TRUCK: It arrived at 7:30 this morning! Not “the” truck, in fact, because that one was full up. UNFI sent a whole other giant refrigerated truck up from Auburn with just our little pallet. The appalling thing is that among our things were four very large boxes of chips, so a lot of that delivery was air—or “snackmosphere” as a clever fellow calls that air that is sealed into plastic packaging to cushion our chips or our crackers or our cereals. (I always worry about huge truckloads of snackmosphere burning up fossil fuels!) We didn’t arrive to unpack till almost 9, because of course nobody thought to call and tell us the pallet had been delivered early and Chin had to rummage around till she found Anna’s phone number, and I arrived anyway to receive the Fresh Breeze order. It’s 2 now, and I just got home. Dunno why it all took so long—keeping open hours, I guess.
NEW! The cranberry juice from Bandon, Oregon, has arrived! Find out about it on the Vincent website: http://www.vincentcranberries.com/ and see a picture of a the family member pressing juice. Ty, the farmer I met, emailed me last night that Monday they finished their first production run of a cranberry-blueberry blend which I’m eager to try. He writes “It is 100 percent juice and I sure love it.” One of our member-volunteers is going to visit family in Oregon, and I’m thinking I ought to find out if it’s ready to sell yet and ask her to bring us a case to try. The apple juice-sweetened dried cranberries are also here and will soon be bagged for you.
BERRIES: Nootka Rose Farm still has raspberries and loganberries to order if anyone wants to get a flat to eat right away (one person can easily consume a pint or more in a sitting!) or to freeze for the long berry-less winter months that come way too soon. See last week’s newsletter for the contact information.
FOOD PRESERVATION WORKSHOP: For anyone who wants to learn about preserving summer bounty for winter enjoyment, there’s a workshop coming up Sunday, July 18, 12 – 4 p.m. at the Mullis Senior Center: Cost—$25; space limited to 14; pre-registration required. Information: contact Candace at (360) 370 7664 or candace_jagel@wsu.edu.
“Take away a jar of your own jam and learn to can, dry, and freeze food safely. Our instructor is also the food preservation judge at the San Juan County Fair. Come get an edge on the competition!”
EGGS: For those of you like me who have been eggless for weeks, we’re hoping to get some Organic Valley eggs from the truck today. Sadly the folks at Moss Farm on Waldron lost some laying hens to eagles and can’t bring us any for a while, and Katy at Lacrover said her hens are not laying much because of the hot weather but she’ll bring some as soon as she can. If anyone has yard birds and wants to put a sign up on our cork board to sell extra eggs, maybe we could get fresh and local that way—spread the word! (There’s been a sign there for a long time, and there really are eggs from scratch-in-the-dirt chickens available right here in town—I got some and they’re yummy—check it out.)
PRODUCE COOLER: Three times a week the cooler gets packed to bursting with beautiful freshly harvested vegetables from Waldron Island, and by the next delivery it’s been all but cleaned out! Steve’s bringing another big order tomorrow. Eating out of that cooler is the best way to stay fit and healthy, that’s for sure—Waldron’s rich earth is often called “blessed” because it supports the sweetest and tastiest produce.
APPLIANCES: Some of you joined me in worrying about our poor fridges during those hot days. One of our member-owners brought in a big box fan to exhaust the hot air out the window, and of course it appears to be working since the weather has become more temperate. It would be a terrible thing if one of our sketchy fleet of appliances were to blow up on us! An AC would be nice if there’s one languishing in a garage somewhere, because it’s only going to get hotter. If anyone hears of some “real deals” on second hand freezers and coolers, especially nice looking ones with see-through display, for our expanded operation this fall, please find out more!
MOVE: Many of you have asked what’s going on with the proposed move to a larger space for our co-op. The Board has tentatively identified three spaces of interest: it is viewing the site on the north end of the Bakery building this week, reviewing the expandable empty space that is available in Star Storage (Felicity is setting up over there and has made it look very nice if you’d like to peek in), and looking at a new site that has been identified in the Ravenhill Building on Airport Circle. The Board is meeting for a second time this month to consider details, compare costs, and plan a membership vote—keep you fingers crossed but don’t hold your breath! Democracy is very slow.
YELLOW: I picked yellow for the “local” price tags; that means San Juan County. I’m not doing it in the produce fridge because the tags change all the time and colored card stock is more expensive than 3 × 5 cards—oh, that’s too stingy isn’t it! Bear with me and I’ll get to it. But everyone knows the stuff in the cooler is local.
ORANGE: That will be for regional—Skagit, Whatcom, and beyond….
[GREEN: That means “organic” as I mentioned last week—we’re not done yet though.]
Faithfully submitted,
– Eleanor
