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Bob's Notes: June 2004
Wow. Last month we ended up only $200 short of breaching the ten THOUSAND
dollar mark in total monthly revenues. This month we have new producers, new
products, previously out of stock products now restocked, and lots of good
food. We also have some "sales" from producers. To order, go to
www.oklahomafood.coop/shop and log in with your user ID and password. If
you have misplaced them, or for some reason haven't received them, send an
email to help@oklahomafood.coop.
We will be having our next Oklahoma Food event on Tuesday, June 29th,
starting at 6 PM. It will be held in a shady area just west of Quayle
United Methodist Church, which is just east of Kelley on NE 50th. This
will be an outdoor picnic, and will feature BARBECUE. Yum. This is also
our first Annual Meeting and election of officers and board members. The
price of a meal ticket is $5 for both members AND non-members (we want to
encourage you to bring a friend). If you want to attend only the business
meeting, and not feast, there is no charge, you should come at 7 PM for the
bidness part of the meeting. You can order tickets on this month's order,
product code 1361 is for member tickets, and #1362 is for non-member
tickets (same price, but we want to keep track of how many members and how
many non-members are attending. Please make your reservations right away
as we need to plan how much food to prepare. Volunteers will be needed to
help with all aspects of that event, including hospitality, preparing for
the election, counting and tabulating the ballots (paper ballots of
course), and cleaning up afterwards. Paulette Rink and her crew from the
Rowdy Stickhorse are bringing their big barbecuers and smokers (they do
this sort of event professionally), so be ready for some fine Oklahoma
barbecue.
Anyway, on to the FOOD!
We have a new baker, Our Daily Bread, from Adair County, they are offering
several unique artisan breads which compliment offerings by other producers
in this category. Of particular note is that these are our first KOSHER
products, including unleavened matzoh breads which could be used in some
churches as communion bread. They are also offering PRETZELS (!!!!!!!) --
don't forget to specify in the instructions if you want them plain or one
of the variations they offer -- pita bread, and Ezekial bread which is
based on a recipe from the Bible. The Goldman's are also offering WALNUT
BAKLAVA (add another dozen exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!!), a burn recovery
cream made from a recipe handed down through five generations of his
family, and a facial care cream, both made with all natural ingredients.
Primacafe is introducing 3 new flavors of COFFEES this month, in 1, 2, 5,
and 15 pound packaging. I had my first Primacafe coffee at the Labor
Religion breakfast in May, and it was Very Good. I have not previously had
any "artisan coffees" (I have never been to a Starbucks), but their
Morningside breakfast blend which we served at the breakfast was
outstanding.
We have a new EGG producer -- Bill's Farm. They are offering eggs from
Araucauna chickens, which of course are naturally colored blue, green,
brown, and pink.
PDH Farms hopes to have CANTELOPES this month. They have listed them on the
price list, but Don tells me it is hard to know if they will be ready by
Delivery Day. This is one of the challenges of buying and selling through
the cooperative. Vegetables don't come with "will be ripe on X date" tags.
There are many variables -- weather, rainfall, genetics -- and it isn't
always possible to accurately predict if a given vegetable will be ready by
a certain date. Since we have only one order a month right now, I generally
think it is better to list the product rather than not list it, if it isn't
ready, they will mark it out of stock. PDH also has RED POTATOES and
YELLOW ONIONS this month, also ZUCCHINI and YELLOW SQUASH.
Crestview Farms is introducing GARLIC CHIVES this month. They had a problem
last month and weren't able to deliver, but they are back up and running
this month. They also have hanging flowering baskets, which I saw at the
Farmers Market this week and they are gorgeous. Susan also has jalapeno
peppers this month. Spicy! And basil, lemon thyme, sage, and savory are
back! They also have green and yellow wax beans, and red and golden beets.
Cole Farms has listed an AUGUST BEEF for delivery that month. We got our
first box of beef from him in May and have been very pleased with the
quality (and the quantity) of the beef.
Natural Farms is introducing BEEF TENDERLOIN, a truly premium product.
Belle Starr Buffalo is introducing buffalo BRATWURST, BREAKFAST SAUSAGE
LINKS, HOT LINKS, HOT PEPPERED SNACK STICKS, summer sausage and a chuck eye
steak. Wow. I have been buying his ground buffalo for several months and we
really enjoy it.
Wichita buffalo is introducing a 1/16 BUFFALO, which is 1/3 steaks, 1/3
roasts, 1/3 ground buffalo, this will weigh approximately 25 pounds at a
good price. We served buffalo prime rib to a banquet at my church this
week, and it got major raves. The chef -- Gerald Duke, who is the chef at
the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center and a member of the co-operative --
lightly flavored it with parsley, rosemary, sage, and thyme from the
Epiphany kitchen garden, and roasted it medium and it was outstanding.
Several people said to me, "Bob, when you announced the menu, I almost
didn't come as I couldn't imagine that I would like buffalo, I figured it
would be really tough. But it was delicious!" We also served new potatoes
and green beans and yellow squash from PDH Farms, Mrs. Chadwicks pound
cakes, and Springhill Farms bread.
Speaking of bread and cake, we ordered and received the bread and cake for
this banquet on the May delivery day and tucked them into the freezer. Both
the Springhill Farms bread AND the Mrs. Chadwick's pound cakes came out of
the freezer in PERFECT condition. I spoke with Nick Callen of Springhill
about this, and he said his recommendation for freezing their bread is to
take it out of the original wrapper, wrap it in cellophane, then put the
bread back in the original wrapper and put it in the freezer. Springhill
is also introducing this month WILD SAND PLUM JAM and WILD SAND PLUM SYRUP,
which they make from sand plums growing on their Kiowa County ranch. He
said the syrup was great on pancakes and toast; I bet it would also be
tasty on ICE CREAM.
We served the Chadwick's traditional and kahlua cakes, and while both were
good, I liked the kahlua cake the best. Both were simply frozen in the
wrapper they came in (Chadwick's cakes btw come with a nice glossy wrapping
that makes a great presentation).
If you are gardening yourself this summer, Gerald Ashby of Worm Solutions is
offering quite a selection of new worm products, WORMS by the pound, in a
bucket, a worm "hotel" (Can o Worms).
Bloomin' Botanicals is introducing green chile GUACAMOLE. People really rave
about the taste of their New Mexico style cooking.
Kygar Greenhouses has watercress this month and also new RED POTATOES and
yellow ONIONS, the latter two products are grown in the ground of course,
not in the greenhouse. He's got a bulk price on the onions, and has lowered
the price on his TOMATOES. In fact, he's practically got a sale going on
his #2 tomatoes for cooking and saucing at $1/lb.
Three Springs Farm is introducing COLLARD GREENS, BROCCOLI, RED SUMMER CRISP
LETTUCE, RED BEETS. Availability of the broccoli is subject to the
weather. I was really impressed last month with their heads of lettuce. I
think they called them "medium" but they seemed rather JUMBO to me.
James Branum is offering Number 1 and Number 2 VINE RIPENED RED HEIRLOOM
TOMATOES, and also green tomatoes.
Price Produce has dropped the price of her TOMATOES. Alas, her special
salad mix is finished for the year, which is a shame as it was quite
popular at a church banquet we did using some of her salad mix.
FINALLY, June is here and that means SWEET CORN. I spoke yesterday with
W.C. Pesterfield, of Pesterfield's Sweet Corn in Pauls Valley. He
estimates his sweet corn will be available about June 24th, and then they
will pick for about a week to nine days and it will be finished. It sells
for $10/bushel, which he says is about two full size paper grocery bags
full, about 35 ears, or $5/half bushel. I'm not sure how we will work
this, but I am inclined to go down sometime between June 24th and the first
of July to pick some up, and we are going to try to do our first
co-operative special order if there is enough interest. I don't know that
we could guarantee delivery to anywhere other than Oklahoma City and
Norman, unless someone from Tulsa or Tahlequah wants to come to town, and
we won't do any home deliveries, but I could drop off in Norman on my way
back and then folks could come to my house in central OKC to pick up their
corn. Minimum order would be a half bushel, and there will be some kind of
a small surcharge for gasoline. If you are interested in this, send an
email to customer@oklahomafood.org with SWEET CORN (in all capital letters)
in the subject line.
What would you do with a bushel of sweet corn? Well, whatever you can't
eat on the spot you could shuck, blanch, and then freeze for fine eating
later. In fact, many of the vegetables presently available through the
co-operative can be frozen or otherwise preserved for eating later. Our
vegetable offerings will always be seasonal, so learning some basic skills
in food preservation will help you to take full advantage of the
cooperative's opportunities. I'm buying lots of green beans on this order,
to freeze for later eating. I have dehydrated yellow and zucchini squash
with great success, I shred them and then dehydrate them and then use them
later in soups and sauces. Tomatoes can simply be popped into gallon bags
and frozen. When you're ready to make tomato sauce, they're ready for you.
That's it for this month. All I've done with this edition of Bob's Notes is
hit the highlights of the new items. As you can see, that was quite enough
to keep me busy. Besides these new items, we have HUNDREDS of other food
items still available from 58 different producer members of the Oklahoma
Food Cooperative. I encourage everybody to order some of this great food
to share with their families. Good taste, good nutrition, and excellent
convenience, such is the winning combination that we offer to our members.
I hope to see EVERYBODY on June 29th.
Robert Waldrop, president
Oklahoma Food Cooperative
PS. Our neighbors in Arkansas had the founding Arkansas Food banquet of
their new local food cooperative. They have a website at
www.farmtable.org . If you have friends or family in Arkansas, send
them the URL!
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