Happy New Year from All Good

We've been taking a much-needed break over the holidays and hope you've had at least some relaxing time to yourselves too.  Nick and I do everything ourselves (baking & delivering are really the last component, there's a lot of business planning, contact cultivating, marketing & creative effort that comes first). The last several, thankfully busy, months have left us needing a little recuperation and family time.  Time at home, often by the fire doing projects with our little family has been welcomed with gratefulness.  Not to say we haven't still been working!  We've got some exciting plans in store, for the far and immediate future, but we're not quite ready to share everything yet as they are still in various processes of development. 

A few tidbits we can let you in on:

Our most recent delivery of flour from Champlain Valley Milling included an organic NY-grown (and milled) all-purpose white/wheat! We'll start using it next week as soon as our supply of other AP runs out.  Strangely (we thought), Champlain Valley said they weren't able to share the name of the wheat farm with us.  We ordered the flour anyway and will soon be asking them why they aren't giving out that information.  We like to verify exactly where our ingredients are coming from and we look for supporting information that the farms in question follow organic, organic-practices, or certified naturally grown guidelines.  We'll keep you posted on developments.

We tried a new muffin this week, Spiced Apple Butter, made with our own CSB member Jen Stafford's homemade apple butter!  With a moist center of whole wheat flour, oatbran, apple cider, rapadura sugar, Siggi's yogurt, maple syrup & crunchy topping of strudel and finely chopped walnuts.  Since we only had one member who asked for muffins this week and I'm all about quality control, one was consumed warm, another after the insides had some time to set properly.  We've got some delicious muffins, but this one really exceeded my expectations.  Taking a moment in our cozy bakery to savor the fruits of our labor is an enjoyable task.

I was asked recently to share the story of how our Community Supported Bakery came about by Homegrown.org, Farm Aid's online community website.  I've written professionally in an administrative environment and here on our blog, but this is my first, real, published article!  Read more about it here: http://homegrown.org/blog/2010/12/all-good-bakers-a-community-supported-bakery/

Some of our fans know that we drive a bright yellow 1978 Volkswagen Bus (Daisy).  Maybe you've seen us around town?  She was acting up last Wednesday (our CSB delivery day, crisis!) and had to spend some time in our driveway.  Luckily, we have a friend who is a fellow bus owner with loads of spare parts and repair experience - he fixed a blown fuse in minutes!  We'd like to give a big shout out to Jules Herr for coming to All Good's rescue.  Give him a honk and a peace sign if you see his '74 Orange Westy driving by!  Some other friends, Megan & Tom offered us the use of their extra car during the crisis (it's got heat! Which Daisy lacks - so we're going to hold on to it for a little bit, that heat is a luxury).  We couldn't have completed our deliveries without these people willing to lend a helping hand.  Daisy's all fixed up and don't worry, she'll be back on the road when some of that rust-eroding salt clears up.

(That's Nick laying down on a much warmer day than today.)

More exciting opportunities are on our horizon!  The first being a pot-luck tonight where we're sure to be fed well in good company.  We hope you all have an equally peaceful, safe and satisfying New Year Celebration.

Britin (& Nick)

You can also Catch Up with All Good on Facebook

Living La Vida Local

We haven't always been so fortunate as to bake with primarily local, organic ingredients.  We began our adventures educating ourselves about the importance of buying local foods for our family when we started baking for the St. James market several years ago.  Our relationships with customers, other vendors, friends and community members have informed our choice to go Local First.  For a long time, we've wanted to incorporate our personal purchasing practices into the bakery, but the availability of steady cash flow to live up to our ideals has always been a concern.

Starting our Community Supported Bakery has helped solve the issue.  We currently have 58 members, most of whom research and understand where their food comes from.  We happily publish our suppliers.  We strive for organic, but also use ingredients that are produced under organic, certified naturally grown & fair trade practices.

Here are some local businesses we partner with: 

Champlain Valley Milling in Westport NY: Organic Flours, some Local/Certified Naturally Grown
Meadowbrook Farms in Clarksville, NY: rGBH-free Milk, Buttermilk, half & half, cream and we are very excited to begin receiving LOCAL BUTTER from them as well (as available).  There is a buttery in Conestoga that supplies Meadowbrook, we're learning more about them. As a back-up, we use the unsalted European butter from the Honest Weight or Organic Valley.
Adirondack Farm in Fonda, NY: Organic Maple Syrup
Once Again Nut Butters, Nunda, NY - Peanut Butter (fair trade)
Eggs come from a local farm (either Otter Hook or Raven's Roost Farms, both in New Baltimore, or Meadowbrook/others depending on availability).  Eggs will always be free-range and organic or produced under organic practices.  Otter Hook & Raven's Roost use organic practices and their chickens are totally free-range.  OH also has a wonderful CSA & RR spins wool into amazing creations and produces high-quality lamb.
WestSoy: Organic Unsweetened Soymilk
Wholesome Sweeteners: Organic, Fair Trade Sugar from Paraguay
Spices & Yeast - Mike's Spice, Honest Weight Food Coop

Community Supported Bakery Shares are still available on a pro-rated basis through April 27, beginning at only $6.00 per week.  Please visit our website for more information about shares and links to our suppliers!

Your bakers,

Britin & Nick

"End of the Market" Giveaway - CSB Membership

The Saturday Delmar Farmer's Market is ending for the season next Saturday, December 18.  It is with a mixture of sadness and relief that we approach our final 2 markets of the year.  The communal atmosphere with customers and vendors will be missed, the opportunity to rest welcomed.


We have been trading bread and baked goods all year for non-gmo/no spray vegetables (Farmers Jon & DJ), grass-fed beef and pork (JoAnn @ Tilldale Farms), organic free-range chicken (Cheryl @ Franzen's Scenic Acres) and eggs (Ross & Liz @ Raven's Roost Farms, Tilldale, Franzen's), even handmade soap (Herbal Bliss - incredible combinations!).  The relationships we and others have developed with these producer-only, local crafters of fine food and other agricultural & fair-trade products has strengthened our community and enriched our lives.  Everyone has worked really hard and the people of Albany & Delmar have been extremely supportive.   We'll sorely miss everyone over the winter and would like the mark the occasion so, 


We're holding an End of the Market Giveaway!

AT STAKE: A Single Membership in our Community Supported Bakery for the remainder of the season (worth over $100 for weekly, locally-sourced, primarily organic bread & baked goods through April 27).  


To enter: Please visit our table at the Delmar Farmer's Market this Saturday (Dec 12) or next (Dec 18), 9am-1pm Kenwood Ave, inside the Bethlehem Middle School cafeteria.  We'll have a short form to submit your contact information and we'll draw the winner the evening of December 18.  We'll contact the winner directly as well as announcing them on our blog/website/facebook/twitter.  Current shareholders can enter to win an additional share!


After December, we'll be focusing on the CSB and researching what we need to do to open our little retail space on Quail St.  You'll still be able to special order our breads and baked goods in (reasonable quantity) bulk or you can of course join our CSB!  Please visit our website for all the information: www.allgoodbakers.weebly.com.  We appreciate your support throughout the market season!


Your bakers,
Britin & Nick

The Muffin (Wo)Man

Since starting the CSB in November, Nick has had a lot on his plate.  He usually prepares all the bread, scones, croissants, bialys, and until recently, muffins for the CSB & the market.  I (Britin) take care of the business end of things and prepare vegan cinnamon buns, crispy brown rice energy treats, cakes and (not least) croutons.  To take a little pressure off of Nick and stretch my creativity a bit, I've recently taken over the muffins.

Although eating baked goods typically translates into consuming lots of calories, we bake with the healthiest, real ingredients we can find so everything still has substantial nutritional value (and tastes good).  Our family has become progressively more health conscience and we know many others who are looking to add a variety of healthy grains to their diets, so we're no longer using unbleached white flour in our muffins.  I've been having fun experimenting with hearty combinations, sometimes with a bit of indulgence thrown in.  I'm using whole grain flours and aiming to sweeten most with local organic maple syrup (from Adirondack Maple Farms).  Here's what we've come up with so far!

• Sunflower Millet - Made with whole wheat & spelt flours, organic raw millet, locally roasted  unsalted organic sunflower seeds, cinnamon (from Mike's Spice) and sweetened only with maple syrup, these muffins are surprisingly good and good for you.  The crunchy millet and sweet sunflower seeds (inside and on top) make for a nice mix of textures, the cinnamon adds balance to the overall flavor.
• Maple Sunrise - A meal unto itself, one of these will carry you from very early morning to a late lunch.  Made with spelt flour (and a bit of organic quick oats), locally grown organic carrots & apples, organic raisins, coconut and walnuts, cinnamon, sweetened with maple syrup.
• Banana Oat Nut Chip - This is a muffin that has been tried by many, but absent white flour and filled with wholesome ingredients, it becomes one you can feel good about offering to your kids.  We make them with whole wheat flour, organic oat bran and quick oats, organic bananas, walnuts, cinnamon and just a few vegan dark chocolate chips thrown in, sweetened with maple syrup. 

Although we can't get berries locally this time of year, they're a holiday favorite.  We get our organic berries from the Honest Weight.  Here are a couple of winter combinations we've created:

• Double Chocolate Raspberry Espresso - With fair trade cocoa and Green & Black's fair-trade organic Dark Chocolate Espresso Bar, our Raspberry Espresso muffin is a treat, but still good for you.  We make it with whole wheat flour (and a bit of spelt) and organic oat bran.

• White Chocolate Cranberry - The closest we'll get to a "white" muffin, this one is made with spelt flour and a tiny bit of whole wheat, fresh cranberries and white chocolate (Green & Black's), and is drizzled with vanilla buttercream icing.  With the berries cut in half and closely shaven chunks of white chocolate, the perfect tart and sweet combination is created.  I couldn't resist devouring two right away (for quality control purposes, of course).

All of our muffins are made with local organic (or organic-practices), free-range eggs and just this week we started baking with local rGBH-free butter, from Meadowbrook Farms!  The milk and buttermilk also come from Meadowbrook. All of our flours are locally-milled and organic (from Champlain Valley Mills). You can special order a batch (9 for $24) by emailing us at allgoodbakers@gmail.com.

We'll have more stories behind our recipes and updates on our plans coming soon.  Stay tuned.

Your bakers,
Britin & Nick