Friday 6/15

PREORDERS
(we did not reach a case for fage, not many preorders coming in)
Steph 2 cottage cheese
Tonya 2 chicken tenderloins
Naomi 1 cottage cheese
Ingrid 1 cottage cheese, 1 chicken tenderloins
Kathy L 4 tenderloins
Gretchen 1 cottage cheese
Brenda 3 chicken tenderloins

Hot dogs and jalapeno sauerkraut are AGAIN on the list of things scheduled to arrive this week, we'll see if they actually arrive.  If the Coleman hot dogs don't arrive this week, we'll assume they're simply impossible to get, drop them from the order, and look at other brands.

EXTRA 1 cottage cheese (email if you want it)

REARRANGED ORDER FORM
 I cleaned up the order form a little.  I think it might be easier on the eyes now, and perhaps easier to find things.

OTHER HOUSEKEEPING THINGS I'M WORKING ON
I'm working on other things, too, like a list of items and prices of things like meats and other non-produce items from Albert's so you can remember what's available and their prices and make requests from that list.  When you are on the order form, look down bottom at the "sheets".  Click on "Sheet 4" - I'm not done with it, but you can see where I'm recording the things we tend to order regularly but not every week, so you can take a look at the list and request things.   

I am also thinking of a financial spreadsheet (I'm experimenting with that on "sheet 3"), where everyone participating has a row of what was owed, what was paid and when, and credits I owe you...  A running tab that will always be available to you.  In two years of doing this there's not been a problem with the system I'm using now (that may be because of the trust you guys put in me as a record-keeper, and I appreciate it), but it doesn't seem like such a bad idea to record and archive payments and credits in a place that's open and available to you at any time.

NORM:  Norm's ezekiel bread and english muffins are locked for this order.  He was in a car accident when he left here two weeks ago, and though I think he's OK, he was only just released from the hospital this past week.  His wife is bringing eggs, so you can order all the eggs you want, but we'll give him a break from the bread for now.

BUTTER

Time for another bulk butter buy.  I'm trying to arrange a non-Monday delivery so we don't have to take a Monday off (I can't deal with the butter and the produce on the same day, and the blocks are too large to get in a fridge or freezer without getting cut and bagged first), so I don't know exactly when this will come in, but I'd like to go ahead and take the orders now.
For the new folks who haven't done a bulk butter event, this is Natural by Nature brand salted butter.  Organic and grassfed.  It comes in a solid 55 pound block, and I cut it into cubes roughly 8 oz each, and bag it in 2.5 pound increments.  It's $6.15 a pound, so each 2.5 pound bag will be $15.38.  It's freezable.


We can also get organic valley pastured butter (organic, grassfed) in 8 oz foil wrapped packages.  If you prefer or want those, just ask and I'll put them on the list.  It's about $7.20/lb.  (In stores it's about $8.50/lb) 


Camille's produce: I've put "local produce" in its own section for now.  It's all Camille's at the moment, but Norm will eventually have things, and maybe other people will, too.  Having it in the Albert's produce section was messing me up when it was time to decide on the order.  There's a new thing on that list.  Frozen asparagus beans.  "The frozen ones are cut in 1-2 inch pieces, blanched in salt water, frozen, then vacuum packed. They thaw and saute beautifully, and keep well." 

I'M LOOKING FOR A USED/BASIC FRIDGE  Think of me if you have a friend selling one, or see a really basic floor model on sale somewhere.  I don't want to get one so old or worn down that it couldn't survive being out on the porch, or would cost a lot to run, but even without the buying club I think this family could use a second fridge.  The buying club just makes it that much more sensible.

Coconuts: I don't know much about coconuts.  These are listed as "Thai, young, in husk".  I think by "Thai" they just mean immature/green ones instead of the big brown ones.  They come from an organic farm in Miami.  I think these are the ones used more for water than for meat, but that there is meat in there too.  I also don't know what a normal price for them would be.  Anyone use coconuts regularly and know?

Lemonade:  They dropped our order of lemonade, and so I'm throwing out our orders and just putting it back up there. It's a preorder, so it won't come in til next week.

Heavy Cream: It's usually a preorder, but I ordered a case last week, knowing I'd need it and would be ordering it no matter how many were ordered by you guys.  So it's available up in the "non produce" section.

NEW American Heritage pork.  Sometimes when there's a new vendor there's a bit of a delay getting the product to us.  So we may have to be patient if we decide we want this, thought it SHOULD be in next week if we order it.  I was interested in this because it's a good in-between.  I've been paying about $6/lb for some WONDERFUL pork from Graham Farms locally.  When you can sometimes get conventional pork butt at Publix for less than $2/lb.  This will be 3.50/lb, each one weighing roughly 8 lbs.  Pork is one of the worst offenders when it comes to conventional farming practices being horribly inhumane and unhealthy, but truly pastured is hard to find.  This is not organic, nor is it truly pastured, but the growing practices are humane, and the hogs are raised on family farms, outdoors.  Here's their web site if you want to take a closer look at them.   This is usually a "food service" item (sold for restaurants) so they are NOT INDIVIDUALLY WRAPPED.  I'll have to bag them or if they don't fit in my usual storage bags, wrap them in wax paper and saran (in which case I may pad the price by about 10 cents/lb for future buys).

Preorders: I'm trying to put some sort of dinner-type-meat on the preorder list each time (other than the Murrays tenderloins, which are of course on there every week).  Chicken thighs, breasts, turkey cutlets, whole chickens... I'm kind of rotating through those same things (which is fine by me, they're all things we've liked).  This week it's the Eberly chicken thighs, which we loved last time we got them.  Eberly is the truly free-range small family farm company (info on their practices HERE).

It's a WAINWRIGHT week, so order milk and cheese if that's your thing.  (Gotta be on delivery route for milk, but cheese I can hold for you until next Monday.)

Okay, all done, order form is HERE!