News from Outer Aisle! Last week we were honored as a Sierra Visio n Award winner and received this beautiful award for our work in creating community and building a business model that represents the Sierra's of the future! Thank you to the folks at the Sierra Business Council, we were so impressed with their commitment to the Sierra Nevada region and grateful they honored us! We were equally proud to represent Calaveras County and stoked that Merita Callaway our County Supervisor made it to the event. A special thanks to several of our long-standing Outer Aisle "family" for showing up too! Sierra Greeen Days returns to Ironstone on April 31st and May 1st! Don't miss this important event! As FoCuS Board members we encourage you to join us and it's free. We will be there with a food booth and a nursery starts. If you want to be connected with what's going on in our community this is the event that will get you there. There's speakers, ceremony, displays, performances, food, auction and of course an awards dinner. Check out the website for more details. We have reserved a table and personally invite you to join us! Email us to let us know you want to sit at our table and we'll sign you up. Normally $60 pp, but if you sit at our table it'll cost you only $50 pp! We are supplying the ingredients and Chef James from Kautz is cooking the meal! Can't go wrong and you don't want to miss the conviviality! Vegetable Highlights Asparagus: our second week and in abundance. This week we'll have: 
Artichokes from the coast and Avocados from southern Cal! Accompanying juicy Valencia oranges are the arrival of Red Ruby grapefruits. Grown at Terra Firma Farms in Winters, these late season citrus are a wonderful breakfast treat! From our farm this week we have more gorgeous "bouquets" of spinach, tatsoi and bunches of green garlic. CSA/Grain Shares - we are continuing our campaign to bring grain to our region both in the form of food and seed! LATEST UPDATE: We inched up considerably last week and added 6 more folks to the grain share CSA. You could be the next one! Our campaign still continues We have a unique opportunity to partner with John DeRosier of With The Grain, a certified organic and bio-dynamic grain farmer, and bring local grains and beans to our community. (See his bio below). We are really excited to bring this important component of food security and sustainability into Outer Aisle. We hadn't realized until this past weekend with John how crucial and important it is to act now! We hope you will respond with enthusiasm too and trust that our judgment alone will be enough of a guarantee. To demonstrate our commitment to the success of this relationship Outer Aisle is purchasing 10 shares! Here's how it works: Following in the footsteps of our recent success in community financing, where we raised enough upfront capital to put solar on our store by selling "futures" and paying participants back in Outer Aisle purchases, thereby creating a win-win situation. The CSA/Grain Shares will cost $500 (or special offer $250). This will buy you a $200/$100 share of grain seed and beans received in 3 increments over the next three years. The grains that would be included would be a combination of heirloom wheats, oats, barley, rye, millet, corn, lentils, peas, and dry beans in 10, 20 and 20lb increments. The other $300/$150 share will be in Outer Aisle purchases with no time limit. This is available to existing CSA delivery customers, CSA members that shop at our store and the general public. Win-win-win benefits for all: - You receive the full $500/$250 back in food (a portion in grain over a period of time and the other in Outer Aisle purchases with no time limit)
- John receives upfront money during a time of difficulty
- Outer Aisle receives your continued commitment
- We together create a model financing system.
Multiple benefits abound: - Pioneering a micro-loan financing model that will not only help John continue his important work, but provide a sound model for future projects/businesses.
- Establish a direct supply connection between Outer Aisle and With the Grain. We'll have his grains and beans on our shelf and other customers get the health benefits too.
- Provide a local source of hard-to-find heirloom varieties of grains and beans that are adapted to human scale production (ie. home gardening) and adapted to our regional climate. These seeds will be used to increase local production of grains and beans on a larger scale bringing back this important crop closer to home.
- Provide a source of bulk seeds for distributing through our store and seed share events for everyone in the community to grow.
- John's extensive knowledge will bring an important educational element to our community.
INTERESTED IN FRESH UNPASTURIZED GOATS MILK?
Leslie Cardoza from Angels Camp has a goat dairy and supplies milk in glass quart jars. It is delicious and does not have the "goaty" flavor you may think! She has volumes to spare on a weekly basis and we urge you to contact her directly for more information and to set up a regular milk pickup. Although we can't sell it legally, we can store it in our refrigerator for you to pick it up on a weekly basis. Convenient, local and yummy!
Leslie Cardoza, phone: 770-2222
ORVIS GRASS-FED BEEF has arrived! click here for the pricing sheet .
Twain Harte Market is processing Orvis Beef and it comes to us in 25 lb boxes, frozen. Place your order with us by emailing according to the following directions. (Please email questions). Choose what you want and how many pounds for a total of 25 or more pounds. Specify how many to a package, ie. two steaks or 1lb ground per package. Once your order is placed, we will let you know when you can pick it up from Outer Aisle. (Up to two weeks wait).
Daylight Saving Hours: Back to normal hours: Thursday 11 am to 6 pm and Saturdays 10am to 4pm.
Please recycle your clean egg cartons and large paper sacks!
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Outer Aisle FOODS & GOODS "Essentials for the 21st Century".
Our mission is to facilitate a speedy transition to a sustainable
economy by offering the essential tools, ingredients and knowledge to
prepare us for the 21st century.