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Next Steps: Owner Loans
Jacqueline Hannah, General Manager
As we hit "send" on this issue of From the Ground Up, it is mere hours until the Common Ground Expansion Informational Potluck. Both the staff and Board are excited to be presenting the culmination of over a year's worth of work to you - the plan for expanding your store both in size and offerings in 2011-2012. If you can't make the meeting or want a sneak peek of what we'll be covering, the basic components of the expansion are explained here, at the expansion blog. When I sent out the email to all owners announcing that your co-op would formally be going forward with the possible expansion we'd been discussing with you for the past six months, I knew it was going to garner a lot of response from owners and from the media. And I was right about both: the news was soon popping up on everything from the evening news to popular local news blogs. Owners started e-mailing me, calling me, and telling every Co-op staff member they could find how excited they are about Common Ground's upcoming expansion. I expected this because the Board, staff, and I had spent a great deal of time talking to all of you and are moving forward with the expansion because of the strong desire you expressed to make it happen. And as for the media: well heck, can you name too many other locally-owned businesses growing as fast or doing as many dynamic things in our community as Common Ground right now? But what I didn't expect was how many times I would hear the question, "So, how do we make our loan?" While the announcement of the expansion talked about how we'd need to raise $600,000 in loans from owners, neither the Board nor I had explained how owner loans will work or asked for them. So it blew me away that, despite not having asked, I had almost a dozen owners contact me in the first 48 hours after the email went out to ask how owner loans will work. Since then, I've heard this question many more times. If proof was needed, once again, of how deeply involved and invested Common Ground's owners are in the success of their Co-op, this would be it. Right now, your Board of Directors and staff are working on setting the stage for Common Ground's owner loan drive by figuring out how much we can pledge in loans to the Co-op ourselves before we ask our fellow owners if they will do the same. Our goal is to raise $80,000 in loans -over 13% of the total loans needed- from the Board and staff before we formally kick off the owner loan campaign. Why? Because you have entrusted your co-op into our hands and you have trusted us to lead the way in expanding your store. We know it can be done, and we know it can be successful. We're going to show you how deeply we know this by, as a group, making personal loans to Common Ground to help make it a reality. We'll be mailing out letters to every Common Ground owner on May 20th explaining the owner loan campaign in depth, announcing the Board/staff pledge drive total, and asking you if you will join us in funding the future of our Co-op. Will the staff and Board be able to come up with $80,000 in owner loans to the expansion? I don't know the answer for sure yet, but if the energy, dedication, and enthusiasm that I witness daily of the staff and Board for their Co-op is any indicator, I think it's a very safe bet. See you at the potluck! - Jacqueline |
From Your Board of Directors
Keith Taylor, Board Member
Fellow owners, here we are again looking at another expansion of our little food cooperative to increase our overall capacity and meet the needs of our 2700+ owners. I think many Common Ground owners oftentimes think of our little co-op as a small community, isolated from the broader Champaign-Urbana population. To many, Common Ground is a place to convene with other like-minded foodies, local agricultural entrepreneurs, an ambitious staff (hey, most of 'em are owners too!), and people who care broadly about community-oriented business. To read more, click here! | Have any thoughts, questions, or comments about this article or for your Board of Directors? Email the Board at board@commonground.coop.
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Department Buying Standards: Produce
Jessy Ruddell, Produce Manager
"Eat local!" "Eat organic!"
With seemingly endless options available, how do we make choices about what produce to sell at Common Ground? What do those little labels on our produce signs mean, anyway, and how do we choose what to sell?
Local produce is grown within 100 miles of Common Ground. Regional produce is grown outside the 100-mile radius but within Illinois and neighboring states. "Certified organic" is a legally defined label which cannot be used unless a crop meets specific documented standards as defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The vast majority of produce we sell that is not grown locally (and much that is) is certified organic. For non-local produce, certification is essential, as we're not easily able to visit farms or talk to growers in California or Mexico. "Naturally grown," to us, means grown without the use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers, but not USDA certified organic. Much of the local and regional produce we sell is naturally grown. This is an unregulated label, so in order for us to use it with confidence, we require growers to fill out a questionnaire about their practices before selling to us, and to be willing to host our buyers on farm visits.
We choose certified organic or naturally grown local produce whenever we can, but sometimes we will choose a non-organic option. "Non-organic," also known as "conventional," means that a crop may have been grown using synthetic chemicals. We will only choose this option in a few cases. If the organic or natural version of a locally seasonal item (peaches or sweet corn, for example) is unavailable or in short supply, we will buy a non-organic product from a local or regional grower. When we do this, we try to also keep an organic (but not local) version of the same item on our shelves so that you, our customers, can choose whether to buy local or organic.
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Illinois Senate Food Bills
Rachel Hess, Staff Member
Since 1999, the number of farmers' markets in Illinois has almost tripled from 97 to 300. While this is fantastic for local economies, vendors and market patrons, the rapid growth in the number of farmers' markets also spurs a need for change in the rules for food vendors at markets and a more consistent oversight of markets statewide. Currently, each farmers' market has county regulations it must uphold, which are largely based on how the county health department sees fit to interpret the state's regulations. This lack of consistency from market to market can make it difficult for vendors to sell at multiple markets, and in some cases shuts small vendors out completely. The Illinois Senate has proposed two important bills that could help the future of farmers' market regulations (SB 1852, The Illinois Farmers' Market Bill) and the future of small vendors at markets (SB840). Here is a bit of background on each: Senate Bill 1852, The Farmers' Market Bill, creates a task force to standardize and streamline, on a state level, the often confusing and unnecessary legal structures hampering the sale of food products at farmers' markets across Illinois. The creation of this statewide task force will create more standardized regulations for all farmers' markets across the state, allowing for current and prospective farmers and entrepreneurs to sell at markets across the state with more ease. The Cottage Food Bill, Senate Bill 840 (formerly SB 137) is currently receiving increasing attention, and anyone familiar with the history of the Urbana Market at the Square will understand why. Senate Bill 840 would allow home bakers to sell non-potentially hazardous products (such as baked goods, jams, and jellies) at farmers' markets. This bill has the potential to develop local jobs, diversify the products vendors offer at farmers' markets, and increase the availability to the community of locally produced foods. Do you feel strongly about these issues and want to learn more? Check out: http://www.ilstewards.org/ AND you can contact your representatives, too! Let them know what is important to you! Find your representatives here. Send them a note, give them a call, or even visit the capital - let them know you are a constituent and how these bills will affect your community. Your elected officials work for you! | | |
Local Food Recipe: Simple Roasted Asparagus
Jessy Ruddell, Produce Manager
Boil some pasta and make a salad while the asparagus roasts, and you'll have a great spring dinner in 20 minutes!
1 bunch asparagus
olive oil
salt & pepper
1 lemon, zested
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking tray with parchment or waxed paper. If the asparagus is very thick, use a vegetable peeler to peel the bottom third of each stalk. Spread the stalks on the baking sheet in one layer and drizzle with olive oil. Use your hands to spread the oil evenly over each stalk. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on the size of the stalks, until the asparagus is deeply colored and tender. Sprinkle the lemon zest over the asparagus as soon as it comes out of the oven.
Optional additions: crumbled goat cheese, toasted pine nuts or walnuts, chopped parsley, hot pepper flakes
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click here for more details
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May Day Expansion Potluck!
Sunday, May 1, 5:30-7:30pm
Location: Common Ground Food Co-op
Common Ground Plant Sale
Saturday, May 14, 8:00-11:00am or until we run out!
Location: Common Ground Food Co-op Porch
Eating Healthy on a Budget
Led by General Manager Jacqueline Hannah
Saturday, May 14, 1-2:30 pm
Free, but pre-registration is required.
Class Location: Common Ground Food Co-op
Common Ground Story Time
Led by Staffer and Lover of Tales Ellen
Wednesday, May 18, 10:30-11 am
FREE! No registration required.
Class Location: Common Ground Food Co-op
Tempeh Sampling
Led by General Manager Jacqueline Hannah
Saturday, May 28, 10:30-11:30 am
FREE! No registration required.
Class Location: Common Ground Food Co-op
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May Sales!
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| Check out our current sales here!
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MAY ROUND UP
 | | This month we are Rounding Up for The Cornucopia Institute.
The Cornucopia Institute is a tax-exempt organization that seeks to educate the public about the ecological principles and economic wisdom underlying sustainable and organic agriculture. Through research and investigations on agricultural issues, The Cornucopia Institute provides needed information to consumers, family farmers, and the media.
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| COMMON GROUND GIVES BACK
As part of our mission to BUILD
COMMUNITY.....
COLLECTIVELY
WE HAVE
RAISED OVER $1500
FOR PEACE WINDS JAPAN! Thanks to everyone who participated in our monthly Round Up! |
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2011 SUSTAINABLE FOOD SCHOLAR CHOSEN
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Congratulations to University Laboratory High School senior Raina Martens, our first ever Sustainable Food Scholar! This fall, Raina will be attending Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina, to double major in Environmental Studies and Justice & Policy Studies. A year from now, she'll send us an essay -which we will post on our website- describing what the $1,200 Common Ground tuition scholarship helped her learn about sustainable food systems in her first year of college.
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LOCAL PRODUCE FORECAST
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It's time! It's time! The Market at the Square starts next weekend, and local produce is popping up all over. We've had abundant greens from Blue Moon Farm in Urbana for a while: kale, chard, salad mix, arugula, spinach, and braising mix. Asparagus has poked its little noses out of the ground, and we should have it all month from a variety of local growers, including Blue Moon Farm and Claybank Farm in Olney. By the end of the month, we hope to see the sweetest harbinger of summer: fresh local strawberries. Keep your eyes peeled!
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FOOD NANNY
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Dreaming of beautifully prepared, locally sourced meals delivered to your home each week? The Food Nanny, Urbana's community supported kitchen, has shares available for their spring and summer seasons! To learn more, contact them at
foodnanny@gmail.com
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