So much fall food and other amazing stuff!

Hi friends!

Thanks to all who came out and enjoyed our awesome Grand reOpening party this past weekend! What fun we had! Did you stay all the way through the incredible band Pong's rooftop performance! Here is some video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbg-9cgrZCQ&feature=player_embedded or http://tinyurl.com/ygbydm8

Remember that it's time to vote in the board election! You can do it on-line: http://wheatsville.coop/election/index.html

Owner Gathering coming soon!
Also, please plan on joining us for our very special Owner Gathering on Thursday Oct. 22nd from 7-10pm right here in the large meeting room. It's going to be our annual business meeting as well as a fun and focused brainstorm about Wheatsville's future, why cooperatives matter and how we can build on our Coop's success to make a difference in Austin -- and beyond! Enjoy Inspiration, Community and Hors d'Oeuvres.
Get on the special owner gathering e-mail list and rsvp for the party at rsvp@wheatsville.com

Scroll down for:
Delicious deli
News from the Meat department
A message in a bottle from Cheese Island
Supplements specials
Fair Trade Grocery
Produce, produce, produce!


From the Deli
The arrival of fall has brought the Wheatsville Deli two brand new Fresh in the Deli dishes that truly reflect the season. From Madison Market in Seattle, WA we have an Autumn Root Vegetable Salad – a beautiful, seasonal and high-end mix of oven-roasted butternut squash, sunchokes and parsnips with olive oil, leeks and sage, tossed with julienned celery root and frisee lettuce and dressed with a champagne vinaigrette. And from the Seward Co-op & Deli in Minneapolis, MN, we have a brand new dessert item for our hot bar: Apple Rosemary Bread Pudding! This creamy bread pudding is sweetened with fresh apples and spiked with dried cranberries. Fresh rosemary gives it depth and a buttery, sugary cornmeal topping adds crispy goodness to this new baked favorite. Dessert sound like too much? Just get a snack-size! It's worth it!
The Deli's Smoothie of the Month is Peanut Butter Banana Dream – just what Elvis would have ordered if he'd left Graceland once in a while! Two great tastes that taste great together, bananas and PB are the perfect combo of salty and sweet – all you need is a straw, so try one today!
Also for October, we have a great Salsa of the Month – Guajillo con Miel! This salsa blends dried ancho and guajillo chiles with sun-dried tomatoes and local honey for a smoky-sweet sensation!
The Deli also has some great Owner Specials going on this month! Lattes from the Espresso Bar are on sale to keep you warm in the cooler weather, as well as our Deli Counter's infamous Italian Sandwich made with two kinds of salami, ham and provolone, and our top-selling Asian-inspired pasta salad, Ginger Tempeh Pasta, available in our self-serve Grab'n'Go case!
Come on in and eat!
 
 
 
From Bryan, the Butcher
Did you get a chance to come by for the Grand Re-opening?  I was very excited for the owners of Wheatsville food coop to get the opportunity to meet Paul Willis from Niman Ranch Pork. Having recently spent time in Iowa getting to tour Paul Willis's operation and hearing him speak, I'm overjoyed to be sharing some of my experience with the owners, workers, and general public.
 
Paul Willis is a pork producer for Niman Ranch pork program. Although he's a farmer first he is also oversees the 500 coop run family farms. He and Niman Ranch are on the forefront of animal welfare treatment in the US. Niman producers have recently adopted a 21 point animal welfare system created by Dr. Temple Grandin. They're praised for running confinement free farms, and are modern marvels of biodiversity. Paul has a great story to tell I high recommend taking the opportunity to hear him speak. So head to the north-west corner of the parking lot, for a picnic style meet and greet on the grass. He and our friends from Lonestar Food service, Franklin, Travis, and Todd will be there offering samples of bratwurst, BBQ style pulled pork, and hot dogs--yum!
 
Wheatsville is preparing and stuffing our own sausages now. Made from the best Niman Ranch cuts and mixed with natural and fresh spices and ingredients. This is a first for Wheatsville and we're very proud of the program. To promote our great sausages we're reducing the price .50 cents in the month of October. Look for Sweet Italian, Hot Italian, Chorizo, and country style breakfast sausage in the full service meat counter by the deli. Sausages are regularly $7.99lb, but for October they'll be $7.49lb. These sausages come linked in natural casings and in bulk, not linked. You can prepare these many different ways; grilled, pan fried, steamed, baked, and crumbles can be pan fried. Come by and pick some up!
 
Oh yea and we have deals too!!
Niman Ranch Beef boneless ribeyes $14.99 lb, regular $16.99 lb.
Niman Ranch Beef top sirloin steaks $8.99 lb , regular $9.99 lb.
Niman Ranch Beef 85/15 ground sirloin $7.99 lb, regular $8.99 lb.
Applegate sliced pepperoni $5.49, regular $5.99.
 
 
From Greg, on Cheese Island
Have I  got something special for you!!! I am bringing in 3 special cheeses for your enjoyment. Let me start with the Local cheeses. I am bringing in 2 new cheeses from Veldhuizen Farms. One is Stuart Veldhuizen's take on an Alpine cheese. "Green's Creek Gruyere ages in their on-farm cave for up to 9 months. The result is a semi-firm cheese with intense flavor. While hitting key notes of the Swiss classic, this Gruyere has a subtle nutty flavor all its own."  Also coming in is Veldhuizen's Bosque Blue. "Much like a Stilton, Bosque is robust in flavor with a creamy, yet crumbly, texture. It's lovely straw-yellow coloring is thanks to all the healthy grass that the Veldhuizens' free-ranging cows get to munch on."
 
Recently, I was fortunate enough to attend the American Cheese Society's Annual  Cheese Conference and was able to try many of the thousands of cheeses shown at the conference. There were Cheddars, Bries, Fetas, Chevre… oh  I could go on and on, but the one cheese that I tasted and fell in love with was the Rouge River Blue. This Blue cheese, from Rouge Creamery, not only took first in the Cows milk Blue Category, but took best in show. I knew, after tasting this cheese, that I wanted to bring it in so that you could experience what I had experienced. Unfortunately, this cheese is a seasonal cheese and I had to wait for it to come into season. Ooohhh what a long three months it has been, but now, finally, it is on a plane and should be here tomorrow or Friday. So what is the Rouge River Blue that I speak of? It is a seasonal raw milk Blue cheese from Rouge Creamery out of Oregon. It is aged up to a year in rooms that simulate the conditions of the caves used to age Roquefort. This allows the naturally occurring molds to collect on the cheese and gives it a signature terroir.* Also adding to the cheese's terroir, the cheese is wrapped in grape leaves collected from Carpenter Hills Vineyard that is located along theRouge River Valley and these grape leaves are macerated with Clear Hills Pear Brandy. Yes this cheese will be expensive, but you work hard and you deserve to treat yourself well. What a treat this cheese is!! So now that cooler weather is prevailing buy you a piece of the Rouge River Blue, a nice Concorde pear, a crusty baguette and a bottle of bubbly. Go home open up all the windows so that fresh fall air fills your home, turn down the lights, light some candles, put on some wonderful music and enjoy the moment. Treat yourself Well!!
 
*Terroir a term associated with wine. It is used to describe the flavors given to the grape from the environment that it is grown. This environment would include the soil, weatherconditions and water used to irrigate the vinyards. So when someone refers to a cheese's terroir they are referring to flavors given to it from its surroundings, which would include the naturally occurring molds from the area and the grass the cows eat.
 

New! in Supplements
We have 2 new product lines. First is Vibrant Health which offers Green Vibrance, Fields of Greens, Green Calcium and Vibrant Cleanse lemonade diet. Next is Garden of Life offering Primal Defense, Perfect Food Raw Organic Powder, Vitamin Code Raw One for Men, Vitamin Code Raw One for Women, Vitamin Code B-Complex, Vitamin Code Raw Calcium, Vitamin Code Raw Kombucha, Perfect Cleanse Kit, Coconut Oil and 2 sizes of the Super Seed Powder.
Now on SALE! thru October is Flor Essence Liquid and Tea Blend for $28.99 each.

Back by popular demand are the Shanti Imports coin purses, wallets, passport bags and an assortment of beautiful bags and purses.

In The Grocery Aisle
 
Alter Eco Olive Oils:
October is Fair Trade Month, and Wheatsville is taking part. We have many Fair Trade products on sale right now including Alter Eco brand rice, quinoa and Olive Oil. Alter Eco Olive Oil is the first Certified Organic, Fare Trade, and Carbon Zero Certified extra virgin olive oil from Palestine. These olive oils are made from Rumi and Nabali olives, both native to Palestine. Alter Eco uses the best of these olives to make an oil with perfectly balance flavor, aroma and acidity. Check them out at http://www.altereco-usa.com/main.php
Justin Merrifield, Grocery Buyer
 
Seasonal Fruits and Vegetables
It's that time again, our two weeks of Fall! To celebrate this rare event, we have new crop American organic apples. Honeycrisp, Gala, Fuji, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Jona Gold and Braeburns! We also have an extra special treat—Texas grown Gala apples from Farwell, up in the Panhandle. They are really great.
 
Pears are  also in season right now and we have a nice selections of organic varieties. Currently we are carrying Starkrimson, Red and Green Bartlets, Concorde and Bosc varieties. Concorde pears are my personal favorite, eat them when they are still crisp and they taste like candy.
 
We've got squash, lots of squash! Acorn, delicatta, pie pumpkin, sweet dumpling, kabocha, spaghetti and butternut. YUM!
 
Local Right Now
We had a hard summer season around these parts with the drought and all. Right now we are in between seasons, yet still have some good local products for you. Currently, we are carrying some tomatoes from out in Alpine, Texas black-eyed peas, Bella Verdi mircro greens and living basil, Amador Farms bibb lettuce, McCall Creek golden zukes and patty pan squash, persimmons from Lightsey Farms in Mexia, several mushroom varieties from Kitchen Pride and the gala apples from Farwell.
 
New Products!
In addition to all these great local products, we have some new items as well. 
 
Kitchen Pride oyster mushrooms
Kitchen Pride packaged crimini, shitake and sliced crimini and white button mushrooms
Bella Verdi Mirco Greens (arugula, asian mix and broccoli
Bella Verdi Living Basil
Marinated Artichoke hearts
15lb bags of juicing carrots
Loose baby spinach and braising greens mix
Organic Girl Salads
Romaine Hearts
Tomatillos
Habeneros
Mung bean sprouts
Broccoli Sprouts
Pea Shoots
Earthbound Farms organic baby carrots snack-packs
Upland Cress (similar to water cress)
Red Bananas
Baby Bananas
 
Micro Greens
I want to take a  moment to talk about these flavorful little gems. Unlike sprouts, mirco greens are grown either in soil or other mediums that allow them to root. After the primary sets of leaves are fully developed, micro greens are ready to be harvested. They have much more flavor than sprouts and are used frequently as garnish in fine dining. They are delicious on sandwiches, in salads or just by themselves. They really pack a punch and can spruce up a dish. My favorite are the arugula. Our micro greens from Bella Verdi Farms are grown locally (Dripping Springs) and are available in our salad case near the packaged mushrooms and sprouts. Give'em a try, I'd love to hear your feedback about these delicious products.

Have a great week!

Dan Gillotte
Wheatsville GM and e-mail guy and Texas Apple enthusiast!