Westminster Farmers’ Market Report from Maple Heights Farm

Eating the Best Quality Food and Saving Money at the Same Time…

Thanksgiving is over, table clothes and napkins washed and stored for the next celebration, leftovers packed and stored in every available corner of the refrigerator, furniture placed back in its proper place, and now onward toward Christmas!

The Thanksgiving farmers’ market was fun and it was great to see everyone again, vendors and customers!  The children that come to the market brought their free spirits with them and are definitely not used to the confines of the DPW garage, but they survived the day (and so did we), hopefully without bothering too many people.  I think they were a bit spoiled all summer being able to run and scream and play (and throw apples at each other) to their hearts content!  My own children included!

Christmas Market Details:

Our next and final farmers’ market for this year is scheduled for December 11^th from 3:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m.  You will be able to purchase meat, bread, eggs, winter vegetables, plants, fudge, baked goods and many gift items including hats, mittens, cutting boards (Bob Richard has added a smaller cheese board that is as beautiful as his existing boards, but smaller and less expensive), pet treats, ornaments and more.  I purchased a hat and scarf made of the softest alpaca wool from Jessica at buzyhands.  It is a really comfortable set and very warm and I get a lot of compliments on it.  The only problem that I have with it is I tend to leave it on, even after I arrive home, just too warm and comfy!

The Farmers’ Market Needs Your Political Sign Frames

Please don’t fill up our local recycling centers with obsolete political signs.  We can re-use (more environmentally friendly than recycling) them to repair our now decrepit farmers’ market signs.  If you have any of these frames, please consider bringing them to the farmers’ market on December 11^th.  Maybe the DPW will even let you drop them off prior to the market (though I haven’t asked so be sure that you check with them first).  If you want to get rid of them sooner, you can drop them off with me during the Mass Local Food delivery in the old Finnish Farmers’ Cooperative on Leominster Street (between 2:00 and 5:30 on Friday).

Massachusetts Local Food:

Massachusetts Local Food is growing and now has goat, pasture raised veal, eggs (limited), whole grains and flour, winter vegetables, Cheddar, Gouda and Havarti cheese, Christmas decorations and more.  Delivery day is this Friday at the old Finnish Farmers’ Cooperative building at the east end of Leominster Street.  Stop in and see what we are doing.

But Mass Local Food is so Expensive!

This month my bill for Mass Local Food is $96.03.  Seems so expensive, but is it?

My bill for Mass Food Coop is really high for the relatively small package (I am old enough to remember filling the back of my car for $100).  But when I look at what I get, there is a good reason.  If I separated my weekly/monthly grocery list into the every-day items and the specialty items, like really great cheddar and goat cheese, fine meats, bakery products, even the grocery store bag filled with the specialty goodies would probably cost about the same, or possibly more than Mass Local Food.

·        I cannot compare (in price or quality) Honeybee Baking Companies desserts to the grocery store bakery, and my Cheddar that I get from Smith’s Country Cheese with the Land o’ lakes type variety that I might get on sale at Market Basket.  And I want my children to know what Cheddar and Gouda taste like – the finer nuances of the flavors.  Now, for economy and convenience, I will admit to always having a shrink wrapped bar or two of junky Swiss (in case I decide on Quiche Lorraine) or cheddar (in case I am having a tomato based soup), but I want the good stuff too.

·        The meats that I purchase are not even comparable to anything in a butcher shop or grocery store (including Whole Foods – which is NOT a farm store.  It is a big box grocery store).  Mass local meats actually come straight from the farm.  The producer knows what the animal ate, how much exercise it got, how fast it could run into a new pasture when it was first opened, where it spent its afternoons on a hot summer day…  Unless you are shopping at a farmer-owned meat shop, your butcher is likely purchasing animals wherever s/he can find them, and butchering them as-is.  Not quite the same thing…

·        I’m purchasing a vanilla “solid perfume” on my list for my lovely and sophisticated teenage daughter who has purchased a bottle of scent with her teenage birthday money.  I’m sure the solid perfume that I purchased will last as long as the bottle that she purchased and is about the same price.  Not having to smell the sticky sweet cotton-candy smell around this house anymore?…Priceless!

·        Coffee, freshly roasted the Wednesday or Thursday before delivery day by Mark Johns in Holden.  Delicious, and $10.00 per pound is about the same price as a good quality coffee that was freshly roasted in a far-away manufacturing center before being packed and shipped half way across the country to you.

·        Freshly milled flour and whole grains grown in Northfield.  It is just not possible to get fresh flour any other way.  I’ll be making whole wheat bread and beef barley soup the first week of December!

·        Echinacea from Turessa Botanical and it is half what I would pay elsewhere.  And I have talked to Dawn and feel comfortable with her knowledge and skill in making these tinctures. 

Well, I could go on, but, in case you are still reading, I’ll stop here.  These items are so far superior to the same items from your grocery store.  It’s just that they are collectively the more expensive items on your list whether you are getting them at the grocery store or Mass Local Food.

Even with this Mass Local Food monthly bill of approximately $100 (which is my commitment primarily to my family to purchase the best foods that I can for them and secondarily my commitment to our local economy) my food bill per person is almost certainly less than most.  In addition to Mass Local Food:

·        About $150 each month at local grocery stores that have the sale items that I need.  This will go up over the winter as I have to begin purchasing more fruits and vegetables.  While I have fresh goat milk in my refrigerator and vegetables in my garden I only make it to a grocery store about once every 3 weeks.

·        About $100 each month at an unnamed big box store from which I am trying to wean myself.  This is for cleaners and items in the grocery aisle that are cheaper than I can get them elsewhere.  This also includes toiletries, plastic trash bags, kitchen supplies and such items.  I include them as my “grocery” expenses, but I don’t think the USDA does as you will see in the comparisons below.

·        About $50 at our local Vincent’s Country Store, usually for orange juice, the odd dairy product or baking ingredient and ice cream.  More if I include the newspapers that we purchase but don’t eat.

·        About $40 miscellaneous for apples when we drive by Bolton Orchard in the winter or find unique squash varieties if we are in the Deerfield valley, live lobster from the our local fish store to celebrate Sydney’s unrelenting efforts to teach Russell to tie his shoes (Sydney’s choice of reward) and other such things…

·        About $35 per month at BJs (almonds, cashews, peanuts, raisins, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, M&Ms (the 52 oz bag)).  I purchase enough so I do not have to return for 2 or 3 months (sometimes sooner depending on how long it takes my kids to find and then eat their way through the chocolate chip bag). 

·        About $15 or $20 (price varies) for a month’s supply of King Arthur flour from Dean and Debbie Johnson in Westminster.  They sell me a bulk 50 pound bag for less than half what I would pay at the store.  I just call ahead and it’s ready when I get there (reply to this email if you want more information on this).

·        About $25 per month average to restaurants (only local non chain unless we have a gift certificate – which we sometimes do).  We do not go out much, every few months at most, perhaps for the odd birthday or celebration (but the kids usually choose a special meal cooked at home instead).  We make our own pizza and subs and other kid fare such as French fries so everyone gets their favorite foods without having to pay restaurant prices.  Often, they like our food better.

That is about $515 a month for six of us from Mass Local Food, grocery stores and restaurants (and also includes cleaning supplies and toiletries).   Then I have the cost of our own, home grown meats for about $100 per month.  If  I didn’t have these from our farm, I would order them from Mass Local Food bringing my total to $200 per month.  Grand Total, rounded to about $615 per month for 6 of us.  If you are comparing this to your grocery bill, include your meals eaten in cafeterias and restaurants and school lunches (in my house, if you aren’t old enough to get an allowance (6^th grade) you bring your lunch from home.  If you get an allowance, you can decide if you want to eat your allowance or take your lunch from home for free – the allowance is generous enough for them to select either option).  Note also that this does not count the odd meal that Andy may pick up on the road.  He usually eats lunch at home if he is in the area, but will sometimes get a sandwich on the run.  I don’t know what this amount is and have not included it in my grocery totals. 

The USDA cost of food at home report says that in October of 2009 it should cost a “thrifty” family of 6, accounting for all the ages of each member of my family, would have cost me $715.40 per month ($864.40 average per month for the year).  Even with $100 of my groceries coming from Mass Local Food, I’m one or two hundred dollars below these numbers – and remember that my bill includes cleaners, trash bags and toiletries.  The USDA “liberal” plan for October would allow for $1,671.70 for the month for my family.  Hmm, I wonder to what parts of the world I could travel by saving over $1000.00 per month?  Better not start thinking of such things…especially since I cannot cut $1000 out of my bill each month.

Can Mass Local Food products be part of a healthy and thrifty meal plan?  It works very well for me!

Farmers’ Market Vendor Note:

If you are a vendor at the farmers’ market and you do not receive my market email notifications, please send me your information so I can add you to that list.

Kerrie Hertel   

mapleHeightsFarm@verizon.net

www.mapleheightsfarm.com