Seedlings are HERE!

Piney Hill Farm of Glenwood City, Wisconsin has delivered heirloom, non GMO seedlings! We have eggplant, 8 varieties of tomatos, herbs, cabbage, brocoli and other brasicas. As always, enjoy cowpot potting soil or cowsmo compost for your gardening needs. Learn more about piney hill at the link below! http://www.pineyhillfarm.blogspot.com/

This week in PRODUCE

 

new to a produce cooler in your reach:

local, Naturally Agave Sweetened Salad Dressings from Elder Valley Farms and Local, Organic Apple Sauce from Hoch's Orchard


Cara Cara Navels, Grapefruit and Valencia Oranges, Satsuma and Fall-Glo Tangerines (Organic)


Last of the Season's local Cranberries (but keep looking in our frozen section to find Sno-Pac Cranberries from MN!) and naturally beautiful Spencer, WI peppers


Organic Green Beans


a multitude of local, organic heirloom squash


and back in this week: Brent Douglas (locally grown!) Flowers

Just Local Flowers now at JLF!

Brent Douglas and Just Local Food are proud to bring you fresh, local, gorgeous flowers now at your community co-op. Working to source flowers from growers in Plymouth, MN and Wausau WI, we are hoping this will add great color, scent, and growing convenience and thoughtfulness to each visit to our store.

Citrus Season is here!

Organic Tangerines (Satsuma and Fall-Glo) have arrived!

Cranberries, papaya (pictured on the right), kiwi, dates, bananas, local IPM or local+organic apples, lemons and limes, grapefruit, grapes... quite the possibilities right now for a wonderful fruit salad right here in Eau Claire!

recipe ideas:

-lunch box favorite salad

-Persimmon Salad with Toasted Walnuts and Dried Cranberries

-Roasted Ratatouille Pizza

Piney Hill Farm Salad Mix with "pizzazz"

New this week!

Piney Hill Farm spring mix - spicy, pre-washed, hyper-locally grown (and farm direct, from Glenwood City, WI). Truly a local, natural (no herbicides or pesticides) and fair trade product.

disclaimer: please wash your produce

Just Local Food on GAMEDAY!

just local food on gameday (Packers vs. Vikings)!

Safety First... and please have fun with your food! (Bob and Zac model extra cabbage leaves as helmets/shoulder pads and red curi squash substitute for the traditional pig skin)

think Just Local Food for supporting your hometown teams!

Fingerfood with soul is here! beer with attitude... make your own 6-pack that speaks to todays game! unforgettable cheese, meat, cider, fruits and veggies, ETC!

Tropical heat relief

pura vida mi pueblo,

This week we bring you a Latin American theme to accompany the this heat wave. we just brought in an order of fantastic tropical treats that will surely quench your summertime thirst!

Fresh today we have young coconut, black and green figs, papaya, pineapple. cilantro, tomatillos, y mucho mas for an amazing fruit salad, salsa, combination of the two or whatever your inner latina/o may crave.

rhubarb

A good local spring meal is almost always topped off with Rhubarb, a perennial that has been cultivated for centuries (4500 years!) for both medicinal purposes and as plain ol' food.

Here are a variety of recipes from a site that has more information about Rhubarb than you ever thought possible.

fresh produce

Howdy. We wanted to post up a variety of fresh produce we received this week.

Morels! In and out as soon as we get them! (pictured at right are actual mushrooms from the store)

We're now carrying portobella mushrooms, big firm and fresh. Spaghetti squash all the way from California if you have a hankerin'. Kumquots are back for a limited time, their season is almost through. Red Bartlett pears from across the globe are here. Give one a try and you'll know why we have them, certified organic of course.

Some early snap peas are here for your pickin'.

And in addition to the ramps and asparagus, we've got local certified organic rhubarb from Otter Creek Valley Farm (on Hwy 53).

Try this simple idea for morels, asparagus and ramps.

Or Barbara Kingsolver's crazy bread pudding (substitute ramps for spring onions if you dare!).

And I'll ramble more variety in no particular order: local spring mix, shiitake, crimini and white mushrooms, celery, broccoli, red & green peppers, red & green cabbage, red & green lettuce, apples, blood & navel oranges, cilantro, chives, rosemary, cucumbers, lemons, ginger, local micro greens, spinach, kale, chard, bananas, avocados, red & yellow & white onions, red & yellow & white potatoes, shallots, yams, roma & cherry tomatoes... and more!

ramps aka wild leeks

Local produce of the week:

Ramps

Information straight from our grower, Harmony Valley:

Ramps grow wild in our part of the country, preferring deep forest soils and cool springs. We harvest them judiciously, selecting large bulbs with healthy leaves, leaving behind plenty to replenish the population for sustainable harvest for years to come. The flavor of ramps is inimitable, though they are reminiscent of leeks, hence their local name, wild leek. Their season is fleeting, three to four weeks in late April and early May, depending on the spring temperatures. Their supply is limited, so enjoy them in abundance while they are available.

asparagus! ASPARAGUS!

Ahhhh. Maple Season has passed (it was a good one, too!) The next major rite of spring is Asparagus. Fresh, firm, local asparagus. Deep green. Supremely healthy. ASPARAGUS!

We ask a mere $5.29 per pound for the good stuff coming up from the Kees family farm near Durand. Certified Organic and grown with care, love and attention. Handled carefully by our worker owners. It's good for you.

And its only for a short time each year!

Local Spring Mix has Sprung

Eau Claire, WI (Super Local) Spring Mix is in!

Pam Herdrich has just started bringing us wonderful spring mix and will continue to do so every Monday and Thursday throughout this season.

Here's the rundown on the new greens... "We grow our greens hydroponically, in a peat and perlite mix. The greenhouse looks like a forest of short "trees" growing alternately a lettuce and a mesclun mix. Unfortunately, for this year, we are using commercial fertilizer, but hope to find and organic alternative for next year. We are not using any pesticides.

Here's what's in the mix: Mesclun mix: Arugula, Red Giant mustard, Bianca Riccia endive, Kyona Mizuna, red lettuces (generic). Lettuce mix : Sulu, Barbados, Antago, Blackhawk, Defender, Garrison and Annapolis leaf lettuces. (You're getting a mix of approximately half Mesculun and half lettuce mixes.)

The greens will be cut fresh in a cold (50's F) greenhouse, refrigerated immediately and delivered to you within 24 hours... It won't be traveling for two weeks to get to you, or harvested in hot weather."

We sell the best local and/or organic produce we can get - while these greens are not organic, they are far from conventional. They are more fresh (when were the California greens picked?) and have a higher degree of food safety because of the known origin... we think you will love it.