The Meat Buying Club passed at the Annual Meeting on 6/20 with a vote count of 332 in favor to 105 opposed.
Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Meat Buying Club Passed
Monday, June 21st, 2010Food safety is heating up again and we need your help!
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010Although passage of S. 510, The Food Safety and Modernization Act has been lagging, there is now a concerted effort to bring it to the floor for a vote. We alerted you that, as it was originally written, S. 510 would have actually make our food less safe. It threatened to strengthen the forces that have led to the consolidation of our food supply in the hands of a few industrial food producers, and harm small producers who give consumers the choice to buy fresh, healthy, local foods.
Please see more here on the Citizens for Health website.
Make Windham a Sustainable Location for Locally Grown Food
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010Eastern CT Conservation Resource & Development Area’s AGvocate Program
Improve farm friendliness & agricultural viability. Interested citizen – attend an informational meeting.
Questions? Contact James Finger, Windham Town Planner. 860-465-3045.
To Sell or Not to Sell Meat?
Monday, June 7th, 2010Hi All – as some of you may know based on Alice’s article in the last Newsletter we on the Board are considering the idea of creating a meat buyers club that would work in the same way that the sale of local Thanksgiving turkeys is already done. It would mean that those members who do eat meat would be able to order ethically and locally raised meat that would come to the co-op frozen to be pick up. The reason we have decided to readdress this issue is that many members have written in the member book that they would like the option of buying meat in ways that does not support the inhumane, unethical and environmentally destructive the practices of factory farm system. Alice has reported that she has already received quite a few responses, most of them positive, from members who are interested in the option. We have over 5000 members and given the population trends most are no doubt meat eaters. As a Board member I think we need to support all of our member’s food choices and to do so while up holding our co-operative principles- as in our commitment to local, sustainable and ethical food production. I am including below a few links of interest. One is for a list of all the chemicals in factory farm meat that shows all the problems with super market meat. The other link is for a book that I have recently come across that I think raises some interesting issues in the on-going debate as to whether or not to eat (sell) meat or not in relation to all the complex issues involved..
We are interested in your views as members so please post here and let us know your thoughts or you can also call Alice directly. We are hoping to post a few times a month on topics of interest to create a lively blog spot, so check back and social network with us!
Thanks for your thoughts…
Phoebe Godfrey (board president)
Links:
Downloadable PDF: FSIS DIRECTIVE -SAFE AND SUITABLE INGREDIENTS USED IN THE PRODUCTION OF MEAT AND POULTRY PRODUCTS
April 22nd, Earth Day Events!
Thursday, April 8th, 2010To honor this years Earth Day (which of course is everyday!), please share things you are doing, events you know of, ideas / thoughts you have etc. I will be involved with the UConn Food film fest at which we will be showing Food, Inc @ 5pm at the student Union. If you have not seen it it yet I strongly urge all to go see it as it affirms all of the worst aspects of the Food Industry and makes one even more happy to be able to shop at the co-op. We have posted the info. for the fest on our calender but I will post it here as well.
Thanks, phoebe
STORRS, CT — The University of Connecticut will celebrate Earth Day with a series of films on sustainable agriculture on Thursday, April 22 at its main campus in Storrs and at its regional Avery Point campus in Groton. The films will be shown in the Student Union Theater, starting at 10 a.m. and run through 7 p.m. The Avery Point campus will show the films in room 103 of the Marine Sciences building starting at 4 p.m. and ending at 7 p.m. Both film series are free and open to the public.
The Earth Day Film Fest is sponsored by the University Libraries, with support from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR), UConn’s Department of Dining Services, retired veteran CANR writer Alexander Gavitt, and the Storrs and Avery Point EcoHusky student organizations, and Real Slow Food.
Scheduled to speak is Rick Hermanot, who is the owner and operator of Ekonk Hill Turkey Farm in Sterling, CT, which is the largest producer of free-range turkeys in the state.
If you’ve ever wondered if free range and organically grown are viable farming strategies, come see: “Fresh,” “Fridays on the Farm,” “Good Food,” or “The Real Dirt on Farmer John.”
UConn’s regional Avery Point campus in Groton will show three films examining sustainable marine practices, including “Farming the Seas,” “River of Renewal,” and the questions which can arise when you try to eat locally in “Eating Alaska.”
For a complete time schedule and detailed information about the films, please visit: http://www.lib.uconn.edu/about/news/film_festival.html.
Our Yearly Events
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010These events are held every year. The “calendar” below is a general guideline. Dates change from year to year. Check this website for dates, times and information about upcoming events.
January
Thursdays – Food Tasting 4pm to 6pm
February
Thursdays – Food Tasting 4pm to 6pm
Co-op Birthday Party
March
Thursdays – Food Tasting 4pm to 6pm
April
Thursdays – Food Tasting 4pm to 6pm
Earth Day Celebration at Eastern and Mansfield
May
1st, 2nd and 4th Thursdays – Food Tasting 4pm to 6pm
3rd Thursday – Downtown St. Festival 6pm to 8pm
June
1st, 2nd and 4th Thursdays – Food Tasting 4pm to 6pm
3rd Thursday – Downtown St. Festival 6pm to 8pm
Co-op Annual meeting
Herb Fest
July
1st, 2nd and 4th Thursdays – Food Tasting 4pm to 6pm
3rd Thursday – Downtown St. Festival 6pm to 8pm
August
1st, 2nd and 4th Thursdays – Food Tasting 4pm to 6pm
3rd Thursday – Downtown St. Festival 6pm to 8pm
September
1st, 2nd and 4th Thursdays – Food Tasting 4pm to 6pm
3rd Thursday – Downtown St. Festival 6pm to 8pm
Taste of Organic, Sunday, usually mid September
October
Thursdays – Food Tasting 4pm to 6pm
Downtown Country Fair, Sunday, 11am to 5pm, usually late September, early October
Eastern Health Expo, 10am to 3pm
November
Thursdays – Food Tasting 4pm to 6pm
December
Thursdays – Food Tasting 4pm to 6pm
It’s the Co-op’s 30th Birthday Party!
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010Celebrate The Food Co-op’s 30th Birthday
Saturday February 13th, 11 am– 5 pm
10% off everything in the store
30 Birthday Cakes, Live Music, Food Tastings, and More!
The Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009For Farmers and Consumers Defending the Right to Buy and Protecting the Right to Sell Nutritious Food Directly from the Farm.
The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund is a non-profit organization made up of farmers and consumers joining together and pooling resources to:
- Protect the constitutional right of the nation’s family farms to provide processed and unprocessed farm foods directly to consumers through any legal means.
- Protect the constitutional right of consumers to obtain unprocessed and processed farm foods directly from family farms.
- Protect the nation’s family farms from harassment by federal, state, and local government interference with food production and on-farm food processing.
