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"Me and Jenny goes together like peas and carrots." ~ Forrest Gump
Carrots folks. That’s what we are learning about this week.
The Dutch first domesticated carrot roots to make them sweeter, and they have been selectively bred to be more palatable ever since.
Most vegetables are most nutritious when eaten raw, but carrot need cooked to unlock their nutrients. They have tough cellular walls that have to be broken down in order to best absorb through digestion.
Heavy doses of Vitamin A, Potassium, and antioxidants. It can help to balance intestinal gas, prevent constipation, and treat indigestion.
2 topics I want to touch on briefly…
1. Winter Shares - In the winter, the food is a lot harder to
-grow
-store
-transport
Therefore - the food is also
-more expensive
-more fragile
-not as plentiful
The good news is that we have tons of amazing food procured and will continue to pump shares out every week.
IF you feel like you are seeing less food in the boxes, there are weeks where some of the food that we are buying is literally twice as expensive as it would be in the summer.
NOW, bottom line is, we are committing to these growers so that we can actually affect change in the food system. To do this, we MUST stick with them through all 12 months so that they can pay their bills during the lean months.
LASTLY, this should not have to affect you as the consumer because your $$ is the most important thing to us as we look for your food each week. We will begin to put in some “pantry” products that are shelf-stable but fill out the Winter boxes...many of you who have been around in past winters have indicated that they turn out to be some of your favorite items.
2. Plastic
This is such a touchy subject because we ABSOLUTELY NEVER want to have to use plastic in our packaging...and trust me, we have tried to get away from it...but EVERY time, the condition of the product has suffered.
The varying temps and humidities that the products are kept at all change as soon as they hit the box. If we put in a room temperature product next to an onion that has to be kept at near freezing, next to a head of kale...they all co-mingle and the greens end up becoming limp, the onion soft, etc.
We have moved from lining our home delivery boxes with plastic to more “eco-friendly” compostable bags...but those same bags make any greens wet and wilty.
There are some options out there that we could supply to our growers to portion things in, but then the cost of the packaging gets so high that we would have to cut down on the amount of actual food that we are buying...OR, raise the price of the boxes.
I just want to continue to be upfront with you as we pride ourselves on not hiding from the tough issues. We continue to strive to be the best local food company we can be for you. ALWAYS, feel free to reach out to us with your concerns and questions so that we continue to take this project in the direction that is best for you, our growers, and our planet.
Yellowbirdy Foodie-shed
Benji
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