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Creamery to Host Book Event Wednesday Evening
Author Wendy Jehanara Tremayne will present her new book, The Good Life Lab: Radical Experiments in Hands-On Living, at the Old Creamery Co-op Wednesday, September 25, at 7 p.m. The book, published by Storey of North Adams, has been described as a brave, modern manual for a post-consumer life. It tells the story of how one couple ditched their careers and high-pressure life in New York City to move to rural New Mexico, where they made, built, invented, foraged, and grew most of what they needed to live self-sufficiently, discovering a new sense of abundance in the process.
 Wendy's story begins in a more-than-decade-long search for, in her words, "a decommodified life" -- a life less entangled with commerce, materialism, and the influences of marketing and more connected to nature and to her own creativity and resourcefulness. Wendy's personal credo is, "When the whole world is for sale, the maker is the revolutionary of the age."
Wendy's reimagined life led her and her partner, Mikey Sklar, to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, where they bought a one-acre abandoned RV park and remodeled a forty-year-old mobile home using mostly materials from the waste stream. In a process of discovery and skill building, they became makers with multiple identities: forager, builder, herbalist, engineer, botanist, welder - more than they had ever thought themselves to be. In tutorials both contemplative and practical, Wendy and Mikey share what they've learned, from wild-crafting medicines to making biofuels, from hacking electronics to fermenting foods, and from building a home out of paper to installing a PV-solar system for electricity.
Part memoir, part DIY manual, bound together with inspirational art by a community of contemporary illustrators and Wendy's honest and passionate narrative, The Good Life Lab celebrates the richness and abundance that comes from a self-made life and, in the words of Sandor Katz, "provides us with much creative inspiration for our own transformative journeys."
Copies of the book will be available at the Creamery Wednesday evening. To learn more about the book, visit Storey Books
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Local, Healthy Produce just keeps coming:
Fydenkevez Farm
Raspberries
Corn
Summer squash
Zucchini
Eggplant
Delacata squash
Acorn squash
Peaches
Nectarines
Beefsteak tomatoes
And, Fall has arrived with MUMS!
Four Corners Farm Leeks Sweet corn Sun Gold tomatoes Paddy Flat Farm Plum tomatoes Beefsteak tomatoes Sunshine squash Watermelons Suntan peppers Sweet dumpling squash Burgess buttercup squash Holiday Brook Farm Frying peppers Summit Farm Garlic Scott Farm, Dummerston, Vermont Apples, Apples, Apples! Cox's Orange Pippin Maidens blush Ananas Reinette Opalescent Pitmaston pineapple Honeycrisp We will also have Honeycrisp available in little totes Do you have a cider press? We have cases of cider apples for $16/case. When those are sold we would be happy to order more for next week.
See all of our local farms HERE.
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The Food Safety Modernization Act: Learn More and Act Today!
The National Sustainable Agricultural Coalition writes, "Everyone has a role in ensuring safe food from field to fork. The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) is the first major overhaul of our nation's food safety practices since 1938, and it includes new regulations for produce farms and for facilities that process food for people to eat. It represents some big changes to our food system - and it is extremely important for the Food and Drug Administration to get these regulations right." The coalition stresses that it is critically important for "farmers, processors, and consumers (to) understand the proposed rules, learn about issues of concern for sustainable agriculture, and get involved in speaking out to ensure the final rules foster good food safety practices across the nation without placing an unfair burden on family farmers." The comment period deadline is November 15, 2013. Please SPEAK OUT so our small local farms are not "regulated" out of business. |
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Cheese of the Week
 This week's featured cheese is Spring Brook Farm's Reading with peppercorns, produced in Reading, VT. This raw Jersey cow milk cheese is made using state of the art equipment and a traditional recipe. It has a washed rind and a creamy smooth interior that is enhanced with whole and cracked black peppercorns for a spicy touch. Great as a cooking cheese, it melts beautifully with a full mellow flavor. We suggest serving a slice atop a grilled steak or on a steaming plate of vegetables. It makes a great grilled cheese too. Try it! You'll like it. In addition to making their award winning cheeses Spring Brook Farm is also the home of Farm For City Kids. In their words, "In our thousand-acre classroom, reading, writing, math, social studies, and environmental study skills are applied to hands-on farming tasks" Come in this Saturday and have a taste! Remember, we will take 10 percent off the regular price all day.
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Volunteers Needed - To make our co-op shine! We can use your time and talent in many ways.
- Paint several sections of the building. If we can do much of this with volunteers it will mean substantial savings for the Co-op. We will be scheduling days and evenings for this work.
- Clear out and refurbish sections of the second and third floors of the building for back stock storage and a staff break room.
- Landscape our beautiful patio and other areas around the building. Two member owners who are landscape designers have volunteered their services to developed a plan for the grounds now that our outside renovations are finishing up. Gardners! This is a great opportunity to help put a beautiful face on our Co-op. Without volunteer labor this work will not be done. We will also need donated plant stock
- Have cutting flowers in your garden? Bring some in for the tables in our Cafe.
- Pick up produce when making trips to the Valley
- Assist with activities before and during our annual meeting on October 20th.
Email Shirley Todd, our volunteer coordinator at volunteer@oldcreamery.coop to help with any of the above
Thank you for your strong and continued support for our Co-op.
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Member Owner Appreciation Day - Saturday September 28th
We're excited! There will be music and tastings along with great sale items. Member owners of the co-op get to take an additional 10% off the sale prices as well as most everything else in the store. Watch for details in next week's newsletter.
Become a co-op member owner, support our community owned business, and take advantage of this full day of savings. Click HERE to download an application.
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Stay in Touch! We Love to Hear from You! For questions about Co-op membership, product requests, or suggestions or other feedback, please send a note to info@oldcreamery.coop. We'll make sure your note is sent to the appropriate person and that you get a prompt response. If you'd like to contact the Co-op's board of directors, simply send your email to board@oldcreamery.coop. Emails sent to this address are received only by the board. To reach Karen Doherty, the Co-op's general manager, send an email to gm@oldcreamery.coop. Emails sent to this address are received only by Karen. If you're thinking of becoming a valued volunteer of the Co-op, you can reach Shirley Todd, volunteer coordinator, at volunteer@oldcreamery.coop. There are many opportunities for volunteers. Emails sent to this address go directly to Shirley. |
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Help us spread the word! Encourage 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 (for best results, use the "Forward email" link in the white space at the bottom of this page). 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. We work hard to find bargains on many different items, including staple groceries, treats like chocolate, juices, refrigerated items, personal care products, and supplements. The shelf tags indicate when the sale price expires. Some sale items are one-time opportunities that remain on sale until sold out. Many are purchasing opportunities that can be replenished over several weeks at great prices. Enjoy the savings!
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Your continued patronage supports the ongoing success of our 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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