ottawa foodies

Hey folks, it's that time of year again to be thinking about supporting your local farmers with their basket programs!

In spite of the whole poverty thing, I'm still signing up with Saffire Farms.

www.saffirefarms.ca/

Like last year, the last drop off point will be my driveway. So as an extra bonus to anyone who wants to pick up their order at my house, there is free beer! Pretty hard to beat that offer! Well, free beer provided that my "Buy a Beer for Bodensatz" campaign works out for me, but I suspect it will. See my website for details on that : www.bodensatz.com

Here is what we got from Saffire last year, except for the first 3 weeks which we did not record :

spreadsheets.google.com

Note a couple of things. The few things in bold are extras I got as a thanks for letting him use my driveway. Also note that both last year and the year before were slower years for Saffire. Two years ago was a drought - so of course he bought irrigation equipment at the end of the year which was completely superfluous last year when his fields were literally flooded with all the rain. This year he is making more changes to try to be prepared for either situation. He's moving fields around more on his property to have plantings in both higher and lower areas.

He also has really great organic ground beef that he sells to his CSA customers. You can usually request some for drop off day. It's Angus / Hereford hybrid - really yummy!

EDIT: oh yeah, there are also often extras for everyone. He often has a big basket of "2nds" that anyone can pick through and take what they want. Most people don't want them, and where I am the last drop off point, I usually take them all. Once last year I got a huge basket of 2nds tomatoes that I turned into ketchup. There were a few other instances of similar things as well. But again, these are extras that anyone can have as much as they like.

Hey sorry to hear about the job. Can I PayPal funds to Skinaney to "buy a beer"? While I'm at it I should probably buy Fresh Foodie one too :P

I'd also be interested in picking up some organic ground beef. If/when I need some could I contact you to order it from Saffire and accept delivery/hold it for me?

Let me know!

Thanks Monty! I just asked Skinaney about Pay Pal. I would assume it is OK as long as you cover the pickup charge on their end. I forget what it is - $3.50 or something like that? But let's what to hear back to be sure.

Fresh Foodie is already on my regular invite list for my summer time parties, so he can come over for his beer any time he likes :-)

EDIT: yup, they take Pay Pal! Send to sales@skinaneybrewing.com and be sure to at least cover the surcharge, whatever it is. Thanks again Monty! I'll put you on the invite list too. Maybe I'll actually get FF to show up if there are a few Ottawa Foodies there as well :-)

Done! Made a small donation with additional funds to cover the surcharges - it's the least I could do.

Now give me some more details re: that organic ground beef - price, min amount, portioning, etc!

Oh, I don't recall all that - go to their website and email them.

The price isn't fantastic but the beef sure is. My other farmer is cheaper. But Saffire does smaller amounts so I guess it is a trade off. When he sells to his CSA customers you can just get a few pounds at a time. I think he only does ground - keeps the good cuts for himself :-) Actually that's not right - I know I got other cuts from him in the past.

This year he said he is going to experiment with some cattle that are finished on grain - which I immediately turn my nose down to of course. But some people want it, and for him he can bring them to slaughter more quickly. I'll stick with his all grass fed stuff, personally. I get most of my beef from my other farmer, but some from Saffire - as I've mentioned in the past the 2 are VERY different. The Angus hybrid is EXTREMELY flavorful!

bump for the "BEER BAILOUT"

Thanks for the "Beer Bailout" monty! When we're having our first Brew 'n' Q I'll be sure to send you an invite. Last 2 years the first one of the season was end of April, but at this rate we could be beating that by a few weeks this year!

Back on the CSA topic - how is everyone doing so far this year?

We got our first order this week - a fairly small one as the first order always is.

beet greens 398g
garlic scapes 456g
bok choy 400g
radish 202g

Is everyone else on the first week? If not, how many have you gotten so far?

Hi, we offer CSA organic Produce delivered to the door. We have planted extra and are now capable of taking on a few new customers. We have fresh organic, grass-fed Beef, Pork and Chicken available right now. All at $5.00/lb. We have dropped the minimum amount to buy, this month, to promote our meat products so if anyone is interested we have hamburger and steaks starting 1/2 pound packages of 2. Our beef is IRISH DEXTER and SCOTTISH HIGHLAND. Small hardy cattle specifically bred to be raised on grass. . Our first baskets included fresh-picked FIDDLEHEADS and MOREL Mushroomsand WILD Leeks (Garlic). We continue to include wild mushrooms and much more as we find them throughout the growing season. Expect Oysters, Porcini, Chanterelles, other Boletes, Portobello...
ALL OF OUR ANIMALS ARE - FREE- free-to-roam, FREE-to-run,
No cages, No locked barns,
call (613)258-3212 or visit our website. www.freewebs.com/ggreenacres
Cheryl and Lawrence Wyatt

irishgal2, the website you posted does not work.

that would be because of the comma at the end: this one should

www.freewebs.com/ggreenacres

[And I fixed the original - FF]