Rancho Vignola's 2016 Summer Newsletter

Crop News

Updates from our growers

Keeping it Green

Rancho's environmental efforts

Food

Rancho Recipes

Always creative and delicious

It fuels us, delights us, and unites us!

Plus contests, stories & more!

www.ranchovignola.com

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Rancho Vignola News

ummer 2016 may go down in history as one of British Columbia's earliest and hottest on record, with an April heat wave that caused gardens to bloom at least one month earlier than usual. Unfortunately, this dry weather also triggered the worst forest fire in Alberta’s history, with the entire town of Fort McMurray being evacuated. As we write, the residents of Fort Mac are making their slow, painful transition back to ‘normal’ life, and we extend heartfelt sympathy for their many losses.

New Harvest Sales

We’re happy to welcome our new partners, Bryan and Melody Toews, into the Rancho Vignola family. The Toews will be hosting a new Harvest Sale in Steinbach, MB. Our long-term associates, Lise and David Shaw of Raven Ventures, are also looking forward to welcoming you to their new Harvest Sale in Warfield, BC, between Trail and Rossland.

Alisha’s own personal journey of incorporating nutritious food into her daily diet, and how she found Rancho Vignola.

We love hearing from you, so get in touch and share your thoughts, or send us a recipe! Also, don’t forget to enter to win the prizes featured in this newsletter.

As the countdown to the 2016 harvest begins, we wish you a glorious summer of fun activities like trail hiking, biking, and munching on Rancho Vignola goodies!

- Sue Vignola

Green green…

Our environmental commitment has always been an important component of the way we do business. We’d like to tell you more about what that looks like on a day-to-day basis, plus share our vision for a future within our local food community.

Digital Dharma

Kudos to our social media maven, Alisha Gardner, for her upbeat and informative posts on Rancho’s products and events. Read about

Inside...

Buying Rancho Products 3 Crop News 4 From the Rancho Office 5 Food, Community, Environment 6 Grower Spotlight

7 Fuelled by Rancho

8 Rancho & Social Media 9 Wholesale Ordering 10 Rancho Recipes 11 Box 397 Armstrong, BC V0E 1B0 Phone: 250-546-3343 • Fax: 250-546-6653 info@ranchovignola.com

www.ranchovignola.com

The Rancho Vignola team, 2015.

New to Rancho Vignola?

! e om c l e w

Rancho Vignola is a family-owned & operated distributor of fresh crop nuts, dried fruit, and quality confection.

• We source our products once per year at harvest time.

• We offer pre-ordering at wholesale prices in September.

• We ship wholesale orders across Canada.

• ANYONE can order wholesale!

• To purchase in person, visit our annual Harvest Sales!

Contact us!

Visit ranchovignola.com or get in touch by email or phone.

Find us online Page 2

www.ranchovignola.com

2016

Buying Rancho Products

A Guide to the Best of the New Crop Sarah, Ellie and Coleen bagging and boxing fresh nuts for shipment.

Wholesale

Harvest Sales - Retail

Why

• Stock up on the Best of the New Crop at the best prices.

• Have it delivered to you as soon as it becomes available.

Why

How

• Products are available in 5 lb bags and full cases.

• Orders must be over $500.

Many of our customers team up with friends if they want wholesale pricing but don't want to buy so much on their own.

• • • •

How

• Check our website for Harvest Sales in your area.

• Mark it on your calendar and come visit us!

When

• Place your wholesale order in September.

• Delivery will be in November.

When

Where

• Online. Orders can be placed right on our website.

• Contact us if you prefer to order by email or phone, or if you need ordering assistance or information.

• We deliver right to your door in most areas of Canada. In less central locations, delivery will be to the nearest shipping depot.

• Harvest Sales are 2-day events that we hold in November.

See below for a complete list of all dates and locations.

• We also hold online Harvest Sales (no minimum order) DECEMBER 1 - 15 and MARCH 1 - 15

Browse and taste before you buy.

Talk to knowledgeable staff.

Buy products in 1 lb, 2 lb, 5 lb, or full cases.

Beautiful and delicious gift ideas.

Where

British Columbia VERNON November 4 - 5 Vernon Recreation Centre SALMON ARM November 11 - 12 SASCU Recreation Centre

Left: Pallets of new crop cashews ready for shipment in the Rancho Vignola warehouse.

Right: Handmade Gourmet Gifts assembled with care.

WEST KOOTENAY November 12 - 13

NEW Warfield Hall (between Rossland & Trail) PENTICTON November 18 - 19 Penticton Trade & Convention Centre

New Harvest Sales in Warfield, BC, and Steinbach, MB.

REVELSTOKE November 18 - 19 Revelstoke Community Centre

BREAKING NEWS

ABBOTSFORD November 25 - 26 Windsor Greenhouses SIDNEY November 25 - 26 Mary Winspear Centre

Warfield, BC: November 12 - 13 at the Warfield Hall, 900 Schofield Highway (between Trail and Rossland). David and Lise of Raven Ventures, who currently hold sales in Kelowna and Revelstoke, are thrilled to invite you to their new Harvest Sale in the West Kootenays.

KELOWNA November 26 - 27 Parkinson Recreation Centre

Steinbach, MB: November 18 - 19 at the Pat Porter Active Living Centre, 10 Chrysler Gate, Steinbach, Manitoba. A warm Rancho welcome to our new friends, Bryan and Melody Toews, who in turn look forward to welcoming you to Manitoba's first Harvest Sale.

Alberta CAMROSE November 11 - 12 Camrose Regional Exhibition AIRDRIE November 18 - 19 Airdrie Town & Country Centre

Manitoba STEINBACH November 18 - 19 NEW Pat Porter Active Living Centre Scenes from our 2015 Harvest Sales: Corinne, Christy, Mikayla, and Phoenix; Cory and Witty the Walnut; Kim; Gareth and Natalia.

2016

www.ranchovignola.com

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Crop News

s a result of early spring rains, California has experienced a little relief from its ongoing drought. Although in the overall scheme of things this is a mere drop in the bucket, the implementation of water saving irrigation techniques definitely helps with the long-term sustainability of agricultural crops.

It’s still early in the growing season for many of our farmers, who are always reluctant to predict outcomes as so much depends on weather and other situations. However, some gentle prodding has produced the following info on the early conditions affecting some of our favourite crops.

Walnuts

Our organic growers at Ferrari Farms have experienced an El Niño spring in their area. Being an organic farm, significant spring rain can leave their crops susceptible to blight damage. With their new field transitioning to organic this season however, they do not anticipate a decrease in supply.

The relationship between the US and Canadian dollar is still having an impact on pricing, but there could be a slight dip for organic walnuts.

North American walnut consumption continues to increase as the word gets out about this nutritious brain food.

Dates

Our friends at Jewel Date in California expect an overall decrease in crop size this season, due in part to a cool spring. However, the upside is that smaller yields usually mean better quality dates. Water restrictions are on their way for summer. Although this doesn't directly affect farms that draw their water from the Colorado River, the resulting higher water rates affect all crop pricing.

Pumpkin Seeds

It is an interesting season so far for Austrian pumpkin farmers.

April started off hot, and many farmers planted their seeds early. Then the weather Medjool dates just the way we like them: big, juicy and soft. turned cold, freezing the plants and damaging the crops.

Thankfully, our supplier planted in mid-May and missed the frost, though they report that the large amount of rain they are currently receiving makes it very difficult to carry out organic weed control. The next couple of months will determine overall yield, but they are hoping for a normal crop this season due to the cooler weather.

Almonds

Raisins

The El Niño rains make for favourable Early reports indicate that after a relatively almond conditions. The spring bloom was wet winter with no water restrictions, raisin positive, with February mostly warm and crops are coming along nicely. However, if dry and the almond trees emerging from the orchard is too wet while the raisins are dormancy on the strong side. There is a on the ground, the crops can be damaged.

One of the first pumpkin flowers of the Austrian growing season. sizeable crop expected, with up to 2250 Fortunately, the harvest won’t be happening million tonnes overall for the industry. Pricing has held steady over the until late July, so our growers are hoping for some drier weather. Due last couple of months, and is currently down quite a bit over this time to the saturation of sultanas on the global market, pricing is expected to last year. This is a result of last season’s super high prices scaring off drop a bit; however, growers still have to contend with the tricky drying many buyers. Along with the 2015 harvest producing a slightly higher season, and this can change predictions dramatically. yield than expected, the result was a surplus of almonds this winter and spring. We are anticipating this Prunes downward trend to be a good sign, and that The outlook for the 2016 season from our prune suppliers is not we can expect some relief on the price of looking positive. The organic crop this year is slim to none, with almonds come harvest time. some trees having as little as three prunes on them. The March bloom was fulsome, but the heavy rains and spring weather damaged the flowers, thus they were unable to pollinate. Supply of conventional prunes is also low, and will likely result in significantly higher pricing (perhaps as much as a 40% increase). Pricing on organic prunes will depend entirely on availability come harvest time, but be prepared for an increase. Typically, if the amount of work to harvest is more than the value of the product yield, the season Almond blossoms will be considered a write-off and the farmers will not bother soak up the early season sunshine. picking. We're crossing our fingers and hoping that proves not to be the case, but time will tell.

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www.ranchovignola.com

2016

Macadamia Nuts

The Australian macadamia crop is looking solid in all major growing regions, with favourable conditions and expectations of good kernel quality. Although final figures for crop yields are not released until the fall, the forecast calls for an estimated 4% increase in production over last year.

Left: Young macadamia nuts stretch towards the Australian sunshine.

Below: A sneak peek at our brand new house-made mix YUM!

New Products

We’re working on introducing roasted pumpkin seeds from our Austrian supplier, as well as organic roasted peanuts from the US. A new Rancho Mix is also in the works, to be offered at a lower price point than our organic Rancho mixes. Final ingredient list is still to be determined, but it will feature at least one confection item, and the trials so far have been very well received.

Stay tuned for the September wholesale price list, when all will be revealed!

I

From the Rancho Office

t’s an exciting year for changes in the office. We’ve completed a major renovation here at Rancho Vignola, expanding our office space by nearly double. This has been needed for a long time, and now that it’s done we’re eager to put it to good use this fall. The additional space in the office means we’ll not only have a little elbow room, but will also be able to hire more people to get your orders processed faster. We’ve also created a customer service station for those who come in person to pick up their orders. We’re very excited about the change, and the positive impacts it will have not only for us, but for you as well!

In other news, we will now be able to offer shipping quotes, company preference, and payment directly on the website in the online ordering check out process. We’re hoping this makes ordering from us even easier for you this coming season. We are still available by phone or email to help you with any questions or specific shipping requirements.

2016

Welcome to Rancho Vignola!

Kylie and Indra ready to help!

Rancho Donates to Fort McMurray

www.ranchovignola.com

In response to a great need, Rancho Vignola has donated $5,000 worth of nuts and dried fruit to Fort McMurray residents who are trying to reclaim their lives after the devastation of the evacuation and fire. Even many of those families who did not lose their homes lost all their perishable food because the electricity was shut off to much of the city for so long. Rancho Vignola is eager to assist those in need however we can - hopefully a donation of nutritious food will help brighten someone’s day.

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Food Community Environment Green from the ground up

A greener food distribution system

Environmental awareness has always been a core value for us, not only in the way we live our personal lives, but also in the way we do business. As a direct-to-consumer wholesale distribution company, we make it attractive and economical for our customers to buy in bulk case lots. This is an easy way to help eliminate the large amounts of materials and resources used in the production of products in retail-sized packaging.

Reducing waste

While accessibility to recycling programs for home waste has been widely available for many years, it’s definitely still lacking for businesses. Because recycling collection services for businesses aren’t offered in our town, we store every recyclable in our warehouse and office that we cannot re-use.

When we have a truckload, we transport it ourselves to the local recycling centre and do the sorting.

Re-using is still the best recycling

When you receive your Rancho Vignola order you will often see a wide variety of boxes and packing materials. Instead of recycling the boxes we receive from our own suppliers, we save them to pack your orders. All the clean plastic liners for product such as raw nuts and seeds are reused to provide packing filler for our gift trays and baskets so they’re not bouncing around in transport. This negates our need to source single-use packaging materials, and allows the plastics to have a second life.

Whenever possible, we purchase packaging supplies made from recycled material. We ensure that our bags, boxes, and materials are also recyclable. In turn, you can help us reduce the impact of landfill waste by recycling the packing material and bags you receive once you’re done with them.

There is no denying that human activity has created huge environmental issues, to the point that we have caused irreparable damage to our world.

Reducing waste, re-using and recycling are relatively small steps to lighten our environmental impact, but together, we can help make our world a little better for future generations.

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Reducing our carbon footprint

Operating a commercial facility such as ours definitely requires energy; mainly Hydro Power energy. In order to reduce our carbon footprint and save power, we replaced our 75 warehouse high pressure lights with modern LED lighting. Going from 400 watts to 60 watts per unit reduces our lighting cost by as much as 75%.

We are also working to modernize our cooling/freezing systems, by gradually replacing our chiller and compressor equipment with more efficient technology, further reducing the amount of energy we consume.

As a business supporting small local farmers and producers, we feel it is our responsibility to do so in the most energy efficient way possible, reflecting the values we hold close to heart.

A local food hub: the birth of Rancho Cooling

In 2006, after years of operating out of a number of temporary locations, Rancho Vignola found the perfect home in its present location in Armstrong, BC. Since the building encompasses a fifty-six thousand square foot facility, including huge freezers and coolers, it is way too large (and expensive) for just our dried fruit and nut business. However, a light bulb (LED of course!) went on in company founder Richard Vignola’s brain. He took this as the perfect opportunity to provide a service to our community, while at the same time helping to pay the lease. Hence, in 2013 Rancho Cooling and Warehouse was born, offering much-needed commercial storage and warehousing space for many small local farmers, food producers and distributors. Products we handle at Rancho Cooling are quite varied and include organic local meat, fruit purees and juices, frozen cookie dough, fruit and vegetables, natural snacks, and even Okanagan lake shrimp (used as protein for pet foods). Megan Payne, Rancho Cooling’s manager, is quite excited about the future: “We are getting new inquiries every week from companies interested in our facility and the services we offer.”

Rancho Cooling is now successfully growing alongside Rancho Vignola Nuts & Dried Fruit, expanding each year and rapidly becoming an essential warehousing, distribution, and service centre for local foods.

- Cont'd page. 7

Rancho Vignola's annual food bank donation day - everybody helps!

Top: Mikaela and little Willow.

Middle: Zayne and Kaiai Hallam.

www.ranchovignola.com

2016

Other tenants on the property include Country West, a farming supply and feed store, and Crunch Time Market, a great little produce store. As we still have more space available for rent, we would love to attract a local artisanal cheese maker to our facility, and perhaps a retail outlet for locally produced meats, cheeses, and bread. The possibilities are endless, as the property is large enough to build more storage, processing and retail spaces for food related businesses. Our long term vision is to see Armstrong become a viable agri-tourism destination so visitors can come and experience the taste of our local ‘terroir’.

Food, community, environment

From the early days, when we were running our little natural food store in downtown Vernon, we have been fortunate to be surrounded by like-minded people who share our passion for food, community and a healthy environment.

We thank you for being part of our dream, as we continue to strive for a healthy and vibrant planet.

Sue & Richard Vignola enjoy the beautiful ocean at Paddler's Inn, in BC's Broughton Archipelago.

Owned by long-time customers Bruce & Josée McMorran, this is our heaven on Earth!

- Richard Vignola

The processing facility and hydraulic power plant at Schalk Mühle in Austria.

Grower Spotlight

Austrian

Organic pumpkin seeds

B

y now, many of you have tried the exquisite organic pumpkin seeds grown by our new supplier Schalk Mühle in Austria. We are so happy to have found this super high quality product, and a family of farmers and millers who have been working the same land for generations. Their tradition of sustainable organic growing and processing results in a truly exceptional product that must be tasted to be believed.

Schalk Mühle is a small family business with a philosophy very similar to our own, based on small-scale growing and processing, and personal contact with fellow farmers and customers. Their organic farm is situated around their own production facility in Austria.

With a hydraulic power plant, they are able to produce almost all of their own electricity needs throughout the year, with plans to expand into solar energy for the rest. While they run a successful farm, part of their property is left as a forest - this not only keeps a vibrant ecosystem close by, but also provides them with wood to fuel their roasting pans.

Save Our Bees

Our friends at Maisie Janes’s California Sunshine, suppliers of organic almonds, strongly believe in earth-friendly practices, and that starts with their family owned and operated organic orchards. With 70% of our planet's food and plants dependant on bees, they have an enormous roll to play in the majority of food production. Maisie Jane’s orchards have their natural grasses left in place, with bee-friendly bushes and flowers planted to create a natural habitat, resulting in a healthy, balanced eco system for bees and other beneficial insects.

Maisie Jane also works with other organizations in their mission to help save the bees.

2016

www.ranchovignola.com

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Fuelled by Rancho Dahria swings by the warehouse to pick up some goodies for the road.

Rancho Vignola proudly sponsors athletes across Canada through product donations. As many of you can attest, quality nuts and dried fruit are the perfect fuel for attaining physical goals and sustaining you through life! Here we feature two hard-working athletes: Dahria Beatty, who we have sponsored since 2014, and Ryan Leech, one of the newest to our team.

Dahria Beatty

After coming off her best season ever, highlighted by a 15th place finish in a World Cup sprint at the Ski Tour Canada, winning the NorAm overall and NorAm Sprint titles, and winning two Gold medals at the 2016 Ski Nationals at home in Whitehorse, Dahria is thrilled to be transitioning onto the World Cup circuit next fall.

Looking ahead to the fall and winter there will be one more Canadian team training camp in Park City, Utah in September, then it will be off to Europe at the start of November to get ready for World Cup Period I. Dahria’s pre-Christmas World Cup schedule will see her racing in Finland, Norway and Switzerland.

Follow her passionate, inspiring, and always interesting blog at: dahriabeatty.blogspot.ca

Super Food for Super Woman!

Karen Messenger is a Rancho Vignola customer and woman of action! This was her submission to our 2015 online contest: How do nuts and dried fruit fuel your body?

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Hailing from the lower mainland, Ryan Leech is a professional mountain biker and yoga instructor who focuses on enhancing mountain biking skills through demonstrations and online tutorials. With 20 years proriding under his belt, Ryan has many noteworthy achievements, such as being featured on a skills segment for Ride Guide at the young age of 16, and producing a popular DVD in late 2005 titled, "Mastering the Art of Trials", where he showcased 38 trials skills.

Ryan is Rancho Vignola's first sponsored professional mountain biker. He has made several appearances in videos such as the Kranked Series, Ride to the Hills, The Collective, and Roam.

As well as this, Leech created (produced and starred in) his own film, Manifesto.

Since the end of the race season Dahria has been busy getting into her summer Racing in the Eastern training. With lots of skiing in May in Banff, Canadian Championships.

June and July have been all dryland training. Mostly consisting of biking, roller skiing, running and strength training, the Canadian Team got together for a camp in Quebec in June. With spring testing on the roller ski treadmill showing improved fitness compared to last fall, Dahria is seeing a very positive trend in her training and is excited to be heading to New Zealand in August for 3 weeks of skiing to built up her aerobic base going into the fall.

Homemade granola, dried fruit and energy bars filled with Rancho goodies have been staples through the hard training blocks so far this summer.

Training with teammate Maya MacIsaac-Jones in Montreal.

Ryan Leech

His passion expanded in 2006 with the birth of "Trials of Life", a school program for children wherein he performs trials with positive and inspirational directives for the participants. Ryan also offers online mountain bike coaching and training.

Whether you're looking for instructions on how to properly execute a wheelie, or looking to build better balance, Ryan Leech Connection Mountain Bike Coaching has something for everyone, with over 200 classes offered online.

For more information on what Ryan offers, check out ryanleech.com

ro, When you’re a super he food. er sup t ea to ed ne you

Karen races in Italy, 2014.

play hard. I train over 600 I work hard so that I can and in have more fun in skiing hours a year in order to of my s tion edi ee thr pleted ails life. I have previously com fourth one. The tour ent my for ing par pre rently and , est 'Tour de Fun' and am cur long t, ges big the e of ndinavia and hitting som ed pet com travelling Europe and Sca I rch Ma last e, es I can find. For exampl rac ski ce tan -dis long most fun to in Finland. suit at the Vuokatti Hiih in (and won!) a 120km pur healthy, nutrient-dense ive lifestyle, I need to eat In order to sustain my act is overflowing with amazing ge, freezer and pantry foods. Thankfully, my frid dic ski racer, and nuts and My boyfriend is also a Nor a Rancho Vignola products. bars (I haven’t purchased in our diets - from energy to, pes to , dried fruit are a staple nola gra trail mix and for years), to homemade e hav I manufactured energy bar ats tre ring the tasty desserts. I also love sha to to crackers, to tantalizing It makes me really happy ts. duc pro ite Rancho Vignola s. created using my favour ker wor friends and cous treats with my family, share healthy and delicio more AB - Karen Messenger, Can

www.ranchovignola.com

2016

Introducing Alisha

Caption Contest

Social Media Maven

I

grew up in a standard meat, potatoes and fast food eighties household, and have never had a positive relationship with food. We didn’t care where our food came from, there wasn’t a lot of focus on fresh ingredients, and like a lot of people, I developed an unhealthy relationship with food that lasted well into my 20’s.

Now I’m physically paying for it and dedicating time and energy to reversing the damage I have done to my body.

I never used to like nuts. I wasn’t a fan Alisha Gardner brings her of the taste or the texture and refused to muscle to the Rancho team! eat anything that had nuts in it. In my late 20’s, when my health issues were just starting to arise, I had a handful of Rancho-loving friends, and would often hear them tout the fresh and high-quality products. At one point I was given a sample of mixed nuts - I nodded thanks and figured I’d give them to my roommate.

When I got them home, I inconspicuously tried them when nobody was looking – after all, I had a nut-hating reputation to uphold!

Immediately, it was blatantly obvious that the nuts of my childhood were old & rancid, because Rancho Vignola’s nuts tasted nothing like them, and I can honestly say I’ve been hooked ever since!

To kick off our 2016 Harvest Season in style, we're hosting a Caption Contest for our annual newsletter readers and Social Media Followers.

We will be posting each of these images to both Facebook and Twitter.

The contest runs from now until August 31, 2016, and we will select the best caption for each photo as well as a best overall caption. Prizes will be awarded in credit towards your next order. Hooray!

Best caption per photo: $25 credit

Best overall caption: $50 credit

To submit: facebook.com/RanchoVignola - Submit your caption into the comments below the appropriate image. @ranchovignola - Reply to the appropriate image, or retweet your choice, and include your caption. info@ranchovignola.com - Submit your caption by email.

Either copy the image into the email, or simply let us know which one you are captioning.

Rules: There are none! You can submit as many captions as you like and you can spread the love over all three images if you wish.

Out of necessity for my own wellbeing, I have been teaching myself to cook and incorporate healthier foods into my diet. I have learned the importance of understanding where my food comes from, and noticed a slow global shift in consciousness towards food, mirroring my own. People are starting to care! Getting involved with Rancho Vignola seemed like a natural progression on my current journey.

Working on the blog and researching our incredible products has been more educating and rewarding than I ever thought it could be. I’m grateful for the role I play with this company but more importantly, I’m having fun! Aside from the research, one of my favourite parts of my job as ‘Social Media Maven’ is interacting with the customers. No matter where we live, we make up a tight-knit community of like-minded people who hold health and nutrition as a priority in our lives, and I love being a part of that.

Thank you, Rancho lovers, and I'll see you online!

- Alisha Gardner

Have fun!

How do nuts and dried fruit fuel your body?

In last summer's newsletter, we asked you to send us stories about how nuts and dried fruit fuel you, and your responses were wonderful, fun and inspiring! Here's some of what you had to say:

Enthusiastic Rancho customer Connie Gordon of Victoria, BC.

2016

'Cycling is one of my passions, and you will always find me with a bag of mixed organic nuts and dried fruit. Fuel of champions!'

- Connie Gordon, Victoria BC

'I keep a container of nuts and dried fruit in my purse, in my car, at my job, and in my locker at the ski club. I eat a small handful whenever I am hungry and not able to sit down for a meal. It makes all the difference to my energy level, and stops me from making any bad food choices. Rancho's nuts and dried fruit are great nutrition!'

- Susan Tinevez, Whitehorse YT

www.ranchovignola.com

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Wholesale Ordering

From a customer

David Parkinson runs a food co-op in Powell River (skookumfood.ca), and together they have been ordering from Rancho Vignola since 2010.

How did your buying club start?

We wanted to create a legal entity from which we could order bulk product and distribute to members. In 2010, a board member of the co-op discovered Rancho Vignola and started ordering wholesale. After she left the group, I stepped up, and we've been ordering bi-annually ever since.

How do you organize distribution?

Most of the order distribution is done in my kitchen. I divvy up the order and, with the help of my spreadsheet, organize which products were ordered by whom, and start the bagging process. I usually have a helper.

I used to let members purchase smaller amounts of many different products, but that was just too much work, so now 2 lbs is the minimum.

The co-op itself has around 300 members, but there is a rotation of 15-25 members who will go in on orders. Of course, awareness is spread by word-of-mouth, and the amount of people ordering continually increases.

I also tell each member to check their orders carefully right away for any mistakes or quality concerns. When dealing with food, any issues must be dealt with very promptly, so if something needs to be returned they must tell me immediately and I will contact Rancho. Having said that, I can only remember one complaint since I’ve been doing this. Rancho’s products are awesome, and everyone loves them!

How do you organize the order?

Any other comments or tips for other buying clubs?

How big is your group?

When the price list is released, I distribute it to co-op members. It's been helpful for me to keep my own samples available for people to taste so they understand the high quality of Rancho products. To keep costs lower, we try to order as many case sizes as possible and split them up between the people ordering.

Everyone has their own methods and there is certainly nothing wrong with that. The one thing I would reiterate is how helpful it’s been to have people to try the product ahead of time. Once they get that first taste, the great quality speaks loudest and word spreads quickly.

I utilize spreadsheets to calculate all the costs, and because it’s all a lot of work, I mark up products at about 11%. Members are aware of this, but they appreciate that they still get close to wholesale prices. The profit margin is split evenly between me and the co-op, which brings in a few hundred dollars directly to the co-op.

• Are you a wholesale customer?

• Do you know someone interested in ordering wholesale too?

Feline brothers Mick and Nick, plus canine Lenny, on the peanut prowl.

Earn Commission!

You can refer them to us and receive a 5% commission credit based on their first three consecutive wholesale orders!

usual it was her day and as ot e th r de or y t the I received m y for you abou ve a funny stor ha st Ju e. om awes der. Years ago, uts I always or an pe d lte sa un d dry roasted ers, my husban e of my first ord on of l va ri ar e lic on th on the de ious unching away m d an g in tt si oor farm and I were floor. Our outd me fell on the so n he w s ut pean fall, and ran heard the nuts g, tin si vi de si ese yummy cats were in w hooked on th no e ar o to ey Th !' to investigate. t yell 'peanuts ts to come I jus ca e th t an I w w years ago peanuts! If e running. A fe m co ey th re he and out of now some from the s so had to buy ut an pe ur yo st give I ran out of t they would ju NY varieties, bu A M d ie tr I e. on stor e so picky, ly away - they ar k al w d an iff them a sn enough. d yours are good peanuts arrive day as the new It was a happy this year!

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Complete details and referral submission form:

ranchovignola.com/referrals.php 'I referred friends to Rancho Vignola when my buying group got too big to manage on my own. Many of my friends and family live out of town so it's actually easier for them to order direct. I still have some family members who order with me every year, but referring people who were ordering large amounts anyway was a great way reduce my workload, and get credit towards my own order!'

- Teresa Plaxton Kelowna, BC

- Nancy Plesko

Burns Lake, BC

www.ranchovignola.com

2016

Recipes

from the

Rancho Kitchen Visit ranchovignola.com/recipes.php for the full collection.

Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti Sun-Dried Tomato Hummus This recipe is a twist on traditional hummus, using hemp seeds instead of tahini, and with the addition of sun-dried tomatoes.

Ingredients: 30 oz canned chickpeas (garbanzo beans), or approx. 3 cups ¼ cup hemp seeds ¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes, lightly packed ⅓ cup olive oil 3 cloves garlic ¼ tsp each ground pepper and salt Pour ¼ cup boiling water over the sun-dried tomatoes and let soak for about 10 minutes.

Chop garlic in a food processor fitted with the metal S-blade. Add soaked sun-dried tomatoes (with the water) and hemp seeds and pulse until combined. Scrape down the sides, then add olive oil, salt, pepper and chickpeas. Pulse until everything gets moving around in the 'ball' stage, then let the food processor run for about three minutes continuously. If the mixture seems too dry, gradually add more olive oil one tablespoon at a time.

Stop and check to make sure there aren’t any chunks left, then process for another minute if you want it smoother.

Makes approximately three cups of hummus.

This biscotti is great with coffee, sweet wine or on its own.

Submitted by Mardelle Hansen of Vernon, BC.

Ingredients: 1¾ cups all purpose flour (or flour of your choice) 1 cup whole brown sugar (or palm sugar) 1½ tsp baking powder ½ cup dried cranberries 4 tbsp cold butter 1½ tsp vanilla extract 1½ cups raw shelled pistachios 2 eggs, lightly beaten Combine flour, sugar, and baking powder in a bowl. Add butter and vanilla and mix until it resembles coarse cornmeal. Add pistachios and eggs and mix. Lastly, add the cranberries and mix until dough is evenly moistened.

On a lightly floured surface, divide dough into four equal pieces. Roll into eight inch long logs and transfer to cookie sheets. Press logs to flatten slightly, forming biscuits about one inch thick and two inches wide. Bake at 350ºF for 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool for 15 - 20 minutes.

Cut logs diagonally at ½ inch intervals.

Return to baking sheet, cut side down. Bake approximately 7 - 10 more minutes, until cookies start to brown. Transfer to a rack until completely cooled. Leave uncovered to further dry out your biscotti.

Chia Energizer

Green tea provides antioxidants, plus a bit of caffeine without the full kick of coffee, and the chia seeds give your body extra nutrients to keep it fuelled and running smoothly.

Ingredients: 16 oz green tea 1 - 2 tsp chia seeds 1 tsp lemon juice (optional) 1 tsp honey or other sweetener (optional) 2016

Brew your favourite green tea using only two thirds the usual amount of water. Once brewed, add the sweetener and mix well. Top up with ice cubes and allow tea to cool before adding chia seeds and lemon juice. Allow to sit for 1 - 2 hours (or overnight) for chia seeds to absorb some liquid. www.ranchovignola.com

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Recipe of the Year Submit your favourite recipes, and our pick of the year will be awarded a $100 credit towards a future order. Recipes must include at least one Rancho product, and if there's a story behind your recipe we'd love to hear it!

The deadline for entry is August 31, 2016. The winner will be notified before the wholesale ordering period begins in early September.

Submit your recipes in the 'Recipes' section of our website.

Alternatively, recipes may be submitted by: Email: info@ranchovignola.com Fax: 250-546-6653 Post: Box 397, Armstrong, BC V0E 1B0 Note: By entering the contest, you consent to your recipe being shared on our website, social media and/or print materials.

2015

Winner

Mango Chutney Enjoy with veggies, sandwiches, meats, crackers and cheese!

Submitted by Mary Dunsdon of Kamloops, BC

Ingredients: 1½ cups Mexican dried mango, diced & soaked 1 hour (or 1 large fresh mango, diced)

½ cup raisins, soaked 1 hour 2 cloves garlic, crushed ¼ cup onion, diced 1 tsp chili flakes ½ cup Medjool dates, soaked 1 hour 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar 2 tbsp ginger root, minced 1 tsp sea salt ¼ - ½ tsp cardamom ¼ tsp clove powder ⅛ - ¼ tsp cayenne powder Pinch of nutmeg

A nice, chunky consistency is what you want.

Discard the soaking water of the mango, raisins and dates (or use it for a smoothie!). Thoroughly mix all ingredients together in a bowl, then put the mixture into a food processor or blender and pulse 2 - 4 times to roughly chop it, being careful not to over-blend. Let sit an hour or two to meld the flavours before serving. Store in the refrigerator. This recipe also freezes well.

Gift Basket Giveaway

Test your Rancho knowledge!

Answer the following question and you could win one of our glorious gift baskets, filled with a luscious assortment of fresh Rancho Vignola products!

• What year did we launch Rancho Cooling and Warehouse? • Email us with your answer (don’t forget to include your full name and contact info)

info@ranchovignola.com The draw will be made September 1st, 2016 Page 16

Good luck!

www.ranchovignola.com

Summer 2014