August 26, 2005

Native Bay Restaurant

Up on Lake Wissota, just outside of Chippewa Falls, is a new restaurant with a menu focused on local foods. Opened by Chippewa Falls native Nathan Berg this spring, Native Bay works with many of the same suppliers that we do.  It has been wonderful working with Nate because we can share some transportation and shipping logistics and sell even more local food at better prices.

Coming up on Monday September 12^th we’re working together again – this time cosponsoring a very special meal called the local bounty – a five-course meal celebrating the wide spectrum of incredible ingredients available to the Chippewa Valley.  We’ve invited several of the farmers we work with to join us for the meal, so expect to learn more about the food as you sample the fruits of their labor.  We’re excited to work with Native Bay on this project and hope this is only the first of many events that we work on together. Call Native Bay for more information on their restaurant, open hours, directions and of course to make reservations for the meal – seating is limited – 715 –726-0443.

What's Fresh

We’ve been delivering more and more fresh produce over the past few weeks.  Some of the best sellers have been the beautiful purple Burgundy Beans from Coon Creek and fresh slicing tomatoes from Sunbow. We’re happy to add even more produce to our menu this week. See the box for a full list. All of the fresh produce that we sell is certified organic for your health and our environment!

Peppers - we’ve got a variety of fresh peppers from Sunbow Farm to offer. Order peppers by naming the variety you’d like and the number of pounds – all peppers are $3.19/#. 

spicy jalapeno: probably the best known of the chili peppers

bulgarian carrot chile: (pictured) hot but with a fruitiness, shaped like a carrot!

pimiento lipstick: many consider Lipstick the most delicious sweet pepper

antohi Romanian: possess an excellent flavor with a very mild heat and are wonderful fried, but can also be used in salads, salsa or pickled

green bell: this classic needs no introduction

Also new this week from Sunbow are organic ping tung eggplant, also $3.19/#. Being an Oriental or Chinese eggplant variety, it is rarely bitter and does not require peeling. The creamy colored flesh of this wonderful eggplant is extremely sweet and tender, far more so than other types of eggplants, and it truly does excel in a high quality taste. Finally, check out the famously sweet Walla Walla onions at only $1.99/#.

Website Updated

If you haven’t been by our website lately we invite you to give it a look.  Joe has been busy reorganizing things and making room for a lot more content – notably information on our suppliers and more product information.  It will take a while to fill the pages, but I hope you find the new design helpful and informative. Let Joe know what you think by emailing him at  joe@justlocalfood.com

I like to print articles from local non-profit Cornucopia – here’s their latest. It is worthy to note that Crystal Ball Farms, the source for most of our dairy products, is a certified organic farm committed to adhering to true organic practices which includes significant access to pasture of all their cows.  All milk bottled by Crystal Ball comes from their own cows, and you are welcome to visit their farm store anytime.

Organic dairy farmers from around the nation once again converged on Washington for the semiannual meeting of the USDA's National Organic Standards Board. The dairy producers attended the August 15–17 meeting to protest the growing number of factory farms that are keeping their cows in confinement conditions while producing organic milk.  These family farmers are again expressing frustration over the lack of action by the USDA to enforce the requirement of pasture for organic cattle.

California organic dairyman Tony Azevedo was one of the farmers attending the NOSB meeting, and he was indignant when the USDA's National Organic Program staff rejected regulatory language drafted by the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), an expert panel that advises the USDA on organic issues.  The proposed rule changes would have reined in the large industrial farms.

"This is a disrespectful process,” Azevedo said after the meeting which took place at the posh Mandarin Oriental Hotel in central Washington. "The USDA has been looking the other way since 2000 as corporate investors launch more and more of these ‘organic’ CAFOs [confined animal feeding operations].  This is my third trip to Washington.  Are they going to stall long enough to allow these corporate giants to squeeze family farmers like me out of the organic business—just like what’s been happening in conventional agriculture?" Azevedo asked. “These Washington bureaucrats are burning me out; I don't know if I'll be back.”

"Thousands of petitions, letters, and formal comments to the USDA, from farmers and consumers alike, along with surveys on the subject, clearly indicate that the status quo is repugnant and totally unacceptable in the eyes of the organic community,” said Mark Kastel, senior farm policy analyst for the Wisconsin-based Institute. “Farmers suspect that something is going on out of public view that may account for the USDA’s foot dragging on regulating and enforcing the pasture issue,” said Kastel. “The NOSB—the USDA’s expert advisory body—has now adopted a guidance document that requires that dairy cows be pastured and receive a significant portion of their feed from grazing. Yet despite this action we continue to receive more reports that large new confinement factory dairies, penning thousands of organic cows into small drylots, are being developed—while the USDA stalls on closing loopholes.  It makes us wonder what these corporate developers know that we don’t,” Kastel added.

As a result, The Cornucopia Institute has filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the USDA.  The request seeks a record of and copy of all communications since January 1, 2005, between the agency and corporations, lobbyists, groups, and individuals concerning the pasture controversy. “We want to know if the powerful corporations that are representing the factory-farm milk as organic are improperly influencing USDA policy behind closed doors,” said Kastel. Our farmer-members need a full explanation as to why this agency continues to put their futures at risk while ignoring the overwhelming sentiment of the organic community that wants America’s strong organic standards enforced.”

Local Fair Trade

We’ve recently started working with an organization called Local Fair Trade to label products that we sell as such. Food that bears this label is grown by farmers and sold by stores that establish fair prices for farmers, paying fair wages to farm workers, respecting the earth through sustainable practices and more.  We’re proud to say that the food we sell supports the farms and the farmers that grow it – all while providing you with the most fresh and nutritious product.  Farmers deserve a fair price. Workers deserve a fair wage. And we all deserve healthy food and healthy communities. Look for this label on our products and elsewhere…