Wednesday, March 2, 2016

2016 Community Supported Fisheries

Wow it has been a long time.  Oops...  Long enough that I forgot the e-mail I used and even the password.  I stopped for the camera I was using and still using said the pics were to large to post to the blog.  I never have figured out how to fix that.
Anyways, this years CSF I hope is ready and hope it has a good response. Something we hope it can help with this year is a new roof and side porch for the fish plant.

CSF – Community Supported Fisheries for Akiwenzie’s Fish & More…

It is that time of year again!  It was a mild winter so we don’t have to wait for the ice to move on out but we have to be sure the ice from other shores won’t blow our way. 

The dates the program will run this year.  Start date is May 21, 2016 to December 17, 2016.  It is a 30 week span.  Deadline for payment is Saturday May 7, 2016.

I have added an extra option for some may find this helpful for next winter.

Option 1:
Half Share - $200 Maximum we ask you can spend at our table per market is $50. 
Full Share - $400 Maximum we ask you can spend at our table per market is $80.

There is no minimum for either of these and it covers everything on the table which could include fresh or frozen whitefish and/or lake trout.  Smoked whitefish and/or smoked lake trout.  In the Fall it also could be whitefish or Golden caviar. 

We ask if you want something specific, please e-mail me a couple of days before a market so we can put your name on it so it saves on your disappointment.  Examples would be whole fish, fish heads/skeletons.

Option 2:
Ordering 1 - 10lbs box of frozen (maybe fresh fish, weather and catch permitting) Georgian Bay Whitefish or Lake Trout.  You can pick it up between June – December.  Dates can be negotiated to work with you and work with us for it depends on the weather and fishing conditions. 

Cost:  $135

A ten pound box normally cost $150/10lbs but we will sell it to you for $135/10lbs box which is a 10% discount.  This we see would work for people who don’t come to market too often or to fill their freezers in the Fall/Winter. 

Payment Options for either choice:    Cash, Cheque or e-mail transfer. 

Reminder: We have a Standing Fish Order list.  We can add your name to a list of customers that have a piece of fresh fish put aside them.  Just need to know their preferences in species and size.  Then if we have it, it will be waiting for you at the market.  Then you don’t have to rush and possibly miss it.  We will sell it after a certain time depending on which market for we know things might be busy or things come up and you can’t make it.    


Thank you – The Akiwenzie Family

Monday, May 11, 2015

Still Here & 2015 CSF (Community Supported Fisheries)

It seems like it has been forever.  Apologizes for not updating this more regularly. 
This year we are offering another CSF.  Last year's worked well so we are going with it.  We are offering two choices though.  The customers who would like a piece of fresh put aside weekly or one that is really flexible.  Take a boo at it and let us know if you would be interested.  This year we are looking to purchase some more net, a new pricing scale and labeller, some new marketing signage and maybe just maybe a new ice machine.  We shall see.  These are the goals and hopefully if the year treats us well, we will be able to do some more things for the list of things that need replacing or could help us be more efficient is always growing. 




Akiwenzie’s Fish & More….   Community Supported Fisheries 2015


Some Spring like temperatures have returned finally.  That seemed like a much colder winter but maybe not…  Maybe I am just getting older…  J


With the Spring thaw, we are preparing for another busy year of fishing.  We hope to hit the water with a splash and this is where you can help us GREATLY.   


Last year’s version of our CSF work out well we thought.  We had put your names and amounts you paid in a book and keep a running total of it.  That way you didn’t have to remember any fishy bucks or cards. 


 
A little history on us:  We fish up north of Wiarton from a First Nations community Neyaashiinigmiing (Cape Croker).  Andrew started fishing when he was 9 years old out of a wooden row boat with his Uncles.  Andrew had a number of jobs as he was a younger man but he always found his way back to the waters and fishing.  We started this business 13 years ago and thought it was a temporary thing.  Well, it became our career so to speak.  We presently own/operate a provincially inspected fish processing plant.  We catch, process, smoke and sell our own fish.  One day, hopefully in the near future, we will be able to purchase fish from other local fisherpeople.  
 


There will be two choices of our CSF that we are offering this year.  One is more suited to the regular market customer and the other is for someone who doesn’t make it too often to market but still would like to participate, which we appreciate. 


First Choice:


A piece of fresh fish will be put aside for you each market.  Please circle the one you would prefer but please note, if we don’t have it that specific size or species, we will still a piece of fish aside for you but you can decline it.  I will always try to e-mail you the night before to let you know if we have your fish and what it is.  This is the same way the standing fish order works.  I have been doing this last season for standing fish orders and it worked well.  Customers were able to change their order or cancel the night before. 


Cost is:  Full Share    $400          Half Share     $200


What species do you prefer?     Whitefish            Lake Trout           Any Species           Other___________


Do you prefer frozen or fresh?  Frozen                  Fresh          Either one                                                     


Size for fresh or frozen fish:   Small ($9-$12)     Medium($13-$16)         Large($17-$20)                        Family($20+)


Market for Pick Up:        Dufferin (Thursday)        Saturday (Wychwood)


Please let us know if you don’t need that fish for a particular market and I prefer e-mail so it reminds me.  Also pick up for Dufferin’s market is from 3-5pm or it can be sold to other customers.  The pickup time for Wychwood is from 8-10am or it can be sold to other customers.  If you are going to be later, please let us know and we will hold on to it a little longer or until we sell out.


The customers who participate in the First Choice CSF will have their fish put aside first.  The remaining fish will go to the standing orders and other customers.    


Second Choice:


Cost is:  Full Share  $400                                Half Share   $200


We will take your name and the amount you have paid.  We will keep it in a notebook in our kit and subtract the fish you purchased from a market.  We will continue to track it and when it gets close to being finished, we will let you know.  Also this way, you can ask us how much you have left.  This is how the 2014 CSF was done and it worked for us and I think it worked for most of the participants. 


 


 


Thank you for your participation in this CSF.  The CSF will run from May 21 – December 19, 2015. (32 week or 8 Months)
 


I know some people think they may not eat that much fish in the amount of time as mentioned above.


A full share: If someone normally purchases a $15 fillet of fish approximately once a week, it would last 26 weeks roughly. 


A half share: If someone normally purchases a $15 fillet of fish approximately once a week, it would last 13 weeks roughly. 


 


­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­


Please ensure you leave us your name and e-mail if you would like to be able to assist us in giving us a hand up this Spring. 


I will put your name in our book, how much you paid and which option you prefer.  I definitely need your e-mail so I can keep you up to date if we will not be at a market due to poor weather for fishing or some other reason. 


You can find Akiwenzie’s Fish on Face Book and Twitter. 


Deadline to sign up is:  Saturday May 16, 2015


 


Again, thank you for your participation in our CSF for 2015. 


 


Name: __________________________________________


 


E-mail: _____________________________________________


Amount Paid: _______________           Cash      Cheque


CSF Choice:                        ONE            or              TWO






Thank you in advance to the customers who plan on signing up and thank you to those customers who are already participating.  :)  Without your support we would be treading water. 

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

It Has Been Awhile - Sorry...

I know it has been a very long time since I have updated the blog.  I have been busy and my camera was acting up.  I liked to be able to show pics as I update what we have been doing.  Then I figured out how to use the camera on our cell phone.  I can see my boys smirking/smiling... 
Well Fall came and went, and winter is settling in.  We got through a week of wind and snow.  With the crazy weather the boys enjoyed four snow days.  This week they have actually gone to two days of school. 
Yesterday we decided to pull the boat of the water and let her rest on shore until spring decides to return.  We will still be at markets though and hoping to keep this, Face Book and Twitter up to date on what we are doing.  This coming Thursday I hope to smoke some fish for Wychwood's Saturday market.  It sounds like Saturday will a good day to take on the drive to the city. 
I have these pictures to show the interesting few days. 




Thursday, June 19, 2014

Sign up for a standing order

I know we sell out of fish quick and some keep missing it by minutes and seconds even.  I think this will help.  This is a quick sign up sheet for you to put down what you would like and what market you normally attend.  Just stop by Wychwood on Saturday and Andrew will have some with him next week at Dufferin, fill it out and you will be prioritized.  If we have it and if you have been added to this list, you will have it waiting for you at market.  I just ask you to tell me you e-mail or phone number so I can confirm with you that I have it or that I don't before market.  Or you can e-mail us now.  This is what it will look like:


Standing Order List

Name:

 

E-mail or phone:

(We prefer e-mail)

 

Market:          Dufferin      Wychwood

 

What would you like to be put aside for you?

 

 

 

If not picked up by 5:30pm for the Dufferin Market or by 10:30am for the Wychwood market, it will be up for sale to others.  If you are unable to pick up before these times or don’t want your order for a week or two, please let us know.  Thank you.
 
I hope this is a little more helpful.  I know it will help us and not disappoint so many.  The question of what you would to be put aside can be just a fresh piece of whitefish or more exact like a small piece of whitefish and a piece of Cajun smoked whitefish or even $10-$12 piece of lake trout and a $4-$5 piece of regular smoked lake trout.  All depends on how you want to word it.  I just hope this helps... 
 
 

 

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Will be down to Dufferin tomorrow

I couldn't believe it, but Andrew made it out yesterday to go fishing.  Today he is out there to lift and reset his nets for Friday.  What crazy weather yesterday and that is why I was surprised he made it out there... 
Anyways...  All else seems pretty quiet.  Chickens are enjoying this rainy weather for it brings out all the worms...  I ordered some ducks the other week and today we go to pick them up.  They are only day olds and will keep us company close to the house until they are old enough to manage on their own.  Between baby chicks and now ducklings, it will be off the cuteness scale for a while...  I also have to learn how to train a duck.  Boys want to know how a duckling sounds but I have no idea but I guess tonight we will.  My question is how to train a duck.  With food I am assuming.  Animals seem to be easily bribed. 
See you tomorrow at Dufferin and hoping to be at Wychwood this Saturday.  You can always reserve fish by giving me a quick Face Book message or e-mail or phone call.  It would save on the disappointment.  I am also hoping to start a standing order list.  This way you don't need to worry about contacting me weekly.  I will see if I have time to organize it for this week's markets but it is a work in progress... 

Friday, June 13, 2014

Will be at Wychwood tomorrow

Well, the early customers will have the best selection.  We have a little bit of fresh lake trout but a lot of people reserved their fish this weekend.  Nice to see that for I know these people won't be disappointed.  We have our smoked fish and some nice thick pieces of lake trout. 
The smokey fish bits went over well last week and I am glad to hear most people had it on a salad or just as a snack as they strolled around the market.  Won't have it this week but maybe soon...
We had a new banner made and it will be nice to see it up for the first time tomorrow.  Also finally got some new business cards.  Even had our name of our community put on it.  Neyaashiinigmiing...  Surprised it fit.  :) 
Thinking of doing a fish fry fundraiser in September up at our house/work.  Thoughts? 
See you tomorrow and the weather sounds beautiful. 

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Rainy Day

Finally a little bit of rain.  The grass and garden will be happy to see it.
It has been a bit of an interesting week but we won't be down to Dufferin.  We have thunderstorms possibly heading our way and also an east wind is not being overly helpful.  It may all pass and we may be able to get out on the water today but don't know.  If anything changes, I will update this blog again. 

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Pictures of the Grotto

My son Miingan went to the Grotto (near Tobermory) today with his class.  He brought me back some amazing pictures I thought I should share. 
Oh yeah, we will be at Dufferin tomorrow. 




Friday, May 30, 2014

Fish are ready for Wychwood

Well we are off to bed very soon so we can get up for Wychwood tomorrow.  Sounds like it will be a beauty of a day for market. 
Tomorrow is the CSF deadline to sign up and also the people that are signed up and participating in the CSF can start using it.  :) 
Nodin's Birthday tomorrow.  "The Fry Guy."

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Andrew is on his way to Dufferin

The fish are all loaded up and on their way to market.  He has smoked fish and also a little bit of fresh.
I have put on a smoker for Wychwood's market. 
See you this afternoon. 
Reminder that May 31 is the last day to sign up for our CSF.  Also May 31 is when you can start using your CSF if you are participating.  And again, thank you for participating.  After the winter we had, this spring has been interesting...  Glad winter is now over and we can start a regular routine of markets and fishing yet again.  :)

Friday, May 23, 2014

Getting Ready for Wychwood

Andrew is out fishing and I am just getting ready to head over to the plant.  Hoping for Andrew to have a good day on the water and fish quickly to avoid the chance of thunderstorms.
Our son, Nodin, will be joining us for the trip and he will be running his fry stand at Wychwood too. 
We are getting back into some routine and happy the weather has been cooperating.  I am knocking on wood as I type this. 
See you tomorrow morning... 

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Will be down to Dufferin

Andrew is out fishing right now and I am just getting ready to head over to the plant.  All seems pretty quiet right now and hoping it continues this way. 
Andrew will see you tomorrow afternoon.  Reminder about our CSF....

Friday, May 16, 2014

Will be down to Wychwood

Andrew is off fishing and I should be off to finish up the smoked fish.  Reminder about our CSF and the last day to sign up will be May 31.  Thanks to those participating already.  :)  I best get a move on for Andrew should be off the water soon.  See you tomorrow. 

Friday, May 9, 2014

Wychwood tomorrow and CSF

Well off to finish the smoked fish and waiting to see if Andrew can find some fresh fish.  Pretty windy out there so I won't know till later on.  I will have some frozen with me though.  Reminder about our CSF.
I have copied it below if you are interested.
________________________________________________________________________________


Community Supported Fisheries – Akiwenzie’s Fish & More…

I am so happy we have such a strong support system.  Without you, we couldn’t and wouldn’t be here.  Thank you!!!

I will give you a little history/summary of our business.  We started in 2002 but really Andrew has been fishing since he was young.  He fished with his uncles out of a wooden row boat when he was 8-9 years old before he left for school.  We started at the Owen Sound market in 2002 as a business and slowly grew to the Keady Flea Market and Crow’s Creek market.  In 2006 we started in Toronto at Riverdale Farm. 

We catch our own fish and occasionally we buy off other community fishermen.  We process the fish which consists of cutting, pinboning, smoking, packaging and pricing.  We operate a provincially inspected fish plant and our days are spent with a lot of cleaning of this plant and organizing for the next market. 

Our main catch is Georgian Bay Whitefish and some lake trout.  On occasion we have caught other species like pickerel or rainbow but this is rare and usually quite a surprise for us to see one.

We started doing a CSF last year and it has helped us greatly.  At the beginning of every season we are coming off a really lean time which is winter.  Spring usually means high start-up costs, recovering off an especially tough long winter season and trying to find fish that can hide in a whole lot of water.  But with the CSF it helps us get a proper start up and not feel like we are sinking before we even get the boat into the water. 

One example of a cost that is reoccurring is our nets.  It costs us $160/100 yards of net.  This is not including the shipping from Manitoba.  We use 900 yards of net to fish.  These nets can be brand new when they hit the water but we have had them torn up so bad after one lift that we had to discard them.  The winds, landscape of the bottom of the bay and algae in the water can mangle the net and leaves us pretty disheartened.   Again, this is when the support through our CSF comes into play.  We would love to start the year with at least 900 yards but if we had 1800 that would give us some breathing room. 
This year we will run our CSF from May 31 through to January 3.  The markets you can use it at will be at Dufferin Grove on Thursday from 3-7pm and The Stop (Wychwood) on Saturday from 8-12pm.  The CSF can be used for anything on our table like smoked, fresh & frozen fish.  Also we have golden caviar in the Fall.  From time to time we also offer a smoked fish pate.  If you want, you can also order a 10lbs box of fish to stock your freezer.   We can bring a whole fish but need 48 hours’ notice by phone or e-mail.  We process the fish pretty quick once it comes to shore.
We may miss a few weeks but hoping this season, weather permitting, will be better than last.  Find or follow us on Face Book and Twitter for we update it pretty regularly. 

The costs for a full or half share for this year.   Full Share $400 and Half Share $200. 

We ask this there will be a $40 limit per market.  This way we know the CSF will be continued over 5-10 week period but you can also use it as sparingly as you want too.   We will keep a running total at our table so that you won’t need to remember to bring anything and you can ask to see how much you have left and when you have used it. 

Please leave us you name and contact information when you are ready to participate with this year’s CSF.  Reminder:  the deadline to sign up is May 31, 2014.  Thank you again for your support. 

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

New Members of the Family

New members of the family and yes, we will be down to Dufferin tomorrow afternoon.  :)





Friday, May 2, 2014

Headed Out on the Water

We didn't and won't be down to markets this week.  The ice had moved in but slowly is moving out again.  Late yesterday Andrew made it out to set some nets but won't have time to make it to market.  Hoping this fish will be off to market maybe next week if the ice and winds behave.  I don't ask for much.  :)
Been a pretty quiet week but overall it was pretty good.  Busy as normal with 3 boys but not to crazy.  Our oldest is off camping next week so it will be a little more quiet around here.  We are watching a lot of hockey and of course I am cheering on the Habs...
Here are some pics of this morning.
Seagull catching a lift on the ice



Having to avoid the ice.

And of course some of our chickens. 

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Going Through Some Old Pics

Well the ice has blown back in so I spent the day going through some old pics of us.  :)  Had to find a baby pic of our youngest for his grade eight graduation but also found some good pics I thought I should share. 

Andrew & Jamie Kennedy

Prince Charles & Jamie Kennedy

Prince Charles & Jamie Kennedy at the Brickworks


 
This is when Wychwood market use to be set up on the lawn of a church.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Will be at Dufferin (Andrew's Birthday Thursday too)

What a relief to be able to finally confirm that we will be down to Dufferin tomorrow afternoon.  We will have a little bit of fresh fish, a little bit of frozen, some smoked fish and also something new, Rainbow Caviar. 
I will be working on doing another smoker for Wychwood market on Thursday.  I will have more Rainbow Caviar for Saturday and also some frozen fish for sure.  Fresh will all depend on Fridays weather conditions.  This is what the marine forecast is predicting for Friday and East winds are really difficult for us.  It sounds like it will calm but depends on when exactly late in the day is. 

Friday Wind east 15 knots increasing to southeast 25 in the morning then diminishing to light late in the day.

Anyways, we will be there on Saturday as long as everything goes smoothly.  I don't want to jinx it for it has been a very long time since we did two markets in one week. 



Monday, April 21, 2014

Dufferin Sounds Promising

Andrew made it out again and well if I say it quiet enough, we should make it to Dufferin on Thursday.  Tomorrow the smoker will go on for the first time since Christmas.  Hoping to see you on Thursday afternoon.  Reminder about our CSF.