Invite your friends to Join Our Mailing List!

 
CFC logo 2151220 N. Forest St., Bellingham WA 98225
315 Westerly Rd. Bellingham WA 98226

www.communityfood.coop ˇ 360-734-8158
Find us on Facebook

May marigold header

Co-op Community ENEWS
An e-publication with your good health in mind                  May 2012    
Gardeners: Co-op Garden Center SpecialsTomato plant
 
We've been getting new veggie starts into the Co-op the last few weeks and have some special deals scheduled for all you eager-to-get-started home gardeners.
 
We currently have veggie starts from Joe's Garden, the following week we'll feature Sunseed Farm veggie starts, followed by herb starts from Cascade Cut, and more to come...including tomato starts.
 
How fair does your garden grow? Pick up your healthy locally produced starts at the Co-op Garden Center--both stores.

 

 
In This Issue
Food Events Coming Up
A Farm Bill Primer
Food Product Dating
Authentic Fair Trade
Big Agriculture
Meat Eaters Guide
Before Agro-chemicals
Plant Sale

 for shoppers and
Co-op owners  

on our website or in-store

making cheese 
Healthy Connections Classes

 Check our website and print newsletter for a complete detailed listing of classes. 

 

Slow Food and Nourishing Traditions

with Gigi Berardi, PhD

Tuesday, May 1

Downtown Co-op

 

Super Ramen

with Robert Fong

Wednesday, May 2

Downtown Co-op

 

Mexican Kitchen:

Cinco de Mayo!

with Ana Jackson

Thursday, May 3

Cordata Co-op

 

Ethiopian Vegetarian Cuisine

with Mulu Belay

Monday, May 7

Cordata Co-op

 

Polenta Primavera

with Gavin Rappé

Tuesday, May 8

Cordata Co-op

 

Take Control of Your Intestinal Health

with Jim Ehmke, CN

Wednesday, May 9

Downtown Co-op

 

Healthy Aging Strategies on Digestion

with Richard Tran, DC

Thursday, May 10

Cordata Co-op

 

Your Sexual Health

with Mystique Grobe, ND

Monday, May 14

Downtown Co-op

 

After the "NO"

with Jim Macartney

Tuesday, May 15

Downtown Co-op

 

Chinese-Style

Home Cooking

with Robert Fong

Wednesday, May 16

Downtown Co-op

 

Best of Bacon

with Mary Ellen Carter

Thursday, May 17

Cordata Co-op

 

Nourishing Tones

With Annie Reynolds, Marilyn Rinn and Jeni Miller

Saturday, May 19

Downtown Co-op

 

Wild Seaweed Cuisine

with Jennifer Hahn

Monday, May 21

Cordata Co-op

 

Springtime in Paris

with Karina Davidson

Wednesday, May 23

Cordata Co-op

 

Take Control of your Immune System Health

with Jim Ehmke

Wednesday, May 23

Downtown Co-op

 

Healthy Aging Strategies on Stress

with Richard Tran, DC

Thursday, May 24

Downtown Co-op

 

Take Control of Your Hormonal Health

with Jim Ehmke

Wednesday, May 30

Downtown Co-op

 

Personal Sustainability

With Deb Zucker, ND

Thursday, May 31

Downtown Co-op 

grocery bag 
It Pays to be
a Co-op Owner
Owner benefits include:

- Periodic discounts and special offers

- Special order pricing on bulk purchases

- Owner discounts with local business partners

- Owner pricing for classes

- Opportunity to participate in governance

 

Quick Links

Pick up Your Monthly
Newsletter
in the Store

or read it on our website 

Community Shopping Day Update

Thanks to everyone who shopped on Saturday, March 17. Because of you we donated $1,701.33 to Whatcom Family & Community Network..

Food Events Coming Up

 

Tuesday, May 15, 7 pm: Final REEL Food Film

Fest, North Fork Public Library 

Join us for a free showing of "Good Food." Refreshments and discussion with local food activists follows movie.

 

Thursday, May 17, 7 pm, David and Michael Hanson, Village Books

Breaking Through Concrete: Building an Urban Farm Revival

Co-sponsored by the Community Food Co-op, Sustainable Connections, and Transition Whatcom. For details, see Village Books.

A Farm Bill Primerfarm bill image

 

A new website--www.farmbillprimer.org--features four interactive Congressional Agriculture Committee maps, and a "Who Cares" page listing organizations with an interest in the farm bill. The site also includes links to key books, videos, and the Farm Bill Budget Visualizer. Don't miss the Oxfam America video titled Food Games.

 

This site is produced by Web Developer and Farm Bill Advocate Marjorie Roswell. Daniel Bowman Simon collaborated on developing maps that offer detailed information for each committee member/district. They welcome feedback and suggestions for proposed content. See the Contact page on their website.

 

Food Product Dating

 

"Sell by Feb 14" is a type of information you might find on a meat or poultry product. Have you wondered: are dates required on all food products? Does it mean the product will be unsafe to use after that date? What types of dates or codes are used on products?

  

There is no uniform or universally accepted system used for food dating in the U.S. Although dating of some foods is required by more than 20 states, there are areas of the country where much of the food supply has some type of open date and other areas where almost no food is dated.

 

To answer your questions and learn more about food dating, see the USDA Food Safety & Inspection Service website. 

Support the Authentic Fair Trade Movement 

 

Equal Exchange is actively reaffirming their commitment to the authentic Fair Trade movement they have collectively built for 25 years in which small farmer co-operatives play a central and vital role. The corporate, plantation model put forth by TransFair/Fair Trade USA is not Fair Trade. You can sign the Equal Exchange public statement at the Equal Exchange website 

 

Learn about the issues that affect small farmers and why it's important to support Authentic Fair Trade by reading the resources listed on their campaign page. Equal Exchange encourages you to educate others and ask them to support small-farmer-centered Fair Trade. 

 

Large farm

The Folly of Big Agriculture:
Why Nature Always Wins
  
Yale Environment 360-
An op-ed feature from the
Yale School of Forestry

 

In its short, shameless history, big agriculture has had only one big idea: uniformity. The obvious example is corn. The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts that American farmers-big farmers-will plant 94 million acres of corn this year. That's the equivalent of planting corn on every inch of Montana... A reasonable agriculture would do its best to emulate nature. Rather than change the earth to suit a crop - which is what we do with corn and soybeans and a handful of other agricultural commodities-it would diversify its crops to suit the earth.

 

This is not going to happen in big agriculture, because big agriculture is irrational. It's where we expose-at unimaginable expense-our failure to grasp how nature works. It's where uniformity is always defeated eventually by diversity and where big agriculture's ideas of diversity are revealed to be as uniform as ever.

 

For the full story, see the Yale Environment 360 website.

  

Meat Eaters GuideEWG MeatEatersGuide

 

The Environmental Working Group's Meat Eater's guide can help you green your diet. It provides useful information about the climate, environmental, and health impact of your protein choices. It may also inspire you to advocate for public policies that will make our food system healthier for our bodies and the planet, since improving our personal food choices is just one part of the solution.

 

To get your copy, see the EWG website.

 

Before Agro-chemicals, GoodFood World booksFarming WAS Organic

GoodFood World

 

Before the development of "agro-chemicals" as an off-shoot of chemicals used in both World Wars, farming methods were naturally "organic." The staff at GoodFood World selected five books from their library, spanning a critical period in American agriculture--the 1880s through the early 1940s.

 

These books, while considered somewhat dated today, are our grandfathers and great-grandfathers teaching us how to care for the land and animals. Pull a chair up to the fire, have a hot cup of tea, and read away these chilly, rainy spring days.

 

Cascade Cuts

Sustainable Connections:  

Cascade Cuts Plant Sale

Saturday, May 19, 9 am-4 pm

632 Montgomery Road (King Mountain neighborhood)

 

Flower-lovers will find the walkways and greenhouses at Cascade Cuts packed with annuals and perennials familiar and unusual, in every size, color, and shape. Plant sale shoppers will support local farms when they buy plants; this is the biggest fundraiser of the year for Sustainable Connections' Food & Farming Program.

 

This fundraiser supports the projects that connect people to local farms and Whatcom agriculture, such as the Whatcom Food & Farm Finder, the annual Whatcom County Farm Tour, and events that celebrate local farms and food. Parking for the plant sale is limited--carpooling or alternative transportation is encouraged.

 

For more information, see www.sustainableconnections.org or call 360-647-7093.  

Upcoming Events

 

Board of Directors monthly meeting
Wednesday, May 9, 7 pm, Cordata Co-op Roots Room

 

3rd Thursday Local Music Series: Charlie Baker

Thursday, May 17, 6-8 pm, Downtown Co-op

Bike to Work and School Day (stop by the Cordata Co-op celebration station)
Friday, May 18, 6:30-9:30 am

Community Shopping Day: Grizzly Bear Outreach Project
Saturday, May 19, all day at both stores 

 

Member Affairs Committee monthly meeting
Wednesday, May 30, 5:15 pm, Cordata Co-op Roots Room

Co-op Summer Celebration -- MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Sunday, July 29, Boulevard Park 
 

Archive E-newsletters from the Co-op

Read previous issues of our enews at this Archive Homepage.
Tell us what you'd like to see in this e-newsletter.
Forward suggestions to Diana Campbell, Publications Coordinator