Staying home and cooking with your family; a winter tradition with new meaning for us in 2020
Last week we launched our fruit and vegetable box program, making it easy for you to get fresh produce without shopping at the store, and this week we are continuing that theme by offering box delivery to anywhere on Salt Spring. It seems we are mostly staying at home these days, which gives us a wonderful opportunity to prepare meals, and good ingredients is an important first step.
This week's market specials include kale and leeks from our garden and beets from Two EE's farm in Surrey. Expect both these items in the produce boxes and at good prices in the market. Justin from Two EE's Farm has become an indispensable part of our business, both as a talented organic grower (he farms over 20 acres) and as a location for us to orchestrate our many pickups and deliveries on the mainland.
Last March our business faced a huge change in shopping behaviours as customers stocked up on food, especially dry goods, and started cooking more at home. Adorably so, sourdough bread baking became one of the most popular home cooking activities! This week we have a whole pallet of organic, unbleached white flour coming in and Ellis wants all those bakers to know: it's time to restock your cupboards - $55 per 50 pound bag. Email to reserve a bag.
You may be wondering how your food security is being affected by the pandemic, now that the farm season is over and we begin to rely on imports. All of Western North America depends on the incredible food production of California and Mexico. These areas are some of the hardest hit by the pandemic and are experiencing huge labour shortages. Farms and packing houses are struggling to keep up with the demand and borders are slowed way down. Food shortages and increased prices are things we expect and we have begun to prepare by purchasing apples and potatoes in advance, reducing our dependency on wholesalers who will undoubtably sell out or raise prices. Having enough for our community is our focus this winter and we will continue to keep you informed about how we are doing this!