Letter from the NFC Board – January 22, 2019

Dear NFC Members,

The NFC board of directors met on Saturday, January 5, to discuss the future of your cooperative. We discussed results from the producer survey and responses from members. Overall, we can report that the level of support has been very positive.

The vision and objectives outlined below represent the feelings of the board, and a reflection of the comments we have received. It is our sense that NFC customers want a close connection with those small/family producers who take time to provide quality products. As a whole, our membership does not seem to be as interested in large producers, or those whose approach is to harvest food quickly and/or just throw it in a bag with a label. In effect, we want the best food money can buy, with attention to quality practices, nutrients, animal welfare, local economics, and the Nebraska “Good Life.” We want to hear if you disagree with these understandings or proposed actions. Members can respond in the “Leave a Reply” box below (comments will be made public unless requested otherwise).

Summarizing that into a few points, the reasons for our actions going forward are to…

  • Be a reliable source for consistently high-quality food
  • Expand quality food diversity and availability for NFC shoppers
  • Be a proponent for Nebraska family farms and other providers of quality food
  • Simplify marketing and transport challenges for small producers
  • Establish/restore the reputation of NFC as a respected brand in the marketplace

Almost immediately, we plan to…

  • Begin to fill key cooperative tasks with member volunteers (customers and producers)
  • Open the next order cycle in February, for planned delivery on February 20
  • Temporarily suspend the accounts of members who have not responded about being involved and who have not made other arrangements
  • Set producer and customer margins (markdown/markup) to match actual transportation costs
  • Eliminate the delivery charge, which will be folded into the calculated margins
  • Waive annual membership fees for customers who are volunteering to help with NFC tasks

In the short term, we plan to…

  • Continue to enlist members and producers to perform small NFC tasks
  • Establish producer standards (what sort of producers/products do we want?)
  • Establish tight product packaging standards to ensure quality during shipping
  • Regularly adjust product margins to meet the actual cost of running the cooperative

In the longer term, we plan to…

  • Revisit our membership fees and requirements to ensure they make sense
  • Investigate transitioning from a cooperative to a non-profit corporation
  • Make payments to reduce outstanding debt

With these changes, it is our belief that a clear focus and attention to meaningful quality will bring back many customers, as well as inspire new customers. We need to stop being all things to all people. We are shaking things up considerably, and it may be a while before we find a new equilibrium. However, we believe that the concerted efforts of all our caring members can make NFC a better organization than we have yet seen.

Transition is a challenge for any organization. As we work through these changes, we expect producers and product options will be reduced for a while. As a result, cycle volumes might be limited and we may need to limit ordering frequency to optimize transportation cost. These are all trade-offs. In effect, we might expect our cooperative to contract in size – possibly even as far as when it started in 2006. Hopefully, the contraction will not be that extreme, but we want to be realistic with our expectations.

Thank you for your involvement.
We look forward to serving and working with you all.

The NFC Board

Christmas 2017 Giveaway

Our NFC Marketing Director is giving away two nights at a Hilton Hotel for the largest total purchases between December 2017 and January 2018!
DETAILS BELOW!

TERMS & CONDITIONS

  1. Only Nebraska Food Cooperative (NFC) customers and producers are eligible to enter.
  2. The giveaway prize is valid from 1 February to December 2018.
  3. The giveaway is sponsored by member Bonny Most & Bonnie Smith of BonSquared Creative who are the marketing coordinators for the co-op.
  4. The winning entrant will be the NFC member who makes the largest total purchase for the December 2017 and January 2018 cycle combined.
  5. The winning member will be notified by post, email and/or telephone. It is up to the winner to ensure that their correct contact details are listed on the NFC website members panel.
  6. Should the winner be unreachable or does not respond to notification of having won, after a period of 30 days the prize will roll over to the next in line eligible winner.
  7. The winner’s name may be published by NFC for marketing purposes.
  8. The winner agrees to have a photo taken for use on Social Media and NFC communications without reserve.
  9. The competition consists of 1 (one) major prize in total.
  10. The winner will be eligible to stay at any of the following Hilton Hotels in the USA, excluding Alaska and Hawaii.
    1. Hilton Hotels
    2. Embassy Suites
    3. Doubletree
    4. Hilton Garden Inn
    5. Homewood Suites
    6. Hampton Inn & Suites
    7. Home2Suites
  11. The Waldorf Astoria and Conrad Hotels are not included in this offer.
  12. The winner will be entitled to two (2) nights with a maximum of four (4) guests stay.
  13. The prize is non-transferable and does not include travel costs of any kind.
  14. Free Hilton Honors Wifi access is included, however all other room costs must be paid by the winner.
  15. Six weeks (6) notice must be given to Bonny Most prior to the trip.
  16. Cancellations are valid until 24hrs before the date of booking and a new booking can be made at no additional charge.
  17. This is a sponsored gift from an NFC member not the Hilton Hotel or any of its associates. Booking and rebooking will be done under the Most name and arrangements will be handled by Bonny Most directly not an agency or other. Please be considerate when booking your trip.
  18. Prize is valued in USA dollars. Total prize is valued at up to $350.00
  19. Insurance is covered by the Hotel where relevant and the winner agrees to make their own arrangements for personal liability.
  20. Nebraska Food Cooperative, Bonny Most and the Most family, Bonnie Smith, BonSquared Creative, its employees, associates and/or members are not liable for:
    1. any injury, damages, cost and/or expense, theft and/or loss suffered by the winner for the duration of their stay at the chosen Hotel.
    2. for any delays, cancellations, or deferments made;
    3. any travel related event
  21. This giveaway prize is given as a gesture of goodwill and appreciation on behalf of NFC to its members. It may not be redeemed for purchase discount at NFC or cash value of the prize.
  22. The giveaway is offered without prejudice.

Software Update

Greetings NFC members,

In a continuing effort to adjust to the changing needs of the Nebraska Food Cooperative, we have pushed forward with installing the latest release of “Open Food Source” software.  You may notice some minor disruptions as we ensure the system is functioning correctly. NFC is the first organization to benefit from this significant development effort and we should expect a few challenges.

For everyone

  • A new front page with a layout friendly to your mobile devices.
  • Integrated theme throughout the site.
  • Simplified button-style controls and links within the shopping site.

For customers

  • Improved layout of membership and shopping information between the member panel and shopping panel.
  • Product listings with improved controls for moving between pages.
  • Ability to checkout products individually from the customer basket. NOTE: This is a significant change from the past and customers must checkout any products they wish to receive.
  • Customers can now order more products than are actually available. This will give producers a chance to fill larger orders as additional product becomes available. Example: the image at right shows an order of five items where only two are known to be available. The customer will only be charged for what is shipped and there is no guarantee the producer will fill the full request.
  • A button near the top of product lists (Show/Hide Search Options) will allow viewing products in a variety of ways.

For producers

  • Inventory can now be adjusted directly in producer product listings similar to the way customers add products to their basket.
  • Inventory can now be assigned directly by name rather than selecting it from a dropdown list.
  • Product images can now be deleted from a product and can be rotated at 90-degree intervals.
  • The screen for editing products has been totally reworked.
  • The product confirmation process, which was previously confusing, has been simplified greatly. There are no longer “preferred” products. A single version of each product can be made “active”, which will be the version available for customers to order.
  • A button near the top of producer product lists (Show/Hide Search Options) will allow viewing the producer’s products in a variety of ways.
  • Products can now be deleted permanently – but only if they have never been ordered.

What to do if you encounter problems

This software was released as soon as possible and there may still be a few kinks to work out. We ask that customers and producers remain vigilant for anything that seems incorrect and alert webmaster@nebraskafood.org if you encounter anything that seems wrong.

For those who like the technical details:

  • This is the first release of OFSv1.2.0.
  • The software includes a migration from MySQL to MariaDB.
  • We have moved to a new server, upgrading from Debian 6 to Debian 9.
  • The software was developed, in part, through a grant from the USDA and will help other food cooperatives as well.

City Dwellers can Grow Food in a Risky Climate

by Tim Rinne
November 29, 2014
Lincoln Journal Star

Tim Rinne

It’s been a year of bad news for the security of our food supply.

In March, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported that “Throughout the 21st century, climate-change impacts are projected to further erode food security — particularly in urban areas and emerging hot spots of hunger.” All aspects of food security, the report stated, are potentially affected by climate change, “including food access, utilization and price stability.”

Then in May, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ Agricultural Development Initiative (co-chaired by former Nebraska Congressman Doug Bereuter) issued a report warning that “Climate change will bring hotter temperatures, changing rainfall patterns and more frequent natural disasters. Farmers everywhere will be affected.” If these challenges are not addressed, “consumers will need to be prepared for higher food prices and potential food shortages.”

A month later, two of Bereuter’s Republican colleagues, Henry Paulson (George W. Bush’s Treasury Secretary) and George Shultz (Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of State), released a risk assessment on the perils climate change poses to agriculture: “Our research shows that under the ‘business as usual’ scenario and assuming no significant adaptation by farmers … the Midwest region as a whole faces likely yield declines of up to 19 percent by midcentury and 63 percent by the end of the century.”

The disconcerting report was followed in September by the release of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s climate assessment for Nebraska, which projected that by midcentury (2041-2070) typical summer temperatures will be “equivalent to those experienced during the 2012 drought and heat wave … which was the driest and hottest year for the state based on the climatological record going back to 1895.”

And finally, building on its 2010 designation of climate change as a “national security threat,” the Department of Defense in October cautioned that “Rising global temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, climbing sea levels, and more extreme weather events will intensify the challenges of global instability, hunger, poverty, and conflict. They will likely lead to food and water shortages, pandemic disease, disputes over refugees and resources, and destruction by natural disasters in regions across the globe.”

In short, our global food supply is at risk. And that’s a problem, because we can no longer feed ourselves locally.

More than 60 years ago, even a renowned farm state like Nebraska gave up growing food for our own diet. We’re still an agricultural titan. But with the wholesale shift to commodity agriculture, we’re growing feed for animals and corn for ethanol — not food for our tables.

As much as anyone living in New York City and Los Angeles, we depend on the global food system to stock our pantries and dish up our meals. Like the rest of America, we’re getting half of our produce — including 70 percent of the lettuce — from the California Central Valley (which is, incidentally, mired in a record-breaking 500-year drought). Even more telling, $4 billion of the $4.4 billion we Nebraskans annually spend on food is leaving the state. We’re not buying food that’s from here. Instead, we’re blithely counting on some faceless, anonymous source to supply all our meals and snacks.

But that’s not going to work anymore. Unless we want to risk going hungry, we’re going to need to start quickly rebuilding our food system. And just as eating is a “local” act (stuffing our mouths is about as local as you can get), we need a food supply that’s locally based as well.

As consumers, we need to be supporting our local farmers and ranchers and building the market for locally produced food. But those of us in the city can’t get by just being eaters any more, either. We’ve got to start pulling our own weight in the food system and begin producing what we can.

While we’ll always be dependent on the countryside for our grains and dairy and meat, what we can produce in the city we can produce better than anyone else. We can grow the perishable items (particularly the lettuce greens) that are the hardest to keep on the grocery store shelf. And because they’re grown and harvested right where we live, they’re fresher and more nutritious.

All over town, from the grass front lawn to the sidewalk space in the city right-of-way, there’s room for beds of lettuce and spinach, carrots and peppers, onions, tomatoes and potatoes. And with the onset of climate change and the threat of food shortages, it’s none too soon to be trying our hands at a little gardening and learning something about our food.

It’s what we as city dwellers can do to help ensure that in the anxious days to come we’ll know where our next meal is coming from.

Order Cycle Shortens

IMPORTANT NOTICE!

Starting with the December 2014 cycle, NFC is SHORTENING its ORDER cycle….

from:

Sunday morning through the following Sunday 6 PM,

to:

Wednesday morning through Sunday, 3 PM
Effective Order Cycle:  Wednesday, December 10 – Sunday, December 14, 3 PM

Closing time for the cycle has been moved up to 3 pm (central time) to give our producers more time to fill your order.

So remember, whatever is in your basket at 3:00 Sunday is considered a purchase.

A calendar with the new 2015 cycle dates will be published in the December newsletter and soon on NFC’s home page.

Customer pick-ups the following week will remain the same.

Producer pick-ups may change slightly to accommodate our central route. More producer information will be communicated via the regular Producer Notes email from the general manager.

Welcome Andrew – NFC’s Newest Advisory Board Member!

There are times when one just knows the fit is right.  And that awareness came from both directions pretty much at the same time.

Andrew Hollister, a new NFC producer, has been singing NFC’s praises.  Just some of Andrew’s recent comments to our staff:

By the way, I am blown away that I got orders this first week on the site. I was not expecting any at all. So for me to have sold multiple items more than met my expectations out of the gate.”

“…nothing was harvested that wasn’t already sold. Greatly reducing over harvesting.”

Glad to be adding more to the NFC family. Really, I firmly believe in what you guys do for everyone involved.”

It still amazes me how well your site connects producers and consumers. Just wonderful. I will continue to try to be your best spokesperson as I strongly agree with your concept and design.”

And then Andrew posted this gem on the NSAS list-serv: “I know there are a lot of producers out there like me who don’t have a lot of time to be at the markets. So I just wanted to share that we found Nebraska Food Coop and have products selling out in the first week. On-the-farm pickup from the delivery truck and only a small annual fee to participate. I am not getting paid or anything to mention this, I just want to let more people know that it exists.”

Finding a strong supporter of NFC’s model, the General Manager recommended him for an Advisory Board member role to which the board immediately agreed.

So welcome, Andrew!  It’s great to have you on board!

 

New Executive Board

According to NFC ByLaws, executive board members are voted by the board for a one-year term at the board meeting immediately following the Annual Membership meeting, which was held in September at the Fontenelle Forest Nature Center.

Fall is the season for change, and NFC is not exempt.

Roy Guisinger, NFC’s long-time Chief Information Officer, asked to step down as CIO to fill an Advisory Board member’s role. During his long tenure as NFC’s volunteer programmer, Roy has contributed thousands of hours of software enhancements that has become the backbone of our producer/member cooperative. Without Roy’s dedication in keeping NFC’s system in solid working order, we would not be the organization that we are today.

Another long-tenured board member Stephanie Kennedy, who served as Vice President, asked to step off the executive committee due to her heavy schedule of raising a young child and working on her doctorate in local food systems.

Gary Fehr and Lanette Stec, two of our many committed board members, stepped into the CIO and VP roles, respectively. They will serve on the executive board alongside Randy Wattermann, President; Liz Sarno, Secretary; and Jeremiah Picard, Treasurer.

We will continue to be in good hands with our strong board as NFC continues down the road to sustainability.

New Territory & New Staff

The Nebraska Food Cooperative is growing!

With strong producer, consumer, and school interest in central and western Nebraska for ‘local’ food options, NFC is meeting the challenge by expanding into new territory.

To make this bold move, NFC has hired two additional parttime drivers to make the trek from farm-gate to delivery point. Scott Hanson and Jonathan David will join Kevin Krause as NFC’s distribution backbone.

Scott, a beginning rancher from Grant, will run the I-80 route from Kearney westward, currently to Ogallala on a monthly basis.

Jonathan,  a young farmer who is quite familar with the local food scene, will run the central route.

Please welcome Scott and Jonathan to the NFC family if you happen to meet up with them on their distribution cycle.

Who is Affected by the Proposed FSMA Rules?

Everyone who eats ‘locally’.

Food safety matters because everybody eats – and everybody has a role in keeping food safe from farm to the table. Done right, these new rules can help make our food safer; done wrong, they run the risk of putting farmers out of business, limit consumer choice, and increase the use of chemicals rather than natural fertilizers, among other problems.

But before the rules are finalized, the FDA NEEDS TO HEAR FROM YOU!  The second comment period closes December 15, 2014. In large part due to National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition’s (NSAC) comments last year, the FDA announced that it would reexamine several critical areas of the Food Safety Moderization Act (FSMA) proposed rules that have major potential impacts for sustainable farming, as covered in the Produce Safety Rule and the Preventive Controls Rule.

We are now in a second public comment period, focused on the ‘re-proposal’ – like a second draft – of key sections of the rules this year for further public comment. The areas they are re-proposing will still require significant public input to shape an outcome that is supportive of sustainable agriculture.

The first comment period closed November 15, 2013. Now it’s time for you to speak up.  How?  Just follow this easy step-by-step process (and short video) How to Submit Comments to send your heartfelt message to the FDA.  The second comment period closes December 15, 2014.

The Nebraska Food Cooperative needs EVERYONE…every local food consumer and every producer of local food…to speak up and submit a comment within the next THREE WEEKS.

So when your family, friends, and you are enjoying your Thanksgiving feast, spread the word about the urgency to comment on these new food safety regulations.

With the right approach, we will be able to help ensure good food safety practices without placing an unfair burden on family farmers. For a safe and sustainable future, FSMA must allow farmers to use sustainable farming practices, allow local food and farms to grow and thrive, and treat family farms fairly.

**************************************

Are You Affected?:

If you operate a business that grows and sells fresh produce – and/or processes, packs, manufactures, or holds food –  your business may be affected by the proposed FSMA rules. Some businesses may not be affected at all, some may be affected by one rule, and some may be affected by both rules.

IMPORTANT: These proposed rules are not yet final, which means they are not yet law. To learn about the FSMA timeline, read NSAC’s FSMA Overview and Background.

The information included below is intended to help individuals gain a better understanding of whether or not their business operation may be impacted by the proposed rules. Farmers and business owners nationwide are reporting confusion in determining if they might be impacted by these rules. If you are uncertain, you are not alone! One major concern about these draft rules is that they are complex and confusing.

Producers:

  • Do you grow, harvest, pack, or hold (store) fruits or vegetables?
    If yes, you may be affected by the Produce Rule.
  • Do you process, manufacture, pack, or hold (store) human food?
    If yes, you may be affected by the Preventive Controls Rule.
  • Do you BOTH grow, harvest, pack, or hold (store) fruits or vegetables AND process, manufacture, pack, or hold (store) human food?
    If yes, you may be affected by BOTH the Produce Rule and the Preventive Controls Rule.

Download the “Am I Affected?” flowchart to help determine if your farm or business may be subject to the proposed Produce or Preventive Controls Rules!

Consumers:

If you’re a consumer, these rules could, over the long term, impact the kind of food you are able to find and purchase in your community.  The proposed rules may also increase the costs of purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables. Ultimately, we want to ensure a safe and affordable food supply, strong on-farm conservation of natural resources, and thriving family farms and small value-added farm and food businesses. That translates into fresh, healthy food for communities across the country, from the farmers’ market to the grocery store to the school cafeteria! As a concerned consumer, you absolutely have a say in these proposed rules and should speak out!  The second comment period closes December 15, 2014.

Please note: These rules DO NOT affect home gardeners who grow food for personal consumption – but as a concerned eater, you can still comment!

Additional Resources:

  • Webinar about the impact of FSMA regulations on food hubs, CSAs, and aggregation
  • Webinar on FSMA: Impacts on Farmers, Producers, and States

 

Source: National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC)

How to Roast a Heritage Turkey

WilliamRubelWilliam Rubel (williamrubel.com) gives us the low-down on cooking a heritage turkey to perfection. Living in California, Rubel’s  two  books are ‘The Magic of Fire’, the book on hearth cooking, and most recently, ‘Bread’, a global history.

Whether you roast your heritage turkey in the oven, or spit- or string-roast it in front of a fire, there are some basic facts you ought to know about how to best handle heritage turkeys.

Heritage turkeys are different from the most common turkey of American commerce. It is helpful to know a little about them before cooking them for the first time.

The modern turkey was developed for a large breast — hence its name Broad Breasted White or Broad Breasted Bronze — and it was also selected fast growth on a high protein diet. Broad breasted turkeys reach marketable size after a few months, while heritage turkeys take much longer to reach marketable weight. Broad Breasted birds are often so heavy their own legs can’t property support them, so Broad Breasted birds tend to be sedentary. Variety, age, physical activity, and feed, are all factors that affect the taste and texture of the heritage turkey you buy.

While variety is a factor in the taste and texture of heritage turkeys, as a rule the turkey variety is not on the label. In any case, heritage turkeys are similar enough to make generalizations possible.

Basic qualities of heritage turkeys:

1. Smaller breast. The breast of heritage birds is smaller in proportion to the rest of the bird than is the breast of the Broad Breasted varieties. This means the balance between white and dark meat is more even that it is with commercial turkeys.

Implications for the cook: White meat is “done” before the dark meat is “done,” and so the closer the balance between white and dark meat, the easier it is to roast the entire bird to perfection.

Historically, cookbook authors suggested covering the breast of roasting turkeys with oiled paper until the bird was almost done, at which point the paper was removed. The instruction to put something over the turkey breast is found in Enlish cookbooks dating from the 17th century all the way up through English and American cookbooks to the early 1960’s, at which point the instruction seems to drop out of cookbooks.

If you cover the breast, I recommend sticking with the traditonal oiled paper rather than substituing alluminum foil. Foil doesn’t let any moisture out, and thus steams the breast in a way that paper does not. When you let water molecules escape through a covering of paper, or cloth, the flesh of the bird is chemically changed in a way that is different from what happens through steaming — which is the effect of sealing the breast with alluminium foil. If you want to cover the breast, then cut out a piece of brown paper from a shopping bag, rub it with cooking oil, and tie it in place with cotton string. Remove it about 30 minutes before the turkey is done.

In my own cooking style I do not cover the breast. Instead, I add additional fat to the breast meat by slipping fat, like butter or olive oil, under the skin over the breast. I will discuss a little, below, turkey should not be over-cooked. Cooking to a temperature that is lower than the current custom. If you cook your bird to 140F you will help insure that the meat is not dry. Always start roasting with a bird that is at room temperature.

2. Leaner birds: The fattest part of a mature heritage turkey is the skin that circled the neck.

Implications for the cook: Hot, quick cooking is a better approach to cooking lean birds than is slow cooking unless you add fat to the flesh which can be done by putting butter or olive oil under the skin, or even by larding with salted pork fat.

My advice, however, is to treat the bird more the way you would game birds — pheasant and ducks are both traditionally cooked hot. I roasted my first heritage turkeys — they were small turkeys (6 pounds each) in a bread oven at 630F for 35 minutes. They were perfect. I cooked them to 140F. I suggest roasting in a hot oven — 425F to 450F.

A second suggestion is to put fat under the skin of the turkey. Those of you familiar with my book, The Magic of Fire, know that I often favor slipping a paste of olive oil and pounded garlic and herbs under the skin of poultry. It is easy to slip oil and/or butter under the breast, and a little more difficult to get it over the leg and thigh. Slip your hand under the breast work it around as best you can. Putting fat under the skin makes the turkey self-basting. Because heritage turkeys have a mild flavor, slipping flavor under the skin with oil and butter as a carrier lets you easily produce a bird of memorable flavor.

2. Size: Heritage turkeys are generally smaller than commercial turkey varieties. Expect turkeys in the range of 9 to 15 pounds, although birds that are both smaller than 9 pounds, and larger than 15 pounds are available.

Implications for the cook: Roast the smaller birds hotter than the bigger birds. I would cook a 6-pound bird even as hot as 630F. A 9-pound bird you might cook at 475F — but no less than 450F. I would roast a 15-pound bird at 425F. I have not tested these other sizes in an oven — at home roast birds hanging from a string in front of my fire — so these temperatures are my best guess.

I know that if you ask around enough you are bound to run across people who will tell you the opposite — they will say to roast the birds slowly. What should you do in the face of conflicting advice? Do what you are most comfortable doing. If what you do doesn’t work out well — then do it differntly next time. As long as you keep an eye on what you are cooking you cannot really fail. If you are spit- or string-roasting in front of the fireplace then the timing depends on the heat of your fire. I tend to roast hot. My most recent times are a 10-pound stuffed turkey in about 1 1 /2 hours and a 15-pound unstuffed turkey in roughly 2 hours.

3. Flavor: As a rule, heritage turkeys have a more subtle, cleaner flavor than commercial turkeys. There is often less of what I have come to think of as a “turkey flavor.” Depending on the variety, and the way it was raised, the flavor may offer a hint of the wild side — or offer an almost blank palate for you to work with.

Implications for the cook: Historically, turkeys were served with a sauce, and it was the sauce, plus the meat, that constituted a serving of turkey. A light sauce made from the pan drippings is alway a good idea. Slipping flavors, herbs, garlic, and salt pounded up with olive oil or butter and slipped under the tukey’s skin is also often a good idea.

4. Aging the turkey: Wild turkeys — turkeys that are hunted — are always hung for a few days before being eaten. You can deepen the flavor of your heritage turkey, and make it more tender, by letting it age in your refrigerator. I have done this with small birds to excellent effect. The idea is to take the turkey out of whatever it might have been packaged in, remove any organs packed in the neck or stomach area, rinse it, and then hang the turkey in your refrigerator, uncovered. If you can’t hang it then let it rest on a platter, but turn it once a day so that no part of the turkey is always resting on the platter. Keep the platter dry — so wash off any fluids that might settle in the platter and then dry it before setting the turkey on it. I aged one of my turkeys this year for a week. My own refrigerator is an old one that frosts up. I have not tested aging a turkey in a frost-free refrigerator. Frost-free refrigerators tend to dry out whatever is stored in them, so this is something you would need to experiment with.

Implications for the cook: Smaller turkeys — under ten pounds — can sometimes be purchased for less than larger turkeys because there is less demand for them. In any case, if you are familiar with aging wild birds, like ducks, then age your heritage turkey in the same way because aging definitely adds a dimension to the roast turkey that cannot be added any other way.

5. Brining the turkey: I do not advise brining heritage turkeys. My own brining theory is to apply brine to secondary poultry — birds that have no flavor. Brine introduces water and salt into the flesh of the bird. This dilutes the natures flavors. While it is true that salt is a flavor enhancer, I think brining is a crude way to develop the flavor of a heritage turkey. I will also mention that the standard method by which birds are cooled after having been slaughtered in American slaughterhouses is to dip them in a bath of cold water. The birds may take up as much as 5% water by weight from this soaking. Letting the bird sit, unwrapped in a frost-free refrigerator of a day or two, see “Aging the turkey,” above, might actually improve flavor by removing some of this excess water.

Basic heritage turkey cooking principles

Starting Temperature
Until the last couple decades, it was assumed that meat was always brought to room temperature before roasting. The 1965 edition of the “Joy of Cooking” advises the turkey be room temperature — 70F — before being cooked. I think this is essential advice for all turkeys. If your turkey was frozen, defrost it in the refrigerator. A few hours before you plan to roast the bird, remove it from the refrigerator and let the bird come to room temperature. The deep flesh, not just the outer half-inch (1 cm), needs to be at or near room temperature before you roast it in order to achieve the best results. If the bird is at 34F (1C) in its interior parts when you start roasting it the breast will be dry long before the deep tissues are cooked.

Cooking temperature
Because heritage turkeys tend to have has little fat, I advise cooking them the way one cooks game birds — quickly. Roast in an oven at 425F to 450F. I have actually roasted small turkeys (6 pounds) in a bread oven at 630 degrees for 35 minutes. My most recent times string-roasting turkeys in front of the fireplace are a 10-pound stuffed turkey in about 1 1 /2 hours and a 15-pound unstuffed turkey in roughly 2 hours.

Finish temperature
Stuffing, if any, is cooked before it is put inside the bird. The stuffing, therefore, is only heated inside the bird, not cooked. If you do stuff a bird, for food safety reasons, stuff it just before roasting. While the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) calls for cooking turkeys until the stuffing is 160F and the bird is 180F in the thigh, these  recommended temperatures are so high that you will dry out the turkey. I would roast a heritage turkey to 140F, and no more. As always, let the bird rest for at least ten minutes before carving.

A note on the cooking termperature: The USDA recommendation of 180F in the deepest part of the thigh and 160F in the stuffing is based on the government’s need to provide a general rule that will cover all health and safety eventualities, including the handling of the bird by people who have not observed basic hygenic princples, like washing their hands before handling the food.

As soon as you get your heritage bird home, take it out of its wrapping. If it arrived in the mail, unpack it and immediatly rinse it. Of course, wash your hands before handling the turkey. It is my understanding that the part of the bird that has the most pathogens is the skin. Even with an internal temperature of 140F the skin of the turkey will be above 220F, way over the temperature needed to sterlize the skin. One needs to balance USDA recommendations against what you know about the source of your meat and the way it was handled.

Eating is not risk-free — and I cannot assure you that my recipe is risk free. I can assure you, however, that a heritage turkey cooked to 140F in a fast oven will remain moist and delicious, while cooking the turkey to 180F is problematic in terms of the final culinary results.

Rediscovering Heritage Chicken

Gina Bisco takes us through a primer on the differences of heritage chicken versus commercial meat production. She delves into the differences the age of the bird makes and how to specifically cook heritage fowl for moist and tender meat.

Take a walk with Gina through the intricacies of production to the table in   “Rediscovering Traditional Meats from Historic Chicken Breeds”.

Excerpt:
The chicken meat most of us take for granted today is quite different from what our grandparents experienced. Today commercial chicken meat production is very different from methods and ideas common before the mid-20th century. Those of us who want to conserve old chicken breeds need to understand the traditional chicken meat classes and their excellent cooking qualities.

 

NFC 2014 Volunteer of the Year

NFC implemented a new “The Golden Plate” award for an outstanding volunteer who has contributed to the success of NFC.  This award will be bestowed upon a volunteer every year at the annual banquet.

The first recipient of “The Golden Plate” award is Aimee Owen. You probably know her name from the faithful emails that she has sent you year after year opening the order cycle, reminding you that the order cycle was nearing close, and then sending you the order pick-up details. Aimee also posted information to the NFC Facebook page and just generally, supported NFC and its members however she could.

BanquetVoYAwardCroppedSo THANK YOU, Aimee! You have been a bright star for NFC.

 

 

 

Pick-Up Site Updates – IMPORTANT!

  • NEW Omaha Dundee/Jocelyn Castle site! NOW Open!!
  • NEW Ogallala site!
    • Now Open monthly!
      Order Cycles Open: Sept. 21-29; Oct. 12-19; Nov. 9-16; Dec. 7-14
  • Lincoln: Indigo Bridge
    • Looking for NEW location due to heavy Haymarket traffic
  • Seward
    • Looking for NEW site coordinator in Seward
  • Aurora, Papillion, Kearney, Hastings, Crete, Fremont

    • We want to open NEW Pick-Up Sites in these towns! If you are interested in hosting a site, email the NFC General Manager
  • Omaha Downtown & Omaha Westside Open again!

IMPORTANT Calendar Changes!

In order to accommodate deliveries for Thanksgiving and Christmas, we have skipped an order week in October.

Current Order Cycle:  September 21-28
Delivery Days: October 2-3

Week Skipped Here

Order Cycle: October 12-19
Delivery Days: October 23-24

IMPORTANT: We are giving our volunteers and staff a Christmas and New Year’s break. So there will be ONLY ONE order cycle in December.   So, PLAN AHEAD for the holidays!

See the new Autumn Calendar or the Home page for upcoming dates.  Print the Autumn Calendar for easy reference!

Banquet and Annual Membership Meeting

Banquet2014TablesCroppedFifty-eight members and guests enjoyed a first-class evening celebrating NFC at Fontenelle Forest Nature Center Sunday, September 14. (See Banquet Picture Gallery.)

Tim Rinne, one of the founders of Lincoln’s Hawleys Hamlet, spoke eloquently about the connection between climate change and the food on our plates. Fabulous cuisine served by The Normandy was definitely  bon appetit!

Volunteers, site coordinators, and board members were recognized for their eight years of dedication in bringing local food to the eastern third of the state.

Moving into the required annual membership meeting, the requisite quorum was easily met with plenty of voting members present and interested in sharing their ideas.

Exciting opportunities are on the horizon with NFC’s expansion west along the I-80 corridor with the opening of the new Ogallala site late September. As interest continues to build for local food (which supports the Nebraska economy), NFC will not only expand into new retail areas, but is starting to sell wholesale to institutions (schools, restaruants, stores, hospitals, among other businesses).

Many fortuitous connections await. If you have a connection that you’d like us to act upon, whether it be a new producer, new instituition, or new drop site,  just send Caryl, our General Manager, an email with the particulars. Caryl may be reached at: (gm@nebraskafood.org)

New Slate of Board Officers

The count is in for this year’s new board officers.

Incumbents Libby Broekemeier and Roy Guisinger were elected once again, along with back-to-the-board member Gary Fehr.

As one NFC member wrote on their ballot, “All are WONDERFUL and we are lucky to have them!”

Thank you, voting members, for casting your support for these tireless advocates.

 

 

New Skins!

TruckSignageCropped2

You might have noticed the new ‘skins’ that the NFC delivery truck has been wearing as of late.

Courtesy of long-time member and new board member Gary Fehr, the truck’s refrigeration box now touts a fresh white skin. Thank you,  Gary, for volunteering once again!!

In addition to the new paint, the NFC truck no longer travels the roads incognito. New Nebraska Food Cooperative signage was just added by Greger Graphics and boy, does it look fantastic!

So now, not only our members are spreading the ‘local’ word. NFC’s truck is doing so as well!

Life, Brightness, and Cheer

sunflowerSunflower Acres. Acres upon acres of sunflowers are what greeted NFC producer Dianne Thompson when she purchased her land all those years ago. Representing life, brightness, and cheer, sunflowers enticed Thompson to develop a natural skin care line that uses only natural ingredients.

 

DCFC2971.JPGStarting with natural, handcrafted soaps and shampoos made with pure rain water, Thompson insisted on using only non-toxic ingredients based on recipes made ‘the old way’.

 

DCFC2936.JPGInitially expanding her skin care line to include natural deodorants, moisturizers, body butters, cleaners, and detergents, Thompson is always on the look out for products that serve multiple purposes. For example, her insect repellant can be used to not only repel insects but to clean vinyl floors, countertops, as an air freshener, or even as a spicy body spray!

 

Exploring new ways to innovate natural products is a passion that Thompson lives and breathes. Thanks to her, NFC members have all sorts of products that bring life, brightness, and cheer into their homes.