Cider-making by the letter: Jacqueline Huddleston and Sharon Deane pouring hot cider into bottles.
Members of the cooperative were up at the Fall Fair this past weekend pressing and selling delicious fresh apple cider, using Skookum’s cider press. Thanks so much to all our volunteers and to everyone who dropped by to say hi and enjoy some hot or cold cider. Special thanks to Jan & Gary Burnikell for service above & beyond the call of duty; and to Jacqueline Huddleston for dealing with the permit and creating an organized kitchen. (Click here to see more of our pictures.)
We made a gr total of $129.86 for Skookum. This would have been more if we had not had to buy apples from Bernie — although it’s a good thing we did, because otherwise we would have run out of apples to press. Next year we’ll be hoping for more apples contributed by our members and from the community. We’ll be coming after you!
And don’t forget that the cider press is available for rental to Skookum members only. You can find out the details here, but the basic bottom line is that at $20/day, this is the best deal ever!
Buen provecho!
David Parkinson
Treasurer, Skookum Food Provisioners’ Cooperative
Don’t forget that the deadline for ordering nuts, dried fruits, and related products from Rancho Vignola is Monday September 26. If you are interested but have questions or concerns, please contact me soon rather than at the last minute.
Here are the basic facts:
Rancho Vignola makes their product list available only once per year, when the nuts and fruit are at their freshest;
The deadline for our order to go in is September 28;
They will ship to us in November;
We need to make a minimum order of $500;
Shipping is free;
Skookum will be adding 11.11% to each member’s order, so that of each dollar spent, 5¢ goes to the coordinator (that’s me), 2.5¢ to Skookum,another 2.5¢ to the benefit of the community.
What you need to do:
Take a look at Rancho Vignola’s price list.
If you want more information on Rancho Vignola’s products, you can find a downloadable PDF here.
If you have questions, please contact David as soon as possible at skookum@skookumfood.ca.
Otherwise, print out the order form, mark the products you wish to order,calculate the total price. Don’t forget to add 11.11% at the very end.
(If you prefer, you may simply email me with the list of products you want and a final tally. I’ll verify the total amount and get back to you.)
Get the order form and payment (cash or cheque only) to Kingfisher Books at 4468 Marine Ave. in Powell River no later than 12:00 noon on Monday September 26. No money means no order!
If we get enough people interested, we might be able to find a way to manage splits. For example, I would like to order some of their dried tart cherries, but I might not want the whole ten pounds. Maybe someone else would want to split that amount? Let me know if you’re interested in splitting items and we’ll see if we can deal with that. No promises, though, since time is tight.
Skookum Cooperative needs local apples to press for the Fall Fair Skookum booth (Sept 24-25,2011). Learn how to press apples, make and sell cider!
Let us know if you can donate local apples (let us know how much and which day you can deliver them to the Fair (mornings only if you need to get a vehicle on the grounds) and we’ll press ’em! It’s a fundraiser for Skookum Gleaners, y’all!
Help with the Skookum Fall Fair Table RAIN OR SHINE! Sign up for:
Saturday September 24 from 10:30 am-1 pm /or 1 pm-5 pm
/or
Sunday Sept 25 11 am-1 pm /or 1 am-5 pm
Email us if interested at skookum@skookumfood.ca or sign up via our Google Doc form (click here)
Last year we tried to put together an order of nuts and dried fruit from Rancho Vignola, but didn’t have enough interest to make the minimum order of $500. We have more members this year, so here’s hoping that we can make this work.
Here are the basic facts:
Rancho Vignola makes their product list available only once per year, when the nuts and fruit are at their freshest;
The deadline for our order to go in is September 28;
They will ship to us in November;
We need to make a minimum order of $500;
Shipping is free;
Skookum will be adding 11.11% to each member’s order, so that of each dollar spent, 5¢ goes to the coordinator (that’s me), 2.5¢ to Skookum, and another 2.5¢ to the benefit of the community.
What you need to do:
Take a look at Rancho Vignola’s price list.
If you want more information on Rancho Vignola’s products, you can find a downloadable PDF here.
If you have questions, please contact David as soon as possible at skookum@skookumfood.ca.
Otherwise, print out the order form, mark the products you wish to order,calculate the total price. Don’t forget to add 11.11% at the very end.
(If you prefer, you may simply email me with the list of products you want and a final tally. I’ll verify the total amount and get back to you.)
Get the order form and payment (cash or cheque only) to Kingfisher Books at 4468 Marine Ave. in Powell River no later than 12:00 noon on Monday September 26. No money means no order!
If we get enough people interested, we might be able to find a way to manage splits. For example, I would like to order some of their dried tart cherries, but I might not want the whole ten pounds. Maybe someone else would want to split that amount? Let me know if you’re interested in splitting items and we’ll see if we can deal with that. No promises, though, since time is tight.
Any questions? please get in touch with me ASAP at this email address.
Here we are at the end of August already with the harvest upon us. I thought it high time to share what has been happening over the last months at our fledgling co-operative.
The new board has met twice since the annual general meeting and will continue to do so once a month on the first Tuesday. The meetings are at once focused, informative, jovial and delicious as we go through each meeting’s agenda attending to the business of the co-op. About halfway through each meeting we break to enjoy scrumptious potluck food to carry us through the rest of the evening. Members are welcome to attend these meetings (please contact us to ensure enough seating), the minutes of which are posted on our website.
One of the new Skookum projects is the “Abundant Pantry Bulk Buying Club”. Wendy Pelton, the project coordinator, and Barry Bookout have been working hard to bring this into existence and I am thankful for their dedication. Their volunteered progress is very encouraging and appreciated as they build a solid framework with which we, as members, can engage in. Many hours have been spent setting up an on-line ordering system and engaging in meetings aimed at fitting the BBC into our community in a way which will enhance local businesses rather than compete with them. The on-line ordering system we’ll soon be able to test with a trial “guinea pig” run involving just a few people, the aim here being to iron out as many bugs as possible before inviting all Skookum members to begin filling their pantries. Once the trial run has happened and the system is ready to go I’ll keenly share the news.
There are some outstanding challenges to be resolved with regard to the BBC AND I AM NOW APPEALING TO YOU, THE MEMBERSHIP FOR ASSISTANCE. Is there a member who is versed in accounting principles, or at least good with numbers, who would undertake overseeing the accounting for the BBC, and whom Wendy can ask for advice on financial issues. Also, while negotiations for supply are ongoing, there might be a need to transport our order from the delivery site to our distribution site. Are there members with a van or truck who would undertake this task which initially would happen every two months. Please remember that the more we can do for ourselves the better off we’ll be.
Skookum Gleaners, formerly ‘The Fruit Tree Project’, is up and running again. There is a small and dedicated group of volunteers meeting every two weeks organizing and doing their best to overcome the many obstacles to making this a successful undertaking. My thanks to those folks for their ongoing efforts. Although this is again not a great fruit year, there are some places where fruit has set with abundance. If you see a fruit tree bearing fruit, please ask the owner if he or she knows about Skookum Gleaners and direct them here if they are interested (phone (604) 485-4366 or email gleaners@skookumfood.ca. Also, we have made an application to the City of Powell River’s ‘Grants In Aid’ program for funds towards this project and hopefully this application will bear fruit this year.
It’s harvest time, with ripening tomatoes, beans, peas, beets, potatoes, carrots and more. Much of this food needs to be stored for the winter either canned, pickled, or dried. Perhaps in a root cellar and certainly some form of pantry. Last year, there was a canning event and an apple pressing event which Skookum members were invited to attend. I would like to encourage any member with interest and willingness to share these skills to undertake an event while there is food to preserve. These events have always been enjoyable and provide participants with knowledge and nutrition while enhancing friendships. We, the board, are here to assist you in making your event a success. Please contact us with your ideas and let’s make it happen.
