Arganica Farm Fresh Home Delivery

PLEASE SEE UPDATE AT BOTTOM OF THIS POST

For the past two weeks my daughter and I have been trying out the home food delivery service called the Arganica Food Club. They specialize in local farm fresh and artisan foods, delivered to homes in the Mid Atlantic State Region. The “Arganica Manifesto” states "Here at Arganica, we believe that it should be easy to eat locally produced, wholesome food throughout the year. Local food from family farms and small-batch kitchens not only tastes better, it is sustainable and supports the local economy. There is an alternative to the global food chain!" Arganica does state that although they try to source sustainable foods, they admit not all farms have the organic certification, and in the winter months some produce may come from warmer climates. Most items we have tried so far, were local with the exception of the Organic Rome Plum tomatoes from Mexico. They sell a variety of products: Beverages, Breads, Grains & Nuts, Chips & Snacks, Dairy & Eggs, Desserts, Dips, Sauces, Spreads, Dried Beans, Fresh Pasta, Fruits & Veggies, Herbs & Spices, Salt & Seaweed, Meat & Poultry, Seafood, Prepared Meals: such as Pasta & Pizza, and Soups

There is no membership fee, although there is a monthly delivery fee of $20.00, which is in addition to the cost of each item ordered through Arganica. By having the food delivered to my daughter's home we can split the delivery cost each month. There is a $35.00 minimum order, which is another reason going in on an order together, makes that amount easy to cover. I get my family's order list to my daughter by email on Tuesday, and she makes the final order on her Arganica account by Wednesday night. Then they deliver the products early Sunday morning. 

Arganica has specials, and adds new products to their market supply weekly. If you are thinking of joining the farm fresh delivery route, just head over to the Arganica website where they answer many of the questions you may have about this service.

The photo above is of my first Arganica order. The local free range eggs were actually cheaper than the organic eggs at the supermarket. The yolks were deep yellow and they certainly tasted great. I have to be honest, egg yolks and cheese are my personal food vices. Even though I have cut back significantly on my dairy intake, I still enjoy the heck out of these two kinds of dairy products when I have them! So if I am going to indulge myself, I am making sure my dairy is hormone free, antibiotic free, GMO free, and pasture raised. My daughter feels the same way, and she was the one who found this company's service, when she searched for safe dairy choices in our area. She had purchased 'Trickling Springs Farm' dairy products in the past, and found out they were associated with the Arganica delivery service.

For my first order I picked out organic farm butter 'just for Ben,' as I have never been a butter eater. Although I may cook with a little ghee sometimes for flavor, I do not put it directly on anything as most people would. Ben says the 'Trickling Springs Farm' butter tastes quite good. In addition, I also ordered the raw honey from Golden Angels Apiary in Virginia, for Ben's allergies, until the beekeeper down the street has his honey ready. Ben thinks Golden Angels Apiary honey is amazing! Okay! Okay! So I did have a taste, and it is super yummy. As you know being diabetic I no longer eat sweet things, so I would only have some in my tea, when I have a cold. Which I seem to have right now, lucky me. Last night I sliced some fresh ginger into my tea mug, along with this new honey, a squirt of fresh lemon, and hot water. Wow! that felt great on my throat!

This weeks order has traditional hummus from 'Cava Mezze', Rome plum tomatoes, artisan cheese, and jam. As you can see I ripped open the cheese, and Ben and I had some of it for lunch today. He made an organic ham and cheese sandwich on Marathon bread, and I had some of this 'Trickling Springs Farm' tomato basil cheddar cheese along with Mary's flax crackers. Oh my! Now that is some full bodied cheese! Quite excellent! Oh! You are looking at the jar of 'Tait Farms' Blackberry Jam aren't you? I will go out to the kitchen and put my finger in... No? Alright I will use a little spoon, and be back to let you know how that tastes... Here is my report... Thatsa sum' goodda tastin' jam! It is actually a low sugar jam with only 5g of cane sugar per tablespoon. Still that is all I would be able to handle. 'Tait Farms' uses a pound of blackberries in each jar, and the jam is very dark, runny, and my fingers got all purple...oh what a giveaway!

One thing I like about the Arganica Market section of their web site is how you can click on the supplier information for most products, and find out about the local farm or artisan. Some of the Farms and Mills look so Interesting that I hope to visit some of them in person one day. Arganica believes in farm transparency, in the tradition of farming visionaries Joel Salatin, and Michael Pollan's viewpoint. Polyface Farm is actually one of their suppliers. Arganica's motto is, "Know Thy Grower."

My daughter bought the 'Tait Farms" Lemon Fig Conserve, (which I do not see listed right now, oh darn!) and said it was out of this world! And that Belgian Chocolate milk called Cocoa Metro using 'Trickling Springs Farm' milk was rich and oh so decadent!!

Now my daughter speaks in her own words about the Arganica Service, and how they handle the delivery at her family's home: "I love them, and I am so grateful for this service. If it wasn't for Argancia, the dairy options that fit the needs of my family would be nearly non-existent. We place a cooler outback, with some ice packs in it. 
I am not sure how they deliver...because we are always still in bed when it arrives. They must make multiple trips from their vehicle to the back door, or have more than one person carry it all up. Everything is either loose or in reused plastic grocery store bags. We really don't have to put our freezer packs in the cooler, because Arganica provides them, along with foam to keep the glass bottles from breaking. Each week is easy because I just leave the packaging in the cooler as i received it, as well as the glass bottles, and place it all outside Saturday evening. 

Shortly after unpacking my cooler the first time, I realized there was a missing piece from my first delivery, but Arganica resolved it immediately when I called. They were very friendly and excited about their work! They really want to know what we think, and what we want...so they can try to make it better. I love reading the weekly post about whats new and fresh, and I think their website is very attractive and easy to use. 
I appreciate the descriptions they put with every item, as well as place of origin."

"We have ordered: Creamline whole milk, whole milk, Belgium choc milk, goats milk, yogurt, cheddar cheese, mozzarella, butter, honey, fig and honey conserve, golden beets, butter lettuce, yukon gold potatoes, among other things that slip my mind right now. My favs are by far the dairy... I feel so good knowing we are making an informed choice about our dairy products. And they are all SO GOOD! Mike LOVES goats milk now! I also LOVE the honey we got... so incredibly delish! This week I am ordering the new baby cereal, so happy to have an option for Liam now too! We all know Aowyn LOVES the dairy... so she is happy. But the most important thing is that I am happy. CUZ IF MAMMA ISN'T HAPPY, AINT NOBODY HAPPY! :-D"

I have really enjoyed getting my goodie bag the past two weeks with our special treats. We think this is a fantastic service for those of us who want great local farm fresh foods! If you live in the Mid-Atlantic Region, check out if Arganica delivers to your area. Then go into the market and see if they have anything that interests your taste buds! With Arganica's wide variety of foods you are bound to find something enticing!

Below : The latest on products we have tried and loved from Arganica! 

Goodwin Creek Farm and Bakery Ciabatta bread  - wonderful light, fluffy, with a slightly chewy crunchy texture. Great flavor! We will get this bread again! Oh we did!

Himalayan Organic Grain Blend - Excellent! Chewy Nutty Mixture that is great for pilaf recipes. Beautiful color.

Fruits and Veggies - Everything we have received each week has been very fresh and tasty, with the exception of one week some plum tomatoes did not look good. Arganica quickly gave us a credit for those. Every other week they were gorgeous and full of flavor.The only other thing we would have preferred to be different was in the 'amount' of strawberries we actually received in our orders one week.There should have had a bit more strawberries to actually fill the blue pint containers. I will strongly say that those strawberries were ripe, and super delish, just the way strawberries should taste!.

The Granny Smith apples, and the lemons, are weekly staples around here, because we make fresh juice with them everyday. We regularly get avocados and kiwis too.

Morrenko's Ice Cream - I may rarely have ice cream, but when I do you can bet it's this brand. Holy Cow! The creamiest ice cream ever! Full of flavor! They do not skip on their ingredients! We have tried the Black Raspberry with Chocolate Chips, and the amazing Honey Lavender Ice Cream. To top off the amazing ice cream how about some...

Tait Farms Strawberry Dark Chocolate Sauce Oh My! That is decadence! So are all the Tait Farm jams and products. The are so worth the money!

Cherry Glen Goat Cheese Chevre - Hubby's favorite.

Mimi's Baby Grains - My daughter is in love with this new baby food option, and is constantly raving about them! Baby Liam is really enjoying them too! They contain no GMO's, no fillers, no preservatives and are minimally processed to retain nutrients.

UPDATE: ARGANICA HAS BEEN BOUGHT OUT BY ANOTHER COMPANY AND NO LONGER SERVES OUR AREA. MAJOR BUMMER. The New Company is called Relay Foods. See this article here. WE are not amused.