Small Business Saturday

Saturday, November 30th is Small Business Saturday.  This is the day that is set aside for shoppers to support their local entrepreneurs.  There are several reasons to do Christmas shopping on that day, they are:

  • Support your community economy
  • Avoid Black Friday madness
  • Acquire more personal attention by small business employees

For more information on small businesses in your area go to http://www.sba.gov/about-sba/sba_initiatives/small_business_saturday_2013

Stay home from the frenzy of Black Friday and enjoy shopping on Small Business Saturday.

Buy Local for Thanksgiving

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Look for local products made by community entrepreneurs  for Thanksgiving.  This includes:

  • Local raised turkey
  • Homegrown vegetables
  • Local dairy products
  • Community baked goods

Local Raised Turkey

Strasburg Meats in Canton, Ohio sell local raised turkey.  The meat is always fresh.  The price of the turkey is more than the frozen turkeys in your local grocers. Quality is better than the frozen turkey. Strasburg meat address is 1410 Whipple Ave. NW. It is located in the Meyers Lake Plaza.  They do not have a website.

Homegrown Vegetable

Take a drive to Maize Valley Winery and Market  in Hartville, Ohio.  They have fresh:

  • pumpkins
  • butternut squash
  • acorn squash
  • apples
  • turnips
  • parsnips

This is a lovely place where you can sit and have lunch while shopping for your Thanksgiving dinner.  They have many local products. They also sell their own wine.  Taste testing of the different  wines is nice.  You can experience the wine before you buy it.

Local Dairy Products

Thanksgiving dinner needs some eggnog. Hartzler eggnog is the best I have ever tasted.  The quart bottle  is decorated differently every year.  The bottles can become a collector’s item.  Hartzler eggnog is sold at Raisin Rack on Cleveland Ave. in Canton, Ohio.

There are many local cheese entrepreneurs around our area.  Guggisberg baby swiss cheese is a good tasting cheese.  It is smooth and can be used on a cheese plate or melted as a fondue. The website is http://www.guggisberg.com/. You can buy Guggisberg cheese in almost every grocery store.

Community Bakeries

Norcia Bakery have dinner rolls that would be nice on any Thanksgiving table.  Norcia dinner rolls are sold in most of our grocery stores in Canton.  Open the bag of Norcia rolls and smell the freshness.

Check out all the local products as you shop for your Thanksgiving dinner.  Buying local will enhance community economy and provide a tasty Thanksgiving meal.  Happy Thanksgiving

Local Dairy Cares about Health and Environment

Hartzler Dairy is Healthy

The reason Hartzler dairy products are healthy are:

  • Grass fed cows
  • Hormone free cows
  • Milk is not homogenized
  • Low temperature vat pasteurization

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 Grass Fed Cows Promotes Health

 The cows on the Hartzler farm are grass fed in the warmer months. Hartzler cows are fed pesticide free hay, grass, and silage grown on the farm during the snowy winter months. Grass fed cows produce healthier milk.  Milk from grass fed cows is:

  • Higher in vitamins
  • Higher in Omega 3
  • Higher levels of linoleic acid
    • Higher levels of linoleic acid is proven to fight cancer

Hartzler does not use Artificial Hormones

Hartzler does not inject their cows with artificial hormones. The hormones that are usually injected into dairy cows are called BGH. This hormone is injected to enlarge the cow’s mammary glands and produce more milk.  Hartzler cows are happier and healthier because they are not injected with artificial hormones.

Low Temperature Pasteurization Promotes Health

Low temperature pasteurization preserves enzymes that are crucial for digestion. Hartzler milk pasteurization maintains a high temperature to meet the FDA requirements and still maintain the healthy enzymes and nutrients for a healthy body.

Hartzler Milk is not Homogenized

Non-homogenized milk is healthy because it keeps the fat intact.  Then the fat globules carry the important nutrients throughout the body. These nutrients include Vitamin A & D.

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Hartzler Dairy Cares about the Environment

 Hartzler sanitizes and reuses the one half gallon milk jugs. You get a $1.50 deposit back when you return the glass jug to the store.  The quart jugs are not reused, but they are recycled.  Hartzler believes that reusing and recycling helps our environment.

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Healthy and Great Tasting

Hartzler milk is different.  The cream goes to the top in the 2% and whole milk.  Make sure to shake the jug to mix the cream into the milk.  I like to take the cream from the top and put it in my coffee.  This reminds me of my childhood.  The delicious and healthy dairy products include:

  • Milk
  • Butter
  • Chocolate Milk
  • Egg Nog
  • Ice Cream

The chocolate milk tastes like a chocolate milkshake.  Once you try this, you will not buy any other chocolate milk.  The eggnog is really good.  The eggnog sells very quickly in the stores on the holidays. Get some while it lasts.

Hartzler dairy products are:

  • Healthy
  • Tasty
  • Environmentally Conscientious

Please visit their website: http://www.hartzlerfamilydairy.com/ . The story of why Mr. Hartzler felt the need to change his way of farming is on the website.  He stopped using pesticides and herbicides because he knew it was not healthy for people or the cows.  The website has a link that goes into  great detail about environment issues.  There is also a link that tells you where you can buy Hartzler dairy products.

 

 

 

Dei Fratelli Tomato Sauce

tomatoes           site_headertemp

Food Network chefs use tomato sauce from all over the world. The one I see mostly used on this channel is from Italy.  We do not need to use tomato products from Italy when we have good local tomato products made in Ohio.  After all, the first commercial tomato was produced in Reynoldsburg, Ohio, not Italy.

Over the past four decades the Dei Fratelli and Hirzel family have been producing good local  tomato products in northwest Ohio. They take great pride knowing their product contains good ingredients. Their tomato products are grown from seedlings that they cultivate themselves.

If you go to the   Dei Fratelli website,  http://www.deifratelli.com/ourfamily.html , there are videos that show how the tomatoes start from the seedlings to the harvest.

Some of the products include:

  • Whole canned tomatoes
  • Petite size canned tomatoes
  • Can and jar pasta sauce
  • Sloppy Joe sauce
  • Salsa
  • Tomato juice

On the website, http://www.deifratelli.com/products.html, they show many more products that they produce. They have many different tomato products.

Most of the products are canned, yet they have jar products and they now have new products in cartons.  I have used Dei Fratelli products for the last couple of years.  I want to help the local economy in Ohio.

Dei Fratelli is also keeping up with different healthy products.  Their tomato soup is the only canned condensed soup that is:

  • 100% gluten free.
  • Does not have high fructose corn syrup

All of their tomato products are gluten free. This local company also has a link on their webpage that gives advice on healthier living and eating.  It shows how to get the kids involved also.

If you go to their website, http://www.deifratelli.com/recipes.html, you will see many different recipes and also videos of good local food being made.

Their products are sold in many grocery stores.  I have seen them at:

  • Giant Eagle
  • Marcs
  • Fishers
  • Acme

Pick some up today.  You will be helping your local economy by supporting another good local entrepreneur.