July 22 2005

Fresh Stuff

Being summer, of course there is plenty of fresh produce in the area. I encourage you to visit one of the farmers markets in the area, stop at a roadside stand, or go all the way to the farm. That’s what I did on Thursday and you can read a bit about that below. For delivery this week we have plenty of Zucchini from Coon Creek. If you order the three pack you’ll get three good sized organic zucchini. Julie also wants you to know that if you’re looking for a zucchini to roast, grill or juice, just ask and we can bring a big one to you at a reasonable price. Also from Coon Creek we have Royal Burgundy green beans which are purple but turn green when cooked, and some French Maxibel ready soon which are a longer, skinner green bean.

Additions from Sunbow organic farm include a variety of slicing tomatoes, fresh garlic and shallots.

This Thursday was another exciting pickup day for me. I started out the morning by packing up my car with coolers and empty containers and heading down south about twenty minutes to Castle Rock Organic Dairy.  We’ve been dealing with the Kostka’s for over a year now, selling their excellent pork and developing a good working relationship. Over the past few months they have put the final touches on their new certified organic milk bottling plant. This is exciting news for local food enthusiasts as we now have a fresh supply of milk and dairy within minutes of Eau Claire. I stopped in at their on-farm store and bought some organic Molasses Chocolate Chip ice cream, then picked up this weeks order of brown free range eggs and naturally raised pork from Barry and Roberta and their kids. We’ll start carrying organiccream-line milk in returnable glass from Castle Rock in the next few weeks.

Next stop was a downtown celebration in Durand, where I finally got to meet the folks who run Countryside Bakery, a rural bakery somewhere between Rock Falls and Durand. They are open Fridays in the summer, so I haven’t made it out there due to deliveries. They had a booth downtown along with other vendors. Through Durand to Eau Galle, we picked up more Eau Galle Italian Cheese. Last time I ordered twice as much as the previous order, and had to do it again this round. The ladies in the cheese shop are surprised at how much cheese we’re selling. From Eau Galle we slipped down to Maiden Rock, where Doug from Honey Hill showed us around his farm. I always learn something new when talking with Doug about bees, and I have to share this one with you. I mentioned in a previous letter how bees stay in the boxes all winter, huddle together and conserving body heat.  Well, it turns out bees, like most animals, don’t like to poop in their house.  Obviously it’s cold outside in the winter, though, so they end up getting a little stopped up eating honey in their house all day and night. The bees actually wait for a sunny day and they fly outside real quick, relieve themselves and get back in quick before they freeze. Doug handed off the honey we ordered and we were off to Minnesota.

In previous letters I’ve also explained a few of our vehicles, like the old ford Escort that runs on waste vegetable oil. We also have our big delivery truck that has a diesel engine. Because any diesel engine can run on biodiesel, we’ve been running different blends of this alternative fuel in our truck since we began last summer. Normally we get biodiesel commercially through Durand. This spring they announced a price increase to $3.69 per gallon, though, so we’ve been pretty conservative in our use of that. We are definitely committed to sustainability and doing the right thing, but some decisions like this are influenced by price. When I heard of biodiesel in Minnesota for $2.55 (just a nickel more than diesel here) I thought it would be worth a few extra miles to pick some up. So at the Farm County Co-op in Wanamingo I filled up the fuel tank in my car (VW Golf diesel) and a few extra tanks for blending into the truck to ease emissions and smoke.

Next stop, a meeting with Doug Anderson from Beaver Creek Ranch. Doug lives way up in Grantsburg, on the St. Croix River north of Hudson. We scheduled a meeting at the River Market Co-op in Downtown Stillwater. Doug was on his way back home from a pork processor, and had some freshly frozen chemical free bacon ($6.39/#). The replacement Doug has found for nitrites in bacon is spinach. These farmers are dedicated to finding safer ways for you to enjoy food! Also new this week from Beaver Creek Ranch are smoked turkey legs (2.69 each). Doug tells me he’s been selling thousands of these turkey legs at Renaissance Fairs this summer, and I can tell why. After loading all the frozen goods into our coolers we were off again, now to Bass Lake Cheese back in Wisconsin.

Bass Lake Cheese in nestled in the hills east of Stillwater about 6 miles. It’s a very nice cheese shop, focused on cheese and cheesemaking history. Lots of pictures, antiques and samples! We were picking up more smoked gouda, chev’re, sharp cheddar and other cheeses for the market. Onto the interstate for awhile, last stop is the Menomonie Market, our bigger, more mature sister co-op. Coffee and chocolates are dropped off here for us.  We are now allowed to sell Farmer to Farmer whole bean coffee at the Downtown Market, so I had quite a bit  of coffee to pick up, and just barely enough room for it. I almost had to leave my Dad in Menomonie! Well, I must admit it’s 8:05am Friday morning so this story has met it’s end. I hope you enjoyed my road trip story, and my thanks to you for supporting these farmers and the Just Local Food Cooperative.