009

Hi Folks,

Let the local food begin!! We've had some technical difficulties but are ready to go now. Place your orders! We've got fresh tomatoes, lettuces, and grape tomatoes. We've got artisan breads and great sandwich breads (no 100% local breads except for the Spelt Bread from Golden Hearth - and it is the BEST spelt bread I've ever tasted). We've got maple syrup, peanut butter, canola oil, wine vinegar, mushrooms, natural beef, cheeses, flours and grains, corn tortillas and tortilla chips (!!) and popcorn in a variety of colours.

In the coming weeks we'll be able to offer sausage, pork cuts, chicken, hamburger patties, honey, yogurt, and more... like strawberries!

The farmers are working hard to plant the seeds and transplant the seedlings. It's been a wet Spring so many farmers say they are "behind" in planting by a week or two. Antony said the fields were so wet he went birding for a few days because he could not plant. Others like Selema are right on schedule because their fields dry out quickly. Elmira is known for having soil that has less clay so it dries out more quickly. Great for the Spring. Not great for August. Selema says that she has transplanted 1200 lettuces into her garden to grow into head lettuce. 1200! They asked a neighbour with a greenhouse to grow the 1200 seedlings for them. They are doubling the food crops they planted last year in order to supply food for the families of Bailey's Buying Club.

Selema's sister, Erma, who lives on the same farm is branching out this year and growing us arugula (aka roquette). She does not like to eat the stuff but she likes to grow it for us. She is also making us a few rhubarb custard pies for a few weeks that we'll have to try not to fight over. Rhubarb custard...

New Suppliers
We have three new exciting suppliers this week: a flour mill near London, a farmer near London who specializes in dried beans, and a tortilla maker! Arva Flour Mills has been in the family for over 80 years. They offer less selection than the Oak Manor mill we've been buying from and are not organic. Get this, they generate over half of t he power for the mill from the river (true "hydro"). The bean farmers are Steve and Dianne Rounds. I don't know much about them yet besides the fact that they have a good sense of humour and call themselves "Hillbilly Beans". They even offer a bean mix named "No Bull - Free Gas Beans". Now, farting jokes aside, we all know how satisfying and delicious beans can be when lovingly cooked. We also know how good they are for us and how eating more beans and less meat is good for the planet. My friend Carrie is my inspiration for featuring beans on our household's menu. She makes a mean meal of beans and rice. So humble and yet so good. Add salad and there's a meal. Now, we can even add fresh local tortillas and tortilla chips to our beans and rice (yes, I know rice is imported - I'm okay with that). Doug McKechnie makes fresh and preservative-free corn tortillas and chips and wheat tortillas. He has not been able to find the kind of corn he needs in Ontario so he currently gets it from Illinois or Indiana but he has planted a patch of corn this Spring so that he can use it in his tortillas this Fall.

Beef
The beef this week is from Jeff Stager who we sourced it from last year. It is labelled "conventional" but he rarely uses antibiotics and never uses hormones or steroids. The animals are raised on a combo of about 50/50 grass and grain. I've been happy with the roasts and hamburgers and I'm a beef snob. I don't like steaks in general so I won't comment on those but buying club members raved about his steaks last year. Next week we'll have organic beef available.

Cheese
I'm so ready to stock up on Millbank Cheese again! The Old Cheddar is my favourite. The packages they sell to us are approximately .455 kg but we charge a flat rate for them to make pricing them easier and to keep the price down. (We'd have to pay someone to price each one.)

Stocking up for Winter
I know it's hard to think of preparing for next Winter when it's barely Spring. The sad news is if you want to eat local asparagus or rhubarb July through April, you need to put it in your freezer. The good news is it is SUPER easy to freeze these two items. Just chop and freeze. No blanching or anything. So if you want to eat rhubarb crisp in September or asparagus soup in October, now is the time to buy extra and throw it in the freezer.

The Problem of Super Cheap Asparagus
You may notice that asparagus is super cheap at Value-Mart and other grocery stores. They are playing the "loss-leader" game where they sell a hot item at a loss in order to draw customers into the store who will spend money on other items. There's nothing wrong with this except it warps our perceptions of the real cost of food and some people think that the local farmers who charge more are ripping them off. Far from it! Local farmers usually don't charge enough to cover the true costs and time that go into growing the food. If they would pay themselves and their workers a fair wage, their prices would be three times as high as they are now.

Labelling, Ordering and Forgetting
So, happy ordering. If the farming method for an item is not specified, assume it is conventional. We are working on clearer labels about this. On our website you can read definitions of the labels we are using for farming methods at http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/m4_methods.php.

You have until Tuesday evening at 8 PM to complete your order. You can begin ordering on Sunday and go back and make changes any time you want before Tuesday at 8 PM. When you place an order, you are setting of a chain of events where I phone the farmer, the farmer harvests your chosen items and then washes and packages them before delivering them to First United on Friday afternoon. Please don't forget to pick up your order. If you do (we all forget sometimes!), we will donate it and you still get the pleasure of paying for it. Think of it as a gift to the farmer and the family who receives the surprise box of succulent local food.

See you Friday between 3:30 and 7 PM.

In love of local farmers and local food,

Nina

-----------

Technical notes:

There is a listing of some ingredients at http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/ingredients.php. We will be adding items to this list as we receive them. If there is an item that you would like to see on this list, just ask!

Look for the second line of products when ordering. If there are lots of an item (like mushrooms or loaves) we have created a sub-category for that item.

There is no checkout button. Whatever you have ordered as of Tuesday at 8:30pm will be the order that is processed. You can confirm what you've ordered in the Shopping Basket on the left hand pane. If you place anything in your Shopping Basket that you do not want, please be sure to delete it by Tuesday at 8:30pm, because at that time your order will be finalized.

All prices are subject to change at Friday pickup. We do our best to estimate fair and accurate prices but sometimes errors and changes occur. Please see a Volunteer Helper at Friday pickup to calculate your final cost and check out. Helpers will have their calculators ready to help you!

* indicates an item that may have added tax
** indicates an item's price is approximate; final price will be determined by the exact weight of the your item

If you want your order pre-packed for you this week, please email us at info@baileyslocalfoods.caand we will be sure to have it ready for you on Friday. This feature will be built into the ordering system in the coming weeks. Thank you for your patience!

If you have any error messages appear while you are shopping, email us at info@baileyslocalfoods.cawith the error message that you received and what you were doing (the item you last added to your basket) when the error occurred.

Enjoy the new ordering system!
Rachael

Bailey's Local Foods New Season Begins!

Happy Spring Everyone!

This is the last email that you'll receive from me if you have not registered for Bailey's Local Foods second season. I'm emailing you all one more time to say thank you for a great season last year and to make sure that you understand that you need to register on our website to be able to order more amazing local foods from local farmers, millers, bakers, cheese makers, - and tortilla makers.

If you registered and did not get an email this week, check your spam folder. Please add info@baileyslocalfoods.ca and lists@baileyslocalfoods.ca to your address book.

It will be even easier to source local foods this year through Bailey's. We have an on-line ordering system that works better than Google DOCS. We have a great indoor space in the gym of the First United Church on the corner of King and William Streets just up the road from my house. We have more local suppliers this year - like a tortilla maker and a dried bean farmer - and mushroom farmers. And we will offer local food ALL year now (monthly buying clubs Nov-May).

Here is the letter we just sent to the members who have registered. It is not too late to register and order for this week. The deadline for ordering is Tuesday at 8PM.

Bye!
Nina

Bailey's Buying Club - May 29, 2009

Hi Folks,

Let the local food begin!! We've had some technical difficulties but are ready to go now. Place your orders! We've got fresh tomatoes, lettuces, and grape tomatoes. We've got artisan breads and great sandwich breads (no 100% local breads except for the Spelt Bread from Golden Hearth - and it is the BEST spelt bread I've ever tasted). We've got maple syrup, peanut butter, canola oil, wine vinegar, mushrooms, natural beef, cheeses, flours and grains, corn tortillas and tortilla chips (!!) and popcorn in a variety of colours.

In the coming weeks we'll be able to offer sausage, pork cuts, chicken, hamburger patties, honey, yogurt, and more... like strawberries!

The farmers are working hard to plant the seeds and transplant the seedlings. It's been a wet Spring so many farmers say they are "behind" in planting by a week or two. Antony said the fields were so wet he went birding for a few days because he could not plant. Others like Selema are right on schedule because their fields dry out quickly. Elmira is known for having soil that has less clay so it dries out more quickly. Great for the Spring. Not great for August. Selema says that she has transplanted 1200 lettuces into her garden to grow into head lettuce. 1200! They asked a neighbour with a greenhouse to grow the 1200 seedlings for them. They are doubling the food crops they planted last year in order to supply food for the families of Bailey's Buying Club.

Selema's sister, Erma, who lives on the same farm is branching out this year and growing us arugula (aka roquette). She does not like to eat the stuff but she likes to grow it for us. She is also making us a few rhubarb custard pies for a few weeks that we'll have to try not to fight over. Rhubarb custard...

New Suppliers
We have three new exciting suppliers this week: a flour mill near London, a farmer near London who specializes in dried beans, and a tortilla maker! Arva Flour Mills has been in the family for over 80 years. They offer less selection than the Oak Manor mill we've been buying from and are not organic. Get this, they generate over half of t he power for the mill from the river (true "hydro"). The bean farmers are Steve and Dianne Rounds. I don't know much about them yet besides the fact that they have a good sense of humour and call themselves "Hillbilly Beans". They even offer a bean mix named "No Bull - Free Gas Beans". Now, farting jokes aside, we all know how satisfying and delicious beans can be when lovingly cooked. We also know how good they are for us and how eating more beans and less meat is good for the planet. My friend Carrie is my inspiration for featuring beans on our household's menu. She makes a mean meal of beans and rice. So humble and yet so good. Add salad and there's a meal. Now, we can even add fresh local tortillas and tortilla chips to our beans and rice (yes, I know rice is imported - I'm okay with that). Doug McKechnie makes fresh and preservative-free corn tortillas and chips and wheat tortillas. He has not been able to find the kind of corn he needs in Ontario so he currently gets it from Illinois or Indiana but he has planted a patch of corn this Spring so that he can use it in his tortillas this Fall.

Beef
The beef this week is from Jeff Stager who we sourced it from last year. It is labelled "conventional" but he rarely uses antibiotics and never uses hormones or steroids. The animals are raised on a combo of about 50/50 grass and grain. I've been happy with the roasts and hamburgers and I'm a beef snob. I don't like steaks in general so I won't comment on those but buying club members raved about his steaks last year. Next week we'll have organic beef available.

Cheese
I'm so ready to stock up on Millbank Cheese again! The Old Cheddar is my favourite. The packages they sell to us are approximately .455 kg but we charge a flat rate for them to make pricing them easier and to keep the price down. (We'd have to pay someone to price each one.)

Stocking up for Winter
I know it's hard to think of preparing for next Winter when it's barely Spring. The sad news is if you want to eat local asparagus or rhubarb July through April, you need to put it in your freezer. The good news is it is SUPER easy to freeze these two items. Just chop and freeze. No blanching or anything. So if you want to eat rhubarb crisp in September or asparagus soup in October, now is the time to buy extra and throw it in the freezer.

The Problem of Super Cheap Asparagus
You may notice that asparagus is super cheap at Value-Mart and other grocery stores. They are playing the "loss-leader" game where they sell a hot item at a loss in order to draw customers into the store who will spend money on other items. There's nothing wrong with this except it warps our perceptions of the real cost of food and some people think that the local farmers who charge more are ripping them off. Far from it! Local farmers usually don't charge enough to cover the true costs and time that go into growing the food. If they would pay themselves and their workers a fair wage, their prices would be three times as high as they are now.

Labelling, Ordering and Forgetting
So, happy ordering. If the farming method for an item is not specified, assume it is conventional. We are working on clearer labels about this. On our website you can read definitions of the labels we are using for farming methods at http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/m4_methods.php.

You have until Tuesday evening at 8 PM to complete your order. You can begin ordering on Sunday and go back and make changes any time you want before Tuesday at 8 PM. When you place an order, you are setting of a chain of events where I phone the farmer, the farmer harvests your chosen items and then washes and packages them before delivering them to First United on Friday afternoon. Please don't forget to pick up your order. If you do (we all forget sometimes!), we will donate it and you still get the pleasure of paying for it. Think of it as a gift to the farmer and the family who receives the surprise box of succulent local food.

See you Friday between 3:30 and 7 PM.

In love of local farmers and local food,

Nina

-----------

Technical notes:

There is a listing of some ingredients at http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/ingredients.php. We will be adding items to this list as we receive them. If there is an item that you would like to see on this list, just ask!

Look for the second line of products when ordering. If there are lots of an item (like mushrooms or loaves) we have created a sub-category for that item.

There is no checkout button. Whatever you have ordered as of Tuesday at 8:30pm will be the order that is processed. You can confirm what you've ordered in the Shopping Basket on the left hand pane. If you place anything in your Shopping Basket that you do not want, please be sure to delete it by Tuesday at 8:00pm, because at that time your order will be finalized.

All prices are subject to change at Friday pickup. We do our best to estimate fair and accurate prices but sometimes errors and changes occur. Please see a Volunteer Helper at Friday pickup to calculate your final cost and check out. Helpers will have their calculators ready to help you!

* some items may have added tax
* some items, such as meat, have prices that are approximate; final price will be determined by the exact weight of your item

If you want your order pre-packed for you this week, please email us at info@baileyslocalfoods.caand we will be sure to have it ready for you on Friday. This feature will be built into the ordering system in the coming weeks. Thank you for your patience!

If you have any error messages appear while you are shopping, email us at info@baileyslocalfoods.cawith the browser you are using, the error message that you received and what you were doing (the item you last added to your basket) when the error occurred.

Enjoy the new ordering system!
Rachael

Welcome to Bailey's Local Foods - Your registration was successful!

There are two messages below. One from Rachael and one from Nina.

Hi Folks,

We received your registration. Welcome aboard! You can now go to http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/ to log in and order!
- click on the Buying Club link in the menu to log in using the email address and password you provided.
(If you forgot your password, click reset a forgotten password and a new one will be emailed to you.)
- click Account Settings to make changes to your contact information and/or add additional email addresses.
(This might be helpful if you want emails sent to your work or someone else in your household wants to log in and help with the ordering.)

Anyone who has been added to your account can choose to receive the Bailey's Buying Club emails from Nina or notices when the weekly offerings open.

Before our first offering opens, we will have a TEST offering.
- click on Offering and select edit existing order for Friday May 22, 2009 to browse through some of the items we will have available in the coming weeks.

You can put in your own TEST order and make sure this new system works for you. Don't worry, no test orders will be processed.

Items that you select are automatically saved in your shopping basket. There is no need to 'check out'.

When you get Nina's email on May 23rd, you can go online and order for real! Your shopping basket remains open from Saturday to Tuesday each week. If you change your mind, you can change your order until the ordering window closes on Tuesday evening and we start calling farmers.

If you have questions, please email me at rachael@baileyslocalfoods.ca.

Thank you,
Rachael

-------------------

You can begin placing orders this Saturday night!! Soon the local food flow will begin! I get so hungry phoning and emailing the farmers, millers, bakers, and cheesemakers. It all sounds so DELICIOUS! I can only begin to list all that we'll have next week: green onions, lettuces, hot house tomatoes and cucumbers, arugula (roquette), sundried tomato and garlic old cheddar organic cheese, and tender beef roasts. And of course, asparagus. Lots of asparagus!

The poor asparagus farmers. They've had at least two hard frosts. A hard frost makes the spears above ground un-sellable because they go kind of limp and soggy after being zapped by the frost. Lydia picked 24 pounds the other morning and sold them to me at a mere fraction of the cost because so many were damaged. I'm trying to find time to make asparagus pickles. I found a recipe where I don't have to blanch them, just stuff them in a jar and pour a vinegar mixture on top. Hopefully the frost will be done now.

I'll be sending an email on Saturday to let you know when the order form is ready to take your orders. We ask for your patience and good humour as we work out the inevitable bugs of a new order form and a new pick-up system at the First United Church (corner of King and William). If my dad Wendell, Rachael (my business partners!) and I look harried on May 29 just give us a pat or a hug and remind us that we are figuring out a new way to move local food into the city and it is a learning process. We have several volunteer Friday Coordinators who may also be looking harried. Charlotte, Josie, Vicki and Maria will be helping to make things run smoothly on Fridays. We also have a few Friday Helpers who will be helping us out: Vanessa and Esme - and maybe more will be joining us. If we're lucky, Paul and Kelly will jump into the fray again on Fridays.

100 Mile Challenge
Would you like to join a group of 100 people who are eating from within 100 miles for 100 days starting in July? If this tempts you and you want to know more, come to the info night Tue May 26 7-9 PM at the Clay and Glass Gallery. This 100 Mile challenge is organized by Healing Path Centre for Natural Medicine on Allen St. There is more information at http://www.healingpathcentre.com/100mile.html

Inspiring Speaker on how to become a "Transition Town"
In the UK there's a great movement called Transition Townes where folks are working together to make their communities more resilient for the changes that are coming our way. This buying club can be called a "Transition Town initiative" because relocalising the food system is key to being able to handle the changes that are happening in the global food system. I can't go because I'll be setting up for the buying club's first pick up but you can go hear Jane Buchan speak 3-4:30 PM May 29 at UW (see http://baileyslocalfoods.ca/transitiontown.pdf for poster).

June 6 visit to Niagara Farm
Those of you who were part of the buying club last year will remember the amazing soft fruits from Eva and Rene Schmitz' farm in Niagara. They are inviting us to visit their farm on June 6 - before their busy season. Here is more info about the visit:

"The name of the farm is Palatine Fruit and Roses and we meet at 11:00 am at the farm (this means you will need to leave the KW area about 9:00 am). Rene will be available to walk the orchards with us and answer any questions you have (and I mean ANY questions you have....you will learn a great deal from him!). Eva will be tending to the garden centre which is where we will meet! You can either bring a picnic lunch to enjoy after the tour at the orchard, or you may choose to take your family and make a day out of the Niagara region......!!"

The address for you to Mapquest or GPS is 2108 Four Mile Creek Rd., Niagara-on-the-lake, Ontario.

New Farmer Brings us New Foods
We have a new farmer bringing us a selection of gourmet local produce. Antony John farms near Stratford and is one of the few farmers in the area that has mastered the art and science of growing produce year-round in greenhouses in Ontario. His prices are higher but he has good reasons for why and says that his produce tastes better than other mass-produced vegetables. Here is how he explains his approach:

"North Americans are, for the most part, not paying a fair price for their food, and have come to expect cheap food as some sort of birthright. The planet cannot sustain this pressure for mass production at any cost, and there will not be enough farmers producing food sustainably if they cannot cover their expenses with their crops.
We cannot compete with food produced in areas with artificially low labour costs, either from California, or from the Amish. I do not have the advantage of a large labour pool to draw from with low living expenses. I hire all my labour locally, and pay them a fair price. This keeps money in the local economy. Neither do I believe that mass production of organic food with lots of machines is the way to go either. I cannot compete with the efficiencies of machine harvesters, but I will win hands down in every vegetable variety on flavour, nutrition, and quality of life. Quite simply, I am interested in producing top quality food, and someone has to pay for that because it's labour intensive. My carrots are expensive, but they've been called the best in North America by chefs such as Deborah Madison and Michael Staadlander. The greens SEEM expensive, but the leaves are lighter than most salad mixes, so a little actually goes a long way (1 lb feeds 12-15 people). Also, the price for the greens is the same all year. This is so that the summer growing season can offset the huge expenses I have growing fresh salad in the winter months. I could offer a cheap salad mix when it's easy to grow it, and just shut down like most other growers, but that would leave my local workers without jobs, and year round restaurants without product. If they are willing to make a commitment to me, I am willing to return the favour by staying open all year."

Antony will be joining us for a couple Friday pick-up times this year so that we get a chance to meet the farmer and ask questions. I haven't tasted his salad mix yet but I am eager to!

Until Saturday,
Nina for Bailey's Local Foods

Bailey's Local Foods - spinach and eggs

Hi Folks,

I noticed that Eating Well is selling local spinach! If you're
craving it like I am, that's the place to go. I'm not going to share
the little bit I'm harvesting from under my solar cones in the
backyard, sorry. I picked enough on Saturday for a salad and it was so
sweet and so fresh and so good. The problem is I ate it at the table
with three children 6 and under who like spinach but do not get how
very INCREDIBLE it is to be able to harvest it from the backyard in
March! I should've eaten it alone while gazing at a sunset.

I'm writing you to give you the tip on spinach at Eating Well (also
great place for local eggs from chickens not in cages) and to invite
you all to join me at the Waterloo Council Chambers this Monday at
7:15. They are finally voting on whether to allow urban hens or not!!
Bring your kids, bring your parents, bring your neighbours. I
realized this week that the Council voting yes on urban hens is NOT a
done deal. I think it is 50/50. We got an email from a councillor
suggesting that he will vote against urban hens! Now I'm scared.
Urban hens are an integral part of a vibrant urban ecosystem with nut
trees, bee hives, salad farms, community gardens etc... This is a
pivotal point for the City of Waterloo where we can decide to be
innovative and take a lead in creating more sustainable cities, or we
can be afraid of change and stick to an outdated goal of sterile
cities.

What do we need to push this to the "tipping point" so that Council votes yes?

Councillors and the Mayor need to see a CROWD of people wearing
stickers that say "SOME PETS LAY EGGS" at the Council Chambers Monday
night. We need LOTS OF WARM BODIES !
Councillors and the Mayor need to be inundated with emails and phone
calls in support of urban hens in the next four days
http://www.city.waterloo.on.ca/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=539
Councillors and the Mayor need to hear why urban hens are a good idea
from presentations/delegations: a lawyer, a business person, an
engineer, a nurse, a teacher, a professor, a grandparent, a parent, a
doctor... (Delegations/presentations are not scary - max of 10 min -
just read a statement)

I've got the stickers. I'll meet you at City Hall 7:15. (When you're
emailing the councillors, email your friends too.)
We can't stop global warming or the economic recession but we CAN make
sure that backyard hens are legal in Waterloo.
When they vote YES YES YES on Monday night we can go out for eggs and
toast to celebrate!
Nina

Bailey's Buying Club Good News - register for 2009!

Hi Folks,

Good news! We will be up and running May 29! First United Church is
renting us their gym on Fridays (corner of King and William St.).
Rachael Ward has joined me in this buying club project and we are
getting organized! This year you'll be able to order from our website
with the benefits of being able to change your order after you make
it, receiving a confirmation of your order and the list of foods will
be easier to navigate.

I'm emailing you now to invite you to register for the second season
of Bailey's Local Food Buying Club. We are planning for feeding 300
families so you can also invite your neighbours, friends and families
to join in the good food fun. We will be doing this similar to last
year. You'll be able to order from Saturday at 11PM to Tuesday at 8PM.
Pick up is Friday 3:30-7PM. We are asking members to pay a $20 annual
membership fee starting this year. The fee will be added onto your
first order and can be paid when you pick it up. The fee will help us
pay the $200/week rent at the church and the hawkers and vendors fee
to the City. There are lots of other details you can find on the
website under: Information for Members (baileyslocalfoods.ca). We
plan to offer local food all year with monthly pick-ups November to
May.

I've been talking to farmers since January to line up who is growing
what for us. It's kind of tricky. I'm working on having a #1 and #2
grower of most vegetables so that we aren't dependent on one farmer
for a crop that may fail (you know, hail, pests, disease). I met with
Selema and Edward Martin a few weeks ago. They have ordered more seeds
than ever before and will be growing for us: lettuce heads, leeks,
sweet peppers, sweet corn, butternut squash and more. It's a
fascinating puzzle to piece this all together. Each farmer has her or
his preference of what they like to grow (often influenced by what
their family likes to eat as "seconds" that are not good enough to
sell) and what grows especially well in their soil and microclimate.
I have not found anyone to grow us carrots yet. I HAVE found Mark and
Debbie Loebbe near Wallenstein who will grow cucumbers and tomatoes in
the greenhouse for us.

To give you an idea of the challenges the farmers live with let me
tell you about sweet corn. Edward Martin grows the sweet corn on his
farm with Selema. He grows it without chemicals for us. He was
explaining that he has to charge me retail price because even though
he plants a patch of sweet corn every week May-July for a continuous
harvest, if the corn is ripe on Monday and we won't buy it until
Friday, he has to plow it under and it is all a loss. He can't sell it
at the auction because buyers there don't want to see the occasional
worm in the unsprayed corn. Next year I'm hoping that we'll be at the
place where we will offer a Tuesday and a Friday pick up. Buying
twice a week is better for the farmers since produce is ripening all
the time and does not just stand in the soil waiting until Friday to
be harvested.

Are you finding any local food out there these days? I wish Perry
would drop off a big bag of whole wheat bread flour from Oak Manor.
It's hard work eating locally in March! Miriam sold me a few cabbages
in February and they are waiting to be eaten in the fridge. I can't
say that we are excited about eating more coleslaw and borscht but
when it is sitting before us and we are spooning it in, it still
tastes good. We expect our meals to be exciting, eh? Makes me think
of living with Albertina's family in Guatemala and how we ate beans
and rice everyday. It was not a hardship or because of extreme
poverty. Meals were not expected to be exciting - just a different
mindset. Wish I could get into that mindset. I just want a really big
bowl of chef salad with Selema's buttercrunch lettuce…

Alright, let's be more positive about local food. I still have about
dozen potatoes left from October 31. They've kept beautifully. My
neighbour Kim picked us up some super sweet carrots at the Kitchener
market. We've got the aforementioned cabbage and Chinese cabbage from
Paul. Frozen red peppers. Frozen raspberries and strawberries. Frozen
chicken, turkey sausage, bacon, beef… See, we're not suffering over
here. It's all perspective eh? Cup is half full or half empty. I
still think "I'm rich!" when I look into my freezer. I just wish it
had more peas and beans in it (note to self for this year).

I'm excited about beginning another year of channeling local food into
the city to urban families. I hope that the church gym will be a
welcoming and fun spot to meet neighbours and pick up food. I'm
worried that I've forgotten many of your names. I wish I could
remember your kids names. Maybe I should ask for that on the
registration so that I can have a cheat sheet to remind myself what
your kids names are before Fridays. Maybe you can just accept that
I'll forget your names and know that I'm still fond of you. 300
families is approximately 1,000 names!

So I'll be using this email list for a few updates and reminders to
register (up until May 29) and then I'll only be emailing those who
have registered. Registering is easy with the awesome form Andrew
created. More than one email address per household can be added later,
please go ahead and register with one email address. Go check it out:
http://www.baileyslocalfoods.ca/register.php. We are relying on
word-of-mouth to work again this year so, please, think of other
people who love local food and live or work near First United Church,
tell them about us and they can go to our website to learn more and
register. Send them this link:
http://www.baileyslocalfoods.ca/m2_buyingclub.php

In love of local farmers and local food,

Nina

PS We think that we will reach our maximum of 300 families quickly so
register now to be sure you get in.