Kubb this Saturday

From the Foodlums and the Eau Claire Berserkers Kubb club comes this:

Kubb Friendly in Peace Park, across from our store.

This Saturday, March 1 from 12 to 2pm.

Come play kubb, or watch and learn, or just hang out and share some food.

Delicious news from your friendly meat department

St. Patrick’s Day and Easter are coming, and the meat department is eager to help you celebrate.

Corned beef – it’s not just for St. Patrick’s Day, but what better time to think of it? It’s hard to find corned beef that is all natural, much less local, but we have a solution! MAKE YOUR OWN!!! It takes 2 weeks, so if you want to do this for St. Patrick’s Day, buy a roast this weekend and get it going!

It’s a fairly simple process – coat a roast in a salt and spice rub, massage and turn it daily, then after 2 weeks, soak it in water for 1-3 days, and it’s ready to cook. Simmer it with some carrots, potatoes, and cabbage, and you have a very delicious corned beef dinner (plus leftovers) that you made yourself. (Oh it’s so exciting!)

Copies of the recipe (from Julia Child’s book, The Way to Cook) are available at Just Local, along with a nice selection of roasts from Wheatfield Hill, Little Spring Valley, and Out to Pasture.

Leg of Lamb – How about a leg of lamb from Lambalot Acres for this year’s Easter dinner? We have a sign-up sheet, similar to our Thanksgiving turkey ordering process. Sign up by Monday, March 17, and we’ll have your order ready for pickup or delivery on Friday, March 21.

Legs are available butterflied, bone-in, and bone-in with shank. The bone-in is great if you want to make soup the next day, and the bone-in with shank makes a nice presentation for carving. (btw, just last weekend Laura made lamb stock at home for the first time, then Scotch Broth the next day; it beat the heck out of the Campbell’s version she used to love as a child.)

Fresh Pork – Another really nice option is a pork roast or pork tenderloin from Beaver Creek Ranch. Pork is so versatile, the possibilities are endless. Rosemary and garlic, Chinese barbeque, Cuban, mmm, go adventurous or traditional. We have a few of each in stock now, and will be getting more tenderloin in shortly.

Please let us know if you have any requests in the meat department.
We’ve been selling lamb like crazy lately, with the shanks being a particularly hot item. We expect more shanks, gyro strips, kebabs, and ground for this Saturday.

We currently have a nice selection of lamb chops and leg steaks, which are really tasty, and fast and easy to make as well. If you haven’t had lamb in a while, or aren’t sure you like it, check out some of the recipes posted in the store, or look on-line, and give it a try. You’re in for a nice surprise.

UPDATE needed: paper grocery bags

UPDATE: Holy cow! Are you guys hoarding bags for the revolution or what! Collectively you've delivered a small truckload of paper bags and, as promised, I am now responsible for getting the screenprinting ink from Benny's and putting the "carrot revolution" on our bags for your viewing pleasure. Among the fun involved with re-using paper bags is finding treasures like breadcrumbs and receipts from the Big K in 1998.. and old bags from stores with names like "Kerm's" and "Cassidy's"... KEEP THEM COMING! ~aaron

Hey there. We are totally out of paper bags right now. We depend on you, our faithful customers, to help us save money and precious resources on packaging. Do you, your neighbors or coworkers, have some paper bags saved up? Even if they don't shop at JLF, chances are they would be happy to share their bags. Would you mind collecting them and bringing them in? I'll even make an offer - if we get a whole bunch of paper bags in over the next week, I'll personally spring for a tub of screenprinting ink and will put our collectible logo on the new batch of used bags, it's the carrot revolution. Thanks for your help.

Chili Sampling & Corned Beef (How to)

Chris from Wheatfield Hill Organic will be sampling chili made with their ground beef this Saturday, Feb. 16, at Just Local Food, from 2-5pm. She's also bringing in frozen organic peppers from their organic farm, which means we have everything you'll need to replicate her recipe!

We just got a quarter cow from Wheatfield Hill Organic in last week, and have both their regular ground beef (the best for burgers) and lean ground beef. We also have a nice selection of their steaks and roasts, including ribeyes, t-bones, porterhouse, chuck and arm roasts, and short ribs. How about some steaks for a romantic dinner, or a big ol' pot roast for the ultimate comfort food?

And, speaking of beef, Laura successfully created a delicious corned beef from a brisket, kosher salt, spices, and 2 weeks in the refrigerator. She will have the recipe and instructions available at the store on Saturday, so if you haven't had corned beef in a while, you may want to buy a roast and give it a try. (According to Julia Child, almost any large cut of beef will make a good corned beef; we have plenty of roasts for you to choose from.)

One last tidbit from the meat department:
We just got a whole lamb in from Lambalot Acres, and have a wide selection to choose from -- French racks, chops, leg steaks, kebabs, ground, shanks, and gyro strips. If you haven't had lamb before, you're in for a treat!

Fresh in This Week

Red beets, tangelos, dates, spinach, broccoli, kale, garnet yams, baby carrots, yukon gold potatoes, white button mushrooms, d'anjou pears, bananas and pink lady apples. Thats what we got in Tuesday, plus we have plenty more regular items in as well. I am very sorry there will be a shortage in Dragsmith greens this week and possibly long term. There green house was over ran with aphids and they have caused a large loss. Also there is a shortage in Wisconsin tomatoes so we are out, but we should get them on Thursday. Also Thursday, we will be getting zucchini, green beans, avocados, shiitaki mushrooms, tomatillo and ginger. Come on down or add something to your weekly milk delivery.

avocados, just local style

Our most recent batch of avocados have a web code, which links us to some more information about them. Info on their origin from the code:

All PRAGOR members are considered smallholders, meaning that as rule they do not own more than 10 hectares. PRAGOR's task to organize grower meetings and the logistics of the avocado harvest is comprehensive, since many of the families live in remote and difficult to reach villages.

With joint forces PRAGOR manages to improve the general living standards of the members.

Every PRAGOR member has the right to hand in a proposal regarding the social projects to be accomplished with the Fairtrade premium. Given that PRAGOR members live in 8 different municipalities (with different necessities) these proposals are of ample variety. The members have to decide, in a democratic way, how to spend the Fairtrade Funds. It has already been decided that the first funds will be used to support a centre for handicapped people in Periban. Another proposal, which is currently under investigation, is to hire a doctor who will be responsible for all PRAGOR members and their families. As the Mexican health system is very poor (and relatively expensive), such a system would be far more effective and less costly.

Pick up some of these avocados down at the co-op.

new in HABA

Just in this weekend, freshly made goat milk soaps from Coon Creek's Julie Maro! These soaps are hand-made using essential oils and goat milk right off her farm. Valentine shapes arrived just in time to make you or your sweetheart smelling good for the holiday. For Spring time freshness two new scents, Honey Oatmeal and Geranium, are also on our shelves.

Speaking of Spring clean Mrs. Meyer's came out with a fresh new Basil scent in her cleaning line. Currently we have both the dish detergent and the hand soap in this unique new blend.

Wyndmere Naturals, a woman-owned, woman-run organization, also whipped up a new hand cream utilizing natural coconut and jojoba oils. This product can be found on the bottom of the Health and Beauty display and comes in a blended scent of mint and rosemary.

For those of you fighting the cold blues we recently started carrying Alacer's 'Emergen-C' a power-packed vitamin and mineral drink in powder form. For kids we have strawberry flavored packets with over 500 mg of Vitamin C in addition to Vitamins A, B's, D, E and K. For adults mixed berry "Bone Health" formula with added calcium can be found on our shelves. Both products are sold by the packet or by the box, stop down and check them out.

That's what is new for February, keep us posted with your requests!

~submitted by Ashley Clough, haba buyer

Back in Stock

After being almost completely out of produce Sunday and Monday we are back in stock. Today we received; baby spinach, broccoli, kale, satsuma tangerines, green bell peppers, white button mushrooms, blood oranges, celery, bananas, red d'anjou pears, garlic, hydroponic tomatoes and avocados. Thursday should also be a big day for getting more wonderful produce. I also wanted to mention that sprouts are currently on sale, when you buy any bread or salad dressing you get free sprouts. Thanks for supporting the co-op.

should we stay or should we go?

Here's an article, recently published in the UWEC campus-based community publication Progressive Outpost. It helps shed some light on the complicated matter of the possible jail expansion and how it impacts our local food co-op...

County Jail Project Threatens Downtown Food Cooperative

By Jeremy Gragert, Eau Claire
The Progressive Outpost – February 2008 (Published January 29, 2008)

The $59.1 million Eau Claire County building renovation and jail project ap­proved last year, which includes a massive new three-story jail being sited between the current county building and the Chip­pewa River, is very close to the Just Local Food cooperative grocery at 772 First Ave. For months, preliminary site plans have shown a parking lot replacing the building that Just Local Food currently leases, mak­ing the worker-owners of the cooperative more than a little nervous about the future of their store.

“We want to stay here. It’s a great spot for a grocery store,” said Aaron Ellringer, a worker-owner who has been exploring Just Local Food’s options if the building’s owner, Gerald Niblett, agrees to sell the building to the county. Currently, the county is in the process of having the property indepen­dently appraised so an offer can be made to Niblett, said Frank Draxler, the city-county purchasing director who has taken on the role of project manager for the expansion project.

About half of all properties east of the current county building, between Lake Street and Grand Avenue, are under threat of being acquired by the county for either the new jail or new parking lots. The exceptions include all the Grand Avenue businesses, the houses directly on Lake Street, and the Victorian home at 751 Second Ave. Ellringer of Just Local Food questions why the building that the store operates out of was not given similar protection by the Eau Claire County Board.

Some county board members are wondering the same. County board supervisor Maureen Slauson, whose district includes the county building area, said she doesn’t understand why all of the commercial buildings along First Avenue are under threat by a riv­erfront parking lot. “There are a number of people on the county board who do not want to see this gone,” Slauson said, adding that the buildings have historical and aesthetic value even if they did not house the only grocery store in the downtown.

It has been grumblings like that that may have caused the latest jail site plan (released as a draft on January 11) to leave almost all of the commercial buildings on First Avenue intact, with the exception of a portion of Eau Claire FabriCare, an operating dry cleaning and laundry busi­ness at 768 First Ave. The sudden appearance of the commercial buildings on the plans surprised Ellringer of Just Local Food, because he said that Draxler and the acquisition firm hired by the county to appraise the property, Timbers-Selissen Land Specialists, Inc., has always made it quite clear to him that the county intends the store to be a parking lot before the end of the year.

“In order for us to stay here we need to improve the infrastructure of the buildings,” Ellringer said. “Nobody is going to improve the infrastructure of the buildings if the county is threatening to buy them and rip them down.” Because of that threat Just Local Food has been working with the city for months on finding a new loca­tion in the downtown, rather than spending time and resources to buy or improve the building they are cur­rently occupying.

But recently, Chuck Gable, of Eau Claire, has been in contact with Just Local Food about how he could help financially support improvements to the buildings so that the cooperative could stay. Gable has even been in contact with Niblett about purchasing the buildings before the county makes an offer on them, but Niblett is waiting for the county’s offer first. Gable says remov­ing the buildings and the businesses along First Avenue would be a mistake. “These buildings were built in the 1800’s for food distribution,” Gable said. “Just Local Food is providing the same service as the people who built the buildings had.

It is unclear whether Niblett, the owner of the properties, will sell to the county following the apprais­al that is expected to be complete by February. Accord­ing to Draxler, if Niblett does not want to sell at the price offered to him, the county is obligated to pay for a second independent appraisal, and if a deal can’t be worked out after a third appraisal the acquisition goes in front of a judge. In the end the county has the power to condemn individual properties, but not without the approval of the county board.

Draxler said the county has not had trouble acquir­ing properties to date, with each property acquisition having to get the approval of the county board. Draxler said that the county board has the final say, for exam­ple, over whether the buildings along First Avenue are purchased by the county or not. Supervisor Slauson, quoted earlier, said she would vote against the county purchasing the buildings. For the time being, Draxler says, the county is planning to offer Niblett a price for the buildings and will try to negotiate a purchase some­time in early February.

“My priorities are working with the site plan and making sure we have adequate parking,” said Draxler. “If we don’t need those buildings (for parking), we aren’t going to take the buildings.” Draxler said there is no set number of parking spaces required at this time, but at a minimum, the county would prefer to replace the number of parking spaces lost when the new jail is built on top of current surface parking. “It’s mainly up to how much parking we need and the cost of acqui­sition,” Draxler said, about whether to acquire certain properties outside of the jail footprint.

Draxler admitted that the owners of Eau Claire FabriCare, the dry cleaning business next to Just Local Food, do not want to sell their building to the county either. “FabriCare is concerned with its client base,” said Draxler, a base that is primarily people who dress formally and work at or near the county courthouse. A move elsewhere, even if the county pays FabriCare to relocate, could shut down the business if the cliental can’t be maintained.

To answer concerns of community members, one project workgroup formed in December, called the Community Advisory Team, has representatives from the neighborhood and area businesses and is charged with providing input on the outward appearance of the jail building and the basics of the site plan. Representa­tives of the Milwaukee-based firm Venture Architects, which has the contract for architectural and engineer­ing services for the project, attend the meetings. Ven­ture presented the latest site plan on January 11 show­ing the Just Local Food building on the plan for the first time. When asked why the buildings were on the site plan, Draxler said: “It was just the way the architect drew it at the time.

According to County Clerk Janet Loomis, the Com­munity Advisory Team has no real decision-making power, and therefore the meetings of the workgroup are not given public notice. Technically, members of the general public are allowed to attend but must contact the county for meeting times and locations. Draxler said discussion of specific businesses would not be al­lowed at future Community Advisory Team meetings, which are scheduled every three weeks for the months ahead. It would not be appropriate to publicly negoti­ate the future of the buildings, and the Advisory Team does not have that authority anyway, Draxler said. “I’m not going to allow discussion of Just Local Food at those meetings,” insisted Draxler.

The future of the buildings, and whether Just Lo­cal Food will have to relocate, is expected to be decided by the end of March. Ellringer said the grocery coopera­tive is looking at all of its options, and are hoping to be included in discussions with the county officials and Timbers-Selissen, the firm hired to handle acquisition for the county. Ellringer summed up the uncertainty: “It’s a rollercoaster, that’s for sure.

Upcoming Meetings:
held in Rm 2550 of the Eau Claire County Courthouse

Public Open Houses
Wednesday, February 20 – 6:00pm
Wednesday, April 2 – 6:00pm

Community Advisory Team
Friday, February 1 – 7:30am
Friday, February 22 – 7:30am