Blog

By: Peter Sanagan

If I had to choose one dish that reminded me of family meals of my childhood, it could very well be a pot roast. Think of it: a reasonably priced hunk of tough meat that is rendered tender and succulent after a few hours bathing in stock in a hot oven. The house smells lovely and is warm; a sharp contrast to the cracks of branches outside in the February grey sky.

Sometimes, in the dead of winter, nothing warms your bones like a slow-cooked piece of beef. A pot roast is a braise, and it works well with any tough cut of beef. The braising liquid in this recipe can double as a delicious sauce for pasta! In fact, I like to serve this dish with plain buttered noodles. This recipe is taken from Cooking Meat, my cookbook all about…well…you know.

Ingredients:

4 lbs blade roast, trimmed of silverskin and excess fat, tied
salt and pepper to taste

2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion, peeled and roughly chopped
4 slices bacon, diced
4 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
2 stalks celery, roughly chopped
1 cup rutabaga, peeled and roughly chopped
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 cup red wine
4 rosemary sprigs
4 thyme sprigs
3 bay leaves
3 cups Beef (or Chicken) Stock 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Have your roasting pan ready. [I like to use a pan with an elevated roasting rack, which allows hot air to circulate around the meat and cook it more evenly.] Cut a length of kitchen twine.
2. Season the beef well with salt and pepper, then rub it with the olive oil. Place the beef on a roasting rack, set the roasting pan in the oven, and roast for 30 minutes, until the beef is golden brown all over.
3. While the beef is browning, place the onions and bacon in a large ovenproof pot over medium heat, stir well, then cover the pot for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, carrots, celery, and rutabaga, stir, and cover again, sweating all of the vegetables until fragrant and softened—about 10 minutes. Add the tomato paste and stir well, then deglaze the pot with the red wine.
4. Tie the herbs together with the twine, then drop them in the pot. Season the contents of the pot with salt and pepper. Add the browned beef to the pot and turn down the oven to 300°F.
5. Add the stock to the pot and bring it to a simmer over medium heat, ladling off and discarding any scum as it rises to the surface of the stock. When it is simmering, cover the pot and place in the oven for 1 hour.
6. Lift the lid, turn the beef over in the pot, and return to the oven for another 1½ hours, or until fork-tender. Carefully transfer the meat to cutting board and tent it loosely with aluminum foil to keep it warm. Discard the bundle of herbs.
7. Bring the braising liquid back to a simmer over medium heat. Season with more salt and pepper, if needed. Remove from the heat and use an immersion blender to purée the contents of the saucepan (if you don’t have an immersion blender, use a countertop blender, working in batches, strain the contents of the pot through a fine-mesh sieve, pushing the solids through with the back of a ladle). Return the sauce to medium heat and simmer until reduced to a sauce consistency.
8. To serve, slice the beef and arrange it on a serving platter. Drizzle with some of the sauce and pour the rest into a sauceboat to serve alongside.

Sanagan’s currently carries pork from three Southern Ontario family farms. Like all Sanagan’s suppliers, our pork farmers value small scale, humane animal husbandry. The pigs are processed at low volume facilities located near the farms. By contrast the abattoirs that inspired the name Hogtown were anything but small scale. So, while Sanagan’s embraces a different approach to the life and death of the pig, we’re proud to be selling great pork in Hogtown and thought you might be interested to know how the name came to be. 

 

Sanagan’s heritage pork raised on Murray’s Farm 

 

If the name Hogtown can be attributed to one person, it would be William Davies whose ascent from a single St. Lawrence Market stall in the 1850’s to the establishment of Canada Packers (now Maple Leaf Foods) firmly implanted the pig’s footprint on Toronto’s identity. Along the way the William Davies Corporation became the largest supplier of bacon to England, shipping out of North America’s second largest pork processing plant, located in the Don Valley at Front Street. Davies is credited with popularizing peameal bacon, making him the Godfather of Toronto’s signature sandwich. Eventually the animal world tired of Mr. Davies attentions. He died as a result of injuries suffered after being butted by a goat. 

 

It’s not difficult to witness a herd mentality at Keele and St. Clair as shoppers descend upon Home Depot and Canadian Tire, but this area used to support actual herds of cattle, pork, and horses. The Stockyards, a 300-acre network of rail sidings, loading platforms, stock pens, and processors, including Maple Leaf and Swifts, was once North America’s largest livestock facility. The fortunes of the Stockyards rose and fell with the railroad. By the time trucking eclipsed rail as the most efficient form of livestock transport, and combined with the pressures of Toronto’s ravenous real estate market, the demise of the Stockyards was inevitable. The majority of processors moved from Toronto to Cookstown in 1994 but not after doing its share to consolidate our nickname as Hogtown.

 

Toronto Stockyards

 

Up until its closure in 2014, for many Torontonians the name Hogtown was embodied by Quality Meat Packers on Tecumseth Street near Fort York. Even if you never saw the abattoir there’s a good chance you saw the trucks, loaded with pigs, driving towards it. I remember working at Fort York in my early 20’s. You either got the industrial beer smell of the Molson’s brewery or the raunchy not quite bacon smell of Quality Meats. Grimly, it felt historically accurate. There had been a packing plant on the site since 1914 in the form of the Toronto Municipal Slaughterhouse. This facility was bought in 1960 by Quality Meats. At its height, Quality processed one third of Ontario’s pork. While it defied animal rights protests and condo-mania it was eventually brought down by the cruel variables of the free market. The last straw was the piglet-killing virus of 2014. Thankfully for Sanagan’s, and the pigs, our small-scale pork farmers were unaffected by the outbreak. 

 

The original site of Quality Meat Packers  

 

Things change. The hogs have left Hogtown. Toronto’s de-industrialization has been rapid. But high quality, locally raised, family-farmed pork will never leave Sanagan’s and Sanagan’s, finger’s crossed, will never leave The Six. 

 

Graham Duncan

Photos: Graham Duncan and Toronto Archives

Even at home I find myself making pie! Instead of making meat pies though, I have been making fruit pies - more specifically Strawberry-Rhubarb Custard Pie. Mark and I have a garden at the Leslie Street Allotment, where we inherited a robust rhubarb plant. Truthfully, I have never been much of a fan of rhubarb, but when you have access to a free and bountiful crop it seems a shame to not do something with it. Over the years I have done a lot of experimenting and have come up with a few great recipes, one of which has ended up on the shelves of Sanagan's - the Rhubarb and Lavender Jelly. This pie has evolved from a recipe that I found in Chatelaine (Ed. Note: a Sanagan household favorite magazine). It is very easy to make and can be easily adapted to accommodate different fruits or berries. If life gives you rhubarb, you make rhubarb custard pie!

Spreading out a blanket, sitting in the sun, eating, drinking, maybe a touch of postprandial Frisbee: the picnic is summer at its best. And during the pandemic, it’s a responsible way to socialize with those beyond your bubble. If food tastes better outside, then imagine how good our all-Ontario products will be al fresco. All you have to do is stock your cooler with our charcuterie, cheeses, salads and accompanying condiments and you’re ready for a class repast on the grass. Just add bread and beverages. Charcuterie Packaged salami and cured meats from our deli selection are the ultimate in no-cook feast-ability. A little bit of bread and mustard doesn’t hurt either. Prosciutto, Soppresatta, Black Forest Ham and Summer Sausage are just a few examples of picnic perfect deli meats. Or go minimalist with a backpack compatible selection of jerkies, biltong and pepperettes. Pâtés and Terrines Created by our charcutier, Scott Draper, these classic preparations are portable servings of delectability made with the same locally sourced meat you see behind our counter. Luxurious selections such as Pâté Forestier, Pâté de Campagne, Pork & Dried Fruit Terrine and Duck Liver Mousse can be spread on bread or crackers and elevate your nature noshing with French culinary traditions. Salads When you head out to the green fields be sure to take some of our greens with you. Anne Hynes and the kitchen team have house-made salads that will keep your picnic delicious and balanced. Lentil and Pear Salad, Beet, Orange and Feta Salad and Kale Super Salad should definitely be on your summer dining shopping list. Or take your own greens and anoint them with our House Vinaigrette. Roasted Chicken Our fantastic King Capon Farms chickens are coated in our Sanagan’s Rub, roasted, vacuum-packed and chilled. Here’s where a genetic mutation that gives you some extra fingers would be good because you’ll want to lick as many as possible. Cheese We’re sure it’s not news to you that Ontario is home to some great independent cheese makers and Sanagan’s is proud to supply their products to you. Enhance your hamper with selections like: Monforte’s Providence; Stonetown’s Emmental or Thornloe’s Cheddar. Pickles and Condiments Our kitchen makes numerous mustards, jellies and pickles that can jazz up your al fresco feast. Maybe a little Beerhall Mustard on your Summer Sausage? Maybe a little Rhubarb and Lavender Jelly with your Monforte Emmot cheese? Maybe some Chili Infused Garlic Scapes with your Pâté de Campagne? Actually, there’s no maybe about it! Along with our house-made products, we carry an outstanding lineup of All-Ontario jarred goods that are picnic classics: Aunt Lovina’s relishes; mustards by Kozliks and Brü; Apple Flats Crab Apple Jelly (says right on it, “try it with cheese”). Simplest picnic in the world? A jar of Sanagan’s Pickled Eggs on the fire escape. So, stash the stove, grab the lawn chairs, come to Sanagan’s, pick a park, find a field or bivouac in a bower. Summer only lasts so long.

Lose the Pan. Let’s have a Grill-demic! Barbecue season is upon us and it’s one of the simple pleasures we can still indulge in. It’s a lot easier to maintain physical distancing when you’re in a big cloud of grill smoke. The only thing easier than marinating some meat and throwing it on the fire is to let Sanagan’s do the marinating for you. We make the kitchen math so simple: Marinade X + Meat Y x grill flavour + beverage = a memorable munch. Here’s a list of some of our most popular preparations available at our Kensington store. Supplies will vary at the Gerrard shop. Photos: Top Row, Left to Right: Hanger Chimichurri, Cuban Bavette, Herb & Garlic Lamb, Pork Souvlaki Second Row: Teriyaki Short Ribs, Bulgogi Pork Belly Plate: Jerk Chicken, Honey Dijon Wings Chimichurri Hanger Steak This elegant Argentinian/Uruguayan marinade featuring red wine vinegar, garlic, shallots and parsley lets the big mineral beefy flavour of the hanger steak shine. Be sure to slice across the grain for ultimate tenderness. Our head butcher, Jerry, also recommends chimichurri as an accompanying sauce to any grilled steak. Play true to type on this one and serve it with an Argentinian Malbec. Cuban Bavette You might know the full-flavoured open-grained bavette steak in its classic French iteration as steak frites but we also love its interplay with our bright citric Cuban marinade. With lime, lemon and cilantro leading the way, we give the bavette a Cuban revolution. Capitalize on those citric notes with a wheat beer. Herb and Garlic Boneless Lamb Sirloin Parsley, thyme, rosemary, garlic, onion etc. point things in a French direction and complement the alluring flavour of our fresh young Ontario lamb. With the bone out of the equation, you can grill these butterflied lamb sirloins just like a steak. Amplify the Gallic theme with an affordable bottle of Côte du Rhône red. Pork Souvlaki Skewers You can do Taste of the Danforth right in your backyard or on your deck with our chunks of pork shoulder tenderized by lemon and boldly flavoured with oregano, garlic and chili flakes. In a pita or with a salad, these are so delicious. They’re not always easy to find but Greek reds made from the Agioritiko grape would pair well with the skewers, or try a craft brew IPA. Teriyaki Short Ribs The short rib is normally a slow cooking piece of beef you associate with mid-winter braises. But slice them cell phone thin on the butcher’s bandsaw, marinate them in an irresistible combination of soy, mirin, ginger, etc. and you’ve got a Sanagan’s all-time best seller. It only takes about 8 minutes to grill up a big batch of these. And, based upon personal experience, not much longer to eat them. Try them with a full-bodied New World Cabernet Sauvignon. Bulgogi Pork Belly It may be some time before we can ramble to Koreatown for a grill-fest but these are just as tasty. Enlivened by, among other things, gochujang sauce, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil, throw these on the grill and in no time you’ve got a plate full of juicy barbecued Korean bacon. Cold lagers forever! Jerk Chicken Another Sanagan’s classic. Slathered in warm Caribbean spices and a touch of Scotch Bonnet heat, these leg pieces are what grills are made for. But like many other items on this list, they also work great in the oven. Guinness or Red Stripe would maintain an Island theme or try a Chilean Shiraz/Syrah. Honey Dijon Chicken Wings Along with it being my burlesque name, honey dijon may make you shuffle off your Buffalo wings allegiance. Honey sweetness contrasted by mustard’s corrective zap and a touch of horse radish, even more zap, makes our chicken wings take flight. I dare you to eat just 20. A semi-dry Riesling would be perfect with these.

Sanagan’s grade A maple syrup is produced in Guelph, Ontario by Shady Grove, the same family who raise most of our holiday turkeys. Shady Grove has 30,000 taps installed in 15 local woodlots, feeding not picturesque buckets but networks of vacuum-powered sap extraction systems. Their sugar shack (a.k.a. production facility) has the ability to process 4000 gallons of syrup per hour. They are serious about syrup and the result is top grade stuff. In contrast to this high-tech scenario I’ve had the immense good fortune, having married into maple, of seeing the process at its most pioneer-like. My wife’s family, The Purvis’s obtained their original 400 acres of farmland and bush near Brockville, Ontario, in the form of an 1812 War land grant. At some point in the 1840’s they built a stone farmhouse. This is the house my wife grew up in, shaded by massive ancient sugar maples tapped for generations to produce the family’s annual batch of maple syrup. #13 Syrup Street If you’re looking for a holistic wellness program, I can’t recommend syrup making strongly enough. Endless lungfuls of bracing fresh air in a deeply natural setting, hiking through the bush carrying heavy buckets, mounting the pick-up truck, unloading the heavy antique milk cans and filling the boiler; it’s like CrossFit at Walden Pond. Graham’s bucket list After your workout you bask in the sap spa, the makeshift boiling tent where 40 units of sap is reduced into 1 unit of syrup and you steam yourself in the clouds of sweet mist coming out of the wood-fired evaporator. While you gently steam, it’s recommended you re-fortify with constant sampling. Boiling Up So, I count myself lucky to be included in this sweet tradition. For those of you who don’t have a tapping family, you can still enjoy this elemental distillation of Canada’s natural flavour. Just include a bottle of maple syrup on your next Sanagan’s shopping list. Ted and Laurel Purvis Ted (right) started early

Sanagan’s Meat Locker’s “Newsletter Subscriber’s Appreciation” contest (the “Contest”)

RULES & REGULATIONS (the “Contest Rules”)

CONTEST PERIOD

The Contest runs from 10 a.m. Eastern Time (“ET”) December 2, 2019 to 7 p.m. ET December 15, 2019 (the “Contest Period’”).

CONTEST SPONSOR

The Contest is sponsored by Sanagan’s Meat Locker Ltd. (“Sanagan’s Meat Locker” or the “Contest Sponsor”)

HOW TO ENTER

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.

To enter the Contest, give your name, email address, as well as your consent to receive newsletter and additional promotional material to a cashier or counter service employee at a Sanagan’s Meat Locker location (176 Baldwin St, Toronto, ON or 1513 Gerrard St East, Toronto, ON). Enter by filling out the ballot with your full name, signature, e-mail address, and check box. A completed entry form will constitute 1 entry into the Contest.

Although an email account is required in order to participate, no purchase is required in order to enter the Contest. Many public libraries, retail businesses and others offer free access to computers and a number of internet service providers and other companies offer free email accounts.

All eligible Contest entries will be entered for a chance to win the Grand Prize of a $500.00 gift card to Sanagan’s Meat Locker.

ELIGIBILITY

The Contest is open to permanent lawful residents of Canada who are subscribers to the Sanagan’s Meat Locker e-mail newsletter, excluding: i) residents of Quebec, and ii) employees, officers, directors, representatives, and agents (and their immediate family members or persons with whom they are domiciled, whether related or not) of Sanagan’s Meat Locker.

This Contest is subject to all federal, provincial, and municipal laws and regulations. Void where prohibited by law. Contest Sponsor reserves the right to cancel or suspend this Contest in the event of any accident, or administrative or other error of any kind. Contest Sponsor reserves the right to cancel or suspend this Contest in the event of any accident, or administrative or other error of any kind.

An entrant under the age of majority in his/her province of residence (a “Minor”) must have a parent or legal guardian consent to his/her participation. The parent/legal guardian must provide his/her consent and his/her email address on the entry form, or the entry form will be disqualified. Contest Sponsor may contact the parent/legal guardian to confirm proof of identification and parental consent. If a parent or legal guardian does not provide consent, or if satisfactory proof of identification to confirm the winner’s (or the Minor winner’s parent, or legal guardian’s) identity and personal information provided in connection with the Contest, including but not limited to, the winner’s (or the Minor winner’s parent, or legal guardian’s) name and email address, cannot be obtained, the entry will be disqualified.

All entries must be received no later than 7 p.m. ET on December 15, 2019. Contest Sponsor takes no responsibility for entries that are lost, misdirected, delayed, garbled, incorrect, illegible or received after the Contest deadline. Limit 1 entry per person. Only one e-mail address and account may be used by any person to enter the Contest. In the event that Contest Sponsor receives more than the permitted number of entries, Contest Sponsor reserves the right to void and destroy any entries from that entrant and/or household, and that entrant/household may, at the discretion of the Contest Sponsor, be disqualified from the Contest. Should it be discovered that an entrant is using the aid of computer programs to auto-fill entries, that entrant will be immediately disqualified from the Contest. Contest Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify all such contestant from future contests conducted by the Contest Sponsor without further notice.

Contest Sponsor reserves the right to ask for proof of identification, which must be provided upon request. If proof of age and identification cannot be obtained then the entry will be disqualified. In the event of a dispute as to the identity of a winner based on an e-mail address, the winning entry will be deemed to be made by the authorized account holder of the e-mail address at the time of entry. The authorized account holder is the natural person who is assigned an e-mail address by an Internet service provider or other organization responsible for assigning e-mail addresses for the domain associated with the e-mail address in question.

PRIZES

There is 1 prize available to be won (the “Prize”). The Prize consists of:

$500.00 Gift Card to Sanagan’s Meat Locker

The approximate retail value of the Prize is $500.00 CDN.

CONTEST DRAW

A random draw will be held at or around 11 a.m on December 16, 2019 at Sanagan’s Meat Locker’s office located at 176 Baldwin St. in Toronto. There will be 1 Grand Prize draw to fulfill this Contest. The chances of being selected to win a Prize in this Contest depend on the total number of eligible entries received.

ACCEPTANCE OF PRIZE

A representative of Sanagan’s Meat Locker will notify each selected entrant by e-mail within 2 days of the draw. Each selected entrant will then have 7 days following receipt thereof to contact Sanagan’s Meat Locker and provide requested documentation to claim his/her Prize. Notification shall be deemed to have occurred on the date the email is sent to the selected entrant’s email address by Sanagan’s Meat Locker. It is the responsibility of the selected entrant to check his or her email account in a timely manner.

Prior to being awarded a Prize, each entrant selected as a winner must correctly complete a mathematical skill testing question and must sign a declaration and release form (“Declaration and Release”) confirming compliance with these Contest Rules, his/her acceptance of the Prize as awarded; and acknowledging the non-responsibility of the Contest Sponsor,, its affiliates, associates, their respective promotional and advertising agencies, and each of their respective employees, officers, directors, agents, successors and assigns (the “Releasees”), with regard to any injury, accident, damage, claim, liability, loss or misfortune related to any aspects of the Contest, any Prize awarded, the acceptance, use, misuse, possession and delivery of a Prize, printing errors or claims based upon publicity rights, defamation or invasion of privacy, by December 24, 2019 at 4 p.m. ET. If a winner is a Minor, his/her parent or legal guardian must sign the Declaration and Release on winner’s behalf in order for the winner to claim his/her Prize.

In the event the selected entrant does not correctly answer the mathematical skill testing question, or sign and return the Declaration and Release, by December 24, 2019 at 4 p.m. ET, he/she will be deemed to have forfeited any rights to the prize and the Contest Sponsor will randomly draw an alternate eligible entry in the same manner from the eligible entries received, and that selected entrant must follow the same process outlined above. This process, as described herein, may be repeated until the Prize has been awarded to an eligible entrant. All decisions of the Contest Sponsor are final and binding.

The Contest Sponsor will not be held responsible for the loss of prizes due to changes in email addresses, mailing addresses or personal information provided by an entrant in connection with this Contest, errors in completed entry forms, or any other circumstances leading to an invalid, erroneous or incomplete mailing address or e-mail address.

Sanagan’s Meat Locker or its appointed designee shall deliver Prizes to winners.

GENERAL CONDITIONS

By submitting an Entry, each entrant (or Minor Entrant’s parent or legal guardian on his/her behalf) agrees to be bound by these Contest Rules. All entries become the property of Sanagan’s Meat Locker and will not be returned.

Prizes must be accepted “as is” and may not be exactly as shown. All Prizes are subject to availability. The Contest Sponsor, in its sole discretion, reserves the right to substitute the Prize or any portion thereof with a prize of equivalent or greater retail value. Some restrictions may apply. Prizes are non-transferable, non-refundable and have no cash value, that is, there is no cash alternative available. All Prize taxes, if any, are the responsibility of the winner.

Except where prohibited by law, the Contest Sponsor does not make any representation or offer any warranty, express or implied, as to the quality or fitness of any Prize awarded in connection with this Contest. The Prize winner understands and acknowledges that he/she may not seek reimbursement or pursue any legal or equitable remedy from the Contest Sponsor should the Prize fail to be fit for its purpose or is in any way unsatisfactory to the Prize winner. The Releasees shall not be responsible in any way for the use of, or bear any liability whatsoever attributable to the Prize awarded in this Contest.

Each entrant agrees to waive all rights with respect to print and broadcast publicity. By entering the Contest and accepting the Prize, winner hereby consents to the reasonable use by the Contest Sponsor of the winner's photograph, voice, likeness and/or image, contents of the entry form, and the name and age of the winner without any further compensation, in all media nor known or hereafter devised, worldwide in perpetuity, in connection with this Contest and for any future promotional activity.

By entering the Contest, entrants agree that the Releasees shall bear no responsibility whatsoever with regard to any claims, liability, damage, injury, accident, loss and/or misfortune related to any aspects of the Contest, the Prize, the acceptance, use, misuse, possession and delivery of the Prize, participation in any Prize related activities, printing errors, claims based upon publicity rights, defamation or invasion of privacy. By consenting to a Minor entrant’s entry into the Contest, the parent/legal guardian of the Minor entrant agrees to the foregoing on the entrant’s behalf.

By entering the Contest and voluntarily providing personal information, each entrant (or the parent or legal guardian of a Minor entrant) consents and agrees to Contest Sponsor’s collection and use of the information provided by the entrant for the purpose of administering this Contest, and, if consent is given at the time of entry, to provide the entrant with marketing information relating to new and existing products and upcoming promotions of Sanagan’s Meat Locker by e-mail.

Your personal information will not be disclosed to any third party nor will you receive communications from the Contest Sponsor unless your explicit opt-in consent is received, in compliance with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Actand its associated regulations, Canada’s Anti-Spam Law and its associated regulations, and other applicable data protection and personal information protection laws. Each entrant (or the parent or legal guardian of a Minor entrant) agrees to be bound by these Contest Rules. No purchase, payment or financial information of any kind is needed to enter or win the Contest.

Entrants agree that the Releasees shall not be liable or responsible for incorrect or inaccurate entry of registration or entry information which may affect an entrants’ ability to participate in the Contest, including but not limited due to any failure of Twitter or Facebook services, the Contest Sponsor’s websites or any failure of the entrant’s email account, or the entrant's cell-phone carrier during the Contest or any human error, technical malfunctions, lost/delayed/corrupted data transmission, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, line failures of any network or telephone line, computer on-line systems, servers, access providers, computer equipment, software, cell-phone networks or any failure thereof or Internet traffic congestion or virus or any combination thereof, or any injury or damage to an entrant's or third party's computer or cell phone occasioned by participating in the Contest.

Sanagan’s Meat Locker reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to cancel, modify or suspend a contest for any reason, including without limitation in the event of any printing, administrative error, virus, bug, unauthorized human intervention or other causes beyond its control which corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness or proper conduct of the contest. Any attempt to deliberately damage any website or to undermine the legitimate operation of this Contest is a violation of criminal and civil laws, and should such an attempt be made, Contest Sponsor reserves the right to seek remedies and damages to the fullest extent permitted by law, including criminal prosecution. Entries are subject to verification and will be declared invalid if they are forged, falsified, altered or tampered with in any way.

October is both the month of Thanksgiving but it’s also the anniversary of my start at Sanagan’s. And for that I’m thankful.

When I started at Sanagan’s seven years ago, I was looking for predictable, painless work that would allow me to write a book. After years of gratifying yet financially precarious freelance writing I wanted to write a novel. And I did, writing early in the mornings before heading out to sell meat. In that seven years, some other things happened: my brother had a massive stroke; my dad went into rapid old-age decline, requiring ongoing, sometimes emergency care from me; I had a hip replacement; and I’ve had cancer twice, both times involving major surgery.

So, yeah, an eventful seven years. And throughout it all, Peter, Brian, store manager Claire and all my co-workers have been unfailingly accommodating and supportive in helping me deal with these various crapwiches. To know my employer had my back throughout it all has made some difficult situations so much easier to deal with.

And over the seven years, it’s been an immense pleasure to get to know so many of our customers, many of whom note my absences and welcome my return. You can’t have too many friends.

At Sanagan’s I’m able to sell products of quality in good conscience, knowing that my efforts will contribute to the family farms of Ontario and sustainable agricultural practices. I’m treated with respect and Peter’s a genuinely good guy who cares about his business and the people who work for him.

And I get an employee discount on all that excellent meat.

So, again, thanks.