Description
Our fall round-up of Manitoba organic grains and pulses is underway! Harvest is (nearly) finished, and although it was a challenging year on so many levels, with late frosts, severe drought, and plants that thought it was spring in September, there is still amazing food that was grown in this beautiful province of ours. In fact, bundles this year are fatter than ever – a whopping 89 lbs of organic amazingness, comprised of 18 different types of grains, seeds, flours, and oils!
Similar to last year, we will sadly not be able to run as a “zero-waste” bulk food option, so all products will be pre-packaged (in compostable paper bags or glass) and ready for a quick pick-up in Winnipeg in January 2022. We are still holding out hope that we’ll be able to meet with some of the farmers and share some time together on the pick-up day, but we probably won’t make a call until we’re a bit closer to the date, knowing that restrictions can come and go with little notice. We might need to use packaging, but we can still reduce the carbon imprint of our food miles, eat more plant-based meals, reduce food waste, forward the discussion about local food security and sustainability, and share home-cooked meals with our loved ones. There’s not just one way to have a positive impact on the world around us!
2021 Grain Bundle (prepackaged)
Your January 2022 grain bundle will include (approximately) the following Manitoba grown products:
- Organic Naked Oats (10 lbs/4.5kg – your choice of rolled, steel cut, quick cooking, or whole/unmilled oats – check out the link if you’re not sure which type is best for you)
- Organic French Green Lentils (7 lbs/3.2kg)
- Organic Black “Beluga” Lentils (3 lbs/1.3kg)
- Organic Yellow Peas (5 lbs/2.2kg)
- Organic Wild Rice/Oat Rice Blend (4 lbs/1.8kg)
- Organic Flax (3 lbs/1.36kg)
- Organic Pinto Beans (8 lbs/3.6 kg) (if we can find any other beans, like black, navy, chickpeas, etc., the 8lb weight will be split between the 2 types)
- Organic Cornmeal (3 lbs/1.3kg)
- Organic Quinoa Flour (2.2lbs/1kg)
- Organic Wildrice (1lb/450g)
- Organic Popcorn (2lbs/900g)
- Organic Buckwheat flour (3lbs/1.3kg)
- Organic Cold-pressed Sunflower Oil (1L)
- Organic Camelina Oil (1L)
- Organic Millet (3lbs/1.36g)*** (not 100% gluten safe, see link here for our gluten-free share option)
- Organic Sunflower Seeds (1.1lb/500g) *** (not 100% gluten safe)
- Organic Einkhorn Flour (4.4lbs/2kg) *** (contains wheat/gluten)
- Organic Stoneground Emmer Flour (6 lbs/2.7kg) *** (contains wheat/gluten)
- Organic Red Fife Flour (22lbs/10kg) *** (contains wheat/gluten)
* The list is an approximation because the process of rounding up grain and milling it for the CSA is not an exact science. It’s a totally different way of doing food. It’s letting the harvest, the sun and the rain dictate quantities. We will do everything we can to ensure that you get fair value for your purchase (when I tried to do the same shopping trip, finding items at either Superstore or Costco, it came out to $315, but I had to leave without everything on my list (sorry organic popcorn…), so we’re confident that the bundle is fantastic value, but if you have very precise and calculated quantities that you need for your pantry, this might not be the best fit for you.
*** Although our facility and mill are dedicated to gluten free crops, there’s some pretty cool wheat-like crops growing here in Manitoba, and we didn’t want to leave them out! Milled off-site by other organic farmers (Dan and Fran Derucyk of Top of the Hill Farm, Benjamin Unrau, and Tamarack Farms) the emmer/einkhorn/red fife are pretty fun ways to keep the sourdough bubbling 🙂 But for those with celiac disease or other gluten-intolerances, we have put together a smaller bundle that excludes these crops. There are also a few items are 99.9% gluten free, but have a slight chance of contamination (millet & sunflower seeds). These items are also left out of the GF shares. Full details of the gluten free share is here.
Pick up will be in mid-January (Saturday, January 22nd seems like a likely bet) in Winnipeg and in Brandon, with social distancing in mind. Details will be sent out by email a few weeks in advance, and we will be asking people to pre-book a time slot to come pick up their share.
For those who are not able to make it to our pick-up day, the option of having your share boxed up and delivered to your home (Winnipeg, Stonewall or Brandon addresses) is also available. Select “home delivery” at checkout for a $20 fee.
Extra portions of most items, as well as some additional local food offerings like fresh veggie bundles, dried mushrooms, and dried herbs, are also available as add-ons, and will be available to pre-order and pick up with your grain bundle in January. In lieu of the “gigantic share” of years past, for any order over $400, a 5% discount will automatically be applied to your cart. It’s not a huge discount because we set our pricing awfully close to our break-even point, but we love seeing people taking such amazing steps to eat locally all year round!
If you have questions about the pick-up day, substitutions, or COVID-19 protocols, please visit our FAQ page here (or, of course, shoot us an email!) We have also added a Sliding Scale Pricing Model this year, and there’s more information about that concept here.
