This week
Ideas To Save Your Farm By
Notes on Deliveries for November 30 2010
New this week:
- Big ideas from Arganica
- Fresh Bluefish and Grouper
- Hummus ( 2 kinds) and Tzatziki
- Blue ridge kettle corn
- Walnut chocolate-chip cookies
- Lots and lots of specialty potatoes
Hello Arganicans,
What just happened there?
We just seemed to run over Thanksgiving like a junkyard dog on a back woods road—one thump and no looking back! It seems like with all that wind-up for the holiday, we should get more out of it than just one day. Perhaps a Thanksgiving season is what we need. I just didn’t get to try all those incredible recipes or even talk about the ones I did. Those cranberries should be a part of every meal like at Ikea (what are lingonberries anyway but a foreign knock off of an American original). I attacked my batch with an orange juice base instead of water and threw in extra dark maple syrup, molasses, bourbon and wild-gathered hickory nuts. It was out of this world. Is there anything those berries can’t do?
Then there was the perfunctory stuffing and some discoveries on that front as well. Caramelized celery and onions are the tasty main ingredients but I honestly hate the crunch. The solution this year was to take them off the burner a little early (leaving them fresher and more aromatic) and throwing them in a blender with chicken stock to create and silky puree that becomes the base for some hand torn focaccia bread chunks. I added a triad of diluted chicken broth, maple syrup and granny smith apple chunks to bring it into perfection. Your taste buds are boxed in by sweet, sour and salty. It simply killed.
So what now – wait a year to whip these great dishes up again- biding my time like a spider?? I think not.
One thing that did happen unexpectedly was getting a few days off due to our Tuesday delivery schedule. The extra time gave me some unhindered freedom to explore the ideas and needed research which is often pressed aside by too much activity. Take the bread we sell for example—Albemarle Baking Co. and Goodwin Creek. For our home use here at the farm we simply freeze it the moment we get it. In fact I prefer it to fresh bread sitting on the counter which is constantly going stale. When I want the taste of super fresh, hot-out-of-the-bakery bread, I simply throw a half loaf of whatever is freezer-handy in the toaster oven. This incredible bread is always at the ready, waiting and perfect, whereas bragging about fresh bread after its been sitting 6 hours on the counter gets you some stupid looks—and it doesn’t get better after that.
Big Idea #1
Fraguettes and Friabatta (frozen Baguettes and Ciabatta)
I have been thinking that selling flash frozen local and artisan bread would allow us to drop our prices and carry more varieties. (Bakers change their offerings daily to prevent boredom by customers.) By eliminating the loss attributed for unsold day old bread –savings can be passed on while delivering a better product with greater variety. Is this a “Flash of Genius” or what? In keeping with sustainable frozen meats and frozen fish supply chains we should offer this as a choice. In the end we must find efficiencies for our customers in order to bring the best of the area into everyone’s house at a fair price. I welcome any comment on this—please email, call or send a telegram—posthaste.
Big idea #2
Monday Mornings always get me down (to the farm that is)
Another contemplated change is perhaps offering delivery on Monday morning before anyone wakes up. One of our greatest logistical challenges is trying to fight rush hour traffic Thursday evening. I also suppose that some customers would prefer to start the week with fresh produce and local grub for the upcoming workweek. We would make our deliveries 4am- 630 am. Monday morning—and drop it along side your morning paper. Please email us whether you would change to this delivery schedule if we offered it.
Big Idea # 3
If Obama can’t come to the farm, let the farm come to Obama.
What if Arganica setup the largest urban production farm on some of the most coveted but unused commercial space around DC. We believe we have a pulse on consumer trends as well as the chops on distribution logistics. Guess what! local same-day-caught, organically raised tilapia, lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers are in. What if these were competitively priced and provided paying long term jobs for inner city youths and part time white collar folks working under the mentorship of the region’s brightest farmers, hydroponic and aquaponic experts. A highly efficient enclosed greenhouse / aquaponic facility is on the drawing board. Would anyone be interested in helping this get off the ground? We have the facility and we have the urban waterfront base. Do you want to help us move our stunning plate glass 70,000 sqf greenhouse to a very pretty spot you can drop by after work? There are many roles from helping us find buying commitments from schools and institutions to marketing, labor and of course-investment. Do you want to make an annual purchasing commitment of fish and produce to give our investors enough comfort to pull the trigger—like right now? Who will work for food in this economy? I will !!
Big Idea #4
Arganica goes viral, making local goods available in every remote neighborhood.
Many customers out there are too far out to get home delivery at this point. We have reinvented our distribution choices to incorporate enthusiastic customers as drop captains for their neighborhood. We have setup a network we call “Arganica In Your Neighborhood”. Since you are coming to pick up your crate of goodies and loosing a little shoe leather in the process, you get to pickup 5$ worth of extras that will be made available by the host. This may be anything from fresh produce, frozen grass-fed lamb or just-caught shrimp or baked breads. What could be a better deal. Anyone wanting to be an Arganica host will get to sample lots of food and receive a free membership just for helping us reach your neighbors or coworkers. Just check out the attachment for some basics if you are interested in hosting. You can even rotate this among friends who want to host their own mini farm market sometimes. Download the “Arganica in Your Neighborhood Protocol Sheet” for details or simply email or call us to hear more.
Arganica aspires to not only deliver fresh produce but also some very fresh ideas about local food access. Every time we succeed, find another customer, sell another bagel, or beefsteak, some local producer lives a little better and someone else in your area has a job. I quote from Washington Post’s Jane Black and Brent Cunninghams’ recent article.
“Local food as economic development is a more persuasive argument in places where good jobs are scarce than is the do-the-right-thing mantra that echoes from both coasts.”
According to their article following the most obese town in America—Huntington, West Va— “residents spend $1.25 billion annually on food, but little of it stays in the region.” Just watch what happens to the vibrancy of the areas' green belt and the inner urban economy when those dollars are trapped locally. – Help us make it happen
Dominique
Happy eatings from Dominique, and the entire Arganica team (watch out for our profiles popping up soon on our upcoming updated website)
Post Thanksgiving Notes on What's Fresh-Yes, More Food!
Hello Arganicans!
We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends, and that you were able to take time to savor the true bounty of fresh, delicious local foods that we are so happy to bring to your door!
It’s fresh fish week, reeled in and rolled out from Todd and friends at Chesapeake Seafood! We’ve got whole Bluefish and Grouper available for the first time this week--two large fish that make a fantastic centerpiece to any festive meal. Blues are a migratory species, with full-flavored, tender-textured flesh that stands up well (grilled, baked or smoked) to acetic glazes, cajun rubs, and mustard-based marinades.
Try this recipe for a tasty grilled grouper with mango habanero sauce preparation.
What's New this week
Traditional Hummus, Roasted Garlic Hummus, and "Pre-Inaugural Tzatziki" from The Farm at Red Hill: I Just returned from two weeks in the middle east, I now know a truly superb hummus when I dip some pita into it--and this is it! The family run Farm at Red Hill's Tzatziki was featured as part of a pre-inauguration benefit held by the Obama Agrigultural and Rural Development Committee. If it's good enough for the Obamas, it's good enough for us.
Goodwin Creek Farm and Bakery’s Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookie: This nearly half-pound cookie (!!) is pure nutty, chocolate decadence. You might consider sharing it with a friend or two to avoid a repeat episode of the post-thanksgiving food coma. Nancy and John recommend storing one of their cookies in the back seat of your car in the winter months to fight starvation in case of flash avalanche or winter blizzard entrapment.
New flavors of premium, seasonal ice cream from Trickling Springs Creamery: Rich, creamy, delicious peanut butter and pumpkin flavors--you won't
miss Aunt Sara's pumpkin pie for even a minute.
Blue Ridge Kettle Korn: After some, ahem, experimentation with different kettle corn producers we have found the winner! Just a friendly warning, Rachel calls this stuff “Kettle Crack,”—It's just that addictively-tasty.
And we've got a rainbow assortment of potatoes--small large, starchy and sweet--for all of your Potato Latke needs--stayed tuned for some kosher meat products we'll be adding to the order form—L'Chaim!
Jessica
Happy Local Eatings from the entire Arganican Team!
