A typical carrot travels 1,838 miles to reach your plate. 

How much money, time and energy does it use during its journey from seed to table, and through how many hands does it pass?  It’s almost impossible to calculate the REAL COSTS of food production, processing, packaging, shipping and storage, but there is another number that DOES make sense. 

If every household in Pennsylvania spent $10 a week on regionally produced food, $48 million dollars would stay in the local economy each week.  That’s about $200 million every month, and nearly $2.5 BILLION per year.  Spending money on local food not only sustains our economy, it provides us with greater nutrition, preserves family farms, generates job opportunities, and beautifies the rural and urban landscape. And don’t forget that locally grown foods are likely to be fresher, tastier and safer for you and your family. 

At Frankie & May Fresh Grocer, we’re sourcing local produce by working with local farms and cooperatives including: Liz & George, Rassie, Orton’s, Mercyhurst West Garden Project, Wiser and Clarion River Organics. 

And just because summer is nearing its end, doesn’t mean we’re giving up on sourcing local produce.  Frankie & May, in collaboration with Spring Harvest Farm in Cochranton, is pleased to announce Erie’s first Winter CSA.  Winter greens, lettuces, and root vegetables will be available courtesy of Laban Kurtz and his hydroponic greenhouse, high tunnel and winter storage.  Two plans will be available for $15/week or $10/week for Friday pick-up at Frankie & May Fresh Grocer. 

So, together let’s work on the Ten Dollar Solution! 

“The Ten Dollar Solution” is from our friends at the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA). For more information go to www.buylocalpa.org.

For more information about the Spring Harvest Farm 2012-2013 Winter CSA, call Frankie & May Fresh Grocer at 814.836.0070. 

Many of us have forgotten how milk is really supposed to taste.  We’re used to the ultra-pasteurised milk that seems to last on the shelf for weeks and weeks and weeks… (that can’t be right!) - in fact milk is naturally almost sweet, and all milk is certainly not created equal…

This is why we are delighted to now be carrying Turner Dairy Farms products in our store.  We were looking for another line of products to carry alongside our certified organic milk, and we have taken our time, because product selection is so important to us.  We considered lots of options, and lots of suppliers, and are really happy with our choice in Turner Dairy Farms… and these are some of the reasons why:

Not ultra-pasteurised - in not ultra-pasteurising their milk they retain the sweet fresh taste of milk as it should be (it’s not heated to as high a temperature).  Of course this means it has a shorter shelf life, and whilst this can be a challenge for us to manage as a business (and the reason so many stores carry the ultra-pasteurised milk), for us it’s important to offer our customers a superior product, and we hope you will agree. They say the great taste is also due in part to the low bacteria count in the milk, federal regulations permit a bacterial count of 20,000 per milliliter in pasteurised milk, but Turner’s product averages less than 100.

Doesn’t travel much - their goal is to have the milk bottled and in stores within 36-48 hours - we think this is really impressive.  Of course because they are a Western PA company the milk doesn’t spend days on the road…

Working with local dairy farms - Turner’s has partnerships with 50 family farms in Western PA.  They don’t get their milk from factory farms or coops, their dairy farmers farm the land and feed the cows.  That’s what we like to hear.

Award Winning - they are 3 time winners of the ‘World’s Best Milk: White Milk’ award at the World Dairy Expo held in Madison Wisconsin…  and whilst that’s not necessarily what is so important to us about this milk, it’s still quite impressive…

As a representative from Turner’s put it they are ”a company that is proud of our long history of supporting local and sustainable agriculture” and a company that believes that “milk is not a commodity”.  We couldn’t agree more.

We love finding wonderful local suppliers who make great products.  Here we talk with Randy Fyock, who founded Marcie’s Homemade Ice Cream in 1981 and has grown the company into an impressive wholesale ice cream manufacturing business based in Crawford County.  Their ice cream is delicious, hand made from the freshest ingredients and cream supplied by dairies from the Tri-County area.  Stop in and pick up a pint of their ice cream, we think you’ll love it - and support a great local business!

F&M: How did you get started?
Randy: We couldn’t find any old fashioned homemade ice cream to sell at our Fairgrounds store so we decided to make ice cream ourselves.

F&M: Where did the name come from?
Randy: From a special girl in our lives, our daughter Marcie.

F&M: What makes Marcie’s different or better?
Randy: It is the love we put into the process, seriously.  We have the highest butter fat available, low over-run natural ice cream with local milk and the finest ingredients we can find to include in our ice cream.

F&M: What are you most passionate about?
Randy: Providing the best ice cream products for our customers so they can serve the best products in turn to their customers.  Also, providing what we believe is lost in many businesses today, that personal customer service.

On a lighter note…

F&M: Are you a cat or a dog person?
Randy: Cat, her name is Lilly.  You should see some of the nap time pictures of us.  Also, the night isn’t complete for Lilly without her scoop of vanilla ice cream.  (Marcie’s Homemade of course!)

F&M: Favourite Music on your iPod?
Randy: What’s an iPod? I’m old school, still use cassette and CDs.  So many good musicians hard to have a favorite, but mostly anything oldies and oldies country music.

F&M: If you were allowed one luxury to take with you if you were stranded on a desert island, what would it be?
Randy: A supply of Marcie’s Homemade Ice Cream of course!

check out Marcie’s Homemade Ice Cream at Frankie & May, or see their website at marcieshomemadeicecream.com

As many of you will know, we have started getting our deliveries of beautiful local organic produce from our friends at Clarion River Organics (CRO).  CRO is a group of 10 family farms from Sligo PA all certified organic.

This produce is beautiful.  It’s a little bit like falling in love, when you meet the right person, you strive to be a better person, well this produce makes me want to be a healthier person.  It’s fresh, local, seasonal and organic - all the things that are good for you.  Of the seasonal crops at the moment, rhubarb is one of my favourites.  Rhubarb for me is such a nostalgic fruit (although it is technically a vegetable); it evokes memories of family Sunday lunches, a delicious roast prepared by my mother, followed her homemade rhubarb crumble…  Rhubarb lends itself to so many different preparations, and in this weather, why not try a rhubarb smoothie.  Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is one of my food heroes, and here he shares a recipe for a delicious rhubarb smoothie, perfect for this time of year.

Serves 2

2-3 Rhubarb stalks, about 6.5oz, cut into 2cm lengths
Finely grated zest and juice of 2 oranges
3-4 tsp honey
3-4 tbsp of plain yoghurt

Put the rhubarb in a pan with the orange zest and juice, honey and 2 tbsp of water.  Stir over a low heat until the honey dissolves.

Cover the pan and stew the rhubarb very gently for about 8 minutes, until it softens.  Add a little water if it starts to look dry.  Switch off the heat and leave to cool completely (you can of course prepare the rhubarb a day ahead and keep it chilled overnight).

Put the rhubarb mixture in a blender with the yoghurt and whiz until smooth.  Taste and add a little more honey if you like.  Pour into 2 glasses and drink straight away.  Delicious!!

Another great way to eat the rhubarb is for breakfast, add a couple of tablespoons over a bowl of yoghurt in the morning, maybe with a little bit of granola sprinkled on top – what a great way to start the day!

(Pennsylvania Organic Rhubarb: $4.49/lb)

5. We’re opening our cafe! Starting Saturday May 26th, from 11am to 2pm we’re serving delicious freshly made sandwiches and salads to eat in our cafe or take away…

4. Local Produce! We’re getting our first delivery of wonderful local produce from Clarion River Organics (see the picture above)  - and wonderful fresh strawberries from Pennsylvania… the juiciest, sweetest strawberries we’ve tasted in a very long time…

3. Tom Hill our butcher is preparing a selection of meats perfect for grilling this weekend, from blue cheese burgers, cheddar burgers, to kabobs, his trademark sausages and of course as always our selection of succulent steaks… get grilling!

2. We’re conveniently located on the way to the beach - why not pick something up at the cafe to take down to the beach with you, a great alternative to the usual beach fare.

1. We have some amazing grilling sauces from Stonewall Kitchen, the perfect accompaniment to any meats you might pick up in store…

Thanks to Yoga Erie and Allure Salon for a fantastic event at the store last Saturday. 

We had a great turnout and saw lots of first-time customers in the store - we hope you liked it!  Jill from Allure was doing mini make-overs with a wonderful line of all natural products, and Yoga Erie had all sorts of goodies to give away.  In addition everyone had the chance to enter to win a prize with products from all 3 stores, worth over $200!  Thanks again to Yoga Erie and Allure… we look forward to another event!

Some days in the store I feel like a kid at Christmas… and today is one of those days. My favourite crackers have arrived, the Lesley Stowe Raincoast Crisps…. Delicious - either on their own, or try them with a wonderful soft and creamy goat’s cheese, your favourite dip, pate or antipasto. These crackers are baked from scratch with only the finest natural ingredients - handmade in small batches. The way food should be.

Try our new Dr. Bronner’s Pure-Castile Soaps.

Made from Certified Fair Trade ingredients and packaged in 100% post consumer recycled plastic bottles. We have Unscented Baby-Mild, Lavender, Eucalyptus, Rose, and Citrus Orange.

I just ate one of our organic Ruby Red Grapefruits from a family owned organic farm in Florida - it was so amazingly good I had to take a picture and post it.

Ruby Reds are the gem of their grapefruit selection, and the rich dark pink fruit is so sweet (and the juiciest i’ve ever had) they don’t need sugar. Enjoy in salads, desserts or all by themselves…

If it’s good enough for George Clooney, Martin Scorsese and Glenn Close it’s good enough for me!

I love Dorset Cereals, and I knew that their cereals and granolas were something I would love to try carrying in our store. Yes they are not cheap, but a little goes a long way - (try sprinkling over fruit or yogurt) and they are packed full of goodness and are so so tasty.

Their products are made by hand, with the finest oats and rye - the tastiest nuts and the chunchiest seeds and honey… and guess what - the Dorset Cereals are being included in the famous Oscar Goodie bags!! So every ‘A List’ movie star will be taking home a little piece of Dorset on February 26.