Spring Update 2014
We have so many fun things to share with you this spring! Here’s an update on what’s coming.
Also, if you haven’t already, place your order now for dry goods. The deadline to order is this Thursday morning at 9:00.
Deadline To Order: April 17th at 9:00 a.m.
Pick Up Date: April 24th or 25th, depending on location
Printable Price List
Place Your Order Here
Vanilla
As we mentioned last night, we will be ordering from our vanilla supplier today in just a little while. So the sooner you get your order in for any of these special vanilla items, the better.
After sampling many different brands, we believe the Singing Dog Vanilla extract is one of the best there is. But we’re eager to know what you think too. Order yours now and take part in our Great Vanilla Search just by offering your feedback once you’ve tried it.
All Things Maple
The especially cool spring weather has presented our maple grower with a later-than-average harvesting time. So our organic maple order will be later than usual as well. Right now, it looks like the delivery dates for maple syrup, maple sugar, maple candy, and maple nuts will be in early-ish June.
Although it won’t be delivered until June, we plan to start taking orders for all things maple sometime next week.ates for maple syrup, maple sugar, maple candy, and maple nuts will be in early-ish June.
And folks, this is amazing maple syrup. Fresh from Vermont, the BEST we’ve ever had! You won’t want to miss this stuff! (And it freezes perfectly, so you can stock up for your own family or even for Christmas gifts if you’re the type to plan ahead.)
Rapadura Organic Whole Cane Sugar
You, we, and everyone else has been anxiously awaiting our bulk Rapadura whole organic cane sugar, so here’s an update. It has taken F.O.R.E.V.E.R. for the ship to carry our rapadura from Brazil, where it is harvested and processed, to the U.S.A. And even after it arrives here in the states, it has to be inspected and also receive clearance from customs before we can pick it up at the dock and truck it to Tennessee.
The good news is…
The rapadura has arrived in the states, cleared customs, passed inspection, and is ready for us to pick up. Now, the only question is WHEN it will arrive here in TN. We hope it will be delivered in time for our April delivery. If not, then it will certainly be available on our May order form.
We’ll keep you posted.
Cod Liver Oil | Green Pasture Special
Green Pasture, the supplier of our cod liver oils and butter oils, is careful to maintain equal pricing on their products for everyone. No matter where you buy your Green Pasture cod liver oil and butter oil, the price is the same.
But we’ve been given special permission by Green Pasture to make a high volume purchase, and pass the savings on to you this May. This order will include Green Pasture’s famous fermented cod liver oils and their butter oils in many different flavors.
You can also have your regular priced cod liver oil or butter oil shipped directly to your home anytime through this link. The shipping is on us.
Tropical Fruits
We’re still working out the details, but in May, we plan to offer a nice selection of fresh tropical fruits. Keep an eye out for our emails on this one. We’ll know more soon.
Peaches
Peaches will be later this season; we’re thinking late June.
What happened to the May peaches?
There are peach trees that bear fruit in May, some that bear in June, and others that bear in July. And just as you’d expect, the trees that bear fruit in May bloom sooner than those that are ready for harvest in June or July.
All over the southern, peach-growing states this spring, the weather warmed enough that the May bearing peach trees bloomed a few weeks ago. But just after the bolssoms had been polinated and the fruit had begun to grow, there was a cold snap, and the delicate new fruit was frozen and ruined. So there will not be any peaches available to us in May.
Mind you, there should be plenty of peaches in June and July. It’s only the May bearing trees that were affected by the frost.
Livestock Feed
Livestock feed will be available to order for pick up on the following dates. The order form for the May delivery dates will open soon.
May 22nd or 23rd (depending on where you pick up)
June 26th or 27th (depending on where you pick up)
SAF Yeast Special
SAF yeast in 1 pound bricks is 1/2 price on our dry goods order form! So stock up now!
The one thing you need to know is that the “best-to-use-by” date on these sealed yeast packs is May of 2014. So if you decide to store some up for a while, we recommend placing them in your freezer. This will help keep them fresh for a long time:)
Regular Price $3.93
Sale Price 1.97
High Fructose Corn Syrup VS The Pear
High Fructose Corn Syrup VS The Pear
by Jason Coon
When I was a kid, all I ever knew about Pears, and most fruit for that matter, was the kind that you opened up with a can opener. When we opened a can of pears as a side dish for our dinner time meal, we thought we were doing a good thing. Isn’t it better to open a can of fruit than a bag of sugary treats? Little did I know, those poor little soggy pieces of pears were soaking in sugar and high fructose corn syrup. The food we assumed was better for our health was just as bad to eat as the junk food we were avoiding. The side dish to our meal may have well been a serving of candy!
Last year, however, I experienced, for the first time, the brilliance of a freshly picked Pear. Not in a can, or soaked in corn syrup but a true food event. When we bought a box of pears last year from Bulk Natural Foods we were shocked at how amazing they tasted. Our 6 children, who have never eaten canned pears, dove into the box just like they were apples. How happy we were, to be able give our children a truly healthy food that they loved.
Next week, when that truckload of Pears, Peaches and Plums rolls into Tennessee, I know my children will be in baited breath, awaiting all the nutritious fruit they can eat. Mealtime or anytime and not just a side show treat at the edge of their dinner plate!
Join my family and hundreds of others by ordering Pears, Peaches and Plums. You and your family will be happy you did!
Pears, Plums, and Peaches
Remember, there’s less than one week left to order Stanley plums, Bartlett pears, Baby Gold peaches, and freestone peaches. Occasionally, the timing works out with one of our growers for us to get more pears later in the fall, but otherwise, this will be the only time this year that we’ll offer plums and pears, and the last time we’ll offer peaches this season.
Deadline To Order: Monday, September 9th at 9:00 a.m. central time
Pick Up Date: Thursday or Friday, September 12th or 13, depending on location
Click this link to order: http://bunchesmore.com/?action=guest-app-cart&cid=104
Feel free to order by phone at 931-593-2616.
Tim & Erin
Answers To Many Of Our Frequently Asked Questions
How To Confirm Your Order Or View Details For Your Pick Up Locatio
How To Add Or Remove Items From Your Order
How To Change Your Pick Up Location
How To Change Your Mailing List Settings
Local Butternut Squash Sweet Potatoes And Pie Pumpkins
Local Butternut Squash Sweet Potatoes And Pie Pumpkins
One of our Amish neighbors is doing an experiment that involves you. Yep. He wants to know if you guys like squash, pie pumpkins, and sweet potatoes. If you do, he plans to grow more of these vegetables for us next year. For now, there are just a few cases of each available, so they’ll sell out fast. You’ll find them on our Pear, Plum, and Peaches order form.
The squash and sweet potatoes we roasted over the weekend were buttery sweet and a beautiful deep orange, and the pumpkin has become a pie for our supper tonight.
One thing to notice here is that the sweet potatoes and butternut squash are odd shapes and sizes; some pretty big and others very small. So if you’re looking for uniformity, please don’t order these local vegetables. Both will come in 25 pound boxes. Also, the sweet potatoes will not be washed as this helps to keep them fresh.
Pears, Plums, and Peaches
Remember, there’s less than one week left to order Stanley plums, Bartlett pears, Baby Gold peaches, and freestone peaches. Occasionally, the timing works out with one of our growers for us to get more pears later in the fall, but otherwise, this will be the only time this year that we’ll offer plums and pears, and the last time we’ll offer peaches this season.
Deadline To Order: Monday, September 9th at 9:00 a.m. central time
Pick Up Date: Thursday or Friday, September 12th or 13, depending on location
Click this link to order: http://bunchesmore.com/?action=guest-app-cart&cid=104
The grower sent these pictures of our fruit, still growing on the trees at the orchard…
Feel free to order by phone at 931-593-2616.
Tim & Erin
Plums Pears And A Bonus
On September 12th and 13th, we’ll be delivering a truckload of Stanley plums, Bartlett pears, and a bonus – two different kinds of peaches; freestone peaches and Baby Gold cling peaches! We had thought this week would be our last peach delivery for the season, but since our plum and pear orchard will still be harvesting peaches too, we’ll be getting more! Learn more about each fruit below.
Deadline To Order: Monday, September 9th at 9:00 a.m. (central)
Pick Up Date: Thursday or Friday, September 12th or 13th (depends on location)
Click this link to order: http://bunchesmore.com/index.php?action=guest-app-cart&cid=104
Stanley Plums
This elongated plum is a bit different from plums you’ll commonly find in stores. The Stanley plum is often used for canning, drying, and baking, but we love to eat them fresh too! Try Stanley plums in plum crumble, plum jam, plum tart, canned, or in this beautiful traditional German plum cake.
This is the only time this season that we’ll offer Stanley plums.
Bartlett Pears
One of the juiciest pears you’ll find, we love the Bartlett for it’s amazing flavor. Bartlett pears are great for canning, and if you’re careful to put them in the fridge when they’re still hard, they can be stored fresh like that for a few extra weeks.
Baby Gold Cling Peaches
Baby Gold peaches are a classic for canning. They’re unique in that they stay nice and firm when you can them. Ever have store-bought canned peaches? You know the way they feel in your mouth when you bite into one – firm, but soft, and almost a little chewy? Well, those are made from cling peaches like these. You’ll need a sharp knife or spoon to cut the pit away from the flesh, but patience has its rewards… Come mid-winter, those pretty canned peaches will make a lucky fellow a nice breakfast or dessert.
New to canning? This blog post is one of the most helpful guides we’ve found on canning peaches.
Freestone Peaches
As the name implies, freestone peaches have a pit that comes away from the flesh easily. These really are the very last peaches of the season. If you need to fill a few more bags for your freezer supply of fall smoothies, this is your last chance.
Follow this link to order.
Tim & Erin
931-593-2616
P.S. Feel free to order by phone.
Peaches and Apples – Order Now!
Pick Up Date: Thursday and Friday, August 29th and 30th, depending on the location you select
Order Here: http://bunchesmore.com/index.php?action=guest-app-cart&cid=103
Peaches
We have two different kinds of peaches available this month: white and yellow. Time to stock the freezer with some more smoothie materials…!
But which is better, white or yellow?
Really, it depends on your preference. Do you love the intense, sweet-tart peachy flavor of the classic yellow peach? Or might you prefer a sweeter, more mellow flavor – the qualities of the white peaches? While white peaches are less acidic and more sweet, they are also more delicate and easily bruised. If you do venture out to try the less common white peaches, be sure to give us your opinion of them!
Apples
Our apple selection is limited right now. We’ll have many more varieties as we move into fall. For now, here’s a quick intro to the late summer apples you’ll find on our order form right now.
Golden Supreme apples have a mild, sweet flavor and usually quite a bit of juice. They are moderately crispy and sometimes have a pretty pink blush on their greeny-gold skin.
Best Uses: Excellent for fresh eating, drying, baking, applesauce, and homemade apple juice or cider.
Beautiful red Gala apples are a favorite among our members. They’re crisp, juicy and sweet with a hint of tartness. Eat them while they’re fresh, use them for applesauce, but don’t try to store your Gala apples. They just weren’t made to be stored. Galas are a cross between Golden Delicious and Kidd’s Orange Red apples.
Best Uses: Fresh eating, applesauce, and cider.
Golden green Ginger Gold apples are sweet and crisp with a little bit of snappy tartness. They are slow to turn brown, so they tend to behave nicely in salads or anywhere else you may need sliced apples to stay white. Ginger Gold apples are crisp and juicy.
Best Uses: Salads, applesauce, sliced apples, juicing, and eating fresh.
Dry Goods
We have a fairly good selection of dry goods on this order form. Look for chia seeds, quinoa, glass gallon jars, wheat and other grains, apple cider vinegar, raisins, and Green Pasture cod liver oil, just to name a few. Dry Goods quantities are limited this month, so order soon if you’re after this sort of thing.
Tim & Erin
Fall Preview 2013 And A Note From The Orchard
What’s Next? (and a note from the orchard)
Heads up!
We’ll be opening up our order form for a last load of peaches very soon… should be within the next few days.
And over the next several months we’ll be bringing in some other things too! Here’s a peek at what we’re preparing:
August:
We’ll be getting a final load of northern peaches and few varieties of summer apples from an orchard we’ve had good
experience with. (See the note from the orchard below.)
September:
Pears, plums, more early apples, and a truckload of wheat, dry goods, and organic animal feed.
October:
Concord grapes, dry goods, and an abundant variety of apples. If you remember, last year was not a good year for apples (Remember how the late spring frost of 2012 killed most of the apple blossoms?). This year is like the reverse swing of nature’s pendulum; apple trees everywhere are heavy with delicious fruit!
Here’s a look behind the scenes into one of our recent emails from the peach orchard we’ll be ordering from later this month.
…We anticipate great quality and volume of peaches through Labor Day so I do not see a problem getting your truck loaded up at the end of August. We will have both yellow and white peaches available at that time. All the fruit that will be shipped to you will come directly from our orchards. We’d need your final order on the 26th. We have been having great quality this year, and as long as we stay hurricane free we should be in good shape.
We do strive to harvest tree ripened fruit that has the maximum sugar content, and typically we try to harvest, pack, and ship to the customer within 48 hours to keep the quality high for end customer. We would have a fuzzy peach in a box that came straight from the field. I think that’s what you’re looking for.
-Maggie
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Postal Delivery & UPS Shipments:
Over the next few months we will be offering more products via postal delivery (several hundred more). If you don’t live in our local delivery range, or if you’d like to have Bulk Natural Foods shipped to your door, we think you’re really going to like this!
We won’t, however, be shipping fresh fruit this year or in 2014. (We haven’t quite figured out how to make that work yet.) Only dry goods items will be ship-able for a while. So, woo-hoo! We’ll keep you posted as we move forward on this.
We can currently ship out about a dozen of our more popular items through our store: things like raw almonds, rapadura, superfood, Celtic sea salt, and the Nutrimill grain mill. (If you’re not already milling your own flour, definitely look into this power kitchen tool. Freshly ground wheat flour or any combination of gluten-free flours take minutes to make yourself, they’re healthier and taste remarkably better than any pre-milled flour you could buy.)
Anyway, we’ll be in touch about the upcoming PEACH order. Watch your emails for more information.
Tim & Erin
From Our Mailbox
My order of peaches was super fantastic! LOVED EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM! -Karissa
The peaches were again outstanding. Delicious, sweet, juicy, and perfectly ripe! -Monica
LOVE the peaches. We have been enjoying our first ever order of peaches and blueberries and mango. Peaches by themselves, peach cobbler, peach mango salsa tomorrow. Thank you for the fresh fruit. -Rebecca
The peaches are beautiful and the carrots have more flavor than any I’ve ever tasted! Forty pounds of bananas is a LOT of bananas, but they’re delicious and I’m clearing out enough freezer space to hold them for smoothies and baking for weeks to come. Thank you! -Jennifer
Oh my goodness! The family started eating peaches before I even got back into the car! Sweet, juicy and perfect even though they were 2nds. Wish I had bought 2 boxes so I will have some left to can. Thanks so much for the opportunity to purchase such yummy, healthy food. -Connie
Peaches and a Surprise July 2013
Erin, The peaches we got last week are just AWESOME! OUR kids sure think so.
So we are bringing in another load next week. Want some?
The Ottos LOVE Their Peaches
On the order form, you’ll also find these delicious seasonal fruits. Note that there is an early order deadline for the bananas.
- organic and conventional blueberries
- organic mangoes
- organic and conventional bananas (order deadline July 3rd early morning)
- FREESTONE IPM peaches (number 1s and number 2s)
- organic cling peaches
Place your order here
The pick up date is: July 11th or 12th, depending on your location
Order deadline: July 8th, 8:00 a.m.
Something Special Tomorrow
One more thing.
Tomorrow, if all goes as planned, we will be adding something special to the order form.
Something that is best in July.
Something incredibly sweet.
Any guesses? Watch your emails tomorrow, and we’ll let you in on the surprise!
Surprise Hint
Tim & Erin Otto
Simple Peach Slushy
With all the peaches we’ve had lately, we’ve been making this refreshing slushy quite a bit. It’s so easy that I don’t think I can really give you a recipe, but I’ll tell you what we do. For our 8 cup capacity VitaMix, we put about 3 cups water in the blender container and then add frozen peaches while the motor is running until the container is full. Add a spoonful of honey or a pinch of stevia powder, and it’s done.
This slushy is equally good made with frozen strawberries instead of the peaches. Yum!
Double Dare Peaches
This recipe is from Laura Murray, who found it on allrecipes.com, one of my favorite recipe sites. If anyone makes it and has a photo to share, send it to me, and I’ll post it up!
My husband loves this!
Take a bite and enjoy the sweet from the peaches, feel the heat sneak up on you, then put out the fire with ice cream!
1/4 cup butter 2 habanero peppers, seeded and halved
8 fresh peaches, peeled, 1/4 cup brown sugar
Pitted and sliced 1 teasp. Ground cinnamon
1/2 gal. Vanilla ice cream 1/4 cup crushed peanut brittle
Melt the butter in a large skillet over med. Heat. Add the habenero peppers and cook 5-8 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove and discard the peppers (or chop and add to whatever salsa you have) Now stir the peaches into the flavored butter. Increase the heat to med. High. Cook and stir til peaches begin to sizzle in the butter, then stir in the brown sugar and cinnamon. Continue stirring until the peaches are tender and the sugar has turned into a golden brown glaze.(3-5min. More)
Spoon peaches into individual bowls, scoop ice cream over them, and sprinkle with peanut brittle to serve.
Lazy Peach Pie (Peach Cobbler)
Melt 1 stick margarine in a 13×9 or 8×8 glass casserole
Mix: 1 c. sugar
1 c. self-rising flour
1 c. milk
Pour into casserole. Add one qt. canned peaches with about 1/2 the juice.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 – 40 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve hot as is or with a scoop of ice cream. YUM YUM!!!!