Wheatsville Co-op Austin, TX

[Dan Gillotte <gm AT wheatsville.com>]

Hi friends!

Our monthly board meeting will be held on Tuesday August 26th at 6pm at the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest. Go to our web-site for the agenda and directions. This should be the last off-site board meeting as we hope to be ready to be hosting our future board meetings in our new meeting room space! http://wheatsville.coop/bodagenda.pdf

Cold new refreshment!

Virgil's Draft Cola is a new hit among some of us at the co-op. We've long been fans of Virgil's high quality, high flavor Virgil's Root Beer, so it was very excitrng to learn about their newest craft soft drink. Check it out if you are a fan of cola. This one has some real nice notes of vanilla as well as more traditional cola taste.

BEER OF THE WEEK! (again!)

 

North Coast Blue Star Wheat Beer

 

It’s so great that we’re going to feature it again! We love this beer! American barley and wheat malts are combined with a blend of noble hops to create this light, fruity, refreshing beer. Brewed in the style of the American beer renaissance, Blue Star is unfiltered, the yeast adding a complex note to the flavor profile. Delicious!

 

 

Words from Bryan, our meat guy!

Well last week I told you folks to get out and grill, and it rained all week. So I'm saying grill all year long! Maybe we'll get some more rain... Don't let the rain put you off, maybe slow it down alittle this week and make yourself a home cooked meal. We have great items still on member coupon.

We have 2 new products in from Richardson farms, pasture raised bacon and pork cutlets. The bacon is uncured and free of hormones and antibiotics, and belive me delicious. Also pork cutlets are great for shinitzle (chicken fried steak). They are very lean and nice small portions. All Richardson farms pork products are $8.49 lb, $.50- off with member coupon. It's a great time to try this fantastic local product!

 

Also check out our Coleman Natural Sirloin tip roast for $ 5.99 lb, great for slow cooking (crock pot is awesome) with potatoes, carrots and celery. Coleman ground round $ 5.79 lb regular $6.39 lb. Our ground round is 90% lean meat 10% fat, great for burgers and cassaroles with ground meat. Since it's naturally lean you don't have to drain fat because it not greasy.

 

 Here's the latest from Chill Buyer Mike Crissey:

 

FRESH FROM THE FARMERS' MARKET

REMEMBER WHEN BUTTERMILK!!

 

We're continuing to add more products from one of our newest Texas farmers in the dairy cooler, Remember When Dairy. Bakers should especially enjoy Remember When's farmstead, mostly grassfed buttermilk in pints ($1.49) and quarts ($1.99). Austin Chronicle Food Writer Virginia Wood and her friends are big fans of the buttermilk. "We are all bakers at heart and spent an entire week regaling each other with stories of tall, feather-light biscuits; tender, savory corn bread; and delicate chocolate and Italian cream cakes made with that marvelous buttermilk," she wrote in her July 11 column. "I'm so besotted with the old-fashioned goodness of the buttermilk that I was inspired to replicate one of my grandparents' favorite treats – a glass of cold, tangy buttermilk with corn bread crumbled in it." We're also going to begin carrying gallons of skim milk ($5.69) in addition to half-gallons of skim and whole milk ($3.59) and gallons of whole milk.

 

OAK FARMS PHASE OUT

 

The growing popularity of low-temperature pastuerized, non-homogenized milk from Remember When Dairy has prompted us to scale back our offerings from Oak Farms, our conventional (and local) brand of cow's milk. We will continue to sell reduced fat (2%) in pints, quarts and gallons and whole milk in pints and quarts. Everything else we'll be switching to Remember When Dairy. If you haven't tried Remember When, I'd like you to give them a taste. Half-gallons and gallons of Remember When are only slightly more expensive than Oak Farms was.

 

LOCAL PRODUCTS ARE CASH COWS IN THE COOLERS

30% of Dairy Sales Are Local Products

 

Did you know that on average one out of every four dairy items we sell is produced locally? Did you know that 30 cents of every dollar spent on a dairy item is for a local product? In the first six months of this year,  25.6% of dairy items rung up at the registers was produced locally (in Texas) and 30% of the total dairy sales dollars was from local products. That’s pretty encouraging, considering that only 11% of the food available in Central Texas is grown locally, according to the Sustainable Food Center. By some estimates, only 1 or 2 percent of the food bought nationwide is produced locally. It also indicates that we’re making progress on the goals we’ve set for our cooperative. Part of our cooperative’s mission is to provide "healthy food and related products, with an emphasis on local, organic, fair trade and sustainable production." I’m proud to offer our array of local products and proud of all of us for supporting these farms and companies. See more details in the upcoming issue of The Breeze.

 

The board wants your input on the bylaws

The board is hosting an Owner's Forum to discuss the Bylaws on Sunday, Sept. 7th from 1 to 4 pm in the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest room 210. Please mark your calendar if you want to participate in the bylaws update process!

You can also learn a lot more about this huge board project on-line at  http://wheatsville.coop/bylawsrevision.html

Have a great week!

Dan Gillotte

Wheatsville GM and e-mail guy