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It's Non-GMO Month! 
October 2012 marks the third annual Non-GMO Month, and the celebration could not be more timely. Recent polls show that more than 90% of Americans want to know whether their food contains GMOs, and 2012 has seen a groundswell in the "right to know" movement. In the past year, more than 1.2 million Americans have contacted the FDA, asking them to implement mandatory labeling of GMO foods, and more than a dozen states have taken up GMO labeling bills, including a voter initiative in California that puts mandatory GMO labeling on this November's ballot. (To continue reading about "Eight Ways to Celebrate Non-GMO Month," click here.)
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Supplier Profile: The Kitchen Garden
The Creamery supports scores of local and regional farmers and suppliers. For example, coming through the door this week is produce from the Kitchen Garden in nearby Sunderland, including broccoli, lettuce mix, arugula, celeriac, Tuscan kale, fennel, red and green lettuce, and shallots, just to name a few! Says the Creamery's beloved Peter, "Believe me folks, this produce is beautiful!"
 The Kitchen Garden's story is one of hope for the future of farming in New England: "The Kitchen Garden is a family farm run by us, Tim Wilcox and Caroline Pam. We bring a love of good food to our passion for growing it! We have both spent considerable time living in Europe and our culinary experiences in France and Italy inform and inspire our products and philosophy. We met during our time at the Union Square Greenmarket in New York City; being both foodies, italophiles, and farm geeks, the match was a simple one. In 2005 we started farming on a piece of overgrown land we cleared by hand behind our house in Hadley, along the bike path. The next year we grew on two rented acres and in 2007 we got married, purchased seven acres and a farmhouse and moved the farm to Sunderland. We put the land into permanent Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR). We had our daughter, Lily, in 2008, and our son, Oliver, was born in 2009."
To continue reading about these young farmers and their enterprise, click here. And put some time aside to peruse their entire website (click here); you'll be treated to a treasure trove of knowledge about cooking seasonal produce, farm dinners, cooking classes, CSAs, and much more!
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Cheese of the Week!
This week's sampling cheese is Reading Raclette. Produced on the thousand-acre  Spring Brook Farm in Reading, Vermont, this wonderful Raclette is made with raw jersey cow's milk. It's a semi-soft cheese made in copper vats and has a creamy, nutty flavor that's at once mild yet full bodied. Aged about three months, this cheese is fantastic on your cheese board as well as in your favorite cheesy recipe!
Spring Brook Farm hosts the Farms for City Kids program; to learn more, click here.
Come by this Saturday and have a taste. Remember, we'll take 10% off all day long! Thanks and hope to see you soon!
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Alice's Recipe: Apple Chutney
When our vegetable garden begins slowing down, we begin apple season. We harvest our own apples, visit friends who have apple trees, and gather apples from wild trees and abandoned orchards. It's apple time early in the morning before work, late at night when we return home, and on our day off. We dry dehydrators full of apples and line our shelves with many glass jars full of delicious apple rings. We freeze and can loads of apple sauce. We make tray after tray of apple fruit leather. We press and freeze dozens and dozens of jars of cider. And there are still apples in baskets and boxes scattered about the kitchen and dining room. Our favorite apple final resort? Apple Chutney! We can a couple kettles full of apple chutney in jars and eat it all  year. It adds a special flair to a quick rice or quinoa or couscous dinner when we get home late at night.
If we haven't gathered enough of our own apples we supplement them with Scott Farm apples. Their 626-acre farm in Dummerston, Vermont, boasts more than 70 varieties of ecologically grown apples. They are helping to restore rare and endangered varieties not found elsewhere in our region. Their apples are diverse, beautiful, and delicious. We sell them at the Creamery; it's an honor to be able to offer foods from so many amazing farmers in our area in this abundant harvest season.
(Click here for a link to the recipe.)
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Following is one of a series of weekly articles in recognition of the United Nations' International Year of Cooperatives.
Co-op Summit in Quebec
This week in Quebec City, 2,800 people, from 91 countries, all passionate about the cooperative movement, gathered for the International Summit of Cooperatives. Monique F. Leroux, chair of the board, president, and CEO of Desjardins Group, had this to say about the worldwide cooperative movement:
"Cooperatives . . . were created by people to meet the real needs of people, often in times of crisis. And since their beginnings, they have proven themselves on a daily basis. On every continent and in all sectors of the economy. Today, the world of cooperatives and mutuals includes one million organizations, one hundred million employees, and one billion members. And because each member gets one vote, this makes the cooperative movement one of the most important democracies in the world. The three hundred biggest cooperatives worldwide have an economic weight equivalent to the world's ninth largest economy. . . . The movement represents incredible strength, but it is a quiet strength; one we must continue to grow. It is an unknown strength; one we must continue to promote and communicate. Now more than ever, the world needs cooperation."
And that movement is happening in the Hilltowns of western Massachusetts. To hear more of what's been discussed in Quebec, including a presentation by Madeline K. Albright, click here.
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Time to Check the Calendar
The Old Creamery's Community Calendar is your place to post, and check for, happenings in the Hilltowns. The Community Calendar can be found on the Old Creamery's website under "News & Events." You can click on any event in the calendar to pop up an expanded information box. For instance, click here to see the expanded listing for the West Cummington Church auction and dinner this Saturday, and here for a workshop on traditional pickling Thursday evening in Cummington.
We'd also love to hear from you with any suggestions, compliments, gripes, or other comments about the Old Creamery Co-op's weekly email and website. You can email them to info@oldcreamery.coop. Thank you for your help!
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Help us spread the word! Consider encouraging your friends to sign on to receive the Creamery's weekly email newsletter. Better yet, encourage them to become member owners of the co-op. You can forward this email to your friends and relatives, and rest assured, we won't clog their inboxes and we will respect their privacy. We will not disclose your or their email addresses to anyone else. You can unsubscribe at any time. Thank you for your interest, commitment, and support.
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Many items are on sale every week at the Creamery. Look for the brightly colored shelf tags. These items are 15%-45% off regular prices. Click here for a list of all the items that have recently gone on sale. In addition to the items on the list, there are always dozens of additional items on sale. Enjoy the savings!
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Your continued patronage supports the Creamery's transition to a community-owned, values-based cooperative. Thank you for supporting the Old Creamery Co-op as a member-owner, as a shopper, as a friend. We value every contribution to the success of the Old Creamery Co-op.
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Kimberly, Hattie, Michael, Susi, Sylvia, Patty, & Deborah, your Old Creamery Co-op Board of Directors; and Alice & Amy, proprietors |
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445 Berkshire Trail
Cummington, Massachusetts 01026
413.634.5560
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