Co-op Table December 2024

An Interview with Amier Ayoub of Olympita By Lucas Anderson, Staff member

Just a little way from the Eastside Co-op, over by St. Martin’s University in Lacey, sits an asphalt island in between a busy stretch of Pacific Ave and Lacey Blvd. There you’ll find an empty parking lot that is host to a number of food trucks. One of these is a white truck with a picture of shawarma emblazoned on its side in red, with the name “Olympita.” Proudly serving authentic Palestinian street food, Olympita is fantastically unique and unlike anything you can find in this area as far as authenticity and deliciousness goes. Started by Amier Ayoub and his wife Christine in March 2021, in the midst of the pandemic, the small food truck persevered through some challenging times to eventually branch out into supplying hummus
and ready to eat shawarma for both the Co-ops.

You can find Olympita’s products in the “grab and go” deli coolers at both stores. They pride themselves on using the freshest authentic ingredients, traditional recipes, and halal meats. Olympita offers a very affordable, delicious, and healthy addition to the Olympia\Lacey community. I had a chance to sit down with Amier to talk about the food he and his wife make and how they ended up in this area. Being he is from Palestine, it’s hard to talk to Amier about the food he makes without bringing up the subject of what’s currently happening there and his connection to that place. In so many ways, he is a thread in our community to that part of the world. We met up at the Westside Co-op in the Little House and sat in the living room to talk about what his life is like living through these challenging times. We also talked about where to find, as Amier puts it, “the super- freshest lamb” in our area and the difference between Baba Ghanoush and “Mama” Ghanoush. More…

Fall Table 2024

An Investment in Hope By Monica Peabody, Staff member
In 2019, Olympia Food Co-op membership voted in favor of selling beer, wine and low alcohol
beverages in both stores. Based on conversations with members, collective staff and the
Board of Directors created a set of commitments to our community around alcohol sales that
included the following:

• The Olympia Food Co-op is committed to doing the work of overcoming oppression, in ourselves, our organization, and our world. It is with this conviction that we mindfully proceed in establishing our Beer & Wine department.
• We wish to acknowledge that alcohol has been utilized in the maltreatment and displacement of Indigenous peoples. We recognize that in choosing to sell alcohol we have a responsibility to continue to educate our- selves, and our customers on the effects of alcohol in Indigenous communities.
• We understand there is intersectionality of oppression in regard to alcohol consumption. Various populations experience violence, discriminatory law enforcement, and other punitive action, based upon ethnicity, class, gender and ability. Alcohol has been used as a tool in this oppression.
• We are dedicated to expanding awareness of the addictive effect of alcohol. We recognize that by choosing to sell these products, we must do so with respect toward those in our community who are in recovery. We demonstrate this by providing information on local resources for prevention and treatment of alcohol addiction, and by donating annually to a number of these programs.
• Olympia Food Co-op staff will continue to educate ourselves and hold ourselves accountable to our purpose, as we move forward in addressing the wishes of our membership.

At the end of 2023, our Board of Directors chose two treatment programs to donate a share of overall profits from 20221 and 2022, per our policy that relates to donating to our community during profitable years, amounting to a total donation of $40,000.

More

Summer Table 2024

Farmworker Justice By Monica Peabody, Staff member

I attended Farmworker Justice Day at the Evergreen State College as a representative of the
Co-op. We were one of the event sponsors. And, as someone who has spent much of my adult life working to support and empower those experiencing poverty to fight for the eradication of poverty. I care deeply about these issues. It was exciting to hear about the amazing work of two community organizations, Familias Unidas por la Justicia (Farmworker’s Union) https://familiasunidasjusticia.com/ and Community to Community https://www.foodjustice.org/ . 

Kristina Ackley, Associate Dean for Experiential Learning and Native Programs at Evergreen,
opened with a land acknowledgement and noted that this annual event honors José Gómez, a
former Evergreen faculty member who was a life-long activist for farmworker justice, LGBTQ+
justice and labor organizing. She said that José was very inspired by different native nations
and their justice systems as well as their place-based knowledge. He took seriously the
responsibilities that emerge when forming relationships and alliances. This is part of the
necessary work that we all must do if we hope to create sustainable, transformative and just
food systems.

The panel of speakers we will hear today, she said, do the important work of organizing,
promoting and educating about the importance of sustainable food systems that ensure safety
and justice for workers and consumers. Agricultural work is highly skilled work that has been
devalued because of who works in it. This realization was part of the political awakening of José
Gómez, who sought to teach students about what was possible through skillful coalition
building.

Liz Darrow is a program director for Participatory Democracy at Community to Community
(C2C) Development, an organization that focuses on farmworker and climate justice,
ecofeminism and food sovereignty, working in Whatcom and Skagit counties. Participatory
Democracy means that everyone participates in decision making to create policy and practice in
the things that impact their lives. Trusting that farmworkers, women, young people and poor
people know best what they need, Liz’s job is to make connections between communities and
policy spaces. Even if you’re not a farmworker or a legislator you can work to enact the vision
that another world is possible. We must all work toward the goals of clean water and good food
for everyone, a living wage, and safe and affordable housing.

C2C supports the annual farmworker tribunal in Olympia; this year marked the 11th. In 2019, due to the work of farmworkers and the Farmworker Tribunal, farmworkers began to be paid for overtime work in WA state; we’re the only state that has that. Every year since then, the agricultural lobby strongly advocates for its removal. And every year, farmworkers come back and give testimony on the conditions in the fields. Of course, they’re experts in their own lives and the work that they do. For those of us who aren’t farmworkers, our job is to trust that they
know what they need and to amplify their voices and work together.

C2C holds the March of the Campesina every year in Skagit county. It just happened in April
and you are invited next year. C2C hosts people’s movement assemblies and dignity dialogues.
Anywhere they can get together, they share food and talk about what decisions are being made,
who’s making them and how to get more of the community involved. The work at C2C is not
charity, it’s solidarity. We all need food to eat, rest breaks and fair pay.

Lelo Juarez is an organizer with C2C and with Familias Unidos por la Justicia. He started
working in the field when he was 12 years old to help his family earn enough money to get them through the winters when there isn’t much work. This is true for a lot of farmworker families; instead of having summer vacation, children go to work in the fields. Lelo’s now 24 with 12years of experience.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  There was a walk out during his first year of work. With la Justicia they’ve been able to change a
lot of things in our state that have had a positive effect on their lives. At the Farmworker Tribunal they’ve created a safe space for workers to talk about issues in their workplace and their daily lives. The Tribunal brings workers, community members and legislators into one space.

Farmworkers know what it’s like to work under the sun, in extreme heat and extreme cold, often 10 plus hours, 7 days a week. This year they spoke about how their rents are going up, but their wages are not. Climate change is affecting them. They created a list of demands at the tribunal:
1. Ensure health and wellbeing of farmworkers.
2. Protect and nurture secure capitol, land and training to support farmworkers’ economic
development.
3. Give farmworkers the ability to affect and shape government decisions. Nothing about us
without us!

Always, the tribunal ends with food and conversation.

This year’s Farmworker March, while in support of farmworkers everywhere, focused on the
tulip farmworkers. In March of 2022, there was a three-day strike because farmworkers were
tired of the conditions. The workers asked to have the union represent them, but the company
did not recognize or want to talk to the union. The workers chose 7 representatives, and an
agreement was reached. One demand was 2 clean restrooms for women and two for men for every 50 workers.
Restrooms in the fields have been just holes dug in the ground, so that when it rains they fill up and become very dirty. It’s been two years and farmworkers are still waiting for this simple request.

April is when the tulip farmers have a lot of tourists. People travel from all over the world to see
the flowers. The march was 7 ½ miles, a 4 hour walk, and stopped at one of the busiest farms.
Farmworkers chanted, “No workers, no tulips!” They passed out paper origami tulips with QR
codes so people could find more information. The tourists go to see all the beautiful colors and
designs, but what they don’t see is all the hard work that goes into making that happen. This
year’s demands include clean restrooms, a wage increase, and no pesticides. “We are workers,
not machines.” Of course, the march ended with food and music.

Tomas Ramon Vasquez said before Familias Unidas por la Justicia, farmworkers didn’t know
where to go for help or about going to Olympia to speak to legislators. Owners would fire
farmworkers who complained about the conditions.

In 2022 they held a labor stoppage because wage theft and other unfair practices were happening. There was a bonus program that resulted in about $4 extra an hour when the bonus was reached. The company didn’t want to pay fairly; they paid one group $4 and another group $3 and were not being transparent. Farmworkers decided to strike because the owners wouldn’t negotiate in good faith. He kicked them out of the fields, so they picketed on the street. Some of the long-time farmworkers helped build their business, held seniority, yet they hired a union buster to scare people from organizing.

Tomas asked for all to join them in their actions. “When you eat a salad, think of us.”

Senaida Perez Villegas started working in strawberries when she was 17. In the past when
there was a problem, no one knew where to go, now they go to organizations like Familias
Unidas and C2C. She lives in Whatcom County and works different seasons, strawberries,
raspberries, blueberries, but it’s been harder to find work. A farm called Endfield has begun
bringing in foreign workers through the H2A program instead of hiring workers who have been
there season after season. She’d like farmers to stop using the H2A program that hurts workers
who live here. On August 5th, there will be a big action where one of the H2A workers died in
the field. “It’s time for farmworker justice. It’s not the fault of the H2A workers, it’s the companies
pitting workers against each other. It’s time for solidarity for all workers. Join us!”

Edgar Franks started at C2C in 2012 and now works with Familias Unidas por la Justicia. He
says that through organizing he sees that none of this is a mistake, it’s designed to keep
farmworkers oppressed and allow farm owners to benefit from their oppression. It’s amazing
that farmworkers have to ask for clean bathrooms, clean water and decent gear. They are
working in all kinds of harsh conditions– tulip work starts in January and it’s cold! State
resources can only get you so far, farmworkers need political power. People only want to see
the beauty of the fruits of our labors while corporate agriculture makes billions.

Franks talked about a new apple variety being developed. All that money for study and lobbyists
is used to make corporate agriculture seem innovative and fun. These practices have been with
us since plantation agriculture and must change. In the U.S. farmworkers have been on the
ground organizing, but community plays a big role. All industries and fields of study have a part in farmworker justice.
It’s important to stay connected and not become alienated from those who work the land, because at some point in our history, our ancestors all did this work. It’s a
struggle, but it’s also very joyful. “We have not been beaten down to the point of despair. We’re
still organizing and envisioning something different. Join us.”

Alice Nelson, Evergreen Latin American Studies faculty, spoke more about José Gómez.
José grew up in a farmworker family harvesting sugar beet, using the now illegal short-handled
hoe. He eventually went on to become a first generation college student, a Peace Corps
volunteer, a Fulbright scholar and a teacher in Latin America. The July 4, 1969 cover of Time
magazine bore Caesar Chavez’ portrait, and marked a turning point in Jose’s life. He saw it in
Costa Rica where he was teaching high school and decided to move back to the U.S. to join the
movement.

In his work with the United Farm Workers, (UFW) in the 1970s, José helped to organize
consumer boycotts of produce and was also active in the anti-war movement. José later earned
a law degree from Harvard Law School and also worked for LGBTQ rights for many years. In
1988 he came to Evergreen. He carried his accomplishments with incredible humility and a
practical sense that sharing wisdom from organizing on the ground along with fostering critical
thinking of students were his ongoing contributions to making a better world.

José was the faculty speaker at Evergreen’s 2006 graduation ceremony. I happened to be there
because the graduation speaker that year was the current Washington state Governor, Christine Gregoire. This was an odd choice for a college with a list of past graduation speakers that include Shirley Chisolm, Leonard Peltier, Winona LaDuke, Bell Hooks, Vandana Shiva, Angela Davis and Mumia Abu-Jamal. However, as Gregoire had just enacted a slew of vicious policies and regressive financial cuts to welfare programs serving low-income families, it was a golden opportunity to illuminate and protest her decisions. Governor Gregoire delivered her cookie cutter graduation speech while many students turned their backs to her, while looking out at banners and signs asking her to do better. However, when José Gómez spoke after her, you could have heard a pin drop. His speech was memorable and unfortunately still incredibly
relevant. At the end of each day’s work, I had to fetch the milk cows from a pasture two miles away. Walking that distance every evening gave me a lot of time to think. I thought about how hard our life was and how unfair that we had to work so much, for so little. My thoughts soon turned to words and my words turned to oral manifestos of rage and indignation. Day after day, I imagined myself an orator on a stage somewhere railing against injustices that seemed to seal the fate of the many Mexicans and Mexican Americans who worked alongside us. From time to time, the cows would stop and look at me. I didn’t know whether they were startled, confused or amused. And now, a half century later, I can still feel, smell and taste those days of oppression as if they were only yesterday. And here I am finally on a stage, with an attentive audience, at an institution of higher learning. I never dreamed back then that this moment would be within my reach. And I hope that my words of rage and indignation today do not startle, confuse or amuse you. Rather I hope that you see the connection between my experiences and the advice that I’ll share with you as you now venture forth, with diplomas in hand, hopefully to do good in the world.

As a young boy, I did not know of the broken and betrayed cycle of prosperity, especially in
agriculture. I did not know of the millions and now billions of taxpayer dollars that subsidize
agribusiness in this country. I did not know of the billions of taxpayer’s dollars of free research
the state land grant universities provide to agribusiness to produce their crops, more potent
pesticides and increase in the efficient mechanization. I also did not know the farmworkers, an
essential part of the agricultural economy had been forgotten. Forgotten perhaps, is too
generous a term. After all, in 1935, when the politicians in Congress decided to grant collective
bargaining rights to workers, they purposely excluded farmworkers from the legislation that
came to be known as the National Labor Relations Act, the Wagner Act. For the past three
quarters of a century, farmworkers have suffered from that exclusion. What should be the full
cycle of prosperity is incomplete because it stops short for the farmworker. No thought is given,
for example, to retrain farmworkers whose jobs are made obsolete by mechanization bought by taxpayer money. One disgraceful result is our own state’s response to the housing crisis facing migrant workers who pick our crops. Year after year, the best the state of WA has to offer are tents. In 1961, Edward R Murrow shocked the nation’s conscience with Harvest of Shame, a television documentary that exposed the disgraceful exploitation of farmworkers. Nearly five decades later, not much has changed. Farmworkers are still exploited, they’re still poisoned by toxic pesticides, they continue to live and work in shameful conditions. Childhood labor is
widespread. Is it not a scandalous betrayal of the cycle of prosperity, that the very people who
harvest food for our feast of bounty frequently do not have enough to feed their own children?

Spring Table 2024

Reflecting on a History of Confronting Hunger
By Lucas Anderson, Staff member

Sometimes when I look over at the Free Fruit for Kids basket the Co-op offers, or walk by
the Free Store when it’s busy, I can’t help but be reminded of the stories I’ve heard about
the Black Panthers’ “Free Breakfast Program” for children in Seattle and other cities. The true
origin of the Free Breakfast Program starts back in January 1969 when the Panthers, out of the
St. Augustine Church in Oakland, California, went from feeding a few kids here and there, to
eventually feeding over 10,000 kids a day, a meal before school.

The Free Breakfast Program was a part of the Panthers’ Nationwide Community Survival Programs and it was the first of its kind in the United States.

Winter Table 2023

Garden Department Update

We will be moving as much product as possible back into the
Westside Co-op with EBT-eligible plants and seeds receiving top
priority. Our hope is that this move will help increase access to
garden supplies rather than decreasing it, as members will no longer
need to be available during the garden center’s limited open hours.
The Garden Department at both stores will continue to prioritize the
most local, ethical and sustainably produced seeds, plants, starts
and supplies that we know our community wants to support.
The Staff Collective has a dedicated team working on plans for the
future of both the Garden department and the property that will be
vacated by the Garden Center. We are exploring a number of ways
this property could be used to benefit the organization and our
members. We will share more details with the membership as we
develop more concrete plans.
We are so grateful for the support and business the Garden Center
received over the years. We look forward to this opportunity to find
new and better ways of helping you with your gardens and serving
our wonderful community. Thank you.

Since 2014, the Garden Center has strived to promote food
production, encourage home gardening and food preservation,
improve local food security, and encourage a hands-on relationship
with the earth. It has been an honor and privilege to serve our
membership in this way. We loved supporting you in your amazing
and inspiring garden efforts.
However, due to the Co-op’s commitment to offering fair prices to our
members and fair wages to our workers, the Garden Center has never
been able to make enough money to cover its operating costs and has
operated at a loss these past 9 years despite our best efforts. After
long and careful deliberations, the Staff Collective has concluded
that closing the Westside Garden Center is the best choice for our
organization, working to integrate sales for the Garden Department
into the main store operations, much like the Eastside store.

Co-op Table Fall 2023

Grace Cox Wins Cooperative Service Award
By Monica Peabody, Staff member

October is National Co-op Month and it seems fitting that we get to brag
about one of our collective members who has dedicated decades to
developing and supporting food co-ops and cooperative values both in
our little town of Olympia and across the nation. We are so proud of our
longtime Co-op staff member, Grace Cox, who was recognized by the
Consumer Cooperative Management Association (CCMA).  On June
10th in Sacramento, CA, she received a national award for her work in
service to food co-ops. The Cooperative Service Award is given to an
individual who has made outstanding contributions, whose
accomplishments are consistently viewed as models by other
cooperators, and who has made a profound difference in store
operations and member services. Grace is recognized for not being
afraid to take risks to achieve positive change and for being a champion
of the cooperative principles:
·      Voluntary and Open Membership
·      Democratic Member Control
·      Member Economic Participation
·      Autonomy and Independence
·      Education, Training, and Information
·      Cooperation among Cooperatives
·      Concern for Community

 
Recipients of this award are regarded as mentors, innovators, and
leaders. Their accomplishments have not only enhanced the stature,
reputation, and overall strength of the cooperative community, but the
significant changes they have instituted have helped their cooperative to
better achieve its goals. Grace has been doing this work for nearly 40
years, representing the Olympia Food Co-op and our values and
practices on the national food co-op scene. She has built tremendous
respect nationally for what we have achieved here in Olympia as you will
see in the following excerpts from the nomination letters submitted from
her colleagues near and far.  
 
Over the 39 years Grace has worked at the Olympia Food Co-op, she
has been one of the primary forces of leadership, innovation, creativity
and mentorship. In 1984, our sales were approximately 4500,000 in 2500
square feet of retail space. With Grace as our Merchandising and
Finance Coordinator, we quickly grew to over 1 million in sales by 1989. 
Grace worked with Harry Levine to plan and create all aspects of our
second store and opened the 5,000 retail square foot eastside store in
1994, which became profitable within two years. In 2023, we are
expecting $20 million in combined sales from both stores. Grace has

been the primary person over the years to connect the Olympia Food Co-
op with the larger food co-op movement in the US. Grace is a leader. 
She is brilliant, articulate, funny and unique. She is an icon in Olympia,
known primarily for her stewardship of the Olympia Food Co-o, but also
for her commitment to activism and for playing in the Citizen’s Band.
 
Since 2011 I have witnessed the energy, knowledge and integrity that
characterizes the many hats Grace wears at the Olympia Food Co-op. I
believe Grace embodies the core principles of the Olympia Food Co-op. 
Because of her long tenure, Grace is a valuable mentor, both to staff and
Board members. Her institutional knowledge is handy, in terms of
practical matters on the floor and in terms of long-term planning.  Grace
is consistently patient and professional, even under what can sometimes
be severely trying circumstances. She’s a favorite of long-term shoppers
who appreciate her humor. When I visit co-ops in other cities, I will often
chat with staff members and inevitably, someone will have a positive
anecdote about Grace. I believe it’s fair to say Grace’s reputation
enhances that of the Olympia Food Co-op. I have seen Grace stand up
forcefully for the Co-op’s values and principles. This means occasionally
having difficult conversations and I have long admired Grace’s
willingness to do the uncomfortable thing in service of the principles that
unites us as cooperators. I have served with Grace on several
committees and have valued the insight and wisdom that she brought to
discussions about how the Olympia Food Co-op can better accomplish
our goals. Grace is a positive force in our community. Her musical
abilities and her exhortation that “anyone can sing” is yet another way
that she encourages others to find their voice.  
Twelve years ago, Grace was offered a contract to guide Alberta Co-op
in the process of implementing the membership vote in favor of collective
management. She took a one year sabbatical from the Olympia Food
Co-op to do this work. She entered an organization that was in limbo,
operationally and culturally. Most of the staff supported the move to co-
management, but many did not. Building trust between staff members
could have been a commendable achievement for one year.
Simultaneously helping implement policies and procedures to sustain co-
management was a tall order. What I witnessed and participated in over
one year’s time was a remarkably successful transformation. She
provided the space to build trust in each other and our new style of
management, while ensuring the business embraced best practices and
operated at a high level. The gradual improvement in trust among the
staff and buy-in to our new operational structures couldn't have been
possible without her and her years of experience at a collectively
managed co-op. But even more important, she showed genuine care for
our success and our journey toward co-management. I ended that year
pleasantly surprised by what we’d all accomplished and deeply sad to be

saying goodbye to an amazing leader, cooperator, comrade and friend.
Grace stands out because of her serious dedication to food access,
cooperative business, democratic ideas and worker empowerment.  
Grace deeply believes in cooperatives as a force to bring justice to the
world. This belief led to her personal involvement as a founding member
and long-time board member of the Domestic Fair Trade Association.
DFTA fosters collaboration between farmers and farmworkers in the US
and Canadian sustainable agriculture movement and is dedicated to
principles of fairness and equity by uniting those efforts with mission-
based traders, retailers and consumers. Grace warmly embodies the co-
op values of social responsibility, solidarity, honesty, equity and
democracy and always centers the experiences of those who do the
work. Grace models continual learning in the way her ear is attuned to
those most affected by decisions – she is listening, curious and asking
questions. She believes in cooperatives as a business model and social
justice as a core philosophy and understands their power when paired.
These qualities mean that Grace activates and motivates other leaders
within cooperatives and the fair trade movement and that she speaks
equally for living wages and fair working conditions for cooperative
grocery workers as for farmworkers and other workers in the food supply
chain. Her outstanding contributions to these spaces over the decades
reflect her personal commitment to living and working with dignity.
Grace's ethos of cooperation and concern for community had a solid
home at the DFTA. We will never forget the many times she grounded
our meetings by fully explaining consensus decision making to a room of
collaborators with varied experiences. Grace is highly skilled with group
processes and wisely, she places trust in environments in which all
participants may contribute to and support decisions. Her consistent,
calm and distinguished leadership enhances the cooperative movement
and its impact. We were all better at cooperating after an afternoon or
even five minutes with Grace! Her exemplary desire to truly listen, her
mastery of processes and decision making styles and her commitment to
cooperative principles is remarkable. Grace believes in our collective
ability to build a strong, just future through cooperation. We are grateful
for the inspiration her work provides.
I met Grace at the 1984 Provender Alliance Conference where she filled
the room with her warmth, her really big laugh, her loud voice and her
passion and enthusiasm for the work we were doing.  She made
everyone feel welcome, as if they were part of something great, which
we were and still are.  We worked together to form the first regional
Northwest Cooperative Grocers Association (NCG). Grace threw herself
into the group with passion and zeal for what co-ops could do by working
together.  Grace is equally passionate about collectives as a
management structure, striving to help others build consensus skills

wherever needed.  Grace is looked upon as a mentor, though it’s always
done with humor and a sense of cooperative spirit, ensuring that the
needs of all are considered and incorporated, or at least heard.  Grace
regularly stepped up – either to voice her opinion, to get active on a
committee and to advocate for all of us.  
While many cooperators demonstrate a commitment of service to others,
few embody that commitment as fully or as tirelessly as Grace.  She
served on the Board of Directors for NCG for over a decade. Her sharp
knowledge of finances was critical to forming NCG’s Risk Management
Committee, first on the Western Corridor and later nationally. Grace
made it a point to find a way for committee members to learn how to be
gracious, all the while helping others be better fiscal managers and
offering herself as a resource to any co-op that needed it. NCG is a
better organization because of Grace’s services. Many of us at NCG and
in the larger co-op community see Grace as a moral compass, who
insisted that NCG’s development not come at the expense of co-op’s
individual needs or priorities. She advocates for co-ops to take a stand
on social justice issues, educating us about the amazing history of
activism in the co-op movement and reminding us that co-ops can
continue to be an instrument for change and for good. Grace has been a
consistent voice advocating for transparency, democracy and a strong
member voice in NCG. Her influence is woven into the fabric of NCG.
She has pushed the organization from the very beginning to adopt
language and structure that align with the cooperative principles and to
the values of a just, equitable world. NCG is rich in principled staff and
members, but Grace has brought a clarity of vision and a consistent
commitment to principles that stands out. I believe Grace’s work has
made a real difference to co-ops all over the country.  
Grace is a passionate champion for labor rights and if you catch her in
the right mood, she might sing you amazing songs from the labor
movement. She taught many general managers how to deliver critical
feedback with respect and compassion, and maybe a little self-effacing
humor, without undercutting the substance of the critique. She reminded
many co-ops that they can prioritize environmental or social justice
causes. Grace represents one of just a handful of co-ops in NCG that are
collectively managed and serves as an advocate for her co-op and other
co-ops with democratic management structures. In addition to patiently
educating many of us about how collectively managed co-ops work, she
reminds all of us that anyone can be a leader – not just those with
“manager” in their job titles. She sees the potential for leadership in
everyone. At the same time, she never sugarcoats what it takes to
function as a collective and makes sure other co-ops considering
collective management understand the commitment. Collective
management relies on employees all contributing extra discretionary time

and energy toward leading and managing the business and because of
her experience, dedication and passion for non-hierarchical
management, Grace has spent decades supporting the success of
collective management at her own co-op as well as other co-ops.  If
there’s an opportunity to serve a cause at the intersection of food and
activism, I’m never surprised to find Grace has been or continues to be
involved.  
Grace has served the co-op community and her local community in many
ways over the years. Perhaps most consequential for the long-term
future of the co-op world at large was her work on the team that
negotiated the first regional supply contracts with Mountain Peoples
Warehouse which later became United National Foods, Inc. (UNFI).
Those contracts created substantial cost of goods saving for co-ops in
the west. Grace was part of the first national negotiating team that then
went on to serve on advisory committees related to the contracts. Today,
the NCG national supply contracts with UNFI are integral to the success
of co-ops all over the country.  
For Grace, promoting cooperatives, workers rights and justice is not
something she just does at work, it’s who she is. Grace has always been
the first to remind or teach everyone about the importance of giving voice
to and respecting the work and opinions of all workers and people who
are normally marginalized. She would be the first to question the
sourcing of products and whether a company abuses its workers or pays
only lip service to publicly aspirational ethical standards. On many
occasions, Grace had the courage to be the only voice in the room
reminding us of our shared, higher values. The only voice, that is, until
she persuades the rest of us with her great intelligence and remarkable
humor. Over the years, Grace became a mentor to countless other
leaders in the cooperative movement, due in part to her energy and
willingness to spend so much time lending a hand to the movement she
loves. Fundamental to understanding Grace’s impact on so many people
in the cooperative world is understanding that when our mission, values
and morals become the very fabric of our businesses, and include the
voices of the many, we do real good. Grace has never wavered in stating
her opinion, but has always done so kindly and with great humor. She is
wildly inspirational, incredibly smart, innovative, compassionate and
handles opposition, may I say “gracefully,” while helping the rest of us
thrive.  
Most US food co-ops that started in the 1960s and 70s experimented
with alternative management systems, including co-management and
collectives.  But throughout the 80s and 90s, most converted to more
traditional management systems.  Today, very few food co-ops are
collectively managed. The Olympia Food Co-op is the oldest consumer

co-op with a collective management structure that operates with
consensus decision making. It has been doing so for its entire 46-year
history. Next year will mark Grace’s 40th anniversary at the Olympia
Food Co-op. Grace’s contributions at the co-op have been extensive and
wide-ranging, in the grocery department, in merchandising, training, as
well finance. The Olympia Food Co-op is well recognized nationally and
Grace is consistently called on to provide advice, support and often
technical assistance on how to sort through and improve on collective
management systems. Grace has been a creative, innovative and driving
force in the Olympia Food Co-op’s success both as a business and also
as a force for good and model for responsible businesses. Grace has
worked tirelessly to make sure that the Co-op fully lives up to the
international co-op principles as well as core co-op values, especially
democracy, equality, equity and solidarity.  Those principles and values
are not just a poster on the wall at the Olympia Food Co-op, they
describe everyday interactions on the retail floor and in the back rooms
of the co-op. Based on her deep commitment to the co-op as well as
racial and social justice, Grace’s impact has extended far beyond
Olympia.  She has been a steady force for supporting the growth and
development of all area co-ops, even those operating using different
management structures.  Existing co-ops and new co-ops have reached
out to Grace for help, guidance and the support needed to build a thriving
cooperative economy.  
You can see why we are bursting with pride to see Grace be recognized
for her many years of labor, commitment and excellence, not only to the
our co-op, but to the national co-op movement.  Another very fun part of
this story is that Grace shared this award with one of her best pals, Kelly
Wiseman, who has been the general manager at the Bozeman Food Co-
op in Montana for the past 30 years. Grace was asked to present the
award to Kelly, not knowing she had also won. Kelly was asked to
present the award to Grace, also not knowing he had also won.

Co-op Table Summer 2023

Reflections on Promoting Peace, and a New Food Co-op: An interview with Kwabi Amoah-Forson by Lucas Anderson

It was one of those chaotically magical spring days in Olympia when you can sense the season changing. A day full of warm, golden sunlight bursting through cream-colored cumulus clouds, poetically contrasted by dramatic downpouring hailstorms from pitch-black thunderheads. Arriving in the momentary calm of a storm’s aftermath, smiling with teeth bright as hailstones, while driving a blazing sky blue Mitsubishi Van, with the words “Peace Bus” painted on the side, was Kwabi Amoah-Forson. Kwabi (pronounced Kwobby) is a wonderful human being who created and organized the “Peace Bus” in Tacoma, which supports humanitarian and educational campaigns. His work serves many underserved people and youth in the urban areas of Tacoma and internationally…

Co-op Table Spring 2023

Supporting Local Cooperatives

It’s an exciting time to watch cooperatives locally and around the state begin,
grow and thrive! Thanks in part to the Northwest Cooperative Development Center,
cooperative businesses are popping up like mushrooms, all over the place. The
Cooperative principles that all co-ops operate from include, “Cooperation among
cooperatives” and “Concern for community” and we certainly see these values at play
as local businesses work to enhance our local economy and provide sustaining work to
more people.

There has been lots of growth in housing cooperatives, worker owner models, as
well as retail ventures. From Twisted Strait Fibers in Port Townsend, to Tokeland
Hemp Cooperative, Chesed Farms in Walla Walla to Sound Audio here in Olympia,
there are lots of reasons to be hopeful for continued growth in our area. Look out
for information about 2023's Cooperative Academy, happening this spring in Lewis
County.

And new cooperative ventures need our support! We are highlighting two in this
issue, Capital Homecare Cooperative and Blue Heron Bakery Co-op. We hope you’ll
learn more about these local businesses and find ways to support them, at the
Olympia Food Co-op or beyond!

Co-op Table Winter 2022

Sharing the Hot Pot Tradition
By Mie Olson, Staff member

Hot pot is deeply rooted in many cultures around the globe. In Japan where I grew up, as we
feel the cold wind and step on crunchy fallen leaves in fall, the thought of eating a hot pot is
what makes a lot of us excited and comforted.

It might have something to do with our instinct telling us to eat some nutritious food in one go,
that has numerous amounts of vitamins and minerals, proteins, carbs, and fiber as well as some powerful and potent elements from ginger, alliums, sea vegetables, herbs and spices, and so much more.

Hot pot does not only warm our body literally, but it also is normally shared with family and
friends at a table on a portable stove, where each of us has a little serving bowl with or without a dipping sauce, and we enjoy it with a good conversation and laughter. It’s also very easy to put
together utilizing what you have in your fridge, what’s in season, what’s available in your region,
and what’s in your budget. There are countless varieties that would never make you bored.

Ingredients are normally loads of vegetables, tofu, noodles, shirataki or konjac, fish cakes,
seafood, and meats, and they can be cooked in kombu, shiitake, fish broth or simply water and
eaten with different kinds of dipping sauces, such as ponzu with grated daikon or tahini sauce.
There are many varieties that are cooked with ingredients and seasonings, such as miso, soy
sauce, mirin, sake, kimchi, tomato sauce, or even cheese, that don’t require any dipping sauce.
What makes each hot pot complete is the combination of the ingredients that adds so much
flavor to the entire dish.

What is the most exciting part of eating hot pot, for many people, is when most of the
ingredients are all eaten, either rice or noodles are added to the broth, simmered a little, and
enjoyed with some eggs dropped and gently stirred in.

Co-op Table Winter 2022

Co-op Table Fall 2022

The Olympia Food Co-op Is 45 This Year!

The purpose of the Olympia Food Co-op is to contribute to the health and well being of people by providing wholesome foods and other goods and services, accessible to all, through a locally oriented, collectively managed, not-for-profit cooperative organization that relies on consensus decision making. We strive to make human effects on the earth and its inhabitants positive and renewing, and to encourage economic and social justice.

Like many food co-ops across the country, the Olympia Food Co-op began as several food buying clubs combined to share resources and space. Food buying clubs were being started throughout the nation in the 1970s by people seeking healthier food options, at that time whole grains and organic produce were hard to find, and to save money through cooperative bulk buying. The original name was the Fourteen Ounce Okie Dokie Buying Club and the first location was a store front on 4^th Ave. The Olympia Food Co-op was incorporated in March of 1977 and moved to our Westside location in 1980.

Our Co-op model is based on a set of cooperative principles established in 1844 by the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers Society, a group of artisans working in the cotton mills in Rochdale, England. The weavers faced miserable working conditions and low wages, and they could not afford the high prices of food and household goods. They decided that by pooling their scarce resources and working together they could access basic goods at a lower price. They also decided it was time shoppers were treated with honesty, openness and respect, that they should be able to share in the profits that their custom contributed to and that they should have a democratic right to have a say in the business. Every customer of the shop became a member and so had a true stake in the business. https://www.ica.coop/en/rochdale-pioneers

The Rochdale Principles include voluntary and open membership, democratic member control and economic participation, autonomy, education, training and information, cooperation, and concern for the community. https://cultivate.coop/wiki/Rochdale_Principles

Because they are driven by values, not profit, cooperatives work together to build a better world through cooperation, fairness, equality and social justice. Because they are owned by the community, not shareholders, the economic and social benefits of cooperatives stay within their communities. Profits are reinvested into the business or shared with the community. https://www.ica.coop/en/cooperatives/what-is-a-cooperative

The Olympia Food Co-op shares profits through community donations and sponsorships and our Co-op Access Program, which provides free memberships to low-income community members with a 10% discount at the register.

Since our inception, the Olympia Food Co-op has had a whole-systems, values driven approach. Our business is owned by our members, governed by a Board of Directors elected by our members, and run by a staff collective. We are one of a handful of food co-ops left in the U.S. that has remained committed to non-hierarchal, consensus-based governance. But doesn’t consensus take so much time? Isn’t it impossible to reach a decision? Wouldn’t it be easier just to vote? These are popular myths spread throughout hierarchical cultures.

Consensus decision making is a creative and dynamic way of reaching agreement. Instead of simply voting and having the majority of the group get their way, groups using consensus are committed to finding solutions that everyone actively supports, or at least can live with. This ensures that all opinions, ideas and concerns are taken into account. Through listening closely to each other, no decision is made against the will of an individual or a minority. If significant concerns remain unresolved, a proposal can be blocked and prevented from going ahead. This means that the whole group has to work hard at finding solutions that address everyone’s concerns rather than ignoring or overruling minority opinions. Consensus is used widely by people around the world working towards a more just and equitable society.

Many of us experience very little control over our lives in the wider world, with decisions being made for us by managers, benefits agencies, the police, politicians. We’re encouraged to compete with each other and scapegoat whoever is beneath us, instead of questioning why there isn’t enough to go round in the first place. Using consensus gives us a taste of how things could be done differently. It aims to dismantle all kind of hierarchy, and replace it with shared power. It is based on the values of equality, freedom, co-operation and respect for everyone’s needs.Consensus is neither compromise nor unanimity – it aims to go further by weaving together everyone’s best ideas and key concerns – a process that often results in surprising and creative solutions.

When everyone agrees with a decision, they are much more likely to implement it. People are more likely to stay involved in a group that is committed to hearing their views and meeting their needs. Many of the people struggling for social justice have recognized that changing the way we make decisions is key to achieving equality and freedom. A just society is one that manages to balance the needs and desires of every individual with those of the closer community and the wider world. These are precisely the aims of consensus. https://www.seedsforchange.org.uk/consensus

Inclusive and equitable non-hierarchical consensus-based decision-making governance has been practiced on this earth since time immemorial. For example, in what is now the United States, five nations – the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca – formed the Haudenosaunee Confederation, which still works on a consensual basis today. Consensus decision-making models are used by a diversity of people, “Consensus is rooted in many decentralized models of direct democracy practiced across the world — from village panchayats in India to the indigenous Haudenosaunee Confederacy (aka Iroquois), from Quaker meetings to anarchist spokescouncils.

There is a problem with consensus that is more fundamental and structural. Ironically, the seemingly benign notion that all voices are equal can hide the uncomfortable truth of systemic inequality. Almost inherently, the consensus process can absolve us of actively examining how privilege and oppression shape our spaces.  Boyd, A., & Mitchell, D. O. (2016). Beautiful trouble: A toolbox for revolution. OR Books

In an effort to address these problems, many communities and collectives use modified forms of consensus — for example, prioritizing and taking leadership from women, people of color, and those directly affected by the decisions being made, facilitating small break-out groups to ensure more engaged participation; encouraging more debate and discussion rather than just asking for blocks; and actively incorporating anti-oppression principles to prevent harmful opinions from further marginalizing historically disadvantaged peoples.  https://beautifultrouble.org/toolbox/tool/consensus-is-a-means-not-an-end/

Among the Olympia Food Co-op’s stated goals are: make good food accessible to more people and support local production. Our focus is on natural, whole and organic foods and our staff collective has agreed to product selection guidelines to support purchasing decisions. We ask questions like,

How are the farmworkers who harvested this produce being treated? How does this company treat its workers? Does this product packaging have a negative environmental impact, false or misleading nutritional, environmental, or ingredient claims, or exploitative/oppressive imagery? Is the culture represented by this product benefitting from its sales? Can we get this product from a local grower/producer?

There are reasons why we have the freshest produce in town, why our deli food is so delicious. You are often buying and eating food picked and brought in that very day by a local farmer. When we choose locally sourced food, we support an alternative economy that sits outside the mainstream food systems, systems that often focus more on marketing spin than nutrients. Our money benefits local artisans, not giant corporations with questionable ethics, and it stays local. We get what we actually need, and support people who are directly stewarding our landscapes and benefiting our watersheds and catchments. Our weekly grocery shopping becomes a tool for increasing local resilience. https://www.milkwood.net/2017/05/15/food-co-ops-collectives-3-examples-of-community-food-systems/

And then there’s the community aspect, our working member program, our part time flex staff, our stores where you run into neighbors, old friends, have conversations, bring in a stack of shopping bags for re-use, pick up something cool from the free store, share recipe ideas with your cashier, grab snacks for your road trip. The Olympia Food Co-op exemplifies connections, transparency, and good food everywhere we look.

Co-op Table Fall 2022

Co-op Table Summer 2022

45 Years of Co-op Local

A compilation of local musings by writers over the years, including Erin Majors, Grace Cox, Jennifer Shafer, Maureen Tobin, Robyn Wagoner and Tina Shubert

Anniversary years are a great time to reflect on all the things an organization might want to celebrate, and to consider ways to evolve and improve. As we enter our 45^th year as a cooperative natural foods store, one of our cornerstone programs is widely considered an ongoing community accomplishment that just keeps getting better—our Local Farms, Food and Products program.

You can find the word local across a variety of retail store these days. But, what does it mean when local is advertised? This is an interesting question because it can mean wildly different things from store to store. It could mean regionally sourced, as in it came from within your neighboring states. It could refer to a small farm or business, or, it could mean multi-million operations, which sell within their home state and beyond.

At our Co-op, local has been a foundational value from day one. It is the bedrock to so many of our choices in operations, because as both workers and shoppers, our choices can make or break meeting our organizational mission and goals.

…to provide wholesome foods and other goods and services, accessible to all, through a locally oriented, collectively managed, not-for-profit cooperative organization that relies on consensus decision making…

We believe our community supports these values and has shown us this throughout the ups and downs of our economic realities. It is an inspired, unwavering understanding that people matter; that this planet matters; that our food matters. Most of all, it is the knowledge that when you come through the Co-op’s doors, you won’t have to wonder exactly what definition of local buying is being used, because Co-op Local is clear. It means that we work directly with the food producer, building longstanding relationships with people and businesses in our areas that love what they do and the food they make.

Across our departments, from Chill to Wellness, we value these relationships and prioritize our time and resources to support them. Many of our department managers over the years have helped small businesses get into retail sales and discover best methods to market their wares. We currently purchase directly from more than 125 local or regional farms and producers, with the list getting longer all the time.

Co-op Local is Direct, Fresh and Strong Community. Every time.

Tina says it best, “When I think about it, it gets to the root of why I’ve been a member of the Co-op for so many years. As a shopper, I can make my selections with confidence, knowing exactly where my delicious food has come from. And as a Staff member, I can see the impact of our Co-op Local every time I receive a delivery in the warehouse and sign an invoice from a local producer. Knowing that each of those dollars will circulate within our communities for somewhere around a hundred times before it leaves our local economy, leaves me with a great sense of purpose and pride. I see this phenomenon every day and for me, that is the power of Co-op Local.”

Local Farms Program

In our Produce Department specifically, “Co-op Local” means the food is grown on farms ranging from ½ an acre to 50 acres in size and travels from Thurston, Mason, Lewis, Pierce, and Grey’s Harbor counties. This arrangement ensures the freshest possible food on our plates, while saving resources, protecting the environment, strengthening local economies, and building community networks.

The Local Farms Program also creates regional direct purchasing agreements with farms further away, often supplying us with the stone fruit and apple bounty of Eastern Washington, and who don’t utilize a distributor. An example is Brownfield Orchard who has faithfully delivered high quality, small farm fruits for more than two decades throughout the growing season. Fun fact, Brownfield was the organic grower in Washington to gain organic certification!

Our Local Farms Program is an example of successful cooperative negotiations between suppliers and buyers. Our area is so lucky to have literally dozens of talented local farmers who can grow truly amazing amounts of produce. The program encourages local farmers to work together, rather than competing with one another. For example, when a farm who has been growing a crop for the Co-op runs out, they may alert another farmer who they know is growing the same item.

Our produce managers over the years have worked to streamline the process of purchasing produce from local farms, to improve year-round consistency and diversity of produce, and to satisfy the farmers’ desires for a dependable living wage. We meet with our farmers annually and agree upon an average market price prior to each season. This allows farmers to apportion their planting time and seed money more effectively, helping our shoppers and the whole community have plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables year-round, and featured in our deli and salad bar preparations.

By decreasing our profit margin, the Co-op can offer our local farmers good prices for their crops without substantially increasing the amount our shoppers pay. We can do this because we’re a not-for-profit enterprise, and making surplus money is not our guiding motivation.

At the Olympia Food Co-op we’re celebrating this last half of our 4^th decade of bringing more healthy food to more people by supporting local farmers and producers who strive to use sustainable methods and ethical business practices.

Sidebar–We invite you to contribute to our anniversary celebration with your art, stories, photos, home movies, and memorabilia to be included in our anniversary event and archiving. Please contact us at outreach@olympiafood.coop with any type of art or content you’d like to contribute!

Co-op Table Summer 2022

Co-op Table Spring 2022

Supporting a Resilient and Sustainable Food System

By Maureen Tobin, Staff member

In my time at the Co-op, the question of how to plan for the future, in a collectively-managed, consensus-based organization, has always been a topic of conversation. Sometimes on the front burner and sometimes on the back, the additional layer of need to address climate change and our ecological footprint as we plan and create ideas has been added to the bigger questions. What are the best ways for the Co-op continue to meet our mission and goals in the face of all these factors?

Recent studies suggest that more than a third of all human-made greenhouse gas emissions are generated by food systems. They also show that food generates an average of 2 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions per person annually. One thing we can all do is to maximize our consumption dollars in the best ways possible. While consuming less is the best way to achieve a smaller “eco-foodprint,” we all still gotta eat! Here are some ideas about ways to shop for food while supporting a more sustainable food system.

Support local production

Transportation and food packaging requirements to help food travel well create huge environmental footprints, so focusing on how you can support local agriculture and other local food businesses will be an essential part of our community path to sustainable eating. The Co-op works hard to make sure local produce and products are found on our shelves throughout the year, with so many farms and companies to mention, the list is rather long.

Investing in a CSA, or a community supported agriculture share from a local farm, is another great way to reduce your food footprint, sustain local livelihoods, and fight climate change. You can find an exhaustive list of local farms offering CSAs- many of them still have room for 2022 shares- at communityfarmlandtrust.org/2022-csa-guide as well as the latest Fresh from the Farm Guide appearing this spring.

Shop in bulk and avoid excessive food packaging

All food packaging has an impact on the environment, responsible for many problems including raw material extraction, litter on both land and in the ocean, and emissions. Even biodegradable products come with an ecological price tag. That’s why choosing durable and re-usable containers, and then reusing them, is a key step in this chain. Food packaging can also generate and contain chemicals that are harmful to human and animal health.

Single use plastic is taking a huge toll on our earth and the Co-op has been working to reduce the amount of items that fall into this category on our shelves. But we all have a long way to go to solve the plastic dilemma! Each shopper can help by choosing to reduce and reuse by sharing larger containers holding bulk foods.

Choose companies with sustainability ethics:

We work to maximize shelf space for both locally produced goods and also the best selling natural food products available from companies who share the goal of reducing the food production footprint through a variety of means. We work to highlight companies with ethical labor practices such as fair trade sourcing and ownership/employment opportunities for less-served communities, such as BIPOC and women.

A few companies to explore include OlyKraut, Quickie Too, Mel O Soup, Frontier Natural Products, Organic Valley, Nancy’s Creamery, Siete Family Foods, Nature’s Path, Ajiri Tea, Numi Organic Teas, Inspired Earth Tea, Alvarado St Bakery, Barnana, One Degree Foods, and Equal Exchange, naming only a few!

Spread the Joy of Cooking

One of the best ways to make sure you are utilizing whole food ingredients with less packaging is to take a do-it-yourself attitude towards more ingredients. Everyone is busy and no one is perfect, but taking on even a couple of new recipes in life can dramatically impact how you shop, eat, and enrich your life with more great food. My recent goal is to try making pasta (a staple in my house) by hand at least a few times as Monica suggests in this issue. No plastic bag involved!

Reduce food waste and compost scraps

Cooking with a plan to minimize food waste is another way to reduce your foodprint. Food waste is a huge contributor to lost money in your wallet as well as methane emissions in our landfills. So, making sure you cut up that cucumber and eat a salad before it goes moldy is actually a really big deal! And if you do fail to see that lost cuke in the back of fridge, keeping it out of the landfill is your next step in the right direction. Backyard compost, worm bins, or the yard waste bins from the city are all ways to keep biodegradable stuff out of our landfills, thereby cutting back on climate change contributors.

I’m sure lots of Co-op shoppers have more ideas on ways to create a better world for our community now and for those who follow. Let’s keep up the conversation as we celebrate 45 Years in 2022!

Co-op Table Spring 2022

Co-op Table Fall 2021

Free Groceries to Fight Hunger

By Desdra Dawning, Co-op Member

Have you heard about or seen the free grocery store in Olympia? Its current location at the time of this writing is in the parking lot of Stonewall Youth in downtown.

Kim and Sosa are community members intimately familiar with life on the street, living without a house to shelter them. And they have seen first-hand how the various services designed to serve our houseless population, while all very well-intentioned,
still leave a crack for those on the edge to quite easily slip right through. With set scheduled times of operation, rules to follow, ID’s necessary, sign-ins and often long lines, these groups can only go so far in helping people who are quite simply hungry
and tired and in need of help in-the-moment. “People should not have to ask for their basic needs to be met. When you are really hungry, you should not be asked to wait until tomorrow to have something to eat,” Kim says. “People who are pushed to the edge in their lives end up doing things like shoplifting in order to care for their hunger,” Sosa adds. Even those with homes are not always free from hunger, and the need for basic necessities.

And so, in May of this year—2021—they decided to do something about it. They rounded up a used refrigerator, got help refurbishing it, and put out the word as best they could to let folks of good heart know that they were setting up a free groceries station. They were looking for both already-prepared food, and fresh produce—food beyond what was already being offered around the community in neighborhood “Free Food Pantry” shelves with canned and packaged non- perishables. They contacted GrUB and some local farmers, looking for contributions. And they found a place to set up shop at POWER (Parents Organizing for Welfare and Economic Rights), located in downtown Olympia. At first, it seemed like a good fit, but quickly (in less than a month) the landlord asked them to leave, stating that there were too many people eating in the area. Stonewall Youth, at State and Capitol, then invited them to use their parking lot and offered to take care of the electric bill for the refrigerator.

By June, they were set up with a medium-sized refrigerator, donated through Instagram, and food was coming in from many directions. They were also getting donations of other items that could be used, such as personal care products and things for children. So, they gathered some used wood and created shelves for the non-refrigerator items. Sosa sees this process of people reaching out to help each other as
community-building, and a way to offer help without anyone needing to ask for anything.

It was at this point that something very mean and unkind started to happen. During the night, their refrigerator was destroyed, along with the shelving. This has happened several times, and each time they have found another fridge and wood for shelves. It is also very disheartening to them and to all who benefit from this kind service, to think that anyone would want to destroy what is obviously there to help those of us so much
less fortunate.

Kim and Sosa are doing this work pretty much on their own, even though they are part of a growing movement in the US. YES! Magazine recently published an article about this action, called the Freedge movement (freedge.org). Founded by Berone Oehninger, it sprang up to meet the acute need to address food insecurity and has expanded greatly during the pandemic. The article points out that “…he sees the fridges as a visible reminder that many people don’t have access to enough food, and also a gateway that could create enough food for all through larger efforts that include the people power of mutual aid projects.” The article then goes on to quote Oehninger as saying, “The fridge doesn’t solve food insecurity. What it does well is start a conversation about food insecurity.” “And that conversation,” says YES!, “can lead to
a new urban farm, or more urban kitchens, or even systematic changes on a policy level.”

As for Kim and Sosa, while they very much appreciate the support from Stonewall, they would like to find another place in town, close to downtown, to set up this loving service—a place where they could secure the fridge and shelves during the night, keeping them and all the donated items safe and protected. They would also like to thank everyone who has been so supportive and generous with them as they take on
this daunting task of caring for those on the very edge of our community.

How can the members of the Olympia Food Cooperative help with this project and become part of the community fridge network? Our Westside store has for many years had a Free Store of donated goods. Both stores collect lots of food bank donations. Donating to what is becoming, for our community, a bit of a Free Grocery Store, is a start.

Feel free to contact me for more information. Desdra Dawning:
Desdradawning@yahoo.com

Co-op Table Fall 2021

Newsletter Archive

Co-op Table Summer 2021

Growing Diversity: A Fresh Look at Farmers

This is the farmer that comes in a Lego farm set.  Here in Thurston county however, your farmer is nearly as likely to be female.  The most recent Census of Agriculture in 2017 shows that 46% of Thurston county farmers are women.  Globally the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 43% of farmers are women, however it is probably higher, as women are less likely to call themselves farmers, despite doing a variety of farm tasks including animal care, family management, and quality control, as well as field work.

In Equal Exchange blog, https://blog.equalexchange.coop/who-is-the-farmer/, Emily Gove points out that “perpetuating the stereotype of the white male farmer not only leads to generalizations, but also prevents the experiences of others from being shared and accepted.  This stereotype becomes a powerful representative for a diverse group, which actually includes all genders, ages, and races.”  

Dr. Monica White states in her book, Freedom Farmers, http://monicamariewhite.com/freedom-farmers/, “this tendency of gendering the farmer with capital ownership — white men are often the owners and operators of capital to which other groups have been denied access. Those denied groups’ responsibilities, though essential to the successful operation of a family farm, are distanced from the farm and the capital it represents.”

Banana farmer Cecilia Manzanillas, of AsoGuabo cooperative in Ecuador, says that “when families and communities invest in and support individuals, those individuals will both flourish and continue the cycle by giving back to the communities who supported them.”  I got to see this first hand through speaking with Virginia Herrera and Ann Huster of Eloisa Organic Farm LLC in Albany, Oregon.  The farm sells produce through their CSA, at farmers markets, to restaurants, and to wholesale distributor Organically Grown Company.  You will find their delicious organic produce on our shelves at the Olympia Food Co-op.  They were kind enough to spend time talking with me during this very busy time for farmers.

Both Ann and Virginia worked on Spring Hill farm, Ann for 16 years, Virginia for over 20.  When Spring Hill Farm owner, Jamie Kitzrow, was ready to retire, he offered the farm to two family groups.  Brothers Paulo and Floriberto Martinez with their wives, Gladis and Leanilda started Sunrise Farm.  Virginia and her husband, Zenon Ramirez, started Eloisa Farm.  They are originally from the village of Asuncion Atoyaquillo in Oaxaca, Mexico.  After farming in the United States for 25 years, they were excited to make their long-term dream of going into business for themselves come true.  Jamie gave Virginia good terms and helped her ease into her business.  The first year he sold her tomatoes under his label.  The next year Virginia sold tomatoes under her name at his stand.  The following year they got all their certifications and sold their own produce.

It hasn’t been easy; there have been and still are many challenges.  While Virginia’s English is improving, speaking on the phone is more difficult than a face-to-face conversation and reading legal documents in English can be very confusing.  They were unable to access many of the financial supports that were available to US born farmers.  They have had to rely on loans from family members and friends, just keeping ahead of costs.  Every certification has costs associated and of course farming needs a lot of output prior to harvesting at the end of summer.  Fortunately, many of Spring Hill’s marketing venues followed Eloisa.  After all, the same people were working the farm on the same land.  First Alternative Natural Foods Co-op, which has two stores in Corvalis, were very supportive and came to the farm when Virginia first leased it.  They said they’d buy her produce and have been a steady customer ever since.

There were also unexpected challenges, like COVID19 and massive forest fires.  Smoke-filled air makes field work dangerous and many employees chose not to work when the air quality was bad.  Ash got into everything; think about all the crinkles in lacinato kale.  Vegetables needed repeated washings, as did the baskets and equipment, creating a lot of extra labor costs.  Many parents have had to stay home with their children during the pandemic.  Employees had concerns about working safely and are having to decide what they are comfortable with.  This has made labor difficult to find, on the farm, for the market stall and in the packing shed.  Ann says they like giving people the opportunity to learn new skills and hopefully they will stick with us.

Fortunately, Virginia’s family is very supportive.  She has two young adult children who help with the market, with keeping food in the fridge, the house clean and Virginia’s youngest son cared for.  The farm is a team effort.  Ann says that Virginia is a good cook.  “When I have the time,” Virginia laughs.  She likes doing supportive things for her employees.  She provides a lunch allowance for employees who work at the market stand.  She buys hot lunch for the field workers every Friday from her good friend, Lízbeth Medina, from her food truck, Majahua Authentic Mexican Food.  Lizbeth worked at Spring Hill Farm with Virginia and now she and her husband are venturing into this new business and Virginia wants to support them.  Virginia says that she likes to do things to keep her workers excited and happy.  “In the past I was the employee, I know that work in the field is very hard.  I was very tired at the end of the day.”

Ann says that one of the reasons Virginia and Zenon are successful is because they are willing to try new things; they are open to learning, trying new planting schedules and new ways to pack.  They don’t say this is how we’re going to do it because this is how we’ve always done it.  Virginia shared some ingredients for successfully starting a new business, “Have a dream, think big, plan, save money, find good employees, network, talk to other people and be open to new experiences.”  She and Zenon are proud to be a part of their community, serving and feeding their friends and neighbors.  They give left over vegetables from the market and on the farm to gleaners groups.  The farm is named after Virginia’s mother, Eloisa, to honor her hard work and dedication in raising nine children by herself after Virginia’s father died when she was six.

Tony A. from Portland offers this review on Yelp:  Eloisa Organic Farm is among the best, if not the best, produce stands at the Saturday morning Portland Farmers Market at PSU. Before the market rings its 8:30 a.m. starting bell, dozens of regulars are already lining up, properly socially distancing, waiting to purchase Eloisa’s excellent produce. Customers stop at a disinfectant station, where they are asked to wash their hands and put on plastic gloves.  We’ve been purchasing produce from this farm for years. We love all of their vegetables, and particularly their basil, cucumbers, eggplants, peppers, leeks, several kinds of lettuce and other greens, and a wide variety of peppers. The quality of what they grow and nurture is simply outstanding.  We have never been unhappy with any of their produce, and their customer service is outstanding and impressively safe during these challenging times. Eloisa is one of our first stops when we hit the PSU Saturday market. Super friendly people running the stand. Awesome produce. They have our loyalty and trust.

Jamie Kitzrow of Spring Hill Farm may be part of a positive trend.  Ann and Virginia said that other local farm owners are looking at how they want to retire.  Tom Denison sold Denison Farms to two family groups, creating Commonplace Farm, commonplacefarm.com, and Riverland Family Farms, riverlandfamilyfarms.com.  Riverland Family Farms owners Tal and Linder have a long history of family farming going back more than four generations in the Northwest Indian state of Punjab.  They too have kept the same workers.  USDA Census of Agriculture data show that the number of farms with principal operators of “Spanish, Hispanic or Latino origin” grew from 50,592 in 2002 to 90,344 in 2017.  Despite the growing number of Latinos running farms, Dr. Laura-Anne Minkoff Zern said in  https://www.capitalpress.com/ag_sectors/organic/latino-couple-goes-from-farmworkers-to-farm-owners/article_99d02fee-6c91-11eb-8ac4-ab417e79d973.html, that most still face barriers with paperwork, documentation, language and access to educational resources.

“Women are valuable, we are intuitive, we are entrepreneurs, we are economists. We don’t need to study the economy to be economists, we are financial in every aspect of what we do in our lives.”
Cecilia Manzanillas, of AsoGuabo cooperative

In Thurston County, small farmers share a cooperative spirit.  Established farmers provide support to new farmers.  They share resources and information.  Two farms, both run by women, take making food accessible to everyone very seriously.  Tierney Creech & Julie Puhich sell their Common Ground CSA shares at a sliding scale, commongroundfarmcsa@gmail.com.  Here’s how they help their customers decide at what level to pay.  “We know that many of you belong to CSAs not only because you appreciate fresh produce, but also because you recognize the broader ecological, social, and economic benefits provided to the community by small farms. We ask you to be as generous as you can, in recognition that food is undervalued and farm labor underpaid. The expenses we take into account are: labor, seeds, fertilizers, fuel, other supplies, tools, equipment maintenance, electricity to run the pump and heat the propagation mats and small infrastructure improvements. Expenses we have not included are land, land taxes and infrastructure.  I realize that letting members decide what to pay does not necessarily lead to “from each according to her ability to each according to her need.” Nor does it necessarily bring in income sufficient for our budget goals. So much has to do with individual perceptions of wealth and need, and individual priorities and expectations. Imperfect as this system may be, we like the direction it leads all of us—farmers and CSA community alike to consider ourselves as part of the whole.”

Sue Ujcic and Annie Salafsky of Helsing Junction Farms, www.helsingjunctionfarms.com, have been farming for over 30 years.  “Really my whole life,” Sue admitted.  “My grandmother was Croation.  They’ve been through so many wars that everyone there understands food insecurity and grows food.  We had a huge garden.”  Sue says that she’s seen differences in the way women approach farming.  “We like to say we’re putting the culture back in agriculture,” Sue joked.  But Sue is serious about being part of an important food system.  Helsing’s website is full of delicious recipes because that’s the next step.   Sue and Annie are in the process of ceding Helsing Junction Farms to Jessica Armstrong and Angie Camp “because they share our values,” Sue says.  “They are good farmers.  They are organized and I have one hundred percent confidence in them.”  Jessica has worked for Annie and Sue for several years and Angie previously ran Left Foot Farm, where the patience and communication skills she developed working with special needs adults serves her well at Helsing.

It wasn’t easy.  Sue said they were discriminated against as female farmers and faced unbelievable bias.  When they went into the farm store to buy parts and machinery, salesmen wanted to talk to their husbands.  Banks would ignore their loan requests.  They finally received their first loan with a 9% interest rate.  “I could have just gotten a credit card,” Sue laughs.  After paying that loan in a timely manner, the bank ignored their next request, until Sue threatened to contact the bank president who she knew through nonprofit work.  Suddenly the loan came through the next day.  Sue says that if you see a woman farming it’s because she made it happen on her own.  They want to maintain the tradition of women farming on Helsing so other women can see that it’s a possibility.

With huge corporations like Amazon distributing food grown on huge corporate farms, Sue says it’s even more important now to support your local small farmers.  She would like to see more dollars supporting these sustainable practices.  She is encouraged that Governor Inslee recently signed a bill making overtime pay mandatory for farm workers.  Though it can be hard to make ends meet, Sue believes in fair wages.  They have always paid their farm workers over minimum wage, their base rate for field crew is $14 an hour, and wages go up for longer term workers,  which makes it difficult to compete with farms in states paying the federal minimum wage of $7.25.  Farm workers used to be excluded from receiving unemployment benefits, though Annie and Sue weren’t excluded from paying unemployment taxes.  Fortunately, in Washington that has changed.  Sue also feels frustrated with the discrimination farmworkers they hire from Mexico face. “They have to raise huge amounts of money to bring along family members on tourist visas.  It’s unfair.  That wouldn’t happen if you wanted your mother from Canada to visit you.”

Helsing Junction Farms partners with Parents Organizing for Welfare and Economic Rights to make their produce and CSA shares payable with food benefits.  Together they participated in a Cornel University study aimed at making fresh organic produce easier to access with food benefits. “We have always worked with Gleaners; we were one of the first farms to do that.  Their first fundraiser was our first music festival, which went on for another 12 years.”  Annie and Sue worked with the Chehalis Tribe to source local food and helped the Squaxin Island Tribe set up their Salish Roots Farm.  Part of their CSA program mission statement is to grow 20% more food than they needed for community donations.  They match any donations their CSA members make to the Thurston County Food Bank.  Sue said that Thurston County has been named as having the best access to organic produce for families of any income.

Hopefully one day soon Lego will give us a more realistic representation of the farmer.  Thank you to all of the people throughout the world working so hard to improve your communities and growing for us the sustaining food we eat.

Virginia Herrera and Zenon Ramirez of Eloisa Farm

Sue Ujcic and Annie Salafsky of Helsing Junction Farms

Tierney Creech & Julie Puhich farm the Common Ground CSA

Co-op Table Summer 2021

Newsletter Archive

Co-op Table Spring 2021

How can we, as the complicated group of individuals who make up the Olympia Food Co-op, contribute to healing, and what does that mean? Why do we have a sense that we all need a new beginning? Healing our planet, our neighbors, our community, our relationships, our grief: these are thoughts shared by many at this time.

Spring brings to mind for me a few more specific must-do items related to healing- the need to heal our planet as well as the need to change our national labor practices, including raising the minimum wage. Raising wages in this country would benefit all workers, but especially communities with higher numbers of People Of Color, who also have a disproportionate number of workers trying to survive on wages that simply don’t cover living expenses.

As someone who has worked with our annual budgeting for the Co-op for many years, I can tell you that workers’ wages are also very tied to medical expenses for employers and employees. These expenses have been rising for years and while the Co-op has tried very hard to not pass the rising cost on to employees, in the end the need to create a balanced budget, in which expenses don’t outweigh revenue, has often led to minimal increases in wages. The need for a national health care plan that will assist both individuals and families, but also small employers like the Co-op, is something I see as absolutely required to heal our country’s inequities in income, access, and care.

The ‘Fight for $15’ began many years ago for labor organizers, so long that many now believe expenses have already outpaced that figure, at least in some parts of the country. The Co-op Staff started discussions about our hourly wages and especially the starting wage in 2015, when the starting wage was $12.86/hour but made several large increases at the 6-month and 12-month marks of employment. We have had, for most of our history, a seniority-based pay scale with an annual increase of 25 cents/hour for each employee on their “anniversary” as well as annual decisions about other wage adjustments, usually meant to address cost of living increases. Starting in 2016, we were able to make a plan to increase the first years of the wage scale and by 2019, the starting wage had also gone up beyond $15/hour. For 2021, our starting wage is $15.42 and our average wage is $18.62/hour. We estimate that the average cost to the Co-op for each paid labor hour is about $32.02, including wages, payroll taxes, medical benefits and retirement funding. As you can see, medical expenses make a big difference—what changes could we make if more dollars per hour could be funneled into other parts of our budget?

The Staff collective decided to start closing our stores each year on May 1, International Workers Day, partly in hopes of raising awareness of the many struggles facing workers, issues that often seem hidden from consumers as we go through our busy lives, accepting the services of many for work that is often hard, dangerous, underpaid, and even discriminatory. Our workplace is one that is empowered to have difficult conversations about pay and equity and safe work conditions but may millions of workers are not so lucky. At a time when large retailers are making more than ever before for their stockholders, we hope that 2021 can be a time of new beginnings for more workers, with fair pay and access to benefits and safe conditions that should be a human right.

Finding solutions to our need for affordable and non-polluting energy sources would also greatly benefit our most at-risk communities: it has been proven over and over again that race and income correlate with exposure to environmental toxins and reduced life expectancy. We know that the Co-op can be part of the solution to some of these problems, and hope that one new beginning for us all can be finding ways to heal our planet. We look forward to a spring and summer full of biking, composting and gardening, living our best lives outdoors and embracing it. We’ll find our way forward, cooperatively and together, beginning now.

Co-op Table Spring 2021

Newsletter Archive

Co-op Table Fall 2020

SOME TIPS ON COZYING UP WITH YOURSELF FOR THE LONG HAUL QUARANTINE

Who thought quarantine would last this long?! What started as an opportunity to complete projects and engage in some self-care has become too lengthy and something to endure. I spoke with Co-op staff

member, Mary Frei, about her tips for cozying up with herself for the long haul.

“I love to cook. I’ve always cooked for myself, but did often go out for convenience. I am now cooking 100% for myself and it’s healthy, tastes good and I’ve saved so much money. I miss the socialness of my local restaurants. I miss interacting with the bartenders and the people I would see there. Restaurants have an important role in this town. Those small conversations keep our community woven together. I’ll look forward to being able to meet up with my friends in them again. Occasionally I’ll still treat myself to a Bar Francis coffee! They taste so good.

I revamped my pantry, pulled everything out and put it in glass jars. I have a lot of little bits from the bulk department. I’ve been cooking through that and adding things to make it fun. That’s satisfying.

I’ve invested in a couple of nice cookbooks, which help me focus on healthy eating. I’m cooking my way through them and tweaking recipes as I go. There are things that other cooks put together that I wouldn’t have thought of. That’s been fun.

If you are staying at home more, you are probably shopping less often though purchasing more groceries per shopping trip. You have to think about portions and food rotation. It’s a little easier as a single person to make something that serves eight. I then put some portions in the freezer.

I will make a lot of brown rice and portion it out or roast broccoli and roasted cauliflower and have a cambro of food that’s ready to eat. Today I’m going to make a traditional stuffed zucchini and I think it will freeze well. I’m exploring middle eastern cooking right now and am enjoying the amount of flavor you can get with those spices. Toasted and ground coriander and caraway seeds add so much flavor, you don’t need to add much sweetener.

I eat almost all of my meals right now outside. I have a designated spot in my backyard. It’s a good practice and feels better. Sometimes I set a nice table, it’s a nice way to make something special. My mom sends me beautiful place mats that she makes or finds. I put a little effort toward treating myself. Another thing I do to treat myself and beautify my table is to stop at a farm stand to buy flowers. I can take home something beautiful and support a farmer without having to interact with anyone.

Sometimes I do eat with a friend or two. There are safe ways I get together with smaller groups of friends, we socially distance outside, eat with our own utensils and share food that is safe.”

Text and Photos by Monica Peabody, Staff Member

Co-op Table Fall 2020

Newsletter Archive

Click to read articles:
Beer And Wine at The Co-op Article by Monica Peabody
Quick Light Meals Recipes by Monica Peabody – Salmon Orzo
Quick Light Meals Recipes by Monica Peabody – Pesto Pasta with Caprese Salad

Beer & Wine at The Co-op

It’s been a long time coming. Our membership has voted and our licensure is complete. We are now selling beer, wine, hard cider and mead at both Co-op stores!

As is representative of our values at the Co-op, our new Beer and Wine Department Managers have begun building relationships with local producers. While many of you may be familiar with these local favorites, now you’ll be able to add them to your one-stop Co-op shopping list. Adult beverages can also be purchased through our Online Order for Pick-up System at the Eastside store. Your ID will be checked when you arrive to claim your order.

Whitewood Cider is South Puget Sound’s first craft cidery. Co-owners Dave White and Heather Ringwood make hard cider seasonally, pressing apples in the Autumn, fermenting them slowly and racking and blending their flavorful ciders in the late Winter and early Spring. Dave and Heather believe cider making is an art and that the best heirloom and cider apple varieties make the best possible cider.

Axis Meadery , are known for crafting delicious, quality, small batch meads in Lacey. Their locally-inspired flavors, like Habanero Raspberry, Black Currant, Raspberry Chocolate and Raspberry Hibiscus, will be hard to resist.

Tart Cider, LLC , is both a woman- and veteran-owned company, brewing small batch ciders by hand in Tumwater. Owner Zoe Van Schyndel is committed to sourcing products locally, maintaining a U.S. base for raw materials, doing things naturally and creating a delicious, natural product for any person older than 21.

Fish Brewing Company , Founded by Crayne and Mary Horton, and a few dozen local investors, Fish Brewing has been hand-crafting beers since 1993. From humble beginnings, they have grown steadily. Fish is now
an award-winning craft brewer with distribution throughout the Pacific Northwest – and beyond. At the turn of the century, Fish stepped in a greener, healthier direction, releasing Fish Tale Organic Amber Ale. They have now included an organic IPA, Porter and Wild Salmon Organic Pale Ale.

Three Magnets Brewing Company represents the fruition of Nathan and Sara Reilly’s dream to open a brewpub. They met Pat Jensen a t a music festival to which he’d brought a lot of impressive homebrews. He became their head brewer when they opened in 2014 and has since founded Matchless Brewing. The Reillys use locally-sourced quality ingredients to celebrate the flavors of our terroir by paying close attention to the nuances of the brewing process.

In addition to these fabulous beverages, the Co-op is offering a wide selection of organic and well-rated craft IPA’s, ales, pilsners, bitters, stouts and ryes. Our dedicated Beer and Wine Department Managers are also working to bring in gluten-free beer. Many of our wine selections are organic, sustainable and some are bio-dynamic. While the majority originate in Washington, some will travel from choice vintners in California and Oregon, Italy, Spain, and France. We are excited to offer as wide a variety as possible in a small space, so the products will be rotating based upon seasonal availability, quality, and affordability, so if you find something you like, buy a lot of it.
table-summer-2020.pdf

RECYCLING, REDUCING, REUSING
On January 1st the City of Olympia made some changes to their curbside recycling program. They will no longer be picking up glass, poly-coated materials like milk/juice cartons, frozen food boxes, etc, and aseptic containers, like soy milk cartons, broth boxes, etc. Your only option, that I’m aware of, for poly-coated and aseptic containers is the garbage. Glossy papers, such as cereal boxes and advertisements can be recycled because they don’t contain the extra fibers that are in these containers.

While no one wants to put more things into the landfill, the City of Olympia assures us that modern landfills are designed to keep our waste materials contained and not contaminate groundwater or adjacent soils. Roosevelt landfill, where Olympia’s trash goes, captures methane gas and uses it to produce electricity.

Here are some places you can bring your glass for recycling. All of these options are free! We recommend getting together with your neighbors and creating a sort of carpool, for glass recycling. That way you don’t have to make the trip as often. Or pay gas money to the neighbor with the truck. Glass should be dumped directly into the bins without bags.

City of Olympia Saturday Drop-off Site
1000 10th Ave SE, Olympia, WA 98501
Glass-only bin available 24/7

Yauger Park
503 Alta St SW, Olympia, WA 98502
Glass-only bin available dawn-dusk daily

Concrete Recyclers
2935 Black Lake Blvd SW, Tumwater, WA 98512
Open Monday-Saturday 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

Thurston County Transfer Station
2418 Hogum Bay Rd, Lacey, WA 98516
Open 8 a.m.- 4:45 p.m. daily, they also have an off leash dog park with two large, fenced fields, one for large and one for small dogs, as well as a walking trail, a demonstration garden of native plants, and a playground made from recycled materials. Bring your dogs and kids to play and recycle!

The glass currently goes to Concrete Recyclers to be crushed and used as aggregate material for road and construction base material. The City of Olympia is asking customers to please comply with these changes. Correct recycling saves the City close to $100,000 dollars annually, which translates directly to customer rates, and greatly improves the marketability and value of what the city does collect for recycling.

Pioneer Recycling Services, the city’s contracted processing facility, finds outlets for recyclable materials both domestically and globally. Because China stopped taking material, resulting in large supplies both nationally and globally, the average value of materials has dropped significantly. Even though the cost to recycle is at or above landfill disposal, it’s still better environmentally to recycle. If you continue to put glass into your cart, the city may remove your recycling cart entirely. If you have further questions, contact Kim Johnson at 360.570.5837 or kjohnson@ci.olympia.wa.us.

Some other things you can recycle at the Thurston County Transfer station that aren’t a part of curbside recycling are:

Polystyrene (also known as Styrofoam™) molded blocks and rinsed or wiped clean food containers with a #6 recycle symbol. Foam can be put into a clear or translucent bag and food containers in separate bags.

No packaging peanuts, but you can call the packing peanut hotline at 1-800-828-2214. I did a little investigative reporting and called. I spoke with a very nice man in Maryland. While it’s a national service, they can take your zip code and tell you who in your community might take packing peanuts. You will still need to contact the business to see if they are currently taking them. He also told me about a national website, www.earth911.com, where you can enter your zip code and ask about recycling virtually anything and it will offer you a list of places that might take them.

Household hazardous waste, things that include the words POISON, DANGER, WARNING or CAUTION on the label can be taken to the HazoHouse, which is open daily from 8 – 5, though you must be there by 4:45 to get in. All of these services are free for residents and can be driven to without going through the pay portion of the dump. Businesses must register and pay a fee.

A couple of resources outside the Thurston County Transfer station are:

Washington State’s Department of Ecology’s 1-800-RECYCLE, which is both a hotline and an online site, http://1800recycle.wa.gov/, for finding out where to recycle, including electronics.

https://2good2toss.com/ is Washington’s online exchange for reusable building materials and household items.

If your curbside recycling is through Le May, you are still able to recycle glass in a separate recycling bin. Le May also has a website, Waste Wizard, that will tell you where to recycle items you type in, www.thurston.lemayinc.com

REUSING AND REDUCING
Clearly, the fewer items we use and more items we can reuse, the better. We have many Co-op members who are wizards of reducing and reusing and we want to share their expertise and ideas with you.

Introducing three fantastic Co-op Eco Shoppers! Jamie Rainwood let me accompany her on a shopping trip at the eastside Co-op. Between hugs and hellos from Co-op staff and shoppers, Jamie talked to me about her Co-op shopping system.

Jamie reuses plastic bags; she takes them home and washes them after shopping. She dries them on a bag drying rack, pictured below. She bought hers at the Co-op and hopes we will sell them again. This system works for Jamie because she makes the time to do it. She recognizes that this may not work for everyone.

Jamie uses plastic clothespins to fasten the bags and write the PLUs (the number the cashier puts into the register) for her bulk items. It works well for the cashiers. She can then wipe the clothespins clean and have them ready for reuse next trip. Jamie prints out her shopping list, in Spanish to keep her Spanish current, and brings it along.

Jamie says that the San Francisco Street Bakery plastic bread bags, cleaned and reused, keep mushrooms very fresh. At some point a bag’s usefulness will come to an end, she then uses those bags to wrap meat and fish wrappers in order to keep a cleaner kitchen. She actually prepares the meat or fish right on the bag before tossing it with the wrapper.

Jamie brings along her tote bags to pack her groceries out of the store. She and her partner like to buy new totes on vacations. They are reusable and a fun way to remember a trip.

Pam Chase is another shopper with some great eco-shopping techniques, similar to Jamie’s. She keeps the equipment she needs in her kitchen. She has a large shopping list with PLUs that she prints out and checkmarks the things she needs. She has it on a clipboard with an attached pen, all ready for her next shopping trip.

Pam has specific containers, each one the specific size and shape that is appropriate for that item, which she labels with the name, PLU and tare (weight of the container) on masking tape, on the sides so she can see them in her cupboard, and on the top, for the cashier. Pam showed me a Nancy’s yogurt container she still uses that dates from the 90’s. They’re very durable, she says.

Like Jamie, Pam brings totes for carrying her groceries. She also reuses plastic bags, but dries hers on a clothesline that is strung above her washer and dryer with clothespins. She values making her own food. She eats a lot of grains and beans, which she buys from bulk. The food tastes better and is way more affordable that way. Although Pam is going the extra mile, once she got this system set up she says that it really does save her time.

Amber Ferrano hates to waste anything. She saves money every way she can so she can afford to water her garden and other things that are important to her. She brings washed and sterilized containers into the Co-op for people to use for their bulk goods and salad bar. She even brings in wine bottles always with the corks attached by rubber bands. They’re great for soaps, oils, and vinegars, and some people take them for their homemade kombucha or wine. She keeps a hanging organizer on her kitchen door that has a section for reused plastic bags and the containers she is bringing to the Co-op.

Amber urges people not to bring in containers that aren’t useful, clean and sterilized. She’s had the experience of having her food mold because a used container wasn’t sterilized. She would also like to see more people using these containers. She encourages the Co-op to have signs near our new containers reminding people that there are containers for reuse. She’s had the experience of using a new container for her maple syrup, forgetting to use a used container even though she had just brought some in!

I agree and want to remind people that they can get $.30 off soup and salad bar if they use their own container and $.05 off their coffee, tea or matte.

Amber has many clever up-cycling ideas, some she’s come up with herself, some from Pinterest. For example, when she only uses part of a seed packet, she’s found that labeled medicine or jam jars will keep the seeds fresh for planting next year. She’s had a possum chew through her plastic containers to eat all her seeds.

You can also organize screws and nails and bolts in jam jars and if you want to get fancy, you can nail the lids to a board that you hang and screw the bottles into them, thereby saving space on a table.

Amber takes her emptied plant containers to her local Master Gardeners. She sows seeds in egg cartons. She has found that plastic coffee cups with dome lids make perfect little greenhouses. Put a little gravel in the bottom, soil over top and it’s a mini terrarium. She also adds Styrofoam under the soil in her large pots to make them lighter.

She saves suet containers and then makes her own suet. She takes wine bottles and cuts the tops off to make wind chimes and used the bottoms to make terrariums. She’s known people who have used the bottom circles in their walks. Once people get ideas, Amber says, they just keep going.

By Monica Peabody
Staff Collective Member

Co-op Table Spring 2020 PDF

Newsletter Archive

Co-op Table Winter 2019 PDF

LOCAL FARMS PROGRAM
An integral mission of the Olympia Food Co-op has been its commitment to support and cultivate local producers and businesses. The Local Farms Program is a system implemented by the produce department, and also utilized by our deli, that puts theory into practice.

The Local Farms Program is a system used to work with local farmers to plan fruit and vegetable purchases for the Co-op. The Co-op and farmers negotiate a prioritization system of farms getting first and second priority selling diverse crops to the Co-op. This way, a farm can plan its growing season, knowing that they will sell certain crops to the Co-op, and the Co-op produce buyers can expect to have those crops available to buy. It’s a mutually beneficial system for planning ahead and knowing what to expect.

Because part of our mission statement is to “support local business,” the Co-op pays farmers more than we pay to buy the same crops from a large distributor and apply a lower margin to keep the retail prices competitive. We will be buying from about 18 local farms next year utilizing this program.

We have a standardized and transparent system for pricing between farmers and the Co-op. With this system, prices are set based on an average market price and agreed upon before each season. This helps farmers know what they will be paid, excluding the added work of negotiation.

Overall, the Local Farms Program has provided the Co-op with more local products throughout the season, creating a more consistent supply. Since farms generally keep the same crop prioritization year after year, they have a sense of volumes, and can plan the seed purchase and planting to better suit their needs and the Co-op’s demand.

By Jackie Krzyzek, Staff Collective Member

Co-op Table Winter 2019 PDF

Newsletter Archive

Co-op Table Fall 2019 PDF
TIME TO VOTE!
Every year at this time, the Board of Directors of the Olympia Food Cooperative look to the November ballot as a time to open their doors to incoming new directors. This process is one of the key ways that members can help to guide the direction of their Co-op. Participating in the Board elections— either by running yourself, or encouraging a friend, family or colleague to run for the Board—and by voting, is one of the most powerful and creative actions any cooperative member can offer to our community. Knowing that your Co-op Board has your best interests in mind, and is prepared to stand by them, is grounding and life-affirming. It is participatory democracy at its finest.

Sign-up to apply for the Board election runs every year from August 15 – September 15. Voting is held from October 15 – November 15. Ballots are made available at both stores. Currently, two positions are available on the Board.

Often, other measures are included on the ballot. This year, the measure being put forth to all Co-op members, is the question of whether or not our stores can include beer, wine and soft alcohol products in the product line. Most cooperative markets now carry these products. The ultimate decision on this rests in your hands.

The Co-op Annual Meeting, being held this year on Saturday, November 2nd, at the Olympia Community Center, is the place where Co-op members can meet and hear from all members who have applied to run for a seat on the Board. A ballot box is always made available at this yearly meeting for those who prefer to vote after hearing from these candidates, and also gain clarification on any other measures on the ballot. Several Co-op Conversations have been held for members over the past year to discuss this measure.

This will be the second year that online voting is available. The ballot will be made available on the website. Please make sure that your email address is correct in Co-op records in order to vote in this manner.

In the same way that participation in voting in national elections is an integral and crucial part of the democratic process, so too does your vote determine the direction your Co-op takes in the years to come. Please vote and make your voice heard!

by Desdra Dawning, Member, Board of Directors

Co-op Table Fall 2019 PDF

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Co-op Table Summer 2019 PDF
A GROCERY CO-MANAGER DREAMS OF GOING LOCAL: FOR A STRONGER LOCAL ECONOMY
The local multiplier effect is an economic benefit that independent businesses bring to an area economy through money spent in the community. While the effect levels vary across business types and geographical areas, locally owned, independent business-es are known to keep approximately three times more money in the community than chain stores. As consumer-owned independent businesses, co-ops could play a key role in boosting the local multiplier effect.

As a grocery co-manager at the Olympia Food Co-op westside store and food movement activ-\ist, I often wonder how the Co-op could contribute more to stronger local economy. From this perspective, I dream of stocking our store shelves with more local and regional products. The Co-op carries numbers of products that are made in and around Olympia, such as bread, chocolates, tortilla chips, honey and jams. However, the percentage of local and regional items in the grocery department remains less than 5% of the total sales. Because the grocery items consist mostly of shelf-safe, processed foods, I find it challenging to stock grocery shelves with more local products than those of national brands. How can grocery go more local? Below are some ideas.

Do you, or do you know someone who, produces shelf-safe packaged products commercially in Olympia and surrounding areas? If so, please let us know. The Local Farms, Foods and Products Committee as well as grocery managers are always looking for quality local products that we could bring into our stores. Together, we can discover local treasures and help the producers’ business grow.

Do you have a family recipe that you always wanted to develop into products? Do you preserve local produce, such as vegetables, fruits, and meat? Have you ever dreamt of becoming a professional food producer yourself? If so, I strongly encourage you to pursue your dream. As in the example of Flying Cow Creamery, building viable small business is possible when you and local co-ops work together. See the video on Flying Cow creamery for their success story on the Co-op’s website and dream big! Canned/jarred beans, chips and snacks, specialty sauces, pre-pared meals and more have great potential. When your products are made with locally grown ingredients, the local multiplier effects increase even more.

Once local products are brought into the store, we need to make sure we can keep carrying them. Unfortunately, sometimes grocery managers have to make a difficult decision to discontinue some local products. As long as the Co-op needs to be financially sustainable, when certain products do not sell well, the managers consider the product not meeting shoppers’ needs and discontinue them. Furthermore, while the Co-op has a favorable pricing policy for the local products, the quality and the price of such products have to be compatible to those of national brands to a certain degree. Yet, this is where the shoppers can flex their consumer muscle most strongly. By choosing local products over national brands once every five times you shop, it would already make a huge difference. If you still prefer non-local products, you could reach out to the local producers and suggest what changes might make you like their products better. So be daring! Go out of your comfort zone and try local and regional products!

In the long term, I dream that greater Olympia will house a local food hub. A local food hub would aggregate and distribute products grown and made in the community. Such infrastructure would make it easier for small businesses, schools, hospitals and restaurants to access lo-cal products than buying directly from the food producers or through national distributors. For the food producers, it makes it possible to reach larger markets without having have to deliver the products to numerous locations. A typical food hub focuses on fresh produce, fish, and meat. However, their operation can easily be expanded to value-added grocery products. Wouldn’t it be great if our local food hub was also an independently owned cooperative? That would be a real game changer, boosting the local economy multiplier effect even more.

by Megumi Sugihara
Staff Member

Co-op Table Summer 2019 PDF

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Co-op Table Spring 2019 PDF
BULK & PLASTIC
It is pretty common knowledge that our consumer lifestyle in the developed and developing world is the source for the islands of plastic now floating in our oceans. We have come to rely on this petroleum based material in almost every aspect of our lives. And its downside affects us from all directions, both environmentally and economically. There is no doubt about it. We are trashing our planet (see below for links to websites).

Deep ecology proponents would have us go to the root of this human issue by asking us to find our way back to our love for the natural world, for our planet, for Gaia. Ultimately, this perspective of our human lives could well save us from the possible extinction we face. In the meantime, however, there are some immediate ways we can walk more lightly.

As we explore how co-ops can change our world this year, it makes sense to explore how store operations and current trends contribute to a more sustainable world. There are numerous directions from which to address this issue. One big one for our staff, in terms of plastic use at the Co-op, is in encouraging our members to shop in the bulk department as much and as often as possible. Many of the dry goods that can be found packaged – often in plastic – in the aisles can also be found in this department. We can repeatedly reuse our own containers – preferably glass and biodegradable bags – and in doing so, contribute to the move away from this insidious packaging material.

Sales in the bulk departments at both markets, however, have been in decline recently, each year showing fewer sales in total than the year before. There are probably many reasons for this trend, one being the convenience factor. To counteract this, Barbara, manager at the eastside bulk department, has found that if she packages some of the more snacky items, they fly off the shelves – a symptom of a trend in member shopping that is happening at co-ops in other places also. Grab and Go is becoming more and more popular.

Time, or more precisely lack of it, has become one impediment to embracing this way of shopping for our food. It takes more time to shop in the bulk aisles. And after a long day of work, with daylight hours short and hungry children to feed, or even just needing to feed ourselves, taking the time to bring in containers, or find recycled ones in the store, weigh their tares, scoop out or pour in product, write down PLUs and take them to the register, is often just too much.

And yet, we want to do our part to lessen our footprints on the planet, yes? And we appreciate the money saved by bulk shopping too. What a dilemma!

With bulk sales on a declining trend, compared to other departments, adjustments to our store sets may be in order. We want to provide space for what our members really want to find at the Co-op. In order to move bulk product at the Co-op in a timely manner, and to help mitigate the financial loss caused by less of us buying in bulk, reductions in what is being offered has to be considered. Our bulk managers are constantly working to keep a variety of staples in stock, at the best price and quality possible, while also working in some more interesting variety. But ultimately decisions are now being made that are necessary for the Co-op to function in a financially sustainable manner. We’d love to hear from you! If you have ideas about what works or doesn’t work for you in shopping our bulk departments, products you love or products you find yourself buying in grocery instead, please let us know what you think! We can always be reached at our customer service email.

In the end, each of us must examine our own shopping habits and determine how best we can do our part in controlling the flow of plastics out into our world.

From Ocean Crusaders

Worldwide, 13–15,000 pieces of plastic are dumped into our oceans every day.
At least 2/3 of the world’s fish stocks are suffering from plastic ingestion.
100,000 marine creatures a year die from plastic entanglement.
1 million sea birds die each year from plastic ingestion.

From Surfers Against Sewage

A plastic bottle can last 450 years in the marine environment, slowly fragmenting into smaller and smaller pieces—eventually to microscopic—but never truly going away.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, twice the size of France (or Texas), off the coast of California, is a swirling whirlpool soup of plastic in many sizes, being created by ocean currents.

From www.ecowatch.com

Plastic is literally at our fingertips all day long. Plastic keyboard. Computer monitor. Mouse. Ball¬point pen. Toilet seat. Steering wheel. Beads in facial scrubs and toothpaste. And on and on, and much of which makes its way to our landfills and oceans.

Written by Desdra Dawning, Board Member

Co-op Table Spring 2019 PDF

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Co-op Table Winter 2018 PDF
SEED STARTING
February marks the beginning of spring gardening in the Pacific Northwest because it’s the time we begin indoor seed starting. The whys and hows of this seemingly fussy process — with its many options and accessories — can be a bit mysterious and leave a novice gardener confused and overwhelmed. If that’s you, there are a lot of questions you are probably asking yourself as you stare at a display of grow lights and plastic trays. Since my goal is to alleviate the feelings of confusion and overwhelm that keep people from gardening, I will attempt to read your mind and preemptively answer some of those questions.

The first question you’re asking yourself is… “Do I really need to start seeds indoors?” The answer might be no (it is for a lot of people) and that’s just fine. The answer might be yes if any of the reasons below apply to you:

• You want to grow something that we don’t have a long enough growing season for. This would primarily be tomatoes, peppers, basil, celery, onions, leeks and eggplants all of which need more time and heat to mature in this climate.
• You want to get a head start on the season so you can get in multiple or longer harvests. People do this most frequently with brassicas (broccoli, cabbage, kale, etc.) and lettuces.
• You have slugs or other pests that will devour your seedlings if you direct seed in the garden. Many people find that they are less likely to lose whole plants if they start them in pots and wait until they are 3 – 4 inches tall to put them in the ground.
• You want a large enough amount of one exact crop, so that it will be more cost effective to grow starts at home than to buy starts later. If you only want 4 or 5 tomato plants and you want them all to be different varieties, starting them yourself at home doesn’t make a ton of sense. You will buy a bunch of seed which will mostly go unused and put a lot of energy (and possibly money) into keeping just a handful of plants warm and lit and watered. I invest my seed starting energy solely into those plants that I want at least a dozen of like Genovese basil (unless the next condition applies).
• You want to grow something obscure with a long growing season that you might not find starts for like okra, cardoon, or shiso.
• You need something to bring you hope and keep you entertained in the final days of winter, or you’re just a big garden nerd.

Okay, the answer is yes. So: “What plants should I start indoors?”

Hopefully the reasons above gave you some guidance in this respect. To further narrow the options a bit, some seeds are better started by direct seeding outdoors. These include peas, beans, root crops, chard and spinach, most Asian greens, corn, and winter and summer squashes.

A comprehensive list of what gets planted where and when is beyond the scope of this article, but the amazing Maritime Northwest Garden Guide breaks this down beautifully and is available at either Co-op (see sidebar at above right for more info). As always, I cannot recommend enough that you pick up a copy.

Local seed company, Uprising Seeds, also has good planting information for our area in their catalogs (available at both Co-ops) and on the seed packets themselves (logo pictured at left).

Now that you’ve worked out what plant you’ll be starting, the next logical question is “What will my plants need?”

Besides love and attention, there are some basic necessities, all of which have a bunch of options that I will try to break down for you as best I can:

A Growing Medium
My top recommendation for plants that won’t be in pots for too long is to simply use coconut coir. Coir is the hairy bits from a coconut shell. It usually comes compressed in a block that you soak in water to loosen up, and it has the excellent properties of both retaining moisture and having good drainage and having a near neutral pH. It doesn’t provide anything in the way of nutrition but a seed is packed with nutrients for the seedling to live off of for the first bit of its life, so it’s no biggie.

For plants like eggplant, tomatoes, and peppers that will live in their pots for quite a while, I recommend using a more complete potting mix that will provide essential nutrients to the plant. I love the super dreamy, peat-free, non-GMO potting soil from Malibu Compost, but if you have the time, making your own potting blend can be another fun winter garden project and more economical.

Containers
Most people use plastic cells and trays, the benefit being that they are all standardized so that cells fit neatly in trays and domes fit neatly over trays, etc- the downside being that it’s, well, plastic. There are biodegradable options as well made from plant fibers, manure, and wood. Theoretically, the fiber and manure pots can be planted straight in the ground and will dissolve away but score the pot before planting to ensure roots are not inhibited from growth. Many folks make their own pots by poking holes in yogurt containers or cutting toilet paper rolls in half amongst a million other creative solutions. Whatever you use, just make sure that water can drain freely from the pot and you have something to catch it when it does.

Light and Heat
The plants you are starting indoors are there because they need light and heat that the outdoors can’t provide them with. If your indoor space can’t provide them with adequate light and heat either, it’s all for naught, so this part is essential. Most vegetables need full sun (remember this means 6 hours of direct sunlight), and if you are reading this from western Washington in the dead of winter you probably aren’t getting this kind of light anywhere in your house, so you’ll need to provide full spectrum artificial light. There are regular style full spectrum bulbs that can fit in typical light fixtures. I prefer long, full spectrum tube style lights that are suspended above plants either from the ceiling or a special stand. There are also regular style full spectrum bulbs that can fit into a regular light fixture, because they distribute light evenly above the plants. This is helpful because if light is stronger in one place, plants will twist and bend to grow towards it. As for heat, your plants will be fine if you are keeping them in a heated room like your kitchen or living room, but if you need to start them in a cold space you will probably need a heat mat to keep them warm. Plastic domes can also help concentrate heat and light.

Water and Food
Most seeds won’t germinate if they are aren’t consistently moist, and seedlings are unlikely to survive drying out, so you need to make sure you keep our growing medium consistently moist. A spray bottle or small watering can with a small opening is ideal. Anything that waters too fast, too hard, or too much could dislodge seeds, damage young plants, and wash way, compact, or drench your growing medium none of which will be appreciated by your plants. Like I said, plants should have enough food from their seed to make it for the first while, but once the first set of leaves (these are called cotyledons and aren’t really leaves) are dying back and true leaves are forming, they will be running out of food. This is especially true if you used straight coir or a seed starting mix. An enriched potting soil should provide them with food for quite a while but watch for yellowing or purpling leaves which is a sign of nutrient deficiency. When you go to feed your starts you’ll want a liquid or soluble powder fertilizer, one that’s fairly balanced but higher in nitrogen to promote leafy growth (most fertilizers will have 3 numbers prominently displayed on the front standing for N-P-K- the primary plant nutrients- and you’ll be looking for one where the numbers are all fairly close but the first one is
the highest). I use liquid fish. It smells terrible but dissipates pretty quickly and after a while you’ll come to like the smell because of its positive associations with gardening (or at least I did).

And the final question… “When do I put them outside?”

The answer is variable, depending on the plant and the weather that year, but the seed packet should give you guidance. Usually, it’s somewhere between as soon as soil can be worked (sometime between March and April) for cool season crops to after last frost (May) for warm season crops. Whenever they get transplanted, it’s going to be a big shock for your plants to leave behind their cozy, coddled indoor life for the rugged outdoors. Big shocks can kill plants or leave them sickly and stunted, so you need to slowly acclimate them using a process called hardening off. This means for about a week you will put them in a protected outdoor location (like a porch or the side of your house) for a little bit every day, starting with an hour or two and increasing it by an hour every day.

If this all sounds a bit complicated and fussy, it is! But if you love doting on plants it’s all kinds of fun, and if you aren’t afraid to fail, you can experiment and figure out just what level of effort you need to put in to get a garden you can love.

Why does the Co-op recommend coconut coir?
Peat moss is still the main ingredient in almost every commercial growing medium, but the Coop has worked hard to carry alternatives to peat due to environmental concerns. Peat moss is a mostly non-renewable resource that is formed over thousands of years and stores massive amounts of carbon which are released into the atmosphere during harvest, contributing to global climate change.

By Sylvan Rook
Staff Member

Co-op Table Winter 2018 PDF

Newsletter Archive

Co-op Table Fall 2018 PDF
ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
Join us on November 3rd, 2018, for Olympia Food Co-op’s 41st Annual Membership Meeting, held from 11:00 am to 3:00 p.m. at the Olympia Center, 222 Columbia St. NW.

Our Annual Membership Meeting is an opportunity to break bread, and to bring members up-to-date on the operations of the business. Most importantly, it’s a time to participate in our democratic process — voting on ballot measures and electing new members of our Board of Directors. As the body responsible for creating the Co-op’s policies, candidates for the Board are encouraged to introduce themselves and speak about their vision for the Co-op.

Remember, voting is open October 15th through November 15th, 2018.

Last year, over 300 members attended our 40^th anniversary meeting and celebration. Guests enjoyed dinner, a Co-op documentary, costume contest, and live music. This year, the Co-op member relations committee chose the event theme of Community Resilience, a practical focus to strengthen our local connections.

Following the Board and staff reports, the annual meeting business, and the candidate speeches, an esteemed discussion panel will integrate a variety of perspectives on our Community Resilience theme. The panel guests include local professionals Candace Penn of Squaxin Island Tribe Natural Resources Department, Heesoon Jun, PhD., Multicultural Psychologist and educator, Meg Martin of Interfaith Works Overnight Emergency Shelter, and Vivian Eason of Thurston Emergency Management. Bring your questions for the community engagement session.

The Co-op is proud to provide delicious soups from Mel O Soup, such as Bodacious Coconut Curry, Garlic and Greens, Diane’s Borscht, and Luscious Sesame Potato. What is soup without a delightful fall salad? Rounding out the peasant meal, expect Country French baguettes, and hearty vegan sourdough breads from Blue Heron Bakery, such as Kalamata Olive & Garlic, Rye, and Spelt. For dessert, the artisan crafted confections from Peace, Love & Raw meet an assortment of Blue Heron cookies and pastries, whilst the Batdorf and Bronson organic coffees flow.

Because sharing good food together is an integral part of what this cooperative community is all about, the rest of the feast will be potluck. In the spirit of our theme, we recognize that community sharing is vital to our resilience. An important method of wealth redistribution, egalitarian societies utilize ritual sharing to cement social contracts, ensure the health of the weakest members, and restore a balance of power. Also, sharing our favorite family and cultural dishes is an excellent way to learn about one another. If all you can spare is a well washed rock, we will be making a Stone Soup.

So, bring a pebble, your favorite vegan ingredient, or your great grandma’s eggplant casserole, but do bring yourself. Join us, as we celebrate another year of cooperative interdependence.

Contact member relations  for more information, or to sign up to bring a dish to share.

By Desdra Dawning, Member Relations Committee
Robyn Wagoner, Staff Member

Co-op Table Fall 2018 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op Table Summer 2018 PDF
TIME TO GET YOUR GRILL ON!
Olympia has encountered some very hot days the last few summers, and I know I’m not alone in living in a house that doesn’t have air conditioning. One of the best ways I’ve found to still enjoy cooking on days when the temperature rises is to rely on my outdoor grill. It keeps the heat out of my kitchen and gets me thinking in new and creative ways about summer’s bounty. I’m still discovering all the foods that emerge from a grilling session with a whole different personality from what I’m used to in my kitchen. I’ve also discovered that experimenting with marinades, sauces, dips, dressings and salads that go well with grilled food is a big part of the fun (and can be prepped earlier in the day when I still want to be in my kitchen). Here’s to another summer of food adventuring – enjoy it while it lasts!

Try a wire grill basket, a tray, or a wok!
Purchasing a couple of these grill tools takes away the headache of veggies and smaller cuts falling through the grates, allows for easier oiling of the surface to prevent sticking, and helps when you need to move part of your meal away from the heat faster than other parts.

Peaches, Apricots or Nectarines
There is more fruit you could add to this list, and grilled fruit experimentation is a must during the stone fruit season. Cut fruit in half and remove any pits, then coat lightly with oil. For a sweet-savory side dish, sprinkle on a little salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar, then grill for a few minutes per side. And for dessert, dust with brown sugar, then place the halves on a clean part of the grill for a few minutes per side before serving with ice cream or pound cake (or both).

Corn
Some get better success from soaking the corn in cold water for 30 minutes, peeling back the husk, remove the silk, return the husk; then grill for 15 – 20 minutes, turning frequently. Others find they like it just fine if you remove some of the silk and toss it on the grill for 20 minutes or so, turning it with some frequency.

Carrots
Yes, you can grill carrots! It’s easier to get these cooked through if you boil them for a few minutes before grilling, but small fresh ones can be grilled raw. Very good brushed with butter, grilled carrots should take about 20 minutes to finish. Leave a bit of the top on for an easy eating handle.

Mushrooms
Wash fresh mushrooms quickly under running water; then pat dry. Skewer or place in a grill basket. Brush with oil and grill for 5 – 7 minutes. Whole portabello mushrooms take 10 – 20 minutes, depending on their size. Mushrooms are also great slow-cooked or smoked.

Onions
Slice thickly and brush with oil. Cook onions directly on the grid at medium high heat until they start to turn brown. You can also roast an onion by cutting it in half, wrapping it in foil with a little butter, and cooking it for about 30 – 45 minutes at medium heat.

Peppers
Grill whole peppers at high heat until skin is charred black, about 15 – 20 minutes. Cool in a paper bag for 15 minutes to loosen blackened skin. Peel and remove seeds. Peppers also work well cut up and skewered or added to a mixed wire grill basket.

Potatoes
Wrap baking potatoes in foil. Cook at medium heat for 25 – 30 minutes or until tender, varies on size of potato. This is a good way to start potatoes intended for salad, without having to boil them in the kitchen.

Summer Squash and Zucchini
Squashes respond very well to marinades so don’t forget to start soaking these early. Slice into long strips and use a basket or tray to help keep them from slipping through when you turn them 3 or 4 times during cooking, for about 8 minutes. Also good chunked into skewers.

Shellfish
You can cook shellfish on the grill. If they are large, such as prawns or crab you can grill them directly on the grid. Smaller shellfish, such as mussels, clams, oysters, scallops or shrimp can be skewered or cooked in a basket. Shrimp take about 8–12 minutes depending on their size.

Steak
Choose steaks that are no thicker than 1 1/2 inches, and which have some visible fat marbling for tenderness. To keep the juices intact, use tongs rather than a fork to turn your meat. At the hottest setting, sear for 1 – 2 minutes per side. Then move to a medium heat and cook for about 4 minutes per side for rare (it will feel fleshy to touch), 6 minutes per side for well-done steak (it will feel firm).

Fish
Firm fish, such as tuna, salmon or halibut can be cooked directly on the grill if handled carefully. A hinged wire grill basket can help for cooking whole fish or tender fillets, or experiment with cedar planks (soak first!). Grill fillets at medium to medium low heat. Fish can cook quickly so turn only once to keep from crumbling.

By Maureen Tobin
Staff Member

Co-op Table Summer 2018 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op Table Spring 2018 PDF
THE EASIEST GARDEN IS AN HERB GARDEN
If you have any kind of outdoor space available to you – a yard, a porch, or windowsill you can hang a planter box from – I advise you to plant an herb garden. So long as you choose the right plants, an herb garden can be ridiculously easy to start and care for. Unlike vegetables, most of the plants we call herbs are undomesticated, wild plants that haven’t been bred to rely on human care. Given the right conditions they can get on just fine all by themselves, needing little to no water, fertilizer, pest control or weeding once they are established. On top of that, many of the herbs I love best are perennials or self seeding annuals that will come back year after year with no work on your part. Be forewarned, however, if you are most comfortable with a tidy and predictable garden, some of these plants may not be for you!

While the upkeep is easy, getting herbs started has varying levels of difficulty – some of these wild plants have evolved to spread like weeds, easily sprouting from seed scattered on the ground, while others have evolved to sprout from seed only under very specific conditions. Trying to get these fussy plants to sprout (rubbing them on sandpaper or hiding them in the fridge, among other tricks) can be a fun way to feel like a mad scientist. For the sake of my argument that your herb garden can be extraordinarily easy, I’m going to recommend that for fussy seeds and woody perennials, you just spend a few bucks on potted starts. We are lucky at the Co-op to be able to get an incredible variety of herb starts grown locally and sustainably at Spring Creek Farm, a family run business in Rochester. For those plants that do grow easily from seed (and the persnickety ones you want to experiment with!), we are really excited to offer organic herb seed from Oregon based seed company Strictly Medicinal, run by herb growing pioneer and mad scientist Richo Cech.

I don’t just think you should grow an herb garden because it’s easy. Herbs are also exceptionally useful and will bring you joy. Having fresh herbs on hand to cook with is more fun and more delicious! Making tea with the plants in your garden is pure happiness. Traditionally, herbs have been eaten in food, steeped in tea, and transformed into other concoctions to treat countless maladies and promote general well being. Experimenting with herbal medicine can be a really empowering and exciting experience. Below are some top picks for herbs to cultivate and easy tips on how to start and care for them.

FAVORITE CULINARY HERBS
These can all be used fresh or dried in just about any combination. You will find them in all kinds of recipes, and have fun experimenting with adding them to whatever foods you like to eat.

Parsley (Petroselinum crispum)
Parsley plants are low, bushy herbaceous biennials (plants that live 2 years). We have starts for Italian and curly varieties. Seeds are available, but you’ll want to start them indoors and give seeds a long soak prior to planting. Parsley likes full sun and regular garden soil.

Dill (Anthmum graveolens)
Dill is an annual that is almost too easy to grow. Sow seeds directly into a patch of regular garden soil with full sun in early spring. They grow tall with beautiful yellow flowers loved by bees and humans.

Sage (Salvia officinalis)
Sage is a mid-sized woody shrub. It can take a long time for woody plants to establish grown from seed and sage will need frequent weeding until it gets woody, so I recommend getting a start if you want to keep it easy. Spring Creek grows a bunch of different varieties! Sage wants full sun and well-drained soil. Water sitting on its leaves may mildew, so avoid planting it where it will get pounded with water and won’t have enough airflow to dry.

Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)
Thyme is a very small shrub with cute little flowers that attract bees. It has a strong preference for sun and dry, gritty, alkaline soils. If you live west of the Cascades your soil is probably fairly acidic, and you want to keep it slightly acid if you grow vegetables, so your thyme will probably do best in a planter where you can control the soil conditions a bit better. Like sage, it’s much easier to buy a start than to grow from seed. I almost didn’t include thyme on this list since it can be a bit fussy, but it’s my absolute favorite culinary herb so I had to mention it.

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)
Soil drainage is essential for rosemary to be happy. Richo Cech recommends a mulch of sand around the base to reflect light up to the leaves, keep weeds at bay, and help with drainage. It is almost never grown from seed, but we have starts for so many different varieties. They have gorgeous blue flowers and can grow quite big: 3’-4’ high and just as wide.

Chives (Allium shoenoprasum)
Tiny clumping onions are fairly easy from both start or seed provided you follow the instruction on the seed packet. It likes regular garden soil and can take part shade. It will be happier in moist soils. In my mind this is the most classic garden herb; I’ve seen it growing in just about every garden I’ve ever seen, probably because it’s so easy to care for and goes well in every dish.

HERBS FOR DELICIOUS TEA
Use leaves and flowers, fresh or dried, (cut the above ground part of the plant, gather them into small bundles, and hang upside down in a dry, dim place) to make tea just by adding boiled water and allowing to steep 10 minutes with a cover on (so the aromas don’t escape). Any combination of these herbs will make a delicious tea that I have found settles the stomach and the mind.

Lavender (Lavendula spp.)
Lavender is a beautiful and wellloved shrub. Spring Creek grows many different species and varieties of lavender; Grosso is one of the most fragrant. Lavender needs well drained soil and full sun. Richo recommends sand mulch for these too. If you want to grow from seed, they will need a couple weeks of cold conditioning. Lavender can grow 2’ – 4’ tall depending on the type; take note of how large they will get when planting to ensure enough space between plants.

Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)
A citrus-smelling herbaceous perennial which will multiply rapidly with no help from you and produce abundant leaves twice a year. Some people don’t like how much it spreads, so if you want a very tidy garden it might not be the plant for you. Lemon balm tolerates poor soils, drought, and part shade so if you’ve got an abandoned corner where nothing else will grow this could be a perfect herb for you. A little tricky from seed, pick up a start instead or see if a neighbor will let you dig up some of theirs.

Mint (Mentha spp.)
All types of mint are tenacious and prolific reproducers. Like lemon balm, it may not be for lovers of an orderly garden, but if you put it in a pot it will probably stay put. Some mints reproduce by underground stems (rhizomes) rather than by seed, and it spreads so well that I think getting a start is a worthwhile investment, but we have seeds for a few varieties. Spring Creek has starts for many varieties of mint. My favorite are chocolate mint and spearmint.

Chamomile, German (Matricaria recutita), Roman (Chamaemelum nobile)
German chamomile is a self-seeding annual, whereas Roman chamomile is a perennial ground-cover. They both look like cute little daisies and smell sweet. Both can be direct seeded outdoors in early spring, fall, or midwinter. They do pretty well from seed but can be transplanted as well. They like regular, moist garden soil.

Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum)
Anise hyssop is a delicious and lovely herbaceous perennial. Starts will grow fairly tall and have a tendency to spread, but much less aggressively than lemon balm. Thrives in full sun and regular garden soil.

MEDICINAL HERBS
If you have an interest in herbalism, there are quite a few plants traditionally used for medicine that you can find at the garden center. Some medicinals are extremely difficult to cultivate, but these are all ones that I have found incredibly easy to grow.

Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora)
An herbaceous perennial that will spread like wildfire by rhizome and seed, making it a bad choice for those who fear plants who leave their intended spot, but great if this is an herb you love and use lots of. It can be direct seeded fall or spring, but I’ve just been dividing the same start I got for a couple of years now. They prefer moist, fertile soil and take part or full sun.

Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium)
Daisy like herbaceous perennial with lacy foliage. It easily establishes from both start and seed – maybe too easily for some people’s taste as it can get a bit weedy. Loves full sun and well drained soils.

Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris, A. ludoviciana)
Both the European and American varieties grow abundantly once established. They are pretty tricky to start from seed, but a start can be divided and it will spread pretty quickly. Likes full sun and dry soil.

Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca)
One small start will grow into a big, wily plant that provides more than enough for my needs. It can also be direct seeded in spring or fall. It takes partial to full sun in regular garden soil and likes to be watered daily in the hot months.

Calendula (Calendula officinalis)
Calendula seeds can be scattered willy nilly across the soil and will produce an abundance of beautiful orange and yellow flowers. These in turn, will produce a mother load of seeds which will fall to the earth and sprout the next year (or even later in that same year) giving you even more calendula with no effort on your part. They prefer full to part sun and don’t seem very picky about soil.

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Yarrow can be direct seeded into any soil and will produce prolifically with little water. It does prefer full sun. Its leaves and flowers are beautiful and highly aromatic.

California Poppy (Escholzia californica)
Grows easily from seed. Direct sow into cold soil in winter or early spring and it will
Self sow in even the most infertile soils. Both flower and foliage are adorable.

By Sylvan Rook, staff member

Co-op Table Summer 2018 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op Table Winter 2017 PDF
CELEBRATING FORTY YEARS!
The Co-op celebrated our 40th anniversary at our annual membership meeting on Saturday, October 28, at the Olympia Center in downtown. If you weren’t one of the 300 or so folks who came by to join the fun, I can report that it was a definite success! We’re never sure what kind of turnout we’ll have for our events, so our party planners were so glad to see all the participation – even one of our founding members, Gregory Reinemer, made an appearance and got a round of applause. It was obvious how much our community has gratitude and appreciation for what we’ve cooperatively achieved over the years.

The event began with our business portion, skillfully introduced and emceed by the talented Grace Cox, also our longest serving collective staff member. Erin Majors, who comanages the westside produce department as well as teaching cooking classes through our community classes program, provided the foundation speech for our celebration of 40 years of Co-op local.

Erin shared some of the things she treasures most about her work and experience at the Co-op, primarily the fantastic local foods and products that are such a big part of what makes the Co-op so special. As most of you probably know, starting a farm or a small business is no easy feat. Many local producers continue to work other full time or part time jobs while pursuing their dreams of starting their own businesses. At the same time, these producers show the care they take in sourcing good quality ingredients, the time and attention they give to packaging and product design, and the love they have for trying out new flavors and products. In the time Erin has worked at the Co-op, she’s seen local food businesses flourish! Much thanks must go out to Co-op members for supporting local producers with your shopping dollars – you have played a huge role in helping to strengthen our local food economy.

Interested in learning more about what we mean by Co-op local? On our website under the “go local” tab, you can find a listing of many of the local vendors we buy from as well as a description of the Co-op’s local farms program. You can also find a new section featuring local producer videos. Earlier this summer, Robyn Wagoner, a staff member on our outreach team, and the 40 year campaign coordinator, began working, along with her son Justis, on making short films about the local farmers and producers the Co-op works with. Currently, three of these short films have been completed – one featuring Calliope Farm, one featuring Yoga Way of Life, and one featuring Flying Cow Creamery. The outreach team has also been working on making posters and small signs that feature our local producers. Look for these hanging in our stores. We hope to add more soon!

Erin also spent some time appreciating other beloved work that makes the Co-op different, such as our significant donations program, and some of the organizations we’ve helped with contributions of food as well as events such as produce drives to benefit the Thurston County Food Bank.

Our round up at the register program was introduced by one of our Board Members, Desdra Dawning, who has acted as a liaison to the Community Sustaining Fund, our long standing register round up that has benefited hundreds of local groups and individuals over the years. Members of the Sustaining Fund board of directors came by to share about the program, as well as Emma , our staff member who serves on a Board committee called co-sound, which is sponsoring a current round up campaign for CECOSESOLA. Our round ups, gathered in bits of change from so many different shoppers since the 80’s, have helped with a number of causes over the years, from ongoing community support to national and international crises. More information about our current round ups are also available on our website.

Alejandro Rugarcia, working member coordinator at the eastside, next spoke about our program and his time managing that work. You can’t appreciate the Co-op without appreciating our working members! So much care and hard work has been provided over members play a huge role in supporting our organization to be able to make it more financially feasible to offer local goods at a lower margin, they also play a huge role in creating a sense of community and participation, which is critical to the health of our organization.

Jackie Krykek, another of our fabulous produce department managers, helped deepen the understanding of our local produce program by sharing data and statistics about what we sell and where it all comes from. Those who love spreadsheets got to see some cool data and we all learned how extensive the offerings of local produce are in the South Sound. She also helped share the perspective of how much all grocery stores use “local” as a marketing tool and what the difference is for our stores – when we say Co-op local, we mean it!

The finance report came next, provided by Max Crabapple, a member of the finance coordination team, who had some good news and some okay news and some great news to offer – the usual mixed bag of finances. You can read more about our financial picture in the report on page 16. Max also talked about the change to our discount structure and how that has been such a major project of this year and last, with the goal of improving the long term financial stability of the Co-op.

Your author on this piece here had the pleasure of offering this year’s staff report, and feeling that so many topics were being covered in other parts of our agenda, I chose to call out a list of our long term staff; the old schoolers, old timers, the ones who’ve lasted 20 years or more in our fascinating staff collective. We even have five staff members who’ve been with the Co-op 30 years or more! I think this is a testament to both the committed individuals we have working here and the unique nature of our organization that provides employment to more than 80 collective staff members who work together, without hierarchy, to manage our business.

Our 20 year plus staff includes: Mary Jane Cason, Martha Chubb, Grace Cox, Margaret] Culbertson, Gary Galbreath, Ami Greenberg, Kitty Koppelman, Barbara L’Aimont, Eion McReady, Virginia Lange, Harry Levine, Michael Lowsky, Pat Maley, Corey Mayer, Teresa McDowell, Todd Monette, Rebeca Roqueni, Maria Van Newkirk, and Michelle Weber. Thank you for all your years of dedication to the Co-op!

The candidates for the Board of Directors had a chance to share their reasons for running for the Board this year, and thoughts about the Co-op, and we got to hear from Joanne McCaughan and Benjamin Witten. Many members took the opportunity to vote at the event, and you can see our election results on page 23.

Harry Levine, our other longest serving staff member (Harry and Grace may be neck and neck in seniority, but I’ve always heard his sabbatical in the 90’s gave Grace the bigger number, so I’m going with that), finished up the meeting section of our time with some fascinating stories and reminiscences about his years with the Co-op. I can’t do any of the stories justice here, but if you get a chance to ask Harry about his favorites, you’ll get a chance to laugh with him and that’s so worth it. Harry and Grace also led us in a rousing chorus of the “Co-op Song.”

The member relations committee, made up of members at large Pat Kolstad, Linda Meyer, Mary Watt, Anita Langston; Board Members Casey Hook and Desdra Dawning; and staff members Tamara Urich-Rintz and Keziah Apuzen, spent months planning the food offerings for this party and also were invaluable in making all the logistics of the party and meeting work. Much thanks to them for making our celebration a success!

Participants were treated to a lovely meal including Kenyan vegetarian dishes (beans and vegetable greens) from the Mazigazi Group (new owner of former Ben Moore’s restaurant); Venezuelan food (arepas, sweet and green plantains, chicken and chicken salad, black beans) from Arepa’s Food Truck; and desserts from Traditional N Exquisite baklavas, Smiling Mo’s gluten-free cookies, and Cobb’s vegan and gluten-free pumpkin cheesecake and mapley mocha cheesecake. We also got some help from Old School Pizzeria when we ran out of food for the hungry crowd!

Luckily, we were also treated to some munchies from several local producers who took the time to come out on a Saturday night to help make our party a success. Many thanks go to Andre from the Bread Peddler, Elaine from Peace, Love & Raw, Habib from Exquisite N Traditional, Bob from Skokomish Mushrooms and Jen from 8 Arms Bakery.

Once people found some food, we were treated to a full on Co-op movie, called ”Selling Co-operative.” This effort, created by Robyn and Justin Wagoner and Max Gordon was a fantastic documentary compilation of interviews, clips, photos and even included a music video about the free store. This was an amazing archival offering that really honors all the people who made the last 40 years happen. We don’t have permissions to publish all the pieces of the movie yet, so you can’t find it on youtube, but as soon as we have a version that we can publish, we will let you know. Many thanks again to all who participated in the movie and helped tell our complicated Co-op story.

And finally, the evening ended with some drinks and music provided by Magellan, some raffle fun, and since we were so close to Halloween, a little costume contest for those who showed up in spirit. Many thanks to Laura Love, staff member and representative to the Board of Directors, who spent a good part of the year organizing this party and carrying forward all the fun and complexity that is our Co-op community.

The Olympia Food Co-op is a fundamental part of so many people’s experience in our local community. We are fortunate to have amazing local producers, a vibrant working member program, a skilled staff collective, and you, our incredible and dedicated membership. We thank each of you for being a part of that and for celebrating 40 Years of Co-op local.

By Maureen Tobin & Erin Majors
Staff Members

Co-op Table Winter 2017 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op Table Fall 2017 PDF
ROUND UP AT THE REGISTER
1. SUPPORTING THE COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT IN VENEZUELA
One of the round ups at Co-op registers happening this fall supports CECOSESOLA, a cooperative network in Venezuela deeply tied to members of the Olympia Food Co-op. Through the CoSound Network, a committee of the Olympia Food Co-op Board of Directors, we have organized two exchanges between CECOSESOLA workers in Barquisimeto, Venezuela and the Olympia Food Co-op staff, Evergreen (State College) students and faculty, and members of other co-ops and organizations in the Olympia area. Through these exchanges, cooperative members from both groups have forged strong bonds with each other, invested in continuing our relationship through small acts of solidarity, mutual aid, and connectivity.

The economic crisis in Venezuela has grown along with our relationship in the past few years, since the death of former President Hugo Chavez shortly after the first exchange in 2012. Members of CoSound know, through talking with our compañer@s at CECOSESOLA regularly, that many are struggling to meet their family’s basic needs and continue their work running the cooperatives. Our options for offering support are limited by the increasingly difficult nature of traveling between countries and the economic crisis, and we are not sure when we can hold another exchange.

In the meantime, we will have an opportunity for the Olympia Food Co-op members to support our compañer@s in Venezuela by rounding up at the register from August to January. We chose the round up program specifically because many of the expansion projects within CECOSESOLA have been funded by donation jars at their registers – thus honoring the creative and effective fundraising strategies CECOSESOLA uses to grow its incredible cooperative infrastructure. We know that every part of our mission statement, from democratic control to promoting accessibility of food and healthcare, is being carried out by CECOSESOLA under one of the most restrictive economic contexts in the world today. By rounding up at the register, funds go directly to CECOSESOLA to continue this shared vision. Let your cashier know that you’d like to round up!

For more information about CECOSESOLA, Venezuela, and the CoSound Network, check out our article on the last exchange in the Fall 2016 issue of the Co-op Table

And in the Works in Progress December 2016 issue

By Emma Carrillo
Staff member & Cooperative Development Coordinator

2. ROUND UP FOR THE CHAPLIN / THOMPSON FAMILY
On May 21, 2015, two young black men, Andre Thompson and Bryson Chaplin, who are brothers, were chased and shot by an Olympia police officer who suspected them of stealing beer from an Olympia Safeway store. The officer was not injured nor charged with any wrongdoing. The gunshot victims sustained physical, emotional, psychological, and financial harms that are likely to have lasting effects on the remainder of their young lives.

The police officer stated that he “feared for his life,” and a law enforcement review board determined that his actions adhered to Olympia police department policies. The officer’s fear and law enforcement policies and practices have been developed and cultivated over centuries, in ways that perpetuate injustices and inequalities that harm black and brown people and effectively promote white supremacy. These social systems continue to bloom as if from the seed of a deadly sickness, planted when the first black lives were kidnapped and forced to labor on these shores. The white officer’s fear, like many white folks’ fear, continues to be cultivated, encouraged, and normalized. White people continue to benefit from these systems as black and brown people struggle, suffer, and are victimized by the police.

INVISIBLE PRIVILEGE HERE AT HOME
As implicit bias in policing makes headlines, our mostly white Co-op has an opportunity to examine our own biases, to work toward growing our awareness of what goes on in our own hearts and minds unconsciously and automatically. Part of the framework of oppression – what keeps it strong – is that it makes itself invisible to those of us who benefit from it. We must consciously and deliberately examine our own fears, preconceptions, and positions through a lens that focuses on seeing the unearned advantages and privilege that are at play, while considering the flip side of that privilege and what effect that has on those who live their lives as targets of oppression.

HOW DOES THIS ISSUE RELATE TO THE CO-OP’S MISSION STATEMENT AND GOALS?
The Co-op’s mission directs us to “encourage economic and social justice,” and one of our goals is to “support efforts to foster a socially and economically egalitarian society.” We follow these directives because we recognize that the lives of our members, and the cooperative itself, exist in a larger context – a world in which there is injustice and inequality. Demographic trends in the areas of education, income, family wealth, home ownership, health care, and employment, among others, continue to slide favorably for white people and against black people. And these are only measurable effects. People who experience those disadvantages also face disproportionate physical, emotional, and psychic hardship as a result of the same systems from which white people benefit. At the Co-op, the round up option offers a way for our members to help mitigate the financial toll that this ordeal has taken on this one black family in our community. The Co-op is collecting funds for this family to help pay for their legal process (both men were put on trial for assaulting an officer), medical expenses (both men were hospitalized, and Bryson is paralyzed from this event), and other expenses.

YOUR CHANGE CHANGES THE WORLD
The Black Lives Matter movement calls particular attention to the fact that in our world, black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise. Black lives have not been treated as if they matter. The Black Lives Matter movement is not an organization that provides a service, but instead it aims to rebuild black liberation through grassroots organizing. While we support the work of the BLM movement, we also recognize the gunshot victims’ critical need for financial assistance even two years after the fateful night of their shooting.

Co-op members share an incredible variety of riches and benefits, ranging from access to healthy foods to the option to participate in the governance of the organization. As we enjoy these benefits, we’re offering members an opportunity to help respond to the inequities faced by one family in our community in contending with the systemic bias carried out by law enforcement against black people throughout the country. The Co-op’s round up option provides a method for you to take a small direct action to repair the harms and injustices endured by those two young black men. Funds will be disbursed directly to them.

By Kitty Koppelman, staff member

Co-op Table Fall 2017 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op Table Summer 2017 PDF
AN INTERVIEW WITH SARIKA IGLOI
Sarika Igloi, staff member & eastside Faerie Gardener Coordinator, is interviewed by staff member, Whitney Bard.

Whitney Bard (WB): How long have you worked at the Co-op and what positions do you hold?

Sarika Igloi (SI): I’ve worked as a staff member for a decade and was a working member while I was in college. I work a variety of positions, but you’ll often see me up front cashiering and seeing to the needs of our membership. I also work in the Deli, Wellness and Produce departments, and on the Facilities Team, helping keep the physical space of the stores in working order, and I teach garden oriented classes.

WB: How long have you been a gardener?

SI: I’ve been gardening my whole life. I learned gardening from my grandmother, Maria, who was from Czechoslovakia and was really affected by WWII. She was able to find sanctuary in the peace of the garden and it was through plants that she and I found a connection. My first job was doing yard maintenance for neighbors to earn enough money to buy a leather jacket I’d seen in the window of a pawn shop. In all the different professions I have enjoyed, I have always incorporated plants and gardening … I feel really driven to cultivate and share that relationship to the natural world with my community.

WB: Tell us about your involvement in the gardening at the eastside.

SI: The Co-op moved into the eastside location 1994 and had hired my company at the time, Green Gaia Landscaping, to complete the installation of the landscaping in exchange for working member cred¬its. In 1997, I was hired as a staff member and continued working on the project.

WB: It’s called the faerie gardener project, what does that mean? Who is a faerie gardener?

SI: Faerie gardeners are people who are interested in land and water conservation, for the future of wildflowers, pollinators – we are committed to preserving spaces that maintain healthy ecosystems. We are a very diverse group, we have people of all ages and abilities, including citizen scientists, local arborists and gardeners, students, people of color, queers, women, men … all of whom participate in keeping our Co-op safe and accessible to all. We also receive help from time to time from AmeriCorps students. We were inspired by the Highlander Research and Education Center and the Short Mountain Sanctuary in Tennessee and the work they do around restorative justice, community building and FUN! Basically, anyone can be a faerie gardener; everyone is welcome!

WB: Where did the idea come from?

SI: We were encouraged by members and staff who requested a bird and butterfly garden. As humans taking up space on the planet, it is really important to be stewards of the land and care for pollinators by nurturing the native plants they love to visit. We wanted to dedicate space to growing these native species of plants, and there was a lot of excitement from working members to participate; it’s a really nice opportunity to include different abilities in our community because folks can donate any amount of time they have to weeding, building, developing systems like water filtration and mycoremediation, and they can even also donate materials such as bird feeders, paint, untreated lumber, and native plants.

WB: What is a memory from the early days of the project?

SI: I have a vivid memory of learning the power of cooperative projects and community building after Alejandro (another staff member) and I visited to the Highlander Research and Education Center in Tennessee. We attended skill share workshops where folks had been in New Orleans after Katrina and were telling stories of bioremediation, which is using plants, such as sunflowers and grasses, to clean toxins and waste products from the soil. I remember understanding really profoundly how important people volunteering their time to tend the land in this way is. We were reading this really great book, Toolbox for Sustainable City Living and I was inspired to collaborate with the working members on a project of mycoremediation along the gutter of the main garden between Pacific and the Co-op’s building. Following the natural lay line of the storm water drainage system, we lay down mushroom teabags – burlap sacks filled with mushroom mycelium, coffee chaff and wood chips – and during high periods of rain the mycelium is active and denatures gasoline which means the large, toxic molecule is broken into smaller hydrogen bonds which the mycelium consumes and renders inert, thereby cleansing the land. I have had samples of our water tested throughout the years and it shows that this system is effectively cleaning the water of petrochemicals.

WB: How are working members involved?

SI: The Co-op is a really special place; the members have ownership and are able to become involved to contribute their labor in a variety of ways to help the Co-op run, from stocking produce to cashiering. Not to mention, since I volunteered my time before being hired, basically the whole reason I am working at the Co-op is the working member program! The working member program is a really wonderful way to become engaged in our community, I encourage anyone who wants to be involved to jump in! I’ve been blessed to have worked with some really talented people in the faerie gardener project over the years … without their help, the garden wouldn’t keep growing. I really want to honor them, they work so hard and I appreciate them so much. We have a lot of fun, every year we do seed swaps to share hybrids we have created which are most apt to succeed in our region.

WB: Tell us about a memory of a project or skill that a working member brought to the garden

SI: Last summer, we fed our beautiful Golden Rain crabapple trees Bokashi compost, a process we were taught by Aida and Amina Namukasa, a really cool mother daughter team of working mem¬bers. Aida is an amazing horticulturist, teacher, writer and friend. From her we learned the Bokashi process of sealing compost in a bucket with layers of a specific blend of high fermentation rate microorganisms. It feels really cool to participate in the full cycle: we use compost produced by our Deli and about 45 days after sealing the bucket, we have super nutritious compost to feed the plants around the store!

WB: How has the program grown since its inception? How has the land changed?

SI: We’ve really come a long way. Twenty years ago, when I was working on it through my landscaping business, I had no idea one day I would be in charge of facilitating this ambitious project. When we first started, it was a raw canvas. Each season we have continued to build on a cohesive design. In collaboration with my coworkers on the Facilities Team we have been able to realize our dreams of a tended space which cleanses the land and is filled with an abundance of thriving native plants which attract important pollinators and creates an opportunity for community building and skill sharing amongst working members who are able to trade their precious time for dis¬counts at the store. We are proud to say that we are now certified through the Audubon Society, using the guidelines of the National Wildlife Federation, as a Wildlife Habitat and as an official bird and butterfly garden.

WB: Why is it important for our business to be stewards of the land on which our store is located?

SI: In our abundant ecosystem in the pacific northwest, it is very easy for opportunistic invasive species such blackberry, morning glory, etc., to overpower the native species which live in balance with one another. Human beings are responsible for so much environmental destruction – by introducing invasive plants, polluting toxic chemicals, and viewing the land as a vessel from which to extract resources. At the Co-op, we’re going to be taking up some space on what¬ever land our store is located on, and as long as we’re here we want to be healing the land and encouraging the growth of native plants. We’re the only company that I know of in the country that has taken the responsibility of creating a storm water filtration system through mycoremediation. Having an edible landscape with native flora gives people a place to come and enjoy a delicious lunch from our Deli and enjoy the herbs and wildflowers which are native to our region.

WB: Does having access to the garden center help the work?

SI: Yes, absolutely! We have a high acid soil in the pacific northwest, so we use some of the wonderful soil amendments from Black Lake Organics. They add volcanic ash, clays, and kelo, which the plants just love. The Bokashi compost starter is also available right in the garden center. Many of the plants now growing around the store or in the garden come from starts and seeds sold in the garden center. Being in such close proximity to the garden center, we get to test out all the cool new tools and plants.

WB: Are there any other goals or dreams for the future of the faerie gardener program?

SI: We’re excited to develop the wheelchair accessibility ramp so that folks can wheel into the garden from the walkway. We’re putting in a humming bird feeder and some kestrel boxes this season, and we’re hoping for a birdbath as well.

WB: Anything else you want to let our Co-op community know about the faerie gardener program?

SI: I want to say thanks to my coworkers Ami, for all of her collaboration with the Board so that we meet the needs and values of the Co-op. I’m really grateful for the opportunity to be able to work with my community to integrate art and science into our everyday lives. I have met so many wonderful people and learned so much from them over the years so I just want to take this space to say thank you! I am so grateful to nature and its guidance, and to my family: my Mom and Dad for being volunteer rangers and taking me out on hikes, Grand¬ma and Grandpa for their love for wildlife habitat and teaching me to garden, and my sister and brother for all the encouragement to study local flora and fauna. I am thankful to my partner, Jonsey, for her delight in nature and marine sciences, and for my friends who are naturalists and arborists: Jan and Eli, Flaco, Crieghton, Jenny, Paris, Billy, Kari, and Ava with all her tremendous dedication to teaching mycoremediation skills. Thanks to my coworkers, Ben and Ale for supporting water justice, Laura, Jackson for his encouragement to formally teach classes at the Co-op, and my facilities crew (especially Gary) for tending to the critters on our land and having such dedication to our Co-op stores staying safe and welcoming. And finally, I want to thank all the volunteers at the Co-op over the years – just a few of the friends and families who inspire me, thank you!

WB: Finally, what is your favorite flower?

SI: That would have to be red flowering currant! I love the scent, it’s earthy and sappy and attracts hummingbirds, which are one of my very favorite birds. I also love dogwoods, it’s hard to choose! Wait, actually huckleberry is probably my number one favorite. It’s impossible to choose, I love them all!

By Whitney Bard
Staff Member

Co-op Table Summer 2017 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op Table Spring 2017 PDF
MICHELLE NOEL CHEESE PROFESSIONAL
Michelle Noel, staff member & Cheese Manager, is interviewed by staff member, Whitney Bard.

Whitney Bard (WB): How long have you worked at the Co-op/been a manager of the cheese department?

Michele Noel (MN): As a staff member since 2001 and as an eastside cheese department manager since 2003.

WB: You just got this fancy certification from the American Cheese Society. American Cheese Society is a North American grassroots association of cheesemakers, dairy scientists and academics, distributors, cheese retailers, cheese enthusiasts and others that formed in the 1980’s to provide educational resources, peer review and networking opportunities. American Cheese Society hosts an annual conference, judging and competition and prestigious awards ceremony for the cheesemakers. They also function as an advocacy organization, a unified voice for artisan cheesemakers concerns, who interface with the FDA, representing the cheese industry by developing and promoting best practices, quality and food safety standards and sustainability. They aim to ensure that the legislation and policies the FDA creates around cheese is science based. Congratulations on your cheese certification. Can you explain to us what it is?

MN: Yes! As of October, 2016, I am an American Cheese Society Certified Cheese Professional or ACS CCP. Being certified means a person has a thorough understanding of the cheese industry and could work in any area of it, from cheesemaking, to importing and distribution, to retail. CCPs commit to continually learning about cheese, growing professionally, and maintaining the high standards developed by the American Cheese Society in our work.

I obtained this certification through passing a rigorous exam, for which applicants must first meet certain qualifications. To be selected to take the exam, one has to have at least 4000 hours in the last six years of hands-on experience working with cheese and participating in educational opportunities. I have, together with my co-managers, shepherded the cheese department’s growth over the last 14 years, and it is now my full-time work at the Co-op, so it was easy to meet the hours requirement. I have also participated in numerous classes, conferences and cheese festivals over the years, which helped me to qualify.

WB: Why did you want to obtain the certification?

MN: I want to make sure that I have a solid foundation in cheese knowledge and that I am providing accurate information about cheese for our membership, caring for the cheeses in our store appropriately and representing the cheesemakers in the best way that I can. I want to better be of service to our Co-op community. This was a way to reflect on the knowledge and skills I have gained over the years and to challenge myself professionally.

Part of why the certification exists is to help make cheese mongering a viable and respectable career option, not just a job title that in¬spires giggles (but I do encourage the giggling, too). This certification helps retain advocates for artisanal cheese who have accumulated knowledge and skill which in turn, supports sustainable agricultural and dairy farming practices, traditional small scale cheesemaking, healthier local economies and food systems and biodiversity.

WB: How long did you study for it?

MN: Well, basically since 2003, when I started working with cheese at the Co-op, eating as many that were new to me as I could find, and devouring books, magazines and videos about it regularly. I began to study in a focused way specifically for the exam in February, 2016, when my application to take the exam was accepted and I continued up to the end of July when I took the exam at the American Cheese Society Conference, which was held in Des Moines, IA last summer.

WB: How many people have the certification in the state?

MN: There are 740 in the world who hold the certification so far. In the Olympia area, I am the only Certified Cheese Professional, but in Washington State we actually have a high number (42) proportionally compared to other states; in the Seattle area there are about 30 Certified Cheese Professionals. In the United States, there are only three entry points for imported cheese (where cheese comes in and is inspected and approved throughout the country). The Port of Seattle is one such entry point and distribution hub, and because of this, there are several cheese distributers and many places to buy a wide variety of cheese in the Seattle area. We also have a lot of lush land for dairy producing animals, and a community of artisan cheesemakers that has been growing very rapidly over the last decade or so. This climate creates a demand for many workers with a high level of knowledge and skill. This is my guess at why we have so many CCPs in Western Washington.

WB: How has obtaining the CCP changed your career?

MN: So far it has mainly changed my level of joy and confidence while helping Co-op members at the cheese case. Through my studies and week at the ACS conference, I have met new friends and mentors around the country who share my nerdiness and passion for cheese. I’ve had the opportunity to share some things I’ve learned with newer cheesemakers, which felt so cool. It has helped me feel more useful in the world.

Studying for the exam entailed attending classes on dairy animals and farming practices, cheesemaking and cheese science, food safety and best practices, marketing, nutrition, federal regulation and more. On the final day before the exam, there was an all day class taught by cheesemakers who came from all over the country to help us. These were people for whom I have a tremendous amount of reverence, I’ve been reading about them and working with their cheeses for years. These farmers and cheesemakers put such labor and care into every aspect of their craft. The general vibe of this community is incredible humble and inclusive but at the same time deeply passionate; it was kind of an emotional experience to meet these people in person. Then, incredibly, they expressed gratitude to all of us about to take the exam for our effort and dedication to being their advocates and supporting their lives’ work. It was a tremendous honor to be thanked by our cheese heroes!

WB: How has the cheese market changed?

MN: I have seen Co-op members become more adventurous with their tastes. We used to only be able to sell cheese from larger producers (because the economy of scale makes them cheaper), mainly cow’s milk cheese and mostly the most common types. Folks are now becoming more used to the idea of seasonality, of cheeses wrapped in leaves, of wrinkly, stinky, or moldy cheeses made from milk from a variety of animals, as well as the staple cheeses they grew up eating. People seem to value cheese more. I notice an increased acceptance of higher prices on the cheeses that are made by hand, on a small scale, using the best agricultural practices. People seem to better understand the amount of work involved and the expense of the quality milk that is required to make non-commodity cheese. The low-fat craze seems to be a bit less ubiquitous and cheese slowly is reclaiming its role as a nutritious everyday food in American rather than something “fancy” for a party.

WB: What was your relationship to cheese growing up? Tell us your favorite childhood cheese memory, what role has cheese played in your life?

MN: I’ve always been a fiend for dairy! The very first time I remember getting in trouble, I was three years old. When my Mom was asleep I pulled a chair up to the kitchen counter. She was alarmed to find me well into a cube of butter when she woke up! The cheese that I ate growing up was shelf stable parmesan from a can, velveeta – an exciting treat was cheese whiz, or jarred, shelf stable cheese spread with bacon bits in it; essentially, I mostly remember eating processed cheese. That’s what was affordable and common in the stores we shopped in when I was a kid, and that’s what cheese was to me. I loved it. My favorite meal growing up was macaroni and cheese, and it basically still is!

WB: Do you remember the first time you realized you loved cheese? What cheese was it, or what were the circumstances?

MN: My magic “Aha!” moment where I knew I wanted to learn every¬thing I could about cheese was at my first trade show. It was all amazing; there was more cheese than I had ever seen. I saw a glass case of soft French cheeses with multi-colored molds, inches tall, growing out of them! But there was one booth that had a particular draw: it was the Fine Cheese Company from Bath, England. The woman had a bunch of traditional English cheeses beautifully displayed on shelves behind her. She gave me samples of each one and told me about them with her British accent. There was one fantastic hard sheep’s milk cheese, called Berkswell, that looked like a UFO because it’s formed in a colander. It was the first time I had seen a whole cheese with a natural rind that came from overseas…the rind was very rustic looking, and it was delicious but I was mostly struck feeling a deep sense of the place from where it had come. I understood in that moment that that cheese is sacred in that it represents the land, the animals, the people … cheesemaking is some kind of alchemy where milk draws together place, culture, history and craft into this magical, wonderful nutrient dense food. I went back to that booth so many times over the course of the day to awkwardly stare and ask lots of silly questions. Berkswell and a couple others from that booth were some of the first cheeses I brought into the department.

WB: How did you think, feel about cheese when you began working in the cheese department, and how do you think, feel about it now?

MN: When I first began, I found it endlessly fascinating! I had an insatiable desire to explore, a reverence for it and a passion to learn everything I could. I started devouring books about cheese and eating whatever new cheeses I could get my hands on. I feel the same way now, after fourteen years … you could spend lifetimes learning about cheese and there will always be more to learn and experience.

WB: Our cheese department is very carefully curated. Can you tell us a little bit about how you and your co managers go about finding, testing, selecting the cheeses we sell?

MN: I’m constantly reading about cheese! I have two shelves full of cheese books at my house, I have a subscription to Culture Magazine—essential reading for anyone who wants to learn about cheese. Whenever I travel, I visit other co-ops, farmers markets or small cheese and specialty food shops in search of cheeses I’ve never tried. My co–managers and I attend trade shows for each of our distributors where we meet cheesemakers and vendors and try samples for our consideration. Another important way we learn of new cheeses is at the Washington Artisan Cheesemaker’s Festival—which is an annual event in Seattle, open to the public. There are a lot of delicious cheeses represented… new cheesemakers show up to that event and it’s a great place to get to know about new creameries that are popping up throughout the state. Also, we love it when cheesemakers stop in to the stores to introduce themselves and give us samples of what they are making. We read and taste as much as we can in order to stay current with what is happening in the cheese world and to build and maintain a foundation in the centuries old of cheeses of Europe, so that is reflected in our cheese case.

WB: What makes our cheese department exciting?

MN: We have an emphasis on bringing in and highlighting a lot of local producers and have for many years. This is something that can be said of any reputable cheese store. It’s something you’re finding more and more in mainstream stores but is something that has been a part of the Co-op’s values since the beginning. I’m proud that we have an organizational policy that instructs us to use a very low mark-up on all products purchased directly from the producer and that come from one of the surrounding counties. Making cheese by hand, on a small scale, using the highest quality milk from healthy, well cared for animals is expensive, unfortunately, so I’m grateful that we attempt to make these cheeses more financially accessible.

I feel excited about and hear excitement from shoppers about our continually rotating selection of cheeses, in addition to our staple items. There are thousands of cheeses being made around the world. It’s exciting to think about where each precious cheese came from, who made it, how it was made, the history behind it and to taste of all the flavors of a given ecosystem. There’s a French term ‘terroir,’ which describes the unique qualities of the land, the water, the plants, the weather, the animal species and even breed, the distinct micro¬biology of the region, and how these elements culminate in the taste of the cheese. We get to experience in a small way many parts of the world when we try new cheese. We get to have a connection with traditions, people and places we may never get to visit in person via our senses and a visit to our Co-op cheese department!

WB: If you could only eat one cheese for the rest of your life, which would it be?

MN: It would be Parmigiano Reggiano, the real deal Italian parmesan, AKA “the King of Cheeses”, because I can’t imagine life without pasta and alfredo sauce! Also, it’s a very hard aged cheese, containing very little moisture, so it is nutritionally very dense and a little goes a long way. It keeps well without refrigeration so it’s great for camping or power outages. It’s my number one staple at home. (By the way, our regular price on this cheese is astonishingly low!)

WB: Tell us about cheese rinds! Can you eat them?

MN: Some rinds are artificial, such as wax or plastic, and you don’t want to eat those. Hopefully, inedible rinds will be obvious when you see them. Natural rinds are edible. The natural rind is like the skin of the cheese; it forms naturally and protects the cheese. It is made of the aged cheese curd, molds, bacteria and yeasts. Whether or not to eat the rind is a matter of personal preference. Someone might enjoy eating the rind of one cheese and not another, but they are all safe to eat. I tend to like all the bloomy rinds, which are the whitish ones on soft-ripened cheeses like Brie or Ancient Heritage’s “Valentine” (a soft-ripened cheese from Oregon made of sheep’s milk). There are occasionally rinds I personally find too gritty, but in general I like the variety of texture that they add. The flavor is usually more concentrated close to the rind. Just give it a nibble! Taste the paste and the rind together. Taste the parts separately. Experiment and see what you like.

WB: I learn so much from you when we work together, like that cheese tastes best at room temperature! Tell us why that is.. any other cheese secrets? Strange but delicious combinations?

MN: Any authoritative resource will tell you to serve cheese at room temperature. I don’t have a scientific explanation of why the cheese tastes better when you do. The best answer I could find was from the book The Science of Cheese, by Michael Tunick. “Many volatile compounds responsible for flavor are not detectable under refrigeration.” I do know from experience that the flavors, aromas and texture are best once the cheese comes to room temperature. The flavors open up, the aromas waft and the cheese becomes more supple or oozy, as the case may be. When serving cheese, it should be taken out of refrigeration for thirty minutes to one hour before eating. Only take out as much as you think you will eat in one setting. Leave it wrapped until just before serving to keep it from drying out. Go ahead, try it cold and then try it again in an hour. You’ll be amazed by the transformation!

One of my favorite snacks is Jalisco corn chips dipped in Organic Valley cottage cheese. Is that really so strange, Whitney? I once at¬tended a tasting where they paired nori and fresh chevre. Weirdly, that worked but I gravitate toward less unusual combinations.

I’m enamored with pairing honey and cheese. They work so well together, both being a similar kind of alchemy of plants and land by bee or ruminant. Both cheese and honey can have such unique colors, flavors, textures, based on what plants were in bloom at the time they were made. They both embody a place and a season.

I love a wonderful semi-soft Greek sheep’s milk whey cheese that we carry, called Manouri, paired with Spanish orange blossom honey and toasted walnuts. Another nice pairing is local blackberry honey with Black Sheep Creamery’s Fresh Cheese with Rosemary on a rice cracker but you can’t have it any old time. The local fresh cheese is only available in late spring through the summer. People can be intimidated by cheese but it’s really just a simple subsistence food, just preserved milk. Everyone has a unique palate, so I encourage people to try out different pairing combinations or just keep it simple with a well-made cheese and some crusty locally baked bread.

WB: What would you tell someone who hadn’t explored the world of our cheese department … where should they start?

I would say, use your gut! What are you drawn to? What looks beautiful to you? I would also suggest that people start with our Local section or cheeses that have the green Buy Local sticker on the shelf tag. Also, look for the name–protected European cheeses. These are the traditional ones that have stood the test of time. Most have been around for hundreds of years, are made in a very particular way using heritage animal breeds and come only from a very particular region, for instance, Gruyère AOP from Switzerland, Roquefort AOC from France or Parmigiano Reggiano DOP from Italy. You can identify a name-protected cheese by looking for the letter designations PDO (or DOP), AOC or AOP after the cheese name. We love to tell you about what our current favorites are and make recommendations, so don’t be afraid to ask!

By Whitney Bard, staff member

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THE OLYMPIA FOOD CO-OP CELEBRATES 40 YEARS OF CO-OP LOCAL IN 2017
When it comes to your food, the declaration of “locally sourced” is everywhere these days. You’ve seen it: local cheese, local produce, local wine. It’s official; local is “in.” The natural food movement of the 1970’s has changed what we expect when we go to the grocery store – sourcing foods from our local producers is now widely under¬stood to be more ecologically sustainable and economically successful as well as a higher quality choice. Thank goodness!

But, what does it mean when local is advertised? This is actually a pretty interesting question because it can mean wildly different things from store to store. It could mean regionally sourced, as in it came from within your neighboring states. It could refer to a small sized farm business, or it could mean multi million dollar farms, which sell within their home state and beyond.

At the Olympia Food Coop, local has been a foundational value from day one. It is the bedrock to every choice we make. This value makes me beam with pride every day. I’m sure you know the feeling because at the Olympia Food Coop our local is Co-op local. It is an inspired, un¬wavering understanding that people matter; that this planet matters; that our food matters. Most of all, it is the knowledge that when you come through the Olympia Food Co-op’s doors, you won’t have to wonder exactly where something local came from, because Co-op local is clear. At the Olympia Food Coop, it means that we work directly with the food producer, building longstanding relationships with people and businesses in our areas that love what they do and the food they make. Co-op local is direct, fresh and strong community. Every time.

Next year is quite a significant year; 2017 will be 40 years of local for the Olympia Food Co-op. That’s right – forty years of putting the highest quality food first along with the health of small farms, food producers and our local economy. This is no small accomplishment. When I think about it, it gets to the root of why I’ve been a member of the Olympia Food Coop for so many years. As a shopper, I can make my selections with confidence, knowing exactly where my delicious food has come from. And as a staff member, I can see the impact of our Co-op local every time I receive a delivery in the warehouse and sign an invoice from a local producer. Knowing that each of those dollars will circulate within our communities for somewhere around a hundred times before it leaves our local economy, leaves me with a great sense of purpose and pride. I see this phenomenon every day and for me, that is the power of Co-op local.

Whether it’s the amazing food, where it came from, or the people we share it with in our lives – Co-op local is something we can celebrate.

By Tina S.
Staff Member

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COOPERATIVES AND THE LOCAL ECONOMY: CRUCIAL FOR SURVIVAL
This July and August, several cooperative workers from Olympia are visiting CECOSESOLA, a huge network of cooperatives in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, marking the second exchange with our friends in the cooperative movement there. As many of you may know, recent months and years have seen Venezuela going through a grinding economic crisis, precipitated, in part, by the worldwide drop in oil prices. Growing political unrest has added to an already tense situation. It has been both an honor and an eye-opening experience for representatives from the Olympia Food Co-op, The Northwest Construction Co-op, and the Flaming Eggplant Cafe to spend time with their fellow cooperative workers to the South during this especially trying time. Recently, I was able to catch up via email with Whitney Bard, your Olympia Food Co-op delegate on this exchange, and she shared some thoughts about the essential nature of the co-op economy during extremely difficult times.

Increasingly, for many in Venezuela, sourcing basic staples such as food, medicines, and body care products has become difficult, and sometimes impossible. In her time in Barquisimeto so far, Bard has witnessed people waiting in line starting at 3 a.m. to buy basic subsistence items – many times only to have those items run out, or the stores fail to open, with fights sometimes breaking out among those waiting when they are unable to get in. A week ago, she says, a shipment of sugar arrived for the first time in two months to one of CECOSESOLA’s ferias (large, Costco sized cooperative food markets) and there was nearly a riot outside. In many areas of the city, buildings are crumbling for lack of access to building supplies, and infrastructure – such as garbage pickup – is being acutely affected by slashed budgets. And yet, despite the ex¬treme challenges throughout the economy, the difficulty in sourcing products, and the effects of scarcity showing even more strongly in the low-income communities CECOSESOLA serves, the co-op is still functioning, providing an essential, life sustaining service. As long as the farmers who are part of CECOSESOLA’s cooperative network can still buy seeds, fruits and vegetables, at least, will remain in strong supply. And so long as sup¬ply levels remain strong, the co-op is able to keep costs low enough that members of the local community (including co-op workers) can afford to buy food.

CECOSESOLA is facing a strong potential challenge to their survival – recently the cash strapped government has moved to change a part of the cooperative law that exempts co-ops from certain types of income tax, be¬cause, unlike traditional businesses, they are required to share a similar amount of their profits with their local communities. If co-ops like CECOSESOLA lose their income tax exemption, the result will be extremely high tax rates, which could force them into bankruptcy. The co-op has therefore sent a team of workers to Caracas to lobby the government and lead demonstrations in the streets opposing this change. If the new law – dubbed doble tributación by CECOSESOLA and their supporters – goes into effect, the co-op will have to spend precious resources fighting it in court, not to mention the catastrophic effects it could have on them and other co-ops if it comes to pass.

For now, however, because of their integrated networks of producers, workers, and consumers, the co-op is remaining relatively stable as infrastructure relating to the main¬stream economy crumbles. For Olympia Food Co-op staff member Bard, in addition to illustrating the need for solidarity with our fellow cooperative workers, this reality has implications for Olympia and beyond. Sometimes, she says, the cooperative and local economy movement in Olympia can seem like a nice alternative rather than an essential one. Perhaps, at times, it can even seem a little self-important; but not anymore. The economic crisis folks are living through in Venezuela has shown her how fickle the security of a country is – the bottom could drop out based on changes to the world economy among other factors, and only systems that aren’t dependent on the mainstream economy will be left standing. For Bard this means that the Olympia Food Co-op and our relationships with local vendors is far more important than we may realize. Says Bard, “It has been so amazing and humbling to spend time with people who are surviving despite this crisis, and I feel pride to be involved in the cooperative movement, which may be our only chance of making it in this unpredictable world.”

By Emily Van Kley & Whitney Bard
Staff Members

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DON’T FORGET THE WATER: PADDLE TO NISQUALLY CANOE JOURNEY 2016
The Olympia Food Co-op is honored to be counted among the sponsors of the 2016 Canoe Journey, hosted by the Nisqually Tribe, taking place this summer from July 30th through August 6th. The event is an inter-tribal celebration reviving the practice of traveling by canoe and maintaining relationships between the tribes of the Pacific Northwest Coast, with over 10,000 people expected to attend throughout event. The Journey began in 1989 with the Paddle to Seattle, with over 20 Journeys taking place in the subsequent years. The event seeks to maintain relationships and establish cultural exchange between the tribes, and to restore knowledge of canoe making and pulling, “bringing together natives and non-natives with a common goal of providing a drug and alcohol free event and offering pullers a personal journey towards healing and recovery of culture, traditional knowledge and spirituality,” according to the Journey’s website.

A wide variety of tribes and nations from the Pacific Northwest region will join in the Journey, pulling carved and painted canoes hundreds of miles, stopping at tribal lands along the way to participate in landing ceremonies and exchanges of food, dance, and storytelling. During the Journey, “canoe families travel great distances as their ancestors did and participating in the journey requires physical and spiritual discipline. At each stop, canoe families follow certain protocols. They ask for permission to come ashore, often in their native languages. At night in longhouses there is gifting, honoring and the sharing of traditional prayers, drumming, songs and dances. Meals including evening dinners of traditional foods are provided by the host nations,” according to the site. The Journey continues through the Salish Sea to the final landing destination where they will be welcomed by the host tribe. As a Nisqually Community Garden Steward describes, “there is singing and dancing that takes place, Usually the canoe family of the furthest nation gets to sing and dance first, but each host tribe does things differently…these decisions are run from respect for their visitors, [since they] need to rest.”

Since 1994, the Nisqually Tribe has participated in the yearly Canoe Journey, and is the host tribe for this year’s Journey, Paddle to Nisqually, with boats landing at the Port of Olympia on July 30th. The host tribe provides food for the guest nations, and closes the Journey with a week long potlatch, a feast during which gifts are exchanged among the tribes. The theme of the 2016 Canoe Journey is “Don’t Forget the Water,” from the Nisqually Mountain Story which tells the story of the Pacific Northwest Cascade Range, including the highest mountain, Mt. Rainier, and how the water of the rivers come from the mountain. Billy Frank, Sr., a Nisqually tribal member and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Honor, dedicated his life to the treaty fishing rights cause, seeking to hold the U.S. government accountable to the Medicine Creek Treaty of 1854, which reserves the right of members of tribal nations in western Washington to fish without impunity in the waters of the area, such as the Nisqually River. He passed away on May 5th, 2014 and his life and legacy will be celebrated in a ceremony during the Canoe Journey.

The Olympia Food Co-op, in collaboration with the Nisqually Community Garden, featured a class on making Herbal First Aid Kits for the Canoe Journey on May 22nd. Carlin Briner, the Production Supervisor of the garden, explained, “the Nisqually Community Garden exists as an extension of tribal sovereignty and supports community, family, and individual health. Our guiding values are rooted in the traditional and cultural values of the Nisqually Tribe. These values also guide the Tribe’s participation in the Canoe Journey”. Participants in the Herbal First Aid Kit class learned to make herbal remedies from plants harvested from the Nisqually Community Garden, which will be useful in the upcoming season of outdoor time and made something to bring home as well as a gift to be shared with the participants of the Canoe Journey. The plants in the Nisqually Community Garden are “gathered with prayer [and] love right here in Nisqually. Some of the skills came from Elders who have walked on into the next life. The knowledge is passed on in our community,” explained a Steward of the garden, “this is Nisqually Culture to give away items, it is very important to us as a People to Honor and Thank those who have traveled to our lands.”

The Olympia Food Co-op, in addition to offering the Herbal First Aid Kit Class and sponsoring the Journey, will be engaging our volunteer base of working members to help out on Landing Day. If you are interested in volunteering during Canoe Journey, sign up at the customer service desk at the Olympia Food Co-op.

Thanks to Grace Ann Byrd, Janell Blacketer, Caitlin Krenn, and Carlin Briner for contributing information about the Canoe Journey for this article.

By Whitney Bard, staff member

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MOVEMENT SOLIDARITY: THE FIGHT FOR $15
The Olympia Food Co-op, in an attempt to “support efforts to foster a socially and economically egalitarian society”, has passed a resolution to bring its starting wage for collective staff up to $15 by 2018. For the current year, 2016, that starting wage has gone up to $14 from $12.86. This decision follows the national and regional efforts of worker coalitions to demand a living wage.

Organizational consensus staff and Board agree that raising the starting wage at the Co-op will help new staff members achieve a better standard of living, attract more applicants to the collective and more shoppers concerned with a more just and equitable world. The Staff Purpose Vision and Values Statement states that “We believe in equitable compensation and a living wage, and the need for social and economic justice throughout the world.”

Long time staff member Grace Cox offers that “The Co-op already offers a solid wage and benefits package. As a Co-op employee I hope that all employers will embrace the need to raise wages for the lowest paid workers.” The Co-op has long been known for being an equitable workplace that focuses not only on local, natural and organic foods but social justice as well.

SOLIDARITY
The movement for a $15 minimum wage began in 2012 with New York City fast food workers walking off the job for day long strikes. Workers have argued that those who work full time should not have to work second jobs or have to rely on public assistance, which many low wage workers must do to survive. What many criticized as unfeasible and “bad the poor,” has steadily become reality as many cities have passed or are considering raises to their minimum wage. Other employment sectors such as home care workers, childcare providers and big box retail workers have also joined the movement for higher wages, as well as sick leave and union organizing rights. Locally, Sea-Tac became the first city in the United States to institute a $15 minimum wage, followed by a long term plan by Seattle. Now cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and many others are following suit in an attempt to reduce poverty.

FINANCIAL BREAKDOWN
Social justice and solidarity are great ideas, but just how does this decision impact the Co-op? For starters, we have adjusted our new staff pay increases to match up with our current structure. So, an employee who started in 2015 at $12.86 per hour would in five years receive a wage of $16.43 per hour. The same is true for the staff member hired in 2016 at $14 per hour, and 2018 at $15 per hour. Our pay increases will be reduced to make room for that higher starting wage, a suggestion made by our Co-op finance committee.

Secondly, the total increase in our labor budget is miniscule compared to our overall budget. At $14 hour we will be spending about $20,493 more than we did in 2015 (the total budget for that year being $2,705,008 in wages). In 2018, at $15 hour, that will increase our total wages budget by another $11,034. Added to the generous benefits package that we have for our staff, we hope this will also help with retention of great Co-op workers.

CONCLUSION
George Orwell once wrote that poverty “annihilates the future,” making it hard to plan for, or even think about, tomorrow. Low and stagnating wages in the United States are a foundation to structural poverty and a host of other societal ills that go along with it. If workers are demanding to be paid more so that they can take better care of themselves and their loved ones, that is a great reason for the Co-op staff, board and hopefully you, the members, to support the movement for $15. Emily Van Kley of the staff labor systems committee agrees that “By committing to $15 an hour, I hope the Co-op is lending its support to a movement that values the contributions of all workers.”

By Rafael Ruiz
Staff Member

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BOARD REPORT
Last month an anti-oppression training was offered to new Co-op staff and Board members. I learned that I needed to build on this training because, while a lot of us found it highly informative and very insightful, we found we needed more time to process the material. Also, it was intimidating to be put into a random group of people, working on addressing such a big topic in just five hours.

I decided that it would be important to share my thoughts with the Co-op membership while it is still very fresh in my mind. To be clear, I am not an expert in anti-oppression work, and my intention is not to give you a training, but rather to share how I feel. I would appreciate any comments or suggestions you may have that would contribute to our continuing this work on anti-oppression at the Co-op.

After weeks of meditating on it, and years of being on the receiving end of oppression on a daily basis, I want you to know that I accept my part in oppressing other people because we all do it, whether consciously or not. As a friend of mine put it, “It can be tempting and easy to enjoy the benefits of unearned privilege, but that privilege can only be possible if someone else is underprivileged.” Oppression makes the oppressed feel confused, crazy, unsupported, depressed, frustrated, miserable, and without access to power that should be shared equally. Oppression, I find, is like the food chain. We all have a place in it. And we all also have the power to change it.

I have experienced many kinds of oppression, which has led me to learn and create safe places to talk about it, but my frustration remains, and fear of violent oppression is always there for me. I have discovered that oppression is an intricate web of daily aggressions at all the levels of human interaction that can affect anyone.

The most annoying form of oppression that I have experienced here in Olympia has been the daily microaggressions that come from well meaning friends, family, community, coworkers, acquaintances and at many places of business in Olympia.

The Wikipedia entry on Microaggression Theory says: Psychologist Derald Wing Sue defines microaggressions as “brief, everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages to certain individuals because of their group membership.” Sue describes microaggressions as generally happening below the level of awareness of well intentioned members of the dominant culture. Microaggressions, according to Sue, are different from overt, deliberate acts of bigotry, such as the use of racist epithets, because the people perpetrating microaggressions often intend no offense and are unaware they are causing harm. Sue describes microaggressions as including statements that repeat or affirm stereotypes about the minority group or subtly demean it, that position the dominant culture as normal and the minority one as aberrant or pathological, that express disapproval of or discomfort with the minority group, that assume all minority group members are the same, that minimize the existence of discrimination against the minority group, seek to deny the perpetrator’s own bias, or minimize real conflict between the minority group and the dominant culture. (Wikipedia: Microaggression Theory)

Examples of microaggressions:
Asking, “Where are you from?”
Conveys that the person does not belong here. Getting to know the person is better. Eventually he or she will say who they are and where they come from.)

Saying, “Sorry, I don’t understand what you are saying” – when the speaker is speaking in understandable English, but with an accent. (Also conveys that the person doesn’t belong here. Tune in, if you pay attention and are open you may be able to understand clearly.)

Asking, “Doooooo youuuuuu work here?” using an inappropriate tone. (Conveys that you are superior and that the person is incapable of doing any other kind of work and does not understand English. Do not make assumptions, look for an identifier badge or uniform. Go to the customer care desk.)

Saying, “No, we do not have it,” even before the person asks for something. (Conveys that the person is not welcome. My first reaction to this is, “Then do not own a business!” But I realize that it is all about\ fear and preconceptions. Work on your fears, take an anti-oppression workshop.)

People making glowing comments about your skin tone, your charming accent. (Conveys that the person is different. It may mean no harm at all. But it puts people on the spot and is very wearing.)

And the most typical: being followed around the stores if you fit some stereotype. Do not target people. Anybody could steal.

We should not forget the “Black Lives Matter” movement that sprung out of people reacting to these micro and macro aggressions oppressing black people and so many other minorities every day. I know that people say “we have come a long way.” Yes, we have, but it isn’t over yet. The recent events in Ferguson, MO, and elsewhere have proven that the daily grind of oppression can become deadly. Maybe we’d rather not name acts of violent oppression like the shooting of the brothers Andre Thompson and Bryson Chaplin here in Olympia, because it makes us feel guilty. We can no longer ignore the institutionalized oppression in this country. I wonder how responsible we may all be for this happening in our community. We should examine our own daily oppressive behaviors that may be feeding these acts of violent oppression in our community. If it is not affecting you and me directly, please let’s think long and hard, how it does affect all of us regardless of our place of privilege in this town and in this world. We have the power to take action. Let’s take time to learn about oppression and anti-oppression work in our communities.

Thanks for supporting me as a Board member for the past three years. If you have any comments, please send them to me before the end of my term in December. I will see you at the annual Co-op meeting on October 17th.

By Isabella Rogul
Board Member

Co-op News October & November 2015 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News July & August & September 2015 PDF
SO MANY DELICIOUS THIRST QUENCHING DRINKS, SO MANY HOT SUMMER DAYS!
Water makes up more than half of the human body. It also helps us regulate our temperature, lubricate our joints and remove waste. Knowing this information may help us understand the importance of drinking fluids, especially when the weather is hot. I say, “Why not have a little fun and follow our preferences for what to consume to help us stay hydrated?” Therefore, I’ve categorized most of our cold drinks below to help you consider your choices.

TO FIZZ OR NOT TO FIZZ – CARBONATED DRINKS
Our range of bubbly drinks spans from plain bottled carbonated waters to fizzy juice drinks (including lemonade) Santa Cruz Organics, Crystal Geyser, Reeds & Virgil’s ginger brews, rootbeer and orange bubblies. Some culinary fizzy favorites are the lavender and blood orange sodas by Dry soda, which feature interesting flavor choices but keep the flavor light, not too sweet and refreshing.

Please note: We do not sell carbonated drinks containing corn syrup or produced by major soda corporations. Also, most of these carbonated drinks are shelf stable and do not require refrigeration.

A SLIGHTLY EFFERVESCENT ENJOYMENT: KOMBUCHA
Kombucha is a sweetened, fermented black or green tea drink. We carry a huge variety of flavor choices &brands, all distinctly unique! Some companies produce sweet tasting flavors – Magic Kombucha, Rainbow Cloud and Kombucha Yum (all 3 local companies) as well as Golden Temple (GT). The “artisan produced” kombucha by Brew Dr. adds organic medicinal herbs in advance to brewing and still others add chia seeds (GT) for additional hydration benefits. Both local companies Rainbow Cloud and Komucha Yum sell their products in returnable glass bottles. Terrabucha, another local kombucha producer creates a Coffee flavored kombucha.

From Foodrenegade.com one of the health benefits of kombucha is that it “aids digestion and gut health. Because it’s naturally fermented with a living colony of bacteria and yeast, kombucha is a probiotic beverage. This has a myriad of benefits such as improved digestion, fighting candida (harmful yeast) overgrowth, mental clarity, and mood stability.”

All the kombucha sold at the Olympia Food Co-op requires refrigeration.

A NEW HEALTH FOCUS: KEFIR & PROBIOTIC DRINKS
Also carbonated and somewhat juicy, these delicious water based kefir drinks contain probiotic cultures. Several probiotics (living micro-organisms) are found in kefir. Probiotics are continuing to gain increased attention for their beneficial effects for our health. Dr. Andrew Weil in “Indigestion: Natural Remedies for Relief” lists two primary probiotics found in kefir as supporting digestion, increasing immune response, as well as helping to calm the systems associated with food allergies and eczema.

Kevita has been a popular favorite with a variety of flavors, now along with two flavors of Mantraw, a delicious kefir soda, which is bottled and produced locally!

PURELY JUICY!
The Co-op sells a wide selection of pure fruit and vegetable juices and juice blends by Florida Naturals and Columbia Gorge Organics, aka Co-Go. At Co-go, the fruits and vegetables for their juices are grown on their own orchards in rural Oregon with the vegetables, herbs and some fruits sourced from regional farms, to assure their juices are bottled as fresh as possible.

TO CAFFEINATE OR NOT TO CAFFEINATE: READY TO DRINK COLD COFFEE, TEA & HERBAL ELIXIRS
Instead of drinking a hot coffee or tea in the morning, you can choose a delicious cold bottled tea from Guayaki, Steaz Teas (with or without juice added), or Bhakti Chai, a flavored adaptagen powered super herb tonic by Rebbl Super Herb or a bottled coffee –made in Seattle by Stumptown Coffee. Rebbl’s Tonics are a favorite of mine; one flavor combination “Hibiscus Mint” also contains cat’s claw, an herb known for boosting immunity and reducing pain.

GIMME SOME OF THEM ELECTROLYTES
In terms of hydration, electrolytes are responsible for directing water (and nutrients) to the areas of the body where it is needed most and maintaining optimal fluid balance inside the cells. We sell a variety of canned and aseptic packaged Coconut Waters – some brands of coconut water include Amy & Brian’s, C2O and Harmless Harvest, a raw coconut water. Coconut water has natural occurring electrolytes, sodium, potassium and magnesium. Recharge adds these minerals to create their electrolyte drink that compares to Gatorade. It is light and easy way to replenish your body.

I hope this overview helps to support you in finding some new delicious options available at the Co-op to quench your thirst this summer, as well as keeping you well hydrated. One of the things I didn’t cover in this article is that many of the drink companies whose creations are sold at the Co-op have mission and vision statements that open my heart and continue to give me more hope for our planet, its people and entrepreneurs. I encourage you to take a minute and Google your favorite drink company, read a blurb about them and share it with someone near you. It’s these stories that continue to inspire me to do my best. May they hydrate you in more ways than one!

By Marie Poland
Staff Member

Co-op News July & August & September 2015 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News May & June 2015 PDF
A BETTER WAY TO CASH IN ON THE COCONUT CRAZE
Health conscious consumers are going crazy for coconuts. Pitched by a cast of ageless celebrities, coconut water has exploded into a $1 billion market. In February, Starbucks started serving coconut milk in its coffee. Other coconut products, such as sugar and oil, are also on the rise globally.

Numerous recent reports have cited the nutrition and beauty benefits of the tropical fruit. And the number of coconut products sold across the world has grown upward of 500% over the past decade, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Seeking to add more fizz to its profits, big beverage muscled into the market, of course. Coca Cola purchased Zico in 2012, and Pepsi owns O.N.E., two of the three top selling coconut water brands in the world.

Vita Coco, a privately held company that just last year sold a big stake to Red Bull China, is the top dog in the space, controlling around 60% of the market and boasting on its web site that it’s in “100,000 stores in the U.S. alone, and in 13 other countries around the world.”

Brazil was the top coconut-producing country in the world until demand outstripped supply around 2010. Since then nearly 90 percent of the world’s coconuts have come from Asia. Indonesia is now the top global producer, growing an estimated 19.8 million tons of coconuts, followed by the Philippines with 17.5 million and India with 11.6 million, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.

What’s most interesting is that coconuts are primarily grown by small farms, around 95 percent, the Food and Agriculture Organization reports. Are those farmers benefiting from the spike in coconut demand? Not so much, it appears. The dominant players in the beverage business predictably have put downward pricing pressure on farmers, emphasizing “high margin” profits over fair trade and sustainable, environmentally friendly practices.

Coconut farmers make around $7,000 a year at the high end and as little as $72 on the low, according to a Fair Trade USA report.

In some cases, small farmers in Asia are selling off their land or switching to more profitable crops like palm oil.

It doesn’t need to be this way, though. Harmless Harvest, a coconut water producer, refuses to go the short term greed route. It pays farms a decent wage following fair trade practices established by an organization called Fair for Life. Fair for Life partners with companies that are interested in social responsibility and environmental sustainability, designing third party inspection of farm production, manufacturing and trading. “It combines strict social and fair trade standards with adaptability to local conditions,” the Fair for Life website says.

In an interview with the Olympia Food Co-op, Harmless Harvest cofounder Justin Guilbert said, “we build relationships with all of the agents in our supply chain, including our farming community, and
require farms to abide by Fair for Life standards and become certified within 12 months.”

The effects of profit-first companies on farmers are apparent to Guilbert – low quality products, impoverished communities, trashed environment. It’s definitely not an approach built for the long term.

“Caring for each part of the supply chain is the only way to have a truly sustainable business,” the Harmless Harvest founder said. “The only way we, as consumers, can change the trend is to purchase only from companies that integrate the welfare and sustainability of their source into their business model. Until we change this, food companies following the conventional model will have no incentive to change.”

Along with lowball wages, another concern for coconut farmers is the health of their trees. Coconut trees reach their peak production, about 400 coconuts per tree, between the ages of 10 and 30 years.

Planted shortly after World War II, many of the trees in Asia are aging. It takes a tree between six to eight years to start producing. The Food and Agriculture Organization has warned of the coming coconut shortage. Massive replanting efforts are underway. Improving environmental conditions will be an important part of establishing farms that families can continue to pass down through the generations.

“Organic certification is, of course, the first step to promoting a healthy, sustainable farming environment,” Guilbert said. “Without this certification there is no guarantee of what types of chemical pesticides or herbicides are being used. These pollutants remain in the air, ground and surrounding water long after the next harvest.”

Working with its farmer partners in Thailand, Harmless Harvest collaborated with organic and sustainability experts to develop effective methods for planting, growing and harvesting coconuts. One idea they used was to cut canals that lay between the trees. This not only supports better irrigation during the dry season, it also results in outflow of water during the rainy period.

Another coconut product company, GloryBee, also gets hands on with its farmer partners, this one in Butan City in the Northern Philippines. Coconuts are huge business in the Philippines, a top 10 export with nearly $1 billion shipped annually.

“(The) livelihoods of one in every five Filipinos are directly or indirectly dependent on the coconut sector,” said Romulo Arancon, executive director of the Asian and Pacific Coconut Community, in an FAO statement.

GloryBee, the seller of Aunt Patty’s Organic fair trade virgin coconut oil (also on Co-op shelves), helped its small farmer partners in the Philippines drill a new well in 2013 that will provide fresh, safe drinking water in an area where safe water can be a matter of life and death.

“The simple hand-operated well alleviates some of the hardships in the lives of 200 people and may save many young lives,” the company said in a press release. “GloryBee looks forward to being able to make a difference in the lives of these small farmers.”

Additionally, GloryBee promotes fair trade and environmental practices. Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps is perhaps the highest profile company to deploy fair trade practices with its coconut suppliers.

The actions of companies like Harmless Harvest, GloryBee and Dr. Bronner’s, though small, provide a blueprint for the larger companies – pay the farmers a fair price, take care of the land, think beyond the next quarterly earnings report.

This path, though less traveled, does lead to success, Guilbert says. Even better, it leads to success that will last for a lot longer.

The factory Harmless Harvest built in a coconut grove in Thailand has created over 100 jobs since opening. And it’s growing every year, more farms are implementing organic methods and thriving, and the workers in the communities are getting paid decent wages.

Imagine if the big companies did the same, the dramatic effect it’d have on the millions of small farmers, their families, and communities.

“If every company sought results like these, the consequences of coconut production and its rise in popularity would be a boom for the communities,” Guilbert said. “We look forward to others demonstrating such desires and welcome our competition to go beyond their brand story and integrate the source of their business (the farmers) into their strategic business decisions.”

By Simon Green, Co-op member

Co-op News May & June 2015 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News February & March & April 2015 PDF
WESTSIDE GARDEN CENTER: OFFICIALLY OPEN FOR THE SEASON
Spring is coming: it’s time to get dirty. By the time this article reaches you the westside Olympia Food Co-op’s garden center will already be open for the season and ready to help with your gardening needs. We’ve got big plans for this season. More plants, garden tools, seeds, books, regionally sourced soils, compost, fertilizer, animal supplies, cover crops, food preservation and canning tools and mercantile goods. An expanded classes, workshops and events program are in our future as well. Don’t be fooled by the name, we carry lots of non gardening goods as well.

We’re doing our best to utilize every square inch of space in the garden center. We received a lot of great suggestions from the membership last season and are busily working to source all the items you love and desire.For those of you on the eastside of town who just can’t make the trek west, check out the ever evolving and growing eastside garden department. Christine and Zoe have some very exciting things in store for 2015.

It’s time to shake off the cold, kick off those semi clean work shoes and slip on those dusty ole work boots, crack open the rusty door of the potting shed and start planning this year’s garden. It’s an age-old ritual many of us engage in year after year. It involves a lot of sorting through old seed packets in search of expiration dates and quizzically examining old jars of seeds we gathered and promised ourselves we’d label but didn’t. To be a gardener is a constant exercise in forgiveness. Gardening is a beautiful act that keeps us engaged with the most intimate transitions in the season. The ebbs and flows of the cold winds, the heat spells, the aphid blooms and the mold spores. You win some you lose some, but one thing we never are is bored.

Just like our gardens we, too, experience the ebbs and flows of the season. We start out so excited about all the possibilities. We work hard. We build structures and experiment with new crops and techniques. We sacrifice trips with friends and family. When everyone else is out eating ice cream and exploring the Sound we’re happily, and sometimes begrudgingly, harvesting or weeding our little patches of paradise.

But come October most of us are ready for our gardens to stop giving so we can take a long needed break from all the toiling, weeding, harvesting, processing and putting up we’ve been doing since April. After five to seven months, we’re tired of taking care of our little plant babies and are anxiously awaiting a moment or two to read a book or go on a weekend excursion without feeling guilty about leaving our gardens. We realize we miss our friends and eating ice cream.

So, we take that break we’ve been long awaiting and it feels great. It actually feels amazing. We don’t care that our gardens are mostly dead and slightly hard to look at. We instead chose to spend time with friends, reacquaint ourselves with lost hobbies and sleep in on the weekends. We plow through all the raspberry jam, strange experimental canning concoctions, frozen veggies and fruit, dehydrated herbs and fermented pickles. We wax poetic on the long warm sunny days. We eat and eat and eat and feel so proud of ourselves for all our hard work. We’re gardeners after all. This is who we are and what we do.

Then something strange starts to happen. A rumble in our hearts reminds us that while this is all good there’s something missing. All those months of rain and cold have taken a toll and we’re starting to feel antsy. We miss being outside. Then the seed catalogs start to appear in our mailboxes. One by one we start to flip through their colorful pages. We start to see potential in every yard we pass on our daily walks.

We notice that weeks of unpredictable weather patterns have trees and plants budding out early. It’s only January yet the desire to start planning is firmly imbedded in our psyches. It’s time friends. Like planning a vacation to the Balkans or some far away island, gardening often requires a few months head start to prepare. The time is here…

Now go put on your warm wares, pack up your thermos and head over to your local westside Olympia Food Co-op garden center for a little inspiration. We’ll be open 10 – 6 pm seven days a week and will be awaiting your arrival.

We offer more than just a place to buy really cool stuff. We offer a place for members of our community to work and volunteer and share their love and passion of all things gardening. If we don’t know the answer to your questions on the spot we’ll research the answers and call you back – within reason of course.

By Kim Langston
Staff Member & Garden Center Manager

Co-op News February & March & April 2015 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News December 2014 & January 2015 PDF
A MESSAGE OF GRATITUDE: PHILIPPINE TYPHOON RELIEF ROUND UP UPDATE
Daghang salamat (many thanks) to the Olympia Food Co-op community for raising $1,210 for the Philippine typhoon relief through the round up donation program at the Co-op’s cash registers. This gesture of giving is one of many examples in which the community sustains the Co-op’s mission to “make human effects on the earth and its inhabitants positive and renew¬ing” and the international cooperative principles of “concern for community, solidarity, social responsibility, caring for others, and cooperation among cooperatives” (as stated in our mission statement).

The donations were distributed equally to two Philippine based organizations, COOP NATCCO and GABRIELA, Inc., both of which have been work¬ing hard on developing and providing programs to rebuild infrastructure and morale in the affected communities. In November 2013, super typhoon or tropical cyclone Haiyan (local term Yolanda) struck the central Philippine Islands, leaving behind flattened cities and towns and in its wake affected over 10 million people. Since then, COOP NATCCO (National Confederation of Cooperatives) has been building permanent houses in partnership with other cooperatives in the nation and internationally. Additionally, COOP NATCCO offers the community the following essential programs: the Livelihood Program, Community Workers Empowerment (skill and trade training), Development of Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan, and the Program for Children and Youth Survivors. GABRIELA, Inc., a grass-roots based national and international advocacy group for women’s rights and gender equality, has been working closely with women survivors through a psycho-social therapy program, a livelihood program, and fund-raising efforts to build safe refuge/centers for women, etc. Recently, GABRIELA, Inc. organized a gathering of women from all over the world as a way to strengthen global solidarity in response to the climate crisis and its impact on Filipinas and other women worldwide.

As someone who was born from among the affected areas, I am moved by the Olympia Food Co-op community’s solidarity, not only through the round up effort, but also by simply reaching out to Filipinas like me, ask¬ing about my family and community back home. To borrow the words of Filipino climate activist, Yeb Saño: “This outpouring of support proves to us that as a human race, we can unite; that as a species, we care.” (Speech from the United Nations Climate Summit in Warsaw, November 2013)

By Keziah Apuzen
Staff Member

Co-op News December 2014 & January 2015 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News October & November 2014 PDF
BOARD REPORT
As I look back on four years of volunteer work on the Board of Directors, I’m struck anew by the uniqueness and beauty of our community cooperative – a grocery store collective, run using the challenging practice of consensus, in which each person – staff, volunteer, or member – strives to reach our mission and goals. I reflect on the many powerfully committed people I am fortunate to work side by side with and learn from, each of whom brings particular views, extraordinary skills and distinct experiences to the work, enhancing it. Our guiding principles are simultaneously lofty, humane and yet concrete and practical, and are marked by an inherent essence of dignity. They are time tested, having served our organization for decades, and still they are flexible and open to interpretation, to evolution.

During my time on the Board, I’ve worked on the member relations committee, which spearheaded the Co-op Conversation in 2011 and 2012. This was an important process the Co-op developed to bring our community together to discuss critical issues and form recommendations for our future vision. It’s been exciting to see the many ways in which the Co-op Conversation impacted our current and future plans for our organization. One recommendation was to improve our communication mechanisms. To this end, the member relations committee is creating a staff job description that will serve as a communications hub, to help members find the information they need. The member relations committee has also been working to increase opportunities for community discussion. We held a Co-op Conversation early this summer to discuss the integration of the new member information system and the point of sale system. The committee is also working diligently to bring members this year’s annual meeting on Sunday, November 2, at the Olympia Women’s Club, with the theme, “Let’s Celebrate!”

We have many reasons to celebrate. The past four years have been an exciting time for expansion – we’ve acquired two properties both adjacent to our existing east and westside stores. One of these, the little house property, has been transformed into a gorgeous new garden center, providing members with everything they need to grow delicious organic food. The completion of the westside reset has added some convenient new features, upgrading the store’s usability, and enhancing the shopping experience. It’s equally exciting to look ahead at the future of expansion, as we consider the possibility of a multiuse warehouse type structure and additional parking on the eastside lot, making an eastside store renovation a strong possibility.

My term ends in December, and I plan to keep volunteering in some capacity. I will continue to be tied to the Co-op as a defendant in the ongoing freedom of speech case, Davis v. Cox, et. al. It’s been a surreal experience to be sued by fellow Co-op members for agreeing with the previous Board’s decision to boycott products contributing to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The Supreme Court of Washington will decide in the coming months whether to hear the case (they’ve already declined once). Being targeted for taking a principled stand on one of the most controversial issues of our time has not been easy, but I continue to adhere to the position I was elected on, to heed the call of Palestinian civil society to boycott, divest and sanction Israel for its gross human rights violations.

The Co-op’s mission and goals are broad, and include, among other things, to “support efforts to foster a socially and economically egalitarian society,” alongside “make good food accessible to more people,” and we are contributing to achieving these goals and more. According to an article in the Olympian, an April Gallup poll revealed that Olympia is the top city in the nation for access to fresh, affordable produce, and cited our cooperative as an influence on the local food movement. We are meeting our mission, through hard work and sometimes, through struggle. At its heart, our Co-op is made up of people determined to move forward together, secure our association and the mutual understanding that, in our own way and collectively, we are contributing to a better world.

By Erin Genia
Board Member

Co-op News October & November 2014 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News August & September 2014 PDF
LOCAL AT THE OLYMPIA FOOD CO-OP
The Olympia Food Co-op has a well established local buying program that we are very proud of. We carry locally and regionally produced items in every department of our stores. Our relationships with local vendors are very important to us and we work closely with them to bring you products you will love.

Since “local” has become such a popular buzzword in the natural foods industry, we want to make sure the Olympia Food Co-op members understand our definition of “local.” At the Olympia Food Co-op, if we say it’s local, we mean it’s grown or produced within Thurston, Mason, Lewis, Pierce, or Grays Harbor County. If we say it’s regional, we mean it’s grown or produced in Washington, Oregon, or British Columbia. Currently we buy directly from almost 125 local and regional producers and farms, and many of these direct relationships are with vendors located right in Thurston County. We also carry many more wonderful northwest products which are sold to us through larger distributors. You can identify locally and regionally produced items by looking for the sticker pictured at right.

We strive to make locally and regionally produced goods affordable to our members while also paying the farmers and producers fair prices for their crops and products. To facilitate this, we use a lower mark up on locally and regionally produced items that are sold to us directly than we do on items grown or produced elsewhere. To help you get a taste of some of our amazing local and regional goods, we also host a biannual event at our stores called Local Eats where you can meet farmers and producers and sample the items we sell at the Co-op.

Thank you for supporting the people who work hard to produce food and products for our community and for helping to make the Olympia Food Co-op’s local program such a success!

By Erin Majors, staff member

Co-op News August & September 2014 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News April & May 2014 PDF
A VISIT TO COLVIN RANCH
Walking around Colvin Ranch for the first time was a surreal event to say the least. I was coming to the end of a three day long Evergreen (Evergreen State College) field trip lead by Martha Rosemeyer. This meant sixteen hours a day packed with farm tours, panel discussions and collective kitchen duty, topped off with trying to sleep in wet tents surrounded by seventy classmates ranging in age from eighteen to the mid fifties. It is from this milieu that I first looked out on the 550 acres of ranch land that is Colvin Ranch, as well as the equally impressive figure that is Fred Colvin. At about six and a half feet and decked out head to toe in Carhartt’s the color of a Red Angus bull, Fred looked liked the archetypical cattle rancher.

Colvin Ranch was founded in 1851 by Fred’s great great grandfather, Ignatius Colvin. Since then, the initial property has been divided amongst various family members, who then left the ranching lifestyle, leaving Fred as the only member still raising cattle. It is clear Fred is determined to see that his ranch does not fall to the same fate as other parcels once part of Ignatius’s original homestead. At this point, approximately 95% of Colvin Ranch is under conservation easements preventing further development. In the case of the camas meadows, the easements require current and future owners to promote and maintain these precarious wild flowers through livestock grazing in perpetuity. Recently Colvin Ranch added nose pumps to the pasture for limiting the impact the cows have on Scatter Creek by bringing the water to them.

As moving as it was to hear about the Colvin long history in the area, and Fred Colvin’s dedication to preserving that tradition as well as the land that has made it possible, the real excitement for me was discussing the end results: delicious beef! Colvin slaughters his cattle after the second winter to promote the development of intramuscular fat, or marbling. This is the fat that forms between the muscle fibers, slowly releasing throughout the cooking process, creating a moist, tender, “melts in your mouth” steak. This sets Fred apart from other ranchers. Since industrial agriculture is geared towards producing the highest quantity for the lowest cost, most other cattle, even so-called “grass fed” cattle, are slaughtered at a younger age and are fed grains to aid them in putting on more intramuscular fat at an early age. Though this industrial approach debatably creates an equally tender steak, it also decreases the levels of Omega 3 fatty acids, essential for healthy brain cells. This is the difference between simply being “grass fed” and being “grass finished.”

Colvin Ranch is a wonderful convergence of family heritage, ecologically sound grazing practices, and cattle rearing techniques that creates a fantastic steak on all levels. If you are interested in learning more about different contributing factors to the quality of beef and how to prepare different cuts of steaks, consider attending my upcoming “Introduction to Steaks” class (offered through the Olympia Food Co-op’s community kitchen classes) on April 16.

By Cristos Papaiacovou, staff member

Co-op News April & May 2014 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News February & March 2014 PDF
WHAT’S NEW AT THE CO-OP THIS YEAR?
The staff collective put a lot of plans on hold in 2013 as we worked to resolve an unbalanced budget and build our cash reserves. Therefore, as 2014 came looming closer and revenues continued to look rosier than at the start of the year, we dusted off our ideas of the past and started planning to do great projects again. So now it’s a new year and a new budget and all things are possible, right?

What is the Co-op going to focus on in 2014?

SPACE
Yes, it’s still at the top of the list, believe it or not: this organization is hard at work to improve our existing stores and eventually increase shopping space and offerings to the membership that have been long desired and requested.

For this next year, we have many plans for our beloved westside store, such as replacing aging equipment and making floor plan changes that will help with crowding issues and even give us more space to offer new products and services, such as an amazing garden center!

We know that Olympians seem to like chickens and gardens and we think we can offer some great urban farming supplies that are currently hard to find locally. One small change that we think will make lots of folks in the neighborhood happy is the new offering of hot water for tea, yerba mate, etc., and freshly brewed coffee at the westside – organic and fair trade – all designed to make your mornings and afternoons that much peppier!

As the improvements and new offerings at the westside go on throughout the spring and summer, the expansion staff will also be hard at work doing groundwork for our eastside plans – to utilize the extra land there to build warehouse, and office and parking space and increase the retail space about 2,000 square feet. Our hopes are to get enough of the planning work done for the eastside during this next year to break ground in early 2015.

Meanwhile, you’ll see lots of other instore improvements as we work to replace old and outdated fixtures and equipment in preparation for new and remodeled space. Yes, it’s been a long time coming, but we feel secure knowing that we’re moving forward with finances in place to pursue our dreams in a sustainable way.

OUTREACH
As most of you reading this know, the Co-op’s mission statement and goals are broad and varied and we have come up with many ideas over the years to increase the ways we meet goals such as to “assist in the development of local community resources” and “to foster a socially and economically egalitarian society.” The local food hub and food justice movement has had a lot of great networking and planning sessions and several Co-op staff members have participated in different events over the last several years. The outreach team is planning to continue to spread the message of what the Co-op has to offer and further our outreach to underserved communities.

Another big project is the rollout of our new Co-op website early in the year. We have been working with the innovative and creative folks at the Design Action Collective from the Bay area and are really looking forward to providing a site that will not only have a much better look and functionality but will also be a way to provide great resources and information sharing in our community, furthering the Co-op’s mission and reach.

MEMBERSHIP SYSTEMS
Early in 2013, we purchased and installed a new point of sale system that has been a definite improvement for our register system and pricing programs as well. This new software also includes a way to integrate the membership database into the point of sale database. This could be an improvement for our membership system, which is resting in rather antiquated software and due for modernization. Our membership continues to grow, and we love that our community loves being involved in the Co-op! Other changes have been suggested or requested over the years that we want to explore with the membership before we make any movements, so keep your eyes peeled for member engagement events in spring and early summer that will help us explore the different questions that have been raised about memberships as well as discounts. Should we integrate our software? Should we revise how we ask members to carry and show cards? Is our discount system sustainable and\ meeting the goals for which it was created? We want to know what you think about this stuff and more.

STAFF COLLECTIVE
Our staff collective is now over 80 people strong and we continue to explore how our staff systems should evolve to meet the changing needs of our organization.

We plan to spend some time in 2014 exploring different consensus models and discussing how our practice of consensus is working for us now and what kind of improvements we’d like to see. Staff benefits have been a hot topic of discussion over the last year, and that will continue to some extent, as we’ve worked hard to maintain our excellent health care plan in an environment of higher and higher medical costs handed down to the consumer.

These excellent benefits, as well as a caring and humane work environment, are just some of the things that keep us employees happy at the Co-op, and we find ourselves feeling at least a little optimistic, looking forward to a year full of change and fun projects, and improvements for everyone.

By Maureen Tobin
Staff Member

Co-op News February & March 2014 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News December 2013 & January 2014 PDF
STAFF PROFILE: GRACE & HARRY
Grace Cox and Harry Levine are coming up on their 30th anniversaries with the Olympia Food Co-op. Both admit that back in 1984, when they first signed on with the Co-op, they had not planned to make it a career. They were, however, both dedicated to the principles the Co-op was founded upon, and inspired by the values being held at that time by many cooperatives around the country, particularly Olympia Food Co-op. It is clear that Grace and Harry are quite satisfied with the career paths their lives have taken.

As we talked, I became more aware of the extent to which Grace and Harry’s 30 years of service to Olympia Food Co-op has helped to guide direction and maintain the values many Co-op members so appreciate today. Back in the 70’s, they told me, when many food cooperatives were springing up around the country, it was common for them to be formed around issues not only of food source, but also around social and environmental issues. By the 80’s, however, many food co-ops were beginning to shift their focus primarily to issues of financial security and were allowing social justice and even environmental concerns to take a back seat. And as emphasis shifted to better marketing practices, a hierarchical management structure ensued for many co-ops, along with a dropping away of consensus decision making and a volunteer member system. Not so with our Co-op. Both Grace and Harry are proud to say that they were very much a part of insuring that this change did not happen to Olympia Food Co-op.

“There was never any intention,” Harry told me, “to grow just for the sake of growth, for the sake of money or capitalism or the controlling of the marketplace. That value was shared among the staff collective and the membership, to a large extent. The decisions we made around our politics, our values, and our product lines all resonated with our commitment to the staff collective and to our volunteer working member system.” So, while other food co-ops in the northwest were growing and changing their internal structures, the Olympia Food Co-op grew also, yet was allowed to hold to its original vision and values. “We had the same struggle every other co-op in the northwest had around values,” Harry added. “Collectives and working member systems were considered inefficient. We resisted that change because Grace and I were there for the politics. We supported our product line but it wasn’t our motivation. The Olympia Food Co-op went through a substantially different process than all of the other northwest food co-ops at that time. We didn’t argue that working member systems weren’t inefficient. In some ways they are. That wasn’t the issue to us. The issue was the volunteers are members of our community, they’re owners of the Co-op, they get to work in their store, and we all appreciate the social experience. It makes us stronger as an organization.”

Because people in the 80’s were beginning to become aware of the hazards of food produced by mainstream agriculture, with its pesticides and chemical fertilizers, the natural foods industry grew by leaps and bounds. Grace recalled a TV interview with Meryl Streep in which a pesticide for apples was revealed as a health menace. “This pesticide,” Grace recalled, “was showing up in kids’ apple juice and was clearly causing many health problems. As a fluke in timing, we had just purchased our first ever full pallet of a single product and it was gallons of organic apple juice! So Meryl breaks this story and the next day we have what everybody’s looking for to protect the health of their children! We didn’t even have to market it.” Then thinking thoughtfully about this subject of marketing and how other co-ops were using health-threats to market their products, Grace added, “This is another thing about the growth in the industry that we never liked – it’s never resonated with us to do fear based marketing. All we need is more anxiety around what we’re eating. It just makes no sense!”

But even with hesitancy toward mainstream marketing, the Co-op has had what Harry calls “insane growth.” Harkening back to those days, Harry recalled “That year, 1984, our yearly sales were around $500 – 600 thousand. Currently we’re budgeting for $16 million in sales.” Grace laughingly related a story about how, even though the Co-op was growing financially, “For several years, we didn’t want to budget for $1 million because we thought if we did, and didn’t make it, it would be psychologically too hard on us. So, one year we budgeted for $999,999.99. We didn’t want to freak ourselves out.”

Returning to the changes besetting all co-ops in the northwest in the 80’s, Grace added, “The same conversation happened here that happened everywhere else. It just went in a different direction. Over the next couple of years, we set about to build the system so it would support the collective. It came to us that people didn’t actually know how to practice consensus decision making. So, we set about to study it and create that process internal for us, where a lot of other groups would have gone out and hired a general manager.” Nodding in agreement, Harry added, “We’ve been successful using a model that people say doesn’t work.”

Now I understand what Pat Kolstad, fellow Co-oper, meant when she said “I think we should send Harry and Grace to DC to teach our legislators a thing or two about working cooperatively and learning how to compromise. It appears that they need a little training in that area and Harry and Grace are experts at it.” Thanks to Grace and Harry, our Co-op continues to hold to consensus as the most egalitarian process available for decision making, a process many co-ops across the country no longer use.

Grace pointed out that cooperatives can hold a variety of values. Many food co-ops share common economic values, but not all share our strong, deeply held political and social values. Concern for community was only recently added to the Co-op Principles, she told me. Comparing the Olympia Food Co-op to other northwest food co-ops in terms of these values and the use of boycotts as a tool for social justice, Harry mentioned that the Olympia Food Co-op has, throughout the years, “made decisions that no other co-op has made. Most of those decisions, including many product boycotts, have been wildly popular. Until we hit the boycott of Israel. They all came out of evaluating our mission statement and asking ourselves, what is it that we support?” Grace commented that other co-ops use boycotts at times, but “we have had a more consistent practice around boycotts and other social justice issues.”

On a lighter note, we slipped back to 1993. The westside market (Co-op) had reached capacity, and it was time to expand into another storefront. After two years of searching with the expansion committee, Harry found the site that had everything they needed. Not everyone saw his vision, however. “For westside centric members, it was seen as out of town,” Harry said. It had been an RV center with RVs in the parking lot, accessories in the shop and detailing and canopies in the warehouse. Harry and his co coordinator posed as a happy couple shopping for an RV. Excusing himself to use the restroom, Harry cased out the store. Being able to see beyond the ugly building and RV’s, he envisioned a market where our eastside store stands today. Most, however, did not share his vision then, including realtor, Suzanne Shafer, a former Co-op Board member, who shared with me recently her admiration for Harry’s tenacity and creativity as he “created tours for members so that they could see his vision,” adding that “we would not be in that place today if not for Harry.”

The collective made the conscious decision to, as Harry put it, “maintain a low cost structure and do it with as little debt as possible.” Shopping for equipment was done on a shoestring. It was decided that rather than a service counter, the deli should have a salad bar. So, Harry and Grace went shopping. At an auction for a closing Safeway market, they found exactly what they were looking for. Harry left Grace to do the bidding while he attended another auction. Upon his return, Grace told him, “We got it!” “How much?” he asked her. “Twenty-five bucks! Grace exclaimed excitedly. “Was that the opening bid?” “Yea,” she said. Harry, in his east coast bargaining fashion, came back with “Why didn’t you start at $10?” They both laugh now at how, for an initial $25 plus $500 for a rebuilt compressor, they got a salad bar that lasted the Co-op for 18 years! “Everything we bought was refurbished, except for new shelving and a new bulk system. We even got free exterior paint from the City of Portland, which we painted on by hand,” Grace told me.

As for the Co-op’s future, Grace would like to see internal operation practices updated a little more swiftly. She still supports the idea of a downtown store as a potential key feature in the revitalization of Olympia’s urban center, and sees the Co-op further supporting other cooperative businesses. And true to her passion for social justice, Grace would like to see us all become more aware of the plight of those further down the food ladder – all of those who bring us our healthy, produced with integrity food. “As a collective,” she admitted, we are adequately compensated while the people down the production chain from us can’t afford to buy the very food they pick.”

Harry’s vision of the Co-op’s future centers around his own passion for its principles and values. “I want the Co-op,” he said, “to continue to progress and change and grow if we grow, or not grow if we don’t,
but keep the values in our mission statement and our staff values statement.” He feels that, being the biggest cooperative around, the Olympia Food Co-op’s growth has put us in a position to be able to help other local cooperative endeavors, both consumer or worker, either through our own expansion, or by encouraging and supporting others.

Their stories could fill a book, but suffice it to say that Grace and Harry have been on an amazing odyssey through their years with the Olympia Food Co-op. “We’ve had a lot of great parties over the years, and written songs,” said Harry. “And had hysterical laughter,” added Grace, “and epic moments at meetings,” recalling one emotionally heated moment that got defused when Corey, our finances wizard, suggested everyone, “Do the math! When you do the math, the feelings go away.” That motto has moved them since through several difficult moments.

Humor has obviously served Grace and Harry in their lives, both through their work at one politically spicy Co-op, and in their spare moments, writing and performing humor based social justice songs for Citizens Band, where they both play bass; Harry, the guitar, and Grace, the accordion.

Thank you both for your dedication to our Co-op. Your nurturing contribution to its sweet growth and continuing prosperity deserves hearty appreciation from all of us who value our membership at Olympia Food Co-op.

By Desdra Dawning
Co-op Member

Co-op News December 2013 & January 2014 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News October & November 2013 PDF
LABELING GM (GENETICALLY MODIFIED) FOODS: LOCAL FARMERS REACH OUT TO CO-OP MEMBERS
So much is determined by seeds – a plant’s vigor and suitability to our soils, climate and palates. Seeds which are reproducible and adapted to local conditions are essential to the development of a truly sustainable agriculture. Yet, we, small farmers, are vulnerable to inadvertent contamination of seeds that are our common heritage – improved and passed on since the earliest farmers began to grow, save, and trade them. For instance, Monsanto’s genetically modified Roundup Ready canola and beets not only readily pollute organic and conventional varieties, but also cross pollinate with weeds creating “Super Weeds” resistant to the herbicide, just as the genetically modified seeds were designed to be. For these reasons, Oregon’s governor signed a law in August 2013 banning genetically modified canola from the Willamette Valley. Should voters approve I-522 for labeling of genetically modified foods in Washington this November, the northwest will undoubtedly be on the forefront of setting conscientious food and farming policies.

The perceived benefits of genetically modified foods are debatable. The risks are not readily quantifiable. In terms of human health, scientific consensus on the safety of eating genetically modified foods does not exist. In the book titled Food Safety, United Kingdom researchers write: “Many people suffer from allergies and other disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, and for these the consumption of genetically modified food may have unforeseen consequences and some of these may be irreversible. Thus, for these, the clear labeling of genetically modified food must be made mandatory.”

The risks to our natural environment are palpable when one ponders about the enormous scale at which genetically modified crops are grown. For example, Department of Agriculture statistics show that in 2013, 90% of all corn grown in the United States, more than 87 million acres, was genetically modified corn. A significant proportion is Bt corn, a genetically modified variety that produces a protein found naturally in soil bacteria. As the millions of acres of Bt cornfields increased, so have root worms increased their resistance. As a result, more insecticides are used, as discussed in the National Public Radio story, As Biotech Seeds Falter Insecticide use Surges in Corn Belt. Impacts to the neighboring ecosystems have just begun to be studied. In Proceedings from the National Academy of Sciences, researchers published their findings regarding the impact of Bt corn on head water stream ecosystems: “Our results indicate that Bt corn byproducts may have negative effects on the biota of streams in agricultural areas.” (more #4) Not surprising.

So, why vote for labeling genetically modified foods? We deserve the right to know. The benefits vs. risks of eating genetically modified foods are a personal question. Many of us seek qualities in our food such as color and ripeness that can be easily observed. Yet, there are underlying traits such as nutritional composition, potential for allergenicity, and ecological footprint that can only be perceived if our food is labeled. So please vote YES on I-522!

Sincerely,
Julie Puhich & Nancy Laich (Common Ground Farm)
Megan Marini (Calliope Farm)
Selma Bjarnadottir (Bone Dry Ridge Farm)
Jennifer Belknap and Jim McGinn (Rising River Farm)
Annie Salafsky & Sue Ujic (Helsing Junction)
Joseph Gabiou & Asha McElfresh (Wobbly Cart Farm)
Genine Bradwin, Colin Barricklow, & Wendy Clark (Kirsop Farm)
Steve Hallstrom & Cecilia Boulais (Let Us Farm)
Dave Muehleisen (Sustainable Agriculture, The Evergreen State College)
Jason Drew & Fern Moore (Steamboat Island Goat Farm)

Co-op News October & November 2013 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News August & September 2013 PDF
WHERE DOES THE CO-OP STAND ON GMOS?
Human history is replete with cautionary tales about our interactions with natural systems. From decimating salmon runs to introducing Cane Toads to Australia to dealing with nuclear waste, we often make short term decisions that have long term, negative, unintended consequences. In our increasingly ecologically unbalanced world we believe that environmental conservatism is warranted in the introduction of GMO crops. Here’s why:

• • GMO crops can have unintended detrimental effects on other crops and ecological systems.

While some GMO crops may be beneficial and safe, others have been proven to have unintended effects including: cross pollination with other varietals; the creation of “super weeds” and “super bugs” which have developed resistance to herbicides and pesticides after being repeatedly exposed to them due to the use of herbicide and pesticide resistant GMO crops; and the inability to eradicate some GMO crops once they are introduced (best exemplified by the recent discovery of an experimental GMO wheat strain on an Oregon farm many years after the product was pulled from testing.)

• We do not yet know whether GMO crops’ benefits outweigh their risks.

Although some GMO crops likely have beneficial applications, others have been exaggerated. Scientific evidence on the benefits of various GMO crops is contradictory. For instance, although multiple studies carried out by GMO producers have shown that their crops have a higher yield than conventionally bred varieties, newer studies undercut these claims. A recent study in the International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability found that crop yields for corn in America (which produces almost entirely GMO corn) and Europe (which produces almost entirely non GMO corn) were nearly identical for the previous 25 years (1985 – 2010) – or in other words, we haven’t experienced a big bump in yields from going GMO. If the benefits of GMO crops do not outweigh the risks, there is no reason to use them – especially given the issues of corporate control of food that are inherent in their production.

• Part of the reason we do not know the risks and benefits of GMO crops is that the science is industry funded – and contradictory.

Contrary to GMO producers’ assertions, GMO products have not been “proven to be safe.” In fact, the very idea that “GMOs” are a homogenous category that can be “proven safe” once and for all is unrealistic. GMOs comprise a diverse array of products, some of which probably are safe for people and the environment, others of which are not. For this reason, rigorous scientific testing of new GMO products is required. This testing must include both human health and environmental effects and must include long term studies. Unfortunately, our regulatory system is inadequately equipped to carry out such studies, much less to determine whether individual GMO products are safe and beneficial. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is responsible for “protecting the public health by regulating human and animal drugs, biologics (e.g. vaccines and cellular and gene therapies), medical devices, food and animal feed, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation” is underfunded, subject to political and corporate pressure (under which they have ignored or over-ruled the recommendations of their own scientists), and relies upon studies funded by corporations to determine the safety and efficacy of the very products the corporations wish to sell. (This is just as true, and just as problematic, in studies done by cosmetic companies on their new products as it is for GMO-producing companies.) Thus, although many large organizations have weighed in to say that “no known risks” (to personal health) exist, debate continues in peer-reviewed journals about the overall risks and benefits of many GMO crops. As Nature magazine (a well respected, peer reviewed journal) stated in their May 2013 special section on GMO crops: “Researchers, farmers, activists, and GM seed companies all stridently promote their views, but the scientific data are often inconclusive or contradictory.”

• Food sovereignty requires that people control their own seeds, farms, and food systems.

Perhaps most importantly, we believe the people have the right to control their own food systems; GMOs do the opposite. These proprietary crops contribute to the increasing concentration of seed production and economic power in a few multinational corporations, while simultaneously putting undue burden on organic farmers to seek out GMO free seeds and guard against cross pollination. We particularly take issue with pro GMO voices who insist that GMOs are needed to “feed the developing world”, and that those who wish to limit the introduction of GMOs are “elitist”. Many citizens in other countries are having their own debate about the pros and cons of GMO crops. In fact, in 2002 the governments of Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe refused to accept food aid from the United States because it included GMO corn. Most importantly, the problem we face with food shortages in our world is due more to our refusal to share food equitably across national boundaries than to a lack of food overall. To claim that corporate controlled GMO crops are needed to solve such shortages is to ignore and exacerbate the systems and inequalities that create these problems in the first place.

• The Co-op endorses I-522 – Washington’s genetically modified food labeling act.

The Co-op endorses I-522, Washington’s “Right to Know” GMO labeling act. Labeling GMO foods is important because:

• People have a right to know what is in their food
• Food sovereignty cannot be achieved if information is not freely available
• Without knowing which foods contain GMOs, we can’t conduct large scale epidemiological studies to determine whether they are affecting human health

For these reasons, and all of those stated previously in this article, the Olympia Food Co-op strongly supports I-522 and urges our members to contribute, volunteer, and vote YES in November’s election. For more on the I-522 campaign

From the Board of Directors:
Cezanne Murphy-Levesque
Dani Madrone
Erin Genia
Isabella Rogol
Jayne Rossman
John Regan
Joseph Webster
Joshua Simpson
Niki Bilodeau
Ron Lavigne
Teresa Young

Co-op News August & September 2013 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News June & July 2013 PDF
FOOD: SECURITY OR SOVEREIGNTY?
When I think of “security,” I think of deadbolts, the faux cops that patrol parking structures, alarm systems, and the Department of Homeland Security. Perhaps the meaning has been hijacked in the previous decade, but it’s not a word that makes me think of dinner. And that must explain part of my reluctance to embrace the term “food security”, which has been used in international agricultural development for roughly forty years and has recently enjoyed a revival in describing individual families’ access to food.

It turns out that a lot of people are uncomfortable with the concept of “food security”, which was defined (in 1991, by the Life Sciences Research Organization) as “sustained access at all times, in socially acceptable ways, to food adequate in quantity and quality to maintain a healthy life.” The problems with the concept are tucked away in the details of that definition: what does “socially acceptable” mean? What defines “quality?” And who gets to decide the answers to these questions?

Overwhelmingly, the answer to the latter has been governments and corporations, and the results have been farm subsidies that support big corporations over small farmers, a proliferation of untested GMO crops, “free trade” international markets for staple foods that have put local farmers out of business, and other food policies that attempted to solve the problems of hunger and famine from the top down. And that’s why, in 1996, a worldwide coalition of “peasants, small and medium-size farmers, landless people, women farmers, indigenous people, migrants and agricultural workers” called Via Campesina coined the term “food sovereignty.”

The difference between food security and food sovereignty is the difference between a chain supermarket donating its day-old bread to the food bank, and your local co-op offering members’ classes on how to cook on a budget. It’s the difference between sending canned tuna to hungry people and working with a community of fishermen to keep a local, sustainable harvest available for both them and their grandchildren. It’s the difference between top down and bottom up.

Food sovereignty and food security, of course, don’t have to be mutually exclusive. In fact, food security can be considered a goal of food sovereignty. But food sovereignty encompasses much more than just adequate nutrition. At the 2007 Forum for Food Sovereignty, more than 80 countries adopted “Declaration of Nyéléni,” which says in part:

“Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems. It puts those who produce, distribute and consume food at the heart of food systems and policies rather than the demands of markets and corporations. It defends the interests and inclusion of the next generation. It offers a strategy to resist and dismantle the current corporate trade and food regime, and directions for food, farming, pastoral and fisheries systems determined by local producers. Food sovereignty priorities local and national economies and markets and empowers peasant and family farmer driven agriculture, artisanal fishing, pastoralist led grazing, and food production, distribution and consumption based on environmental, social and economic sustainability. Food sovereignty promotes transparent trade that guarantees just income to all peoples and the rights of consumers to control their food and nutrition. It ensures that the rights to use and manage our lands, territories, waters, seeds, livestock and biodiversity are in the hands of those of us who produce food. Food sovereignty implies new social relations free of oppression and inequality between men and women, peoples, racial groups, social classes and generations.”

In short, food sovereignty recognizes the many issues that come together around the food that nourishes our bodies, families, and communities. Instead of panicking at the extent of these interlocking “problems,” it embraces the multiple opportunities we have to grow connections and make a difference.

In the five years that I have worked at the Olympia Food Co-op, one of the most often expressed concerns is that our mission is too broad. Our goals range from making good food accessible to more people and supporting local production, to supporting democratic process and efforts to foster a socially and economically egalitarian society. It’s a valid concern that, for an organization of our size, our mission might stretch our resources too thin and dilute our power to change any single thing in favor of attempting to address many things. But it’s also true that the broad approach of our mission statement embodies the holistic approach that the food sovereignty movement demands. Environmentally sustainable production can’t be separated from the rights of workers in the fields, which can’t be separated from immigration reform or the right to form unions. The support of locally produced food cannot occur without acknowledging the difficulties that low income families and families of color face in sharing that bounty, and those barriers can’t be addressed without understanding the history that created them. The right for consumers to control what’s in their food (and who is producing it and to what standards) can’t be separated from the struggle of America’s indigenous peoples to have the history of the land that food is grown on recognized, and their treaties upheld. By acknowledging and encompassing these connections, our mission statement was ahead of the curve when it was first created and continues to grow in relevance as more movements connect across political and national boundaries. And as a cooperative, whose members control the organization that supplies their own food, we put food sovereignty into practice with our very existence – as you do when you vote in Co-op elections, and shop in the stores.

The lesson of the food sovereignty movement is not that we face an overwhelming situation with so many strands that we despair of ever untangling it all. Instead, those strands are pieces of a weaving that each of us hold one or two of. In acknowledging the many threads and working together, we rebuild more resilient and diverse food systems that nourish our whole community. That’s the beauty of food sovereignty.

By Jayne Rossman
Staff Member

Co-op News June & July 2013 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News April & May 2013 PDF
WHO INVENTED CO-OPS?
In December of 1844, a man wheeled a wagon across the fourteen cold and muddy miles from Manchester to Rochdale, England. Inside the wagon were a few pounds each of butter and sugar, six sacks of flour, one sack of oatmeal, and twenty-four candles. Those few bags of flour and oatmeal were the first products sold by the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers’ Cooperative Store, and marked the beginning of the cooperative movement as we know it.

People throughout the world have worked together cooperatively since before we invented writing. But the modern cooperative movement – with its focus on democratic control and members’ economic participation – grew specifically from the resistance of working people to capitalism and the industrial revolution. This is the story of how we went from a few pounds of butter and sugar to a worldwide movement that gains momentum by the day.

It’s true that cooperatives had been tried in other areas in Britain as early as the 1760s. With the help of two men, Robert Owen and Dr. William King, nearly 100 cooperative societies existed by the 1830s, before the Rochdale Society was a glimmer in anyone’s eye. Robert Owen was a mill owner whose belief in social reform and the philosophies behind cooperatives and utopias led him to experiment with projects to improve his workers’ wages, education and living standards. But by 1826, he had moved on to create a utopian society in America. Dr. William King took up where Mr. Owen left off, creating “The Cooperator”, a monthly newsletter that mixed cooperative theory with practical advice for running a shop, in 1828. He advised workers not to cut themselves off from society, but rather to create a society within a society, and to begin by creating a store: “We must go to a shop every day to buy food and necessities,” he said. “Why then should we not go to our own shop?”

However, by the 1840s – called “the hungry forties” in Britain – this first flowering of cooperatives had wilted; only a few of the 100 cooperatives were still functioning. It was the tail-end of the industrial revolution, when low wages and failed strikes left many workers unemployed. Those lucky enough to have a job were sometimes paid in “tokens” that could only be spent at the company store, leading to debt and servitude. High prices, adulterated food (for instance, flour cut with chalk) and outright cheating (by fixing weights and measures) were widespread.

In this atmosphere, a small group of weavers and other textile workers with little money and less power came together to create the Rochdale Society for Equitable Pioneers. They “decided to make a stand against the capitalist ideologies of the Industrial Revolution and set about writing down a list of rules by which they would run their new society.” These principles formed the basis of the modern cooperative movement, and a modified version is used by cooperatives around the world today (including your Olympia Food Co-op). These principles are: voluntary and open membership; democratic member control; members’ economic participation; autonomy and independence; education, training and information; cooperation among cooperatives; and concern for community. In short, their cooperative, and those of us who came after, aim to return control of businesses to members and workers, with a broad focus on education and community well being.

When you pay your Co-op dues, vote for the Board of directors, purchase quality food at a minimal mark up, or attend a Co-op class, you are following in the footsteps of the Rochdale Pioneers – along with millions other co-op members worldwide, at their local cooperatives.

But back to the story: Taking Dr. William King’s advice about opening a store, the Rochdale Pioneers gathered capital of ₤1 per person, for a total of ₤28, in order to open a store where they would sell “honest food at honest prices”. On December 21st, at 8pm (because factory employees worked long hours), they opened their shop. It was staffed by volunteers, and because the gas company had refused them service (on the grounds that they didn’t believe the cooperative would be able to pay its bills), they had to use the candles to light their shop. The Rochdale Society proved the gas company wrong in short order. Within a few months, they added tea and tobacco to their shelves, followed later by the opening of a cooperative textile mill and factory. By 1854, the British co-operative movement had taken up the Rochdale Principles and over 1,000 such stores were open. The Cooperative movement founded on the Rochdale Principles has continued to grow. Over 29,000 cooperatives employ two million people in the United States alone, while more than a billion people worldwide are cooperative members. Today, after the failure of banks and the collapse of countries, when increasing income inequality can no longer be ignored, it’s important to remember that these same pressures led to the formation of the Rochdale Society, and to the principles upon which modern co-ops are founded. Cooperatives are businesses run by the people, for the people, whose focus is on the strength of the community rather than the price of a share. And that’s an idea whose time has come – again.

By Jayne Rossman
Staff Member

Co-op News April & May 2013 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News February & March 2013 PDF
UNION STRIKE AT CO-OP DISTRIBUTOR
As you may have gathered while shopping in our stores in November and December, the Co-op has been engrossed in ways to support union workers striking against United Natural Foods, Inc., (UNFI) the Co-op’s main supplier. UNFI is a major distributor to co-ops locally and nationally, and supplies our Co-op, as well as several other grocery stores in this area, with natural and organic foods. Teamsters Local 117 has been in contract negotiation with the company since March 2012, and striking members have been at the picket line demanding fair labor practices since December 13. One way we chose to support the strike initially was to cancel a week’s worth of deliveries (totaling nearly $100,000 in lost revenue to UNFI).

However, in order to continue to stock the stores and pay our bills, we have resumed ordering through UNFI. This is a difficult decision that pits our social justice values against the need for us to ensure the business continues to function. We have not made this decision lightly. The union understands and supports our need to begin reordering. We are considering long term solutions to our distribution needs but the situation is complicated, as we are under contract with UNFI as part of our connection with the National Cooperative Grocer’s Association (NCG). This group contract between the Olympia Food Co-op, other food co-ops, and UNFI allows us to maintain prices that are 20 – 30% lower than they would be otherwise. We are doing our best to balance our mission statement’s directive to “encourage economic and social justice” with the directive to “make good food accessible to more people.”

The union has several points that its members say must be addressed to consider a fair labor contract for workers at the Auburn, WA distribution center. A new contract was considered on Jan 11 in which UNFI:

• • Refused to reinstate all 72 workers that it permanently replaced in violation of federal law;
  • Eliminated health care protections for workers by removing caps on premium increases;
  • Insisted on the withdrawal of all of the Union’s unfair labor practice charges and important grievances as reported to the National Labor Relations Board;
  • Undermined workers retirement security;
  • Fired a worker for alleged strike misconduct and insisted that the Union relinquish its right to take action against replacement workers who violated their membership obligations.

The Co-op continues to do all we can to support the striking workers, and we are in regular contact with Teamsters Local #117 to find out what they need from us. We hope that a resolution comes to light in the near future, and there are some ways you can help!

• Donate to the Worker’s Strike Fund! You can “round up” at the registers and we’ll pass your donation on to the union. Striking workers and their families need help!
• Let UNFI know what you think. Please email the following message: “I am deeply troubled by UNFI’s unfair treatment of its workers at its distribution center in Auburn, WA. I urge you to return to bargain a fair contract in good faith that respects your workers.”
• Join the picket line! The warehouse is only 40 minutes away – and remember, picket lines always need food and hot coffee.

By Mo Tobin
Staff Member

Co-op News February & March 2013 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News December 2012 & January 2013 PDF
INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF COOPERATIVES
When we heard that the United Nations designated 2012 to be the International Year of Cooperatives, the Board and staff felt immediate excitement. Finally, co-ops would get some well earned recognition as a business model that works! And we asked ourselves, how can we best participate, both for our own education and to further our goal of supporting the cooperative movement?

If you have followed the Co-op News over the last year, you have seen some of the ways we chose to celebrate and explore this year. Our biggest investment was our exchange with Cecosesola in Venezuela, when we sent two of our staff members there for one month and were lucky enough to have a delegation from Cecosesola join our part of the world for six weeks. The exchange was incredibly inspiring for our staff collective and offered us many new ways to think about consensus and cooperative development. If you never got a chance to check out the blog that our staff members Emily and Alejandra kept while in Venezuela, you can find it here

Staff at the Co-op are proud to be part of a movement that proves respecting people is good for business. Millions of consumers around the world have joined cooperatives for many reasons, including finding that they fill a need for housing, electricity, food, insurance and financial services … the list is endless. In the United States, 30,000 co-ops provide two million jobs, and one of every four people is a member of a cooperative.

Cooperative values connect us as people and also transcend co-op size. It doesn’t matter whether your cooperative is so large that it employs thousands of people, or so small you can fit everyone involved in a single room; co-op values remain the same.

The food co-ops that make up the National Cooperative Grocers Association (the organization we are part of that gathered most of this information) have over 1.3 million members across a “virtual chain” of over 120 retail food co-ops nationwide. Collectively, food co-ops have a strong social and economic impact. They work with an average of 157 local farmers and producers (compared with 65 for
conventional grocers). They contribute to the community with high levels of charitable giving, an average of 13% (compared to 4% for conventional grocers). Plus, food coops generate more money for their local economy – 1.5 times more than conventional grocers. So, whether you are supporting the Olympia Food Co-op or another, know that your purchases do make a difference!

Co-ops demonstrate their commitment to ethics by extending them in an ever widening circle. When a co-op makes a profit, you can be assured it was gained through fair business practices, and in most cases, any surplus is reinvested in the co-op or shared equitably among member-owners.

I have personally enjoyed learning more this year about the many types of cooperative businesses in this country and others over the last year. For example, Whatcom County now has a worker owned healthcare co-op started about four years ago called the Circle of Life Caregiver Co-op. Their co-op is dedicated to excellent home care for the elderly and disabled. In an industry rife with low-pay and apathy towards clients, Circle of Life offers a refreshing alternative, where self-help provides everyone with more options.

We know none of the great things co-ops accomplish would be possible without the people worldwide who use co-ops to meet their needs. This year, celebrating with the millions of others who love co-ops, we are thrilled by the international recognition of co-ops’ fundamental values: that making people and communities our top priority is good business.

By Maureen Tobin
Staff Member and
National Co-op Grocers, www.strongertogether.coop

Co-op News December 2012 & January 2013 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News October & November 2012 PDF
STRATEGIC PLANNING
As folks who read last issue’s board report know, in June the Co-op Board of Directors spent two days together thinking about the future. This event grew out of a feeling that we never seemed to have enough time at our regular meetings to think deeply about the big questions facing us as an organization, such as “What exactly are we trying to accomplish here?” and “How can we best allocate our resources to accomplish it?” We have the mission statement that lays out the purposes of the Co-op, but it doesn’t always provide clear guidance in particular situations. So, we embarked on a process of identifying and prioritizing specific goals and thinking about concrete ways to achieve them.

Among other things, we ruminated on the input received from members and staff during the “Co-op Conversation” (thanks to all who participated!), added in some of our own ideas, and produced a long list of goals that a lot of people feel strongly about. Reflecting on them, we realized that many of them fit together under certain “umbrella” headings. Over the last few months, with further input from staff, we have distilled the list into three “strategic priorities” and seven “supporting goals.” We see the supporting goals as intermediate steps, things that will help us to realize the three main strategic priorities.

We hope that these will serve to point the way over the course of the next decade or two, giving the Board and staff guidelines as we create budgets and make the day to day decisions allocating our finite resources.

A few words about what this list is not: it is not a list of deficiencies or “areas for improvement.” While we could certainly do some of these things better, many of them are things that the Co-op is already doing and doing well. The list is also not set in stone. There will always be room for improvement, and no matter how hard we peer into it, the future never fails to keep some surprises for us. Instead, this list is intended to give us a common set of questions as a starting point for considering particular proposals or choosing among many possible courses of action in a particular situation. Ultimately, we hope it will lead to greater alignment of action with vision between and among the staff, the Board, and the entire membership.

The STRATEGIC PRIORITIES are…. (drumroll please)……

• The Olympia Food Co-op will expand its retail space in order to increase revenue so that we may continue to carry out our broader purpose, as described in our bylaws. To this end, we will create user friendly and accessible shopping spaces that satisfy current customers and attract new members.
• The Co-op will use its resources to meet community needs in the spheres of food systems and the local economy.
• The Co-op will spread knowledge and skills on mission related topics in order to empower and improve our community.

THE SEVEN SUPPORTING GOALS

1.The Co-op Board and Board committees’ work will serve the strategic plan and overall mission.

2. Board and staff will understand their different spheres of decision making; they will support and be accountable to each other.

3. The Co-op will improve internal and external communication to create alignment and increase our effectiveness in meeting our mission. We will respond to customer and member needs and communicate how we are doing so.

4. The Co-op will determine which legal structure accurately reflects who we are and our future needs and, if necessary, make a change.

5. The Co-op will improve our volunteer systems in order to: have enough volunteers to keep the Co-op functioning and growing; keep volunteers excited about their work and staff excited about working with them; increase information sharing and solidarity among volunteers.

6. The Co-op will work with under represented communities to co create opportunities to “foster a socially and economically egalitarian society.”

7. To support the longevity and healthy functioning of the staff collective, the Co-op will explore and create systems to support staff participation within the collective and the Co-op as a whole.

By Jayne Kazynski
Staff Member

Co-op News October & November 2012 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News August & September 2012 PDF
CECOSESOLA COMES TO OLYMPIA
As I take in the familiar surroundings – the melon green walls of the Olympia Food Co-op’s main meeting room (which is about a third the size of the outdoor patio where workers of the Feria del Centro meet at CECOSESOLA), a handful of sun stunned state workers, joggers, and patrons of Olympia Supply passing outside on Columbia street, other Co-op staff parking their bikes and getting their work papers in order – I am nothing short of blown away by the sight of our friends from Venezuela in the midst of it all. It’s true that since my coworker Alejandra and I had the great honor of visiting and working with CECOSESOLA for a month this winter, I have been daydreaming of this day. But after all the visa preparations, schedule planning, and anticipation, I find it nearly impossible to believe that this is actually happening.

The arrival of our compañer@s, along with my coworkers’ enthusiastic responses to their presentation about CECOSESOLA’s history and values at this week’s three collective meetings, reminds me what a momentous event this exchange is for us at Olympia Food Co-op. It’s true that we have always supported the worldwide cooperative movement through our buying practices – prioritizing products produced cooperatively and seeking out new sources for everything from cooperatively produced bananas to maple syrup. We have also seen ourselves as part of a larger cooperative movement, as evidenced by our mission statement, as well as our leadership in organizations like the NCGA (the National Cooperative Grocers Association) among others. But we have never done anything quite like this before.

Throughout the next six weeks, the opportunity to sit down with internationally based cooperative workers and discuss our shared values, our challenges, and hopes for the future provides endless opportunities for strengthening solidarity, as well as real practical insight from a cooperative making decisions collectively on a scale that dwarfs our own. (In CECOSESOLA’s 50 associated cooperatives, more than 1,200 workers run three food markets, a hospital, a funeral home, several community banks, countless small farms and value-added food operations, and more). Many of us begin to understand in a very concrete way why CECOSESOLA has long emphasized national and international exchanges – some of the compañer@s with us in Olympia have also done similar work in Egypt, Mexico, France, and England, and there is a group from CECOSESOLA in Germany this spring as well.

Writing now that the compañer@s have returned to Barquisimeto and are preparing their first presentations about their trip to Olympia for their coworkers back home, I’d like to provide some highlights from the time they spent with us at Olympia Food Co-op. The Evergreen State College was a cosponsor of the exchange, and the compañer@s visited and worked with an impressive number of area organizations during their time here – from Centro de la Raza in Seattle to GRuB, Cielo, MIJAS, the Flaming Eggplant, and the Thurston County Food Bank in Olympia, to KBOO and the Alberta Food Co-op in Portland, plus more that I am probably forgetting. What follows is only a portion of what they experienced while here in the United States, but for those of us at Olympia Food Co-op, it was a very meaningful portion indeed.

Cecosesolianistas volunteered in the stores on Thursdays and Sundays each week they were in Olympia. They spoke with customers, processed deliveries, built carrot wheels, and generally knocked everybody’s socks off with the amount of work they got done and the aesthetic eye and attention to detail they brought to stocking and building displays. By the end of their time in Olympia, if someone who was supposed to work a shift with the compañer@s got sick, it wasn’t necessary to replace the labor. Our visiting friends had learned the work so thoroughly they did an amazing job on their own.

Several Olympia Food Co-op groups invited folks from CECOSESOLA to their meetings, including the Board of Directors and Big Picture CAT, the group responsible for vision and maintenance of the staff’s evolving structure as a collective. Here is an example of the kinds of conversations that were had.

Big Picture CAT: Given the limitations of time that we experience at Olympia Food Co-op*, what practices do you think we might be able to adopt to improve confianza (trust) among workers and help us make more sustainable decisions?

* CECOSESOLA’s workers receive a base anticipo (anticipated salary) instead of being paid by the hour, and their food markets are only open on weekends, so there are several days each week during which workers can meet in large groups to reflect upon any issue that comes up, for as long as they need.

Compañer@s: Maybe you could find a time of day and day of the week that generally has the lowest sales, and assign a rotating skeleton crew to take care of the stores, so that almost all of the collective can meet without having to impact customers. If you met very close to the stores, people could be pulled from the meeting to help out if things got unexpectedly busy, and this would give more time to build relationships and give each decision the amount of time it needs.

On June 1st & 2nd, the compañer@s helped plan and present a conference cosponsored by the Olympia Food Co-op, the Evergreen State College, the Northwest Cooperative Development Center, the Flaming Eggplant and other area organizations, called Creating Cooperatives: Re-claiming our Economy and Livelihood. Here’s what one participant had to say about the opening plenary of the conference, which featured a documentary produced by Evergreen students about women run CECOSESOLA affiliated cooperatives in Venezuela, and a discussion and activity lead by the compañer@s:

“So inspiring! First time in years I have felt educated and empowered. A cohesive and flexible road map!”

Our hope is to hold a similar conference yearly, with the goal of galvanizing new cooperatives and collectives in our area as well as strengthening networks of support between those already doing this work.

The compañer@s visited Sunbreak, Helsing Junction, Wobbly Cart, and Steamboat Island Goat farm, all local growers who are or have been part of the Olympia Food Co-op’s local farms program. They snacked on turnips, strawberries, garlic scapes, and grilled feta, asked questions about organic and sustainable farming practices, learned about the difference between kale and arugula (neither of which is commonly grown in Venezuela’s tropical climate), and got to hear from local farmers what being part of the Olympia Food Co-op’s local program has meant to them.

Lest you get the impression that the exchange was all work and no play, the compañer@s also attended potlucks and bonfires with the Olympia Food Co-op staff, danced at the Urban Onion, visited Mt. Rainier, and attended a Mariners game. (In their honor, Felix Hernandez, one of Venezuela’s most well known major league stars, pitched a winning game.)

At upcoming collective meetings, the Olympia Food Co-op staff will have the chance to reflect together on what this exchange has meant for us as an organization, and to talk about whether we may want to continue with such exchanges in the future. Already, I have heard from many staff members that the exchange has been an incredible help to them, has provided new inspiration for cooperative and collective work, and has opened up new possibilities for how the Olympia Food Co-op can support cooperative development in our area. I look forward to continuing to integrate the lessons from this exchange into our work at the Olympia Food Co-op. Along with exchangee Ricardo, I feel both humbled and honored to have been part of this opportunity to see “two different cultures coming together to discover they have been walking on the same path.”

To read accounts from Cecosesolianistas about their exchange with the Olympia Food Co-op (in Spanish), check the CECOSESOLA blog (no longer available)

If you haven’t yet checked out the blog Alejandra and I kept while in CECOSESOLA this winter, you can find it here

By Emily Van Kley
Staff Member

Co-op News August & September 2012 PDF

Newsletter Archives

Co-op News June & July 2012 PDF
AN EXCERPT FROM EXCHANGE WITH CECOSESOLA
This article was originally published as a blog entry where you can access more posts about this exchange.

In many ways, los reuniones de gestión resemble collective meetings at the Olympia Food Co-op: they are gatherings of the whole collective that happen in three different groups, during which collective members make decisions about everything from how to speed up the lines at the registers to whether or not to start a new education program to better fulfill their mission. In other ways, the reuniones are very different. Here at CECOSESOLA there is no agenda, for example, and no designated facilitator. Meetings last as long as they need to: sometimes 2 hours, sometimes 7, and the ferias are closed while people meet. In addition, workers from CECOSESOLA’s affiliated co-ops are invited to attend meetings, and can bring up any concerns they may have from the point of view of production, etc. Additional reuniones de gestion are held weekly for new collective members, where they learn about the history and practices of CECOSESOLA as an organization and are invited to do their own research about the history of the cooperative movement and present what they’ve learned. Another way CECOSESOLA’s reuniones are distinct from OFC’s is simple: size. Dividing CECOSESOLA’s approximately 580 workers into three groups still equals a heck of a lot of people. This is the primary thing wreaking havoc with mine and Ale’s nerves.

We practice our short speech, Ale from notes, me from the miniature essay I’ve written with the help of the monstrous verb book and dictionary I thank my lucky stars I lugged here every day. It’s not incredibly late, but we are exhausted from two days straight of absorbing new information. We mumble through what we’ve planned and head off to bed.

A little after 7 in the morning, people begin to arrive at the escuela, the site of the meeting and of the dormitorio where we’ve been staying. A particularity of this coop in comparison with every other I’ve experienced is that people tend to arrive not only on time but early. By the time Ale and I head outside a few minutes before 8:00 (late, or so it seems) there are more than 150 people already gathered in a circle several rows deep on the shaded patio outside the escuela. The meeting begins with news from one of the producer co-ops and moves to a discussion about the impact on the stores when many workers leave together for breakfast. Decision making is discussed, and the effect boards of directors have on the collective process. Strong coffee is passed around along with sugar buns and a hard pastry that looks like a horseshoe. At times the low murmur of a hundred people listening and reacting to each other swells to a rumble, and the group is called back to attention by means of hand claps and piercing whistles. By the time Ale and I and several students from Evergreen, most of whom are working in CECOSESOLA affiliates, are set to introduce ourselves, some of my nerves have settled because I’m so interested in what’s being said.

Our presentation goes smoothly. The compañer@s welcome us with warmth and ask thoughtful questions about the Olympia Food Co-op’s involvement in the community and the relationship of our low income membership to the economic crisis in the U.S.

I think about the ways I see confianza at Olympia Food Co-op – like the fact that I know that if worst came to worst my coworkers and I would do anything for each other – and I think of the ways I think our confianza needs to grow.

One of the main themes Ale and I are here to investigate through our exchange with CECOSESOLA is how consensus based decision making works on such a large scale. At times we feel so stretched to come to consensus at Olympia Food Co-op, and we often think it’s because of our size. And indeed, how could it not be difficult for 76 people to agree on the best way forward in a given situation, when it can be exhausting just figuring out with a group of friends where to have lunch?

What is obvious to us almost as soon as we arrive, and certainly by the end of this first meeting, is that confianza is a huge part of what makes consensus decision making possible at CECOSESOLA. With 580 people, it’s crucial that each compañer@ be able to trust the other, that each have a deep respect for the others’ opinion, and that each have as complete a picture as possible of what it means to think in terms of the good of the whole.

By Emily Van Kley
Staff Member

Co-op News June & July 2012 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News April & May 2007 PDF
ENVISIONING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE FOR THE CO-OP
As some of you may have read in last year’s Co-op News, an Ecological Planning Committee has formed here at the Olympia Food Co-op. We are happy to implement the work from the Olympia Food Co-op mission statement that, “strives to
make human effects on the earth positive
and renewing…”

As with many committees at the Co-op and with other projects in life, creating success depends on a certain amount of planning and vision as well as following tangible steps towards goals. The Ecological Planning Committee has been no exception.

LOOKING BACK
There are many steps the Co-op has already taken over the years to show a great awareness of sustainability. The work staff has done in the realms of recycling and reducing waste, no and low toxin use in the stores, benefits for staff people, and supporting other social sustainability needs in the Olympia community are just a few of those steps.

OUR VISION OF SUSTAINABILITY
The Olympia Food Co-op envisions a cooperative store that is a positive contributor to local and global ecology and a model for sustainability. We envision a Co-op community that is ecologically informed and empowered to participate in sustainability and ecological innovation.

BRAINSTORMING PROCESS
To help us gain a shared understanding of sustainability, our committee received training in a system called: The Natural Step. Utilizing this framework over the past year, we held brainstorm sessions with both staff collectives as well as at an open member meeting. This brainstorm asked questions such as:
What would it look like if the Olympia Food Co-op were 100% sustainable?
What is the Co-op already doing to support sustainability?
What could we do better?

From this brainstorm we have been identifying areas in which to focus our work. The likely four categories for the Co-op are: transportation, facilities, products, and community. Within these areas, all of the four natural step areas are also contained, which can be described as: energy, solid waste and water, toxicity, and social justice.

Simultaneously, in 2006, we contacted the “Energy Smart Grocer Program,” an affiliate of Puget Sound Energy. Through our connection with them, we will soon have more energy efficient lighting installed – the cost of which will be offset after only 14 months! We will also be installing night curtains on the open produce and cheese coolers to save energy at nighttime, when the store is closed. The energy pay back for the cost of these will be met after only one year!

WHERE WE’RE GOING
For the coming year, we will continue to work on “low hanging fruit” (smaller, more easily reached goals) while working toward our long term vision. We will also draw a timeline from the vision backwards. This will help us divide our work into incremental goals, broken down by category.

As we continue this work, we hope to form action groups to address specific areas. We also will continue communicating our process and progress through regular Co-op News pieces, reports, and workshops.

by Marie Poland, staff member

Co-op News April & May 2007 PDF

Quarterly News

PRODUCT IMAGES AND THE CO-OP, AN EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE
February and March honor the cultures and legacies of African Americans and women by declaring these months as national heritage months (there are also other heritage months throughout the year). So it seems an appropriate time to consider the Co-op’s practice to not carry products that have exploitive or oppressive images on their packaging. Like the boycott policy, I have often felt that the Product Selection policy is misunderstood by some of the membership. I have been in many discussions with members, and with those who don’t shop at the Co-op because of our limited product line, about the nature of the Co-op’s social choices and how they work into policy. While it is true that other stores carrying natural foods may look more bountiful, offering full product lines from any given company, you cannot be certain that these selections represent the best in natural food politics. This is a complex issue that could surely be viewed as subjective, but what is so unique about the Co-op is our willingness to engage in this debate and to make choices based on values and not just on profit margins.

Often, I have heard people being annoyed that this or that product is not available at the Co-op, but that it is available at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, or Stormans, etc. My understanding is that you can ask the Staff to order it or consider ordering or carrying it, or they will give you a good explanation as to why we don’t carry it. I also am glad that there is an opportunity for discussing the policy around exploitive packaging, products, and boycotts, and I think of how lucky we are that we have a staff who is willing to do this work for us; that for the most part, the products within the Co-op have been screened before being placed on the shelves. I am also mindful of my own identity. It is usual in my conversations about this subject that I am speaking with white people who are speaking frustratingly about a choice made based on images or names that they are not aware may be harmful.

Four examples of product lines that the Co-op does not carry (and are missed by my friends and or other shoppers) for packaging reasons are: Veggie Booty, Seventh Generation, Blue Sky Sodas, and Bearitos. These are often considered “groovy” products, meaning nutritionally or environmentally sound, and often these companies have good politics themselves.

My understanding is that the Booty line of snacks included an image on one of its products of a thin, scantily-clad woman on their low-fat (diet) snack. This packaging design implied that this image might be desirable for women and so choosing a low fat, diet version of their snacks was the way to go. The staff deemed this offensive to women and to people with bodies other than the stereotypical thin used in most advertising. Unfortunately, kids love these snacks, and they provide several gluten free and non dairy options that are palatable to young tastes.

Seventh Generation products are not carried by the Co-op because of its name. The term “Seventh Generation” comes from an Iroquois quote from their constitution, which asks people to consider the repercussions of their actions for the next seven generations – a good concept, right? Yes, but for some Native people this is a spiritual concept that is being used to make money by non Native people, despite its good intentions and sound products. Otherwise, this company does not use Native imagery nor do they pretend to represent any other Native philosophy or culture. But the bottom line is that the use of Native American names, cultural aspects, and philosophies has been so pervasive and has had a documented ill effect on Native people, especially youth. Think sports team names and mascots, Crazy Horse Malt Liquor, Cherokee clothing and cars, etc.

Blue Sky Sodas is similar in that they changed their packaging to include graphic depictions of ancient symbols and designs, which are considered sacred to Native People. They are a smaller scale soda company based in New Mexico that donates some of its profits to environmental causes. The Co-op decided to stop carrying the soda because of the recognition that Native People continue to suffer a history of genocide and oppression, and Blue Sky’s commercialization and depiction of these graphics serves to ignore that history and perpetuates the exploitation and oppression of Native culture. The use of this imagery trivializes and abuses Native culture for marketing purposes.

Lastly, Bearitos makes Mexican style food products, including canned beans and tortilla chips. For years, their products have featured a bear wearing a serape or a sombrero, as if Mexican people were cute, sleepy little bears, caricatures of themselves. This imagery possibly served to make the products easier for a non Mexican market to embrace, but in the meantime, added to a glut of images that make fun of or characterize Mexican people as lazy, and in fact, not even as people at all.

In all of these cases, the Co-op has strived to carry an alternative to these products with successful results, often resulting in bolstering sales of a smaller, more localized or unknown company (which also speaks to our mission statement). And the Co-op lets the company know why we have chosen to stop carrying their product and what would make us consider carrying it again.

An example of success in this part of the product selection process is the soy jerky, Jerquee. For a time they used a stereotypical “sexy” woman image on their display boxes. When they were contacted and confronted about this by the Co-op, they explained that they were trying to appeal to the bar and tavern snack market. After the Co-op told them we were considering discontinuation of their product, they came back to us saying that they had reconsidered, thanked us for it, and told us that we were right. They no longer use such packaging.

I am not saying you are a bad person if you buy any of these above mentioned products because there are other benefits to these products than just their negative imagery. I, in fact, have bought Veggie Booty if shopping at another grocery store, and have also chosen at times to use Seventh Generation diapers for their non dioxide, non perfumed disposable diapers, well aware of the Co-op’s decisions. To be contradictory is human, and often it feels like a relief to not be so “politically perfect” (a conditioned response from growing up in a consumer culture, I believe). And in some of the cases, I recognize that my choice to purchase these products can be a choice because of my white privilege, that in some cases, the offensive product is not targeting my identity and group. But if people are getting hurt, then it is worth it to me to strive to make the best choices in my actions and with my purchases. It is the idea that “no one is free when others are oppressed,” so even my “privilege” in purchasing, eventually does not serve me or anyone. What I appreciate is that the 99% of the time that I am doing my grocery shopping at the Co-op, I know that I am engaging in shopping that is good for people and the planet.

Ultimately, oppressive and exploitive packaging and marketing practices hurt us all, and not just the groups targeted by these negative images. The Co-op understands the power of money and the market; they (we) also understand the power of its organization and the fact that our membership spends a lot of money in the natural food industry and, just as importantly, wants to engage in conscious consumerism. We are a collective organization because we are a collective society. If one person feels hurt by an image, then it is worth our time to investigate it and make choices that support everyone’s sense of value. It is a broad concept to equate one picture with the health of a culture, but by taking on marketing inequities, we send a message that every person is a whole person, that his or her concerns are valid, and that we will not continue to perpetuate the power inequities upon which our country was built.

by Jennifer Shafer, editor

Quarterly News

SHOULD THE CO-OP ACCEPT CREDIT & DEBIT CARDS?
The Co-op does not accept credit or debit cards for payment. Back in 1999, we did extensive research to explore whether or not we should add this option at the cash registers. At the time, the costs seemed too exorbitant to justify the convenience for the few shoppers who would use it. Instead, the Co-op decided to serve the needs of purchasers with plastic by installing ATMs. Since then, the world of commerce has changed, and we’ve heard more and more shoppers asking us to reconsider our decision.

The staff has researched many aspects of what this change could mean at the Co-op. We’ve “picked the brains” of folks who work in over a dozen other Co-ops where debit and credit cards are accepted; we’ve met with representatives from several companies who offer these merchant services; and we’ve had lots of discussion between the Board, staff, and finance committee to try to determine what direction would be in the best interest of the membership and the organization. Ultimately, the Board decided that they wanted to get some advice from the membership before deciding whether or not to “go plastic.”

There are many details involved in this prospect, and there is a lot to know. Regardless of what the Co-op decides to do, these are issues that most merchants face, and as consumers, it can’t hurt to know about how these sides of commercial activities operate. I will attempt to explain the details as thoroughly as possible, and pro and con statements will follow. Then we will ask for your participation by collecting your advice for the Board to help them decide which direction you think we should go.

How It Works
Here’s what happens when you use your credit or debit card to buy something in a store: First, your card number is scanned, swiped, or entered into the store’s system. The store has a contract with a data processing company to process retail transactions. The data processor sends and receives information electronically (by phone, internet, or satellite) between three places: the cardholder’s bank, the Federal Reserve Bank, and the store’s bank. After the card is swiped, the availability of funds or credit for the card is checked. If the funds or credit are there, they are withdrawn or debited and sent through the Federal Reserve Bank’s Automated Clearing House. Then the funds are transferred to the store’s bank account.

Data Processors and Fees
In order to provide this service, the store has to enter into a contract with a data processing company to process the transactions. Data Processing contractors act as intermediaries between the cardholder’s funds and the store. Data Processors make their money through fees that are paid by a combination of the store, the card issuer (usually a bank or a credit union), and the cardholder. The fees are a combination of flat (per transaction) and percentage amounts depending upon the type of card used and the contract between the merchant and the data processor.

Rules and Limitations
The “Big Two” in the world of Credit and Debit cards are Visa and MasterCard. If you have a debit or credit card, chances are pretty good that one of these logos appears on it. Since the whole reason for accepting plastic is convenience, these are the cards that the Co-op is considering accepting. Visa and MasterCard do not allow stores to pass the fees along to the cardholder. The fee expense must be paid by the store, and all contracts with data processors specify this. This cost would become one of the Co-op’s operating expenses and would need to be considered in our annual budgeting process.

How Much It Costs
The figures we heard from other co-ops show that between 40 – 70% of all sales are paid for with cards. The data processing companies charge around an average of 1.5% in flat and percentage based fees. If we were to reach $9 million in sales in 2006, and 55% of those sales were paid for with cards, the fees would have been around $74,000. This expense will grow as our sales grow. If we decide to go for it, we will need to include the costs in our expense budget, and the entire budgeting process would need to adjust for it. In a nutshell, this would mean increasing revenue or decreasing expenses to achieve our budget goals.

The Problem
The complicated part is the philosophical issue of the Co-op budgeting to spend upwards of $80,000 on data processing fees. These fees have become a widely accepted cost of doing business in the 21st century, but the Co-op is not your typical business! Once we start taking them, it would be hard to imagine that we would ever stop. This means that by going forward, we would be committing to a new, permanent annual expense. Although many members have asked us to take plastic, we want to give the membership an opportunity to consider the behind-the-scenes impact of this decision, and to give your opinion before the Board decides whether or not to begin accepting plastic.

By Kitty Koppelman
Staff Member

Newsletter Archive

ORGANIC: FROM THE GROUND UP
Summer is here again, and along with it, the local growing season. A time of year when the amount of sun is measured instead of rain; when people can be seen spending time outside, in the garden having a meal, or going for a walk. Sometimes in the summer I will overhear hobby gardeners trying to meet new people to give their zucchini to.

I love to garden, yet I don’t grow many vegetables. I do well with garlic and potatoes, but usually I stick to perennial flowers and herbs. My agreement with plants is that I will do the best I can, but they must possess the will to survive. I know that some people have the skill of being able to grow food, and some not so much. I tend to leave the food growing to the professionals, our local farmers, and stick with gardening for aesthetics. This way I can support another person in the community at what they do well and have my own satisfying moments in the garden.

Most people would agree that it’s a hard life being a farmer. In the Northwest, a big part of the challenge is the weather. Even though we have a nearly year-round growing season, the weather can wreak havoc on a professional farmer. A planting of carrots that gets infested due to moisture, or a freak warm spell in February that makes all the fruit trees bloom early, are just some of the unknown variables in a farmer’s life. Our local farmers are out in the weather that hobby gardeners often work to avoid.

Organic farming has experienced a large boom in Washington State since the 1980’s. In 1988, there were sixty three certified organic farms in Washington, representing 2,000 acres. In 2005, there were 571 certified organic farms, occupying 60,759 acres. Today, there are 34 certified organic farms in Mason, Lewis, and Thurston County combined.

At the Co-op we’ve had long standing relationships with a few local farms, like Rising River and Kirsop, who helped create the Local Buying Program at the Co-op. Stoney Plains and Helsing Farms were also early on the scene. There are farms that the Co-op has begun to cultivate relationships with over the past few years such as GRuB (Garden Raised Bounty), who sell flower bouquets and raspberries to the westside; Tolt Gardens who have earned the nickname “The Lettuce People” at farmers markets; as well as Hop To It, who grows tomatoes, berries, and peaches in greenhouses, and seems to be willing to accept any growing challenge. We may yet see avocados grown in Washington, in the greenhouses of Hop To It.

When our local farmers are able to supply the Co-op with what they grow, we make it a priority to buy those items locally. We buy produce from our larger distributors, Organically Grown Company (OGC) or Charlie’s, only when we are not able to get the item locally, or the local supply is minimal. There isn’t a local produce buying program as detailed as that of the Olympia Food Co-op’s in the region, and farmers have sought out a market at the Co-op because of our reputation. Last year, we bought over $250,000 of local produce which makes the Olympia Food Co-op the largest buyer of produce direct from farms in the state of Washington. We, as produce managers, have wondered if we are reaching the point where we are dealing with as many farms as we are able to support significantly without spreading our buying power too thin.

Most of the local farms that the Co-op buys from have organic certification. Within a growing season, the Co-op buys directly from about thirty farms and orchards. Of those thirty, there are only four or five farms that are not certified. These farms, referred to as pesticide free on signage at the stores, use organic practices but have not been inspected and certified. In some cases, the farms hold themselves to standards that are beyond organic certification requirements.

Organic certification requirements include: an annual inspection of the farm by an authorized third party organic certifier; appropriate labeling; not using industrial equipment that has been used for anything other than organic agriculture, as well as providing public access to certification documents and laboratory analysis that pertains to certification.

There are more things to consider about growing organically than not applying chemicals to fields or not using genetically modified seed. Methods such as crop rotation keep the soil from being depleted year after year of the same nutrients, as it does on monoculture farms which grow primarily one crop; or companion planting, where two crops are grown together that draw or provide complimentary nutrients to the soil, rather than competing for them.

Organic agriculture is actually the historical world standard, and only in the past century has the world known anything other than organic agriculture. After World War II, farmers use of chemicals increased tenfold because they were sold on the idea of using chemicals to reduce their labor and increase production. Pesticides were sold to control bugs that would eat the crops, and herbicides were sold to prevent weeds from growing alongside what was being cultivated. As time passed, the bugs and weeds built a tolerance to these chemicals, so stronger chemicals were developed, over and over.

Biodynamic agriculture is a method created and taught by Rudolph Steiner, conceiver of anthroposophy, in response to observations of decreased soil quality following the introduction of chemical fertilizers at the turn of the century in Europe. Steiner taught of celestial influences on plant growth, and how moon phases and subtle energy forces affect biological systems. Biodynamic agriculture views the farm as a living organism, striking a balance between physical and non-physical realms. Biodynamic agriculture was the first ecological farming method developed as an alternative to conventional (chemical) agriculture and has had a certifying process for farms since 1928 called Demeter.

The organic trade is a rapidly growing industry (about 20% annually nationwide), as is evidenced by the increase in organic farms and the increase in Co-op sales. Organic is catching on, and as people are becoming increasingly aware of what they eat, they seem to be developing an awareness of how their food was grown or handled as well. For whatever reason, people are eating organic, and we should encourage them because it will benefit the land and our quality of air, soil, water, and life.

So, as you grill the local corn, or make pesto salad with local basil and tomatoes, or try to find a new and interesting way to prepare zucchini, think about where your food is coming from. Was is something you were able to grow and harvest, or was it grown by our many professionals in the South Sound region?

Organic is a state of mind, treating food the way we would like to be treated. Organic farming nurtures the land, our community, and makes you feel good about what you are eating. Whether you grow your own food, have an annual CSA share, or carefully select it from the produce rack to prepare it personally, there is still the experience of connecting with your food. These are all steps that are taken for a fulfilling meal that feeds more than your body. Eating is something we must do every day; it is what fuels our lives. Therefore, it’s best to make eating a pleasurable ritual.

Another way to support local, organic food is to come to the Second Annual Harvest Party at Priest Point Park on September 17. The Harvest Party was conceived to bring the Co-op community together for food sharing and relationship building. One of the things we like to do is to acknowledge the local farmers and give them an opportunity to share information about their CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) and other special activities that take place on their farms. Look for signs at the stores for more details.

By Tatiana Boland, staff member & produce manager

Quarterly News

Co-op News June & July 2006 PDF
GARDENING SEASON IS HERE!
With the warm weather of spring and summer comes the height of the gardening season. Beginning each year in February, our garden centers start filling up and brimming over onto plant start carts. At the Co-op, not only do we want to offer you the best quality food on our shelves, we also want to encourage folks to grow their own food and flowers.

SEEDS
Beginning in February, the Co-op offers fruit, vegetable, and flower seeds from Territorial Seed Company in Cottage Grove, OR. These seeds are developed specifically for crops grown in the northwest climate zones. We also carry their certified organic seed line. Territorial has been our main seed provider for years. An exciting aspect of Territorial Seed Company is the many heirloom tomato varieties in their collection. If you want to shop their online catalog or request a free Spring 2006 catalog of your own, visit the Territorial Seed Company website

This year the westside store has also brought in seeds from High Mowing Seed Company in Vermont. After getting rave reviews of their seeds and seed saving efforts, we brought in their USDA certified organic Heirloom Vegetable Collection. To find out more about family owned High Mowing Seed Co

PLANT STARTS
A fantastic and instant way to get a head start in your Garden (thanks to growers with greenhouses) is by planting plant starts. We are pleased to feature a changing seasonal selection of plant starts from local farmers and growers. From tomatoes to lavender, copra onions to bee balm, and stevia to pansies, we carry unique, locally grown plant starts for your planting or gift-giving pleasure. Please see the list of the Co-op’s local garden suppliers in the chart below.

SOIL AND SOIL AMENDMENTS
This year we are glad to carry Barefoot Soil Deluxe Potting Mix and Barefoot Soil Earthworm Castings from Yelm Earthworm and Castings Farm. Available in 1 cubic foot bags, the potting soil sells for $11.89 and contains coir fiber, their famous earthworm castings, and assorted minerals. (Please see their article in this newsletter issue for more soil information). Yelm’s earthworm castings, also in a 1 cubic foot bag, sell for $10.59. Need less than a cubic foot of castings? Try locally manufactured Wiser Worms Earthworm Castings in a ½ cubic foot bag. We also carry Wiser’s Worm Tea in a 16 oz bottle for only $4.75. In addition to worm castings and worm tea, we also carry Black Lake Organic’s Optimum Mix (B.L.O.O.M.) fertilizers. Each specialty fertilizer is packaged in a 5 lb. bag and sells for $8.00. The Co-op carries the following B.L.O.O.M. fertilizer mixes: All Vegetables, Maritime Complete, Garden Essentials, Organic Lawn, Rhody and Blueberry, Tree and Shrub, and Cranberry and Strawberry. For a liquid option we also carry Earth Juice brand fertilizers and Liquid Fruit and Bloom 2-5-1 fertilizers. If you want to make your own potting soil or mix some lighter material into heavy soils, consider using Coir Fiber made from waste coconut husks. The eastside store carries 4.5 cubic foot blocks, and the westside carries an 8”x 4”x 2.25” brick.

GARDENING EQUIPMENT
The Co-op also strives to carry essential gardening equipment. We carry a variety of sizes in blue Atlas gloves, grey Atlas Therma Gloves, and new this year are West County Gardener Gloves. They come in 5 styles: fingerless, landscape, rose, work, and waterproof, and range in cost from $13.00 – $20.00. West County Gardener gloves come in a range of bright colors.

We carry hand tools such as trowels and pruners, jute twine, trellis netting (which is great for pole beans), birdscare tape to keep your beans safe in the early stages of growth, landscape fabric to keep the weeds out of your garden, and hoop house PVC clips for making your own inexpensive hothouse. Additional season extender products are also available at both stores. We have bulk wooden row markers for only $.03 each. For watering, we carry spray bottles for seedlings and German made 5-liter watering cans for larger plants. New this year are dolphin and dinosaur shaped watering cans in your choice of bright red, orange, or green.

A backyard garden can make all the difference as a peaceful place to relax. We carry wind chimes made in Japan that are available in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some of our favorites are the whale, snail, seal, turtle, and flower chimes. We also carry blown glass hummingbird feeders.

PEST CONTROL
If you can’t put out some cheap beer in open dishes to keep slugs from eating your strawberries or lettuce, the Co-op carries “Sluggo,” a pet-safe slug killer. Neem oil is another eco-friendly pest control product. It comes from the pressed seed of the neem tree. It’s native to eastern India and Burma and has been used for medicinal purposes and pest control in India for thousands of years. Neem oil is found “to be effective as a repellent, insecticide, miticide and fungicide. It also functions as an anti feedant which discourages insects feeding patterns” . An 8 oz bottle of neem oil is $7.67. (Plant care website recommended)

GARDENING RESOURCES
If you are stuck without knowing precisely what you should be adding to your soil or how to solve a problem in your garden, try checking out the Washington State University King County Extension website. As an online resource, it has numerous gardening fact sheets covering a myriad of gardening topics specific to the Pacific Northwest. The Timberland Public Library system also has a very extensive collection of gardening resources.

By Patrice Barrentine, westside garden center coordinator

Co-op News June & July 2006 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News April & May 2006 PDF
THE HIGH COST OF NEW BAGS
March was National Waste Awareness Month, and the staff members want to honor our members who already contribute to the reduction of waste. You are the ones who bring your own cloth shopping bags, coffee mugs and tea cups, eating utensils, or maybe you carry your groceries home in one of the plentiful boxes generated by your Co-op. Maybe you’re not even aware you contribute by these simple actions; believe me, you most certainly do.

Has it ever occurred to you how many plastic and paper bags, soup or salad containers, coffee cups, plastic lids and wooden stirrers, plastic or wheat forks, spoons, knives and straws you go through at your Co-op? Here are a few numbers that may surprise you. The average cost of a plastic or small paper bag is $.02; #12 paper bags are $.03; large paper bags with handles are $.11 and non- handle ones are $.07 each. At the westside, we order, on average, 3 bales (500 bags per bale) a week of handled paper bags. At the eastside, we order 7 bales a week. As far as plastic bags go, at the Eastside, we order 2 – 3 case per month of the flat bags used in produce and bulk that are manually ripped. We order 4 – 5 cases per month of the pull and pack bags (the ones with tabs) used in the produce department. A case is comprised of 4 rolls of bags, with each roll having around 750 bags on it. At the westside, we order 3 – 4 cases of both types of plastic bags. Lastly, the eastside Co-op’s average monthly bill for all of those soup containers with lids, salad boxes, and to-go utensils is $553.98.

That’s just the financial impact on your store. Here are some scary facts about the impact on your environment. Did you know plastic bags are made from oil? That’s petroleum, a non renewable resource, which is shipped here on oil tankers or transported by fuel guzzling trucks that contribute to global warming emissions. Then, more toxic chemical ingredients spew into our world in the manufacturing process. About 100,000 whales, seals, turtles, and other marine animals are killed by plastic bags each year! They mistake them for food and either choke or have their digestive systems blocked, resulting in agonizing death. The same fate awaits land animals, domestic and wild,
foraging for food. Plastic bags take up to 1,000 years to break down in a landfill. Roadside litter breaks down into tiny bits contaminating our soil and water; those colorful inks are toxic, too.

Well over a billion single-use plastic bags are given out for free each day; over 100 billion are thrown away each year. Some of you may think paper is a more environmentally
thoughtful choice; think again. In 1999, 14 million trees were cut to produce the 10 billion paper bags we used as consumers. Paper bags come from one of two places: Canada, where 90% of the timber is old-growth forests, or southeastern United States, where the timber companies are replacing native woodlands with monocultural trees at an alarming rate. The manufacture of paper bags requires virgin timber and more fresh water than any other industry. The processing stage creates numerous polluting by-products in our waterways and produces greenhouse gases. (Ever wonder why Tacoma smells so bad? It’s the paper processing plants.) In fact, a study by the Fil and Bag Federation, paper bag production requires more energy concludes that generates more solid waste, creates more atmospheric emissions, and releases more waterborne wastes than plastic bag production. Need more fun facts to help support change? It costs retailers an estimated $4 billion every year to give you a free bag to carry home your goods. But, is it really free? Actually, you pay higher prices at the register.

Here in the United States we have made little effort to change the plastic or paper bag dilemma. However, we can learn from more conscientious and progressive countries. Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Italy, Mumbai (formerly Bombay),Taiwan, Bangladesh, India, and South Africa now either prohibit or heavily tax the flimsy plastic bag. They were found clogging drainage and sewage lines, increasing flooding and waterborne diseases, or littering the landscape. Instead, shoppers bring their own bags, baskets, or boxes to market.

How do we break habits and protect our environment? How can we better manage our waste? Buy products that require little or no packaging. Remember our reusable shopping bags and containers for bulk products. Perhaps we should create a punch card system wherein each time you bring your own bags, containers, and take-out deli utensils and containers, or re-use the boxes at the store, you receive a punch. For each card filled you could get a Co-op dollar. Do we need an extra tax at the register, or should we just outright ban one time use plastic or even paper bags? That seems so extreme; hopefully not what it will take. What’s your take on take-out? Can we consent to control our consumption? This society is all about choices. How will you choose?

The Co-op wants to hear your ideas on this waste management and supplies issue. Find suggestion forms at either store location.

By Connie Bunyer, staff member

Co-op News April & May 2006 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News February & March 2006 PDF
ANTI-OPPRESSION AND THE CO-OP
The subject of anti-oppression is multifaceted and makes every person think of something different. Even though there are many researched and documented facts on the subject, it inevitably triggers massive amounts of emotion. Some of you may be reading this and thinking warily: “What weird stuff is this Co-op staff person going to say that could possibly touch on my experience?” Many of you may be asking, “So, what exactly is anti-oppression?” To break it down to basics, I’ll just say this: the society we live in continues to function by keeping many different populations oppressed, the dominant culture/population in control, and everything as “normal”. We see this every day in acts of racism, sexism, homophobia, classism, anti Semitism, binary gender expectations, xenophobia, ageism, etc. These oppressive thoughts, behaviors, and habits are all ways to keep the dominant culture on top and anyone or anything else down. The more we identify with populations that are oppressed, the more we see these things play out in blatant, subtle, and well-meant ways. The less we identify with these populations, the less we are able to see these things because our identity is connected with the dominant culture/population. Once we are made aware of oppression, not seeing these inequities is a choice that comes with privilege. The choice to remain ignorant and comfortable is one that anyone who identifies with the dominant culture in this society is able to make every day. The dominant culture is considered the “norm,” and everything else is considered “other”. The “norm” includes white, male, heterosexual, owning class, american, christian, hardworking, etc. The “other” is violent, scary, stupid, lazy, exotic, ethnic, fascinating, unattractive, attractive, too smart for its own good, needy, angry, unintelligible, really good at math, crazy, flaming, sinful, etc. You may be seeing the adjectives and descriptions connected to the “other” identity and recognize some of them as stereotypes. Maybe you feel that you have been identified as some of these things. Maybe you identify people you know this way. They are all attempts to define an individual or a group of people as something other than “normal”.

IT’S MORE THAN JUST TALKING
Anti-oppression is about recognizing these realities we live with and getting down to the truth about how these realities actually affect us as individuals, as a community, and as a larger society. The work continues as we break down oppression in order to make changes that will be better for all of us. In order to do the work of “anti-oppression,” we have to be ready to get down and dirty and uncomfortable. We have to be ready to get rid of lies we have believed that have sometimes kept us comfortable. We have to be able to get past the intentions in our actions and the actions of others and face their true impact. Make no mistake, this work may not be very fun, but it can be transforming and liberating, and therefore very rewarding. No instant gratification here. In this work you will feel like you are going over the same points time after time, but when you look closely, you will see that each time you pass the same landmark, it has changed a little bit. This is, of course, the simplest explanation of oppression and anti-oppression. As you may know, or at least may be guessing by now, this issue is deep and multi-dimensional and will not be explained in a short article.

WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH THE CO-OP?
The Olympia Food Co-op has traditionally been dedicated to social justice issues. The founders and early workers (some of whom are still working here) were and are activists on many different levels. Social change work was written into the founding documents.

The mission statement of the Co-op states:

“We strive to make human effects on the earth and its inhabitants positive and renewing and to encourage economic and social justice.”

Some of the goals in the mission are:

“Support efforts to foster a socially and economically egalitarian society” and “Support efforts to increase democratic process.”

The Co-op has always supported peace efforts, local producers, fair trade, anti globalization protests, and other social change activities. Many hours of staff labor and thought have gone into making the Co-op a more socially sustainable organization. Some examples of how this work has manifested are: the product selection and packaging guidelines, the boycott policy, support of the TULIP credit union, our low income, elder, and disability memberships and discounts, the assisted shopper program, and more.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE STAFF COLLECTIVE EVOLUTION
When the Co-op first became a storefront with paid workers, a very small group of people created the collective structure that the present staff still works under. That group of people decided to work collectively with a consensus decision making structure. Consensus is a method of group decision-making that takes into account everyone’s voice and where, ideally, everyone is heard equally. This structure is one of the backbones of the Co-op Staff collective. In its implicit inclusivity, consensus is a non hierarchical method of decision making. It is more work than voting or having a boss handing down their decisions to the workers, but the payoff comes in the long run, and the Co-op is richer for that investment. Back to the history lesson.

So, as the Olympia Food Co-op grew over the years, the staff numbers grew as well. Originally the collective only numbered about 6 people. Before the Eastside store opened, there were 13 collective members, and that number doubled with the opening of the new store. Each year, more staff has been needed to meet the demands of the ever growing business. At this time, the collective has 56 members.

As the group was growing, staff felt the need to “diversify”. At that time, diversity mostly meant recruiting and hiring qualified people of color. While this was a well intentioned act, growth and actual diversification meant dealing with issues the organization wasn’t prepared to face. Conflicts over gender, class, and race came up as a result of the growth. This outcome and how it manifested was unexpected. In order to help staff get through the ensuing challenges, there was an effort to become more educated by attending “diversity trainings.”

One thing that became more and more clear was that there was a whole new dynamic afoot when it came to communication here at the Co-op. You see, when you have diversity, you bring into the mix all the realities of the society at large. The varying realities of oppression automatically make it so that not everyone has the same voice. Remember the part from the beginning about how our society works? So, as you may see, suddenly consensus seems a little idealistic. How can you hear everyone’s voice equally if it is not the reality of the world? It seems many people may think, in this case, you can just create a place where, despite the realities of society, we will treat everyone the same and act as if there are no differences. Is that realistic? Is it sustainable? Is it even attainable? Do you think that we have accomplished that? Do we really want to?

WHERE THE STAFF IS GOING WITH THIS WORK
From my experience of where we are at this time as an organization, we are just barely starting to see the reality of oppression, how it affects us, and what we can do about it. As it is, this organization is made up of individuals who are all in different places with this work, based on their identities and self awareness. In a survey that we did last year, we found that the spectrum of staff awareness goes all the way from thinking that oppression doesn’t even exist and efforts towards anti-oppression should be kept out of their workplace to some who are dealing with it on a daily and continual basis and desperately wanting their workplace to be safer for them. So, now where do we go? How do we find a common place to work on this together as an organization and to share it with the larger community? Can we?

In the last few years, many conflicts based on issues of oppression have led staff toward having to figure out our stance on anti-oppression work in the organization. Many staff have been doing individual work toward their own understanding. That work looks like everything from a book group, to intense conversations, to dealing with privilege and the conflict that brings. Reflecting on the survey I spoke of earlier, everyone is still in dramatically different places with that work. As for the organization, there has been a slow movement to incorporate anti-oppression into our daily work and awareness.

We are trying to get our organizational documents to reflect ideals of social change through anti-oppression. In the staff’s Collective Process and Consensus Decision Making Manual it states:

“The Olympia Food Co-op was founded and developed almost exclusively by white people. The main issues of privilege were around class, sexual orientation, and gender. We have consciously worked to diversify our staff. With that expansion we have worked to improve our education with regard to oppression and empowerment. In order to survive we must continue that work wholeheartedly. This means that we must examine our agent rank and make goals to develop into change agents. All of our current materials regarding work and how we work together must be evaluated and expanded in order to create a dynamic of change and growth and empowerment. It is not enough that we say we believe in diversity and equal rights for everyone. We have to actively embrace our different jobs with regard to change and development, and we must evaluate our progress with regard to that work as we evaluate our progress meeting order deadlines and giving customer service.”

So, we are talking about embracing this work. Agreeing on how to do that and using the tools of consensus with a group of people as large as we are has proven to be a daunting task. We are merely at the stage of realizing that in order to do this work as a group, we need to start with ourselves as individuals, and we also need to acknowledge the effect of this work on everyday tasks in the stores. As a collective, we need to agree upon ways to support each individual in their own work and be able to recognize this work in an evaluative and empowering way that acknowledges our differences in ways that go further than we ever have. We need to be able to see each individual we work with and be aware of how societal oppressions affect one’s reality as a collective member. We need to look at ourselves with that same lens also.

SCRATCHING THE SURFACE
Beyond the ideals written into our documents, the actual expectations remain ambiguous. At this time, all new staff and Board of Directors members go through a 3 to 6 hour intensive anti oppression training. We are also spending quite a bit of time trying to figure out how to rework our collective management structure to better fit our growth in numbers and awareness of social justice. In our reorganization of the management structure, there are a number of organizational committees either existing or being created for the purpose of supporting, educating, and empowering individuals in the issues of oppression. Some of these committees are: the Anti-Oppression Committee, the Conflict Resolution Committee, and the Consensus Process Committee. These committees and others are creating space to deal with how societal reality impedes equality and consensus at the Co-op, in Olympia, and in the world as a whole. We are trying to create structures we can all agree to that will empower the voices society disempowers, as well as hold accountable those with privilege. We are just beginning to scratch the surface of understanding. As we slowly evolve, we hope to share with our community what we discover, and we also hope to support the efforts being made by groups and individuals outside of the Co-op to move toward a more aware, egalitarian, and sustainable society.

By monica villarreal, staff member

Co-op News February & March 2006 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News December 2005 & January 2006 PDF
CO-OP DONATIONS
There are many joyful things about working at the Co-op, and one of the most joyful things that I get to do is coordinate the donations budget. I love giving money away, and I love that our members and customers provide us with the opportunity to support our community and the many frontline projects and non profits agencies that save lives every day.

Every year, the Co-op allocates a certain amount of money in the operating budget to be used for donation. In profitable years, the Board of Directors also allocates 10% of the profits to community donations. This year, the operating budget included $5,000 for donation, and the Board will distribute an additional $9,4000. We also use a significant portion of our advertising dollars to sponsor community events and important community services.

For the last several years, fundraising for non profits has been particularly difficult. Government social service programs get cut back further each year, creating a larger and larger demand for basics like food and shelter. In 2004, many good hearted progressives used their personal donations budgets on the presidential campaign. Immediately following the campaign season, the tsunami hit Indonesia. The fall, Katrina, Rita, and now, the horrifying earthquake in Pakistan have all created huge needs for financial resources. Gas prices are high, and dollars are tight. As local retailers face big box competition, even that pool of donation money has shrunk some. We feel very lucky and privileged to be able to continue to donate resources to our community and the world.

I get 5 – 20 requests for donations every week. I slice our $5,000 budget as thin as possible. Some organizations get on going donations to support their kitchens, such as Media Island and the Safeplace shelter. We have donated to United Community AIDS Network, Bread and Roses, Stonewall Youth, Olympia Film Society Capitol Theater, Special Olympics, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Olympia Movement for Justice & Peace, Procession of the Species, Thurston – Santo Tomas Sister County Association, Projecto CIELO ESL classes, Evergreen Coalition Against Sexual Assault, LASO, Dispute Resolution, several schools and childcare centers, and many others. We also used this budget to match community fundraising events for Tsunami Relief, Katrina Relief, and Kashmir Earthquake Relief.

We have used our advertising money to sponsor large and small community events, including the Bicycle Commuter Contest, Mud Bay Jugglers 25th Anniversary Benefit Show for Bread and Roses, Olympia Film Festival, and Olympia Teen Fest, to name just a few. We also underwrite local broadcast of Democracy Now! And support Works In Progress, Sitting Duck, the Senior News, the Green Pages, and many event programs with our ad dollars.

With the exception of the disaster relief efforts, the vast majority of our donations are made to local organizations. Our budget is too small to make donations to individuals, so we work with organizations that work with individual needs. We do not donate to national charities with huge fundraising overhead, international fronts for the CIA, specific religions, and rarely donate to those “sexier” charities that have a much easier time raising funds.

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for contributing to the Co-op’s financial stability that allows us to make these donations and support our community. We’d also like to thank the thousands of volunteers who donate their time to these incredible community organizations. You save lives every day.

By Grace Cox, staff member

Co-op News December 2005 & January 2006 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News October & November 2005 PDF
FAIR TRADE WITHIN YOUR REACH
It’s easy to sink into political depression these days. The news is bad, from the ongoing war against Iraq to the horrible bungling of the Hurricane Katrina relief effort, with all of its racist and classist implications. In downtown Managua, Nicaragua, dying banana workers are living in a tent city, under black plastic held up by sticks. Poisoned by Nemagon, a United States manufactured pesticide used on nonorganic banana trees, the workers are begging their own government for assistance for themselves and their families. Meanwhile, the U.S. government passes the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement, which will limit the banana workers’ rights even further, including taking away their right to sue the U.S. corporation that poisoned them.

It’s clear that the governments aren’t going to fix these problems, at least not in the short run. People to people efforts are our best hope. As consumers in the world’s largest market, we have ability to improve the health and well being of our fellow workers throughout the world. By choosing to honor boycotts & buycotts (such as buying Citgo gas — wholly owned by the Venezuelan government and therefore not contributing to the greed and blood thirst of the United States oil corporations) and buying fairly traded products when possible, we can use our dollars more wisely.

Opportunities to purchase fairly traded products here in Olympia have grown significantly in recent years. Downtown, The Old Bakery coffee shop brews only fairly traded coffee beans. The coffee shop is located just off the corner of 4th and Washington, in the first floor of the Security Building. The coffee they serve is roasted by Full Circle Olympia Coffee Company, and several of their roasts are available at the Co-op.

Batdorf & Bronson, long committed to improving conditions for coffee producers through the Coffee Kids program as well as by paying a fair price, have recently certified some products with TransFair, the major United States fair trade certifying agency. These beans are now available at Batdorf & Bronson outlets as well as the Food Co-op.

The Olympia Food Co-op has maintained its commitment to fair trade coffee for years. In 2003, I had the privilege of traveling with Equal Exchange to Coyona, Peru. Equal Exchange is the largest United States importer of fairly traded coffee from around the world. A worker owned cooperative, Equal Exchange works with cooperative coffee exporters who in turn work with base level producer co-ops.

Coyona is a tiny town high in the mountains of northern Peru. All the residents of the community grow coffee, and all are members of the Coyona Coffee Cooperative. Together they own a small depulping and drying facility as well as trucks to transport their coffee to the processing facility. Coyona Coffee Cooperative is a member of Cepicafe, the export co-op located in Piura, Peru.

Bananas, not only a great source of potas sium, are now available fairly traded at both Co-op locations. Mangos and several new chocolate bars also have fair trade certifications. The most exciting news, however, comes from Traditions Fair Trade. There you can find tee shirts and sneakers you can feel good about purchasing. In the retro style of Converse All-Stars (now owned and produced by Nike in sweatshops around the world), these “No Sweat” shoes come complete with a comprehensive labor co tent disclosure form. Produced by members of the Confederation of Indonesian Employees Unions, Textile, Clothing & Leather, the shoes were introduced in 6 locations in the United States, and Olympia was lucky to be one. Workers who produce these shoes earn a base wage that is 20% above minimum wage, a significant rice allowance, and 100% coverage of medical expenses (80% for family members). They also receive allowances for accidents, burial, maternity, meals, work clothing and shoes, transportation, gratuities, pension, and 8 weeks pay for Ramadan. Originally available only in black low-top style, the shoes now come in several colors, including pink, thanks to a collaboration between No Sweat and Code Pink, the organization of women activists committed to promoting peace and ending global corporate dominance.

This summer I had the opportunity to visit the Women’s Sewing Cooperative of Nueva Vida, outside Managua, Nicaragua. Nueva Vida was established as a refugee community after Hurricane Mitch devastated Nicaragua in 1998. While aid money poured into Nueva Vida to provide emergency intervention, funding for sustainable economic development was not available. The intentional community known as Jubilee House asked Nueva Vida residents what they needed most. The answer came clearly: we need sustainable employment.

At about the same time, Mike Woodard of Jubilee House and Bela Burda (owner of Maggie’s Organics) met by chance at a conference on organics. Originally committed to producing clothing exclusively inside borders of the U.S., Maggie’s Organics had lost several suppliers to bankruptcy. Additionally, they were increasingly aware that immigrant women, under conditions of indentured servitude, produce much U.S. made clothing in domestic sweatshops. Still, they were reluctant to move production offshore. When Bela asked Mike about his work in Nicaragua, she heard of the great need for sustainable employment in Nueva Vida. She asked, “Does anyone there sew?” Mike responded that some 40,000 Nicaraguans work in the textile industry in sweatshops in the free trade zones. Thus, collaboration was born.

Jubilee House had identified worker owned cooperatives as a viable means to achieve economic sustainability. When Mike returned to Nueva Vida, he met with a group of women to discuss Bela’s proposal. The women were excited, yet unsure they could overcome the obstacles before them. First, they would need a building. Intimidated by the project, the women spent a week deciding whether or not to proceed. But once the decision was made, the women of the cooperative dedicated themselves to the construction project. They cleared the land, placed the supports, built the walls with concrete block, and installed windows, doors, and the traditional corrugated tin roof. Once the machines were installed, the women of Nueva Vida Women’s Sewing Cooperative knew they could realize their dream of sustainable employment. “I cry sometimes from happiness because of the strength we have,” said Zulema Mena, president of the Sewing Cooperative.

In 2004, the Nueva Vida Cooperative attained another milestone – they received the status of a free trade zone. Free trade zone status gives manufacturers a series of tax breaks and access to lower import and export fees. This status is generally given to large multinational corporations who run sweatshops in the zones. Nueva Vida is the first cooperatively owned enterprise to receive free trade zone status. To read more about Nueva Vida, check out their web site at www.fairtradezone.jhc-cdca. org. And now, the tee shirts they produce are available right here in Olympia, Washington, and we plan to use them for the next run of Olympia Food Co-op shirts. To find out more about Fair Trade, please refer to the sidebar for websites and organizations of interest. Visiting the above mentioned businesses and viewing (or purchasing) products will also make the concept more tangible. Fair Trade actually allows you to feel good about shopping and more importantly, allows you to affect positive social change.

FAIR TRADE LINKS

Transfair USA 

COOP America 

Equiterre 

Fairtrade Labeling Organizations International (FLO) 

Fair Trade Federation 

Fair Trade Resource Network 

Organic Consumers Association 

Oxfam America 

By Grace Cox, staff member

Co-op News October & November 2005 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News August & September 2005 PDF
LEFT FOOD ORGANICS: MORE THAN LOCAL PRODUCE
Do you ever wonder where those robust heads of lettuce, spicy bunches of mustard greens, and deliciously crunchy bundles of bok choy come from? Have you noticed that these items are often locally grown and delivered to the Co-op fresh from the farm to our cooling racks? Here at the Co-op we spend a great deal of time collaborating with local growers and producers to make good food accessible to more people while supporting local production. One such farm is Left Foot Organics.

It was a cool, cloudy June day when we set out to meet the staff and growers of Left Foot Organics. Situated on an old dairy farm fifteen minutes south of Olympia, Left Foot Organics is bringing inspiration and tasty organic food to the people of the region. Founded in 2001 by veteran USDA agricultural economist Ann Vandeman, Left Food set itself apart from most market farms. Whereas most local organic farms in the region are for profit, Left Foot is a registered 201(c)3 not for profit venture. The individuals here strive to produce high quality produce for their CSA subscribers and market customers, in addition to “providing employment and life skills training to people with disabilities and to use these activities as a means of educating the public about people with disabilities and the need for inclusion.”

With little more than two acres currently in production, and 10 – 12 developmentally disabled growers on staff, the folks out here are busy planting, weeding, tending, and harvesting over fifty varieties of vegetables. They have now ventured into growing vegetable starts and perennial crops as well. Left Foot’s success is largely attributable to the dedicated and spirited folks who work their hoes and shovels where their good intentions lead them. Vandeman would likely agree that none of this would have been possible without the generous support of local businesses, farmers, unions, volunteers, community members, friends, a caring staff, and the dedicated growers who work the land daily. Left Foot is a reminder that people with disabilities are often overlooked and undervalued in our culture. Very few businesses truly embrace the opportunity to work with the developmentally disabled and even fewer actually take up the arduous task of equipping them with the tools they will need to succeed. At Left Foot, the development and growth of the individual is as important as that of the plants in their care. Vandeman states that “we want the community that these folks work in to be welcoming them — in employment, in school, in social life — and so we’re creating that kind of environment here on the farm where everybody is working together toward common goals and contributing to the best of their abilities.”

This goal is achieved in a variety of ways. One way is through programs such as Growing Partners, a collaborative endeavor with Children and Youth Services, which attempts to model inclusive community development by fostering relationships with typically developing youth and developmentally disabled youth. The hope is that the youth will take the knowledge, skills, and compassion they gain in the program with them throughout their lives. This relationship can help break down the pressures of peer modeling and provide a safe space for people with developmental disabilities to feel integrated and supported. Inclusion is key to this work because people with developmental disabilities often communicate differently, sometimes non verbally, and without an inclusive environment, they are shut out and alienated.

As we walk amongst the rocky, weedy fields of lettuce, basil, cabbage, and other sundry offerings I begin to feel my body relax. Suddenly the cars passing nearby are less noticeable, and the sound of Ann’s voice is more audible. I even reach down and start pulling weeds from the parsley as Ann introduces us to Heide, one of Left Foot’s oldest growers and best friends. Heide loves the farm and is clearly proficient in her work. Where she was once very shy and in need of a great deal of one on one coaching, she now works independently and steadily.

You can find Left Foot certified organic produce at the farm stand on Case Road, the Co-op, the OlySunday Market in downtown, at both the Proctor and downtown Tacoma farmer’s markets, Bayview, and Ralph’s Thriftway. If you are interested in volunteering with Left Foot, give Kristin Ohler, AmeriCorps volunteer coordinator, a call. Contributions can be made in person at the farm or online at leftfootorganics.org. All contributions are tax deductible and, in some cases, come with a gift.

By Kim Langston and Erin Majors, staff members

Co-op News August & September 2005 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News June & July 2005 PDF
THE CO-OP GARDEN CENTERS HAVE GROWN!
Summer is here, and nowhere are people more happy than in the coastal Pacific Northwest, where the winter (and spring and fall) usually consists of one long, gray rainy season. Now we get to reap the benefits of all that rain by enjoying lush plant life and moist soil. Although most of us may have started preparing our gardens in March or April, there is still plenty of time to put one in, and there are still many tasks left to amend the garden already planted. The Co-op’s garden centers are just the places for plants, products and tools to help you establish or enhance your gardens.

WE’VE REMODELED
The garden centers at both stores have recently been improved to provide more products and better access. The eastside store saw the actual creation of a small building right by the front door to house its garden products. This idea had been simmering for eight years or so and was finally completed by Kirk Trowbridge, a Co-op member, who built it on spare evenings and weekends. It is an attractive wood building that complements the existing store quite nicely. Now, instead of garden supplies being jammed into the produce section, one can find the tools, fertilizers and accessories laid out clearly. There is also room in which to store the plant cart at night.

The westside has been improved by the work of Erika Koltveit, also known as “the Norwegian Carpenter”. She added new shelf space to the existing area, which now has a removable shelf and will allow for storage of live trees. Although the remodel was not completed before fruit tree season, the Co-op plans to carry fruit trees and other seasonal trees from Burnt Ridge Nursery. Also, a new cart has doubled the amount of plant starts the westside can carry.

The remodels at both stores mean the Co-op will be able to increase the amount and variety of products it carries. At the eastside, this means carrying pallets instead of bags of peat moss free potting soils and organic fertilizers or adding more tools and accessories such as composting tools, clay pots and planter boxes, and hand tools like clippers and gloves. Also look for more perennials and hanging plant baskets because of the increased display room.

The westside store will continue to highlight edible plants such as: vegetable starts and herbs, organic fertilizers, com posting and garden tools, tree starts, and worm tea and castings from Wiser Worm Farm (also at the eastside).

BUY LOCAL, GARDEN LOCAL!
Both stores share a “buy local as much as possible (and organic of course)” philosophy according to Gary Galbreath and Patrice Barrentine, garden center managers of the east and west side stores, respectively. Gary raves about the Co-op’s relationship with Gary Kline of Black Lake Organics and his genius in cultivating organic, sustainable fertilizers. He recommends paying a visit to him at Black Lake Organics beyond purchasing his products at the stores. Patrice, also a co-manager of the produce department, talks excitedly about the close relationship we have with our growers of plant starts. This year she was able to request specific plant starts from Pigman’s Organics to fill niches that other suppliers may not cover. Spring Creek Farm, Stoney Plains and the Secret Gardener are other local farms that supply our plant starts.

The Co-op buys its seeds from Territorial Seed Company of Cottage Grove, Oregon. They have increased their stock of organic, biodynamic and heirloom seeds and remain a non-corporate company (unlike Seeds of Change, who is now owned by M&M Mars). Their seeds are also cultivated in our bioregion and are formulated for our growing conditions. Our garden accessories come from Down to Earth, a company based in Eugene, Oregon. They supply the Co-op with gardening and housewares such as chimes, potting soils, gloves and composting tools. The garden center managers are currently seeking alternatives to gardening tools made in China (keeping with a national boycott by food co-ops) but are finding it difficult to find, as well as maintain, a line of product that others will want to buy elsewhere at competitive prices.

The Co-op garden centers plan to offer products seasonally that will encourage shoppers to be able to garden all year ‘round. Look for winter garden seeds in July and flower and garlic bulbs (in 10 pound bags) in August and September.

The Co-op’s garden centers are not terribly large but they fulfill a part of our mission in encouraging local production and growing practices that are sustain able for the Earth. You can purchase sup plies here knowing that great care and thought goes into product selection and that many of the products are the result of many local farms and/or companies. Patrice says it well when she said,” we want to encourage people to take a small part in supplying their own kitchen while realizing the pleasure in that practice.” Check out our newly expanded garden centers and see how you can engage with the world of growing!

Co-op News June & July 2005 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News April & May 2005 PDF
LOCAL PRODUCE AT THE OLYMPIA FOOD CO-OP
Did you know that the Olympia Food Co-op works in partnership with local farms and orchards to bring you the freshest produce available? In addition to CSA shares and the farmers market, Co-op members are able to purchase fresh, local produce right here in our stores. If you look closely at many of the signs in the produce section, you may notice WA instead of CA and probably familiar names of farms in the corners. This program is yet another example of the Co-op’s continued commitment to fostering local production and economy. Each December, the Co-op produce managers invite all of the farmers and orchardists who we bought from in the past season, as well as growers newly interested in working with the Co-op, to our annual farmers meeting. The farmers receive with their invitations, a local grower Intend to Grow form, a 2004 local farm survey, and guidelines for farmer sales to the Olympia Food Co-op info sheet. The farmers bring this completed information paperwork to our meeting. This year we had over thirty farmers come to our delicious potluck meeting — featuring a dish made from something you grow. It is here that we share successes of the previous season and brainstorm improvements for the season to come. During the potluck, farmers are able to share ideas and offer support to each other about all sorts of issues. Because of our success in building both business and community, there are a large, and still growing, number of local farms and orchards wanting to sell to us. The next step of the local produce process is for the Co-op’s produce managers to consolidate all of the farm or orchard’s Intend to Grow lists, some of which have more than 50 items. From the combined Intend to Grow lists, we make a master list that we call the Local Buying Guide. The Local Buying Guide helps the produce managers organize their orders based on current availability. The principles we use in our buying guide prioritization are:

1. distributing the Co-op’s buying power as equally as possible between all of the farms and orchards

2. buying from the smaller farms that have fewer items to sell to us over larger farms growing the same items

3. quality of produce

4. ability to meet the quantity required by our demand

5. ensuring delivery – can a farm bring the product as often as we need it while ensuring product freshness.

This may sound like a fairly straight forward process, but it becomes complicated as we divide a single crop of something like cucumbers into one farm being the primary supplier for the westside Co-op, and a different farm being the primary supplier for the eastside Co-op (or vice-versa). Then, there may be two other farms that serve as the secondary supplier of cucumbers for each of the Co-ops. Other farms may serve as the third supplier, and then sometimes we divide a single, long season crop into an early supplier or late supplier.

In January or February of each year, the Co-op’s produce managers get together and appoint the new local farm coordinator for the season. The local farm coordinator is responsible for coordinating all of the information regarding availability and pricing of produce as well as any other issues that crop up (did you catch the pun?). Each week throughout the season, the local farm coordinator creates a Local Order Guide that lists each farm or orchard and all of the items they have available to sell to us.

THE CO-OP’S PRICING SYSTEM
One of the most important aspects of this process is the method the Co-op uses to determine the wholesale prices we pay to the farmers and the retail prices we sell the produce for. The produce the Co-op sells from non local farms comes from two large wholesale produce distributors, based in Seattle and Portland. For these items, the Co-op uses a flat 50% mark-up to establish our retail prices. For our local farms, we use a mark-up system that attempts to “level the playing field” for small local farmers. We do this through two steps:

1. Determining the wholesale cost: we pay local farmers 13% above the amount that the big wholesalers charge.

2. Marking-up to retail: we markup local produce 32% to establish our retail price.

Although we pay more to farmers than we pay to the large distributors, our local produce is competitively priced because we use a lower markup for local produce. In this way the Co-op is creating a reliable marketplace to local farmers and a steady source of local produce to our members at the same prices we would charge for products from the big distributors.

Westside produce manager, Patrice Barrentine, shares some sentiments about the Co-op’s local produce program:

“Our local produce program makes me proud to be involved in the successful and sustainable relationship between local farmers and the produce departments of our member owned food Co-op. The Co-op, as a retail store, has a unique and valuable connection to over 25 farms and orchards that market their high quality produce through us to you, our members, and the public at large. Talking with farmers has become one of my favorite times of the week. As this outdoor growing season approaches, I look forward to it eagerly. I am pleased to participate in bringing you the best produce available from our local farms and Washington orchards.”

Co-op News April & May 2005 PDF

Quarterly News

FAIR TRADE
United Farm Workers are teaming up with small orchardists in Washington state to produce what will be the nation’s first fairly traded apples and pears. Recognizing that farmworkers and small farmers have more economic commonalities than differences, the campaign will enlist the support of consumers and retailers to see that a larger percent of the retail price of the fruit actually returns to the farmers and farmworkers.

Right now, when you pay a dollar a pound for an apple, the farmworkers make about 4 cents, the farmers make 7 cents, the middle folks (retailers and wholesalers) make 68 cents and the other 21 cents pays for packing, sales and transportation. This kind of breakdown leaves farmer and farmworker alike on the bottom of the food chain.

Just like many of the world’s coffee producers, the Washington State apple industry is in trouble. In recent years, low prices have led to the loss of nearly 25,000 acres of productive orchards.

Mexico is the largest purchaser of Washington State apples. In 1998 four Mexican labor unions filed a complaint against the state’s apple industry. The complaint, filed under the labor side agreement of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), alleges that United States laws on labor protections are either inadequate or aren’t being enforced. Although unlikely, Mexico could seek trade sanctions against the apple industry.

United Farm Workers and local growers are taking their cues from the Fair Trade Coffee campaign, which has set price and production standards that keep small farmers in business and give consumers confidence in what they are buying. Teaming up under a Fair Trade label is a win-win-win proposition for farmworkers, growers and consumers alike. Under the Fair Trade label, wages and working conditions would meet certain standards, and the growers will be guaranteed a higher share of the profits.

Most people care about how their food is produced. When they can afford it, most people will choose products that have been produced justly and conscientiously. When retailers are convinced of this, and do their part to inform their customers of the conditions under which their food is produced, a market can be built for domestic Fair Trade fresh produce.

AND THEN THERE’S CHOCOLATE…
With over a million cocoa farms and plantations, the Ivory Coast of Africa is the world’s largest producer of cocoa beans. Last fall, a British documentary entitled “Slavery” reported that 90 percent of Ivory Coast cocoa plantations use slave labor. Human traffickers entice people, primarily young men and boys from the impoverished areas in Benin, Togo and Mali, to work in the cocoa plantations. They promise them paid work, housing and an education. Instead, they sell them to Ivory Coast cocoa plantations owners, where they are forced to work grueling 18-hour days for little to no pay.

40% of the world’s cocoa comes from the Ivory Coast. Like so many other commodities, cocoa is traded on international exchanges. Cocoa beans from the Ivory Coast are mixed with beans from other countries, making it impossible for large chocolate manufacturers to guarantee that their chocolate is not grown by slave labor. Also like so many commodity products, cocoa prices have dropped dramatically over the past 4 years, from a high in 1997 of $1800 (US)/ton to $982/ton this year. Much of this drop in price is driven by a 95 percent increase in production in the Ivory Coast during the 1980’s. Larger and larger cocoa plantations have displaced over 9.4 million hectares of rainforest, devastating the area’s biodiversity.

Transfair, certifiers of Fair Trade coffee, is working to bring fair trading standards to cocoa production. La Siembra Co-operative, in Ottawa Canada imports fair trade cocoa directly from small family farms in Latin American and the Caribbean. These cocoa beans are organic, shade grown, and trade for a minimum price of $1750/ton, protecting the environment and the financial stability of the growers.

The Co-op is committed to making fair trade chocolate products available as they become available to us. Watch for La Siembra Co-operatives products soon, or get them at Traditions Fair Trade, corner of 5th and Water in downtown Olympia.

By Grace Cox
Staff Member

Co-op News Winter 2002 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News Summer 2000 PDF
ASSISTED SHOPPER PROGRAM
At long last, the Olympia Food Co-op is proud to now offer an Assisted Shopper Program to its members! What is an Assisted Shopper Program? Well, at the Co-op, it means that elders and people with disabilities can get free assistance with their shopping from working members. Help is available with instore shopping, or folks who find it hard to come into the store to shop can have their groceries delivered to them at home.

The Assisted Shopper Program has been in the works for over a year. For those of you who don’t know, the Co-op has a job description know as diversity coordinator (or coordinators, as the case may be). The diversity coordinators work to make the store more accessible to all people and provide ongoing educational opportunities for staff and the Co-op community about issues of diversity, oppression and privilege. They put on the Diversity Forum nights, set up the monthly book displays, and help the store acquire equipment such as the accessible electric door and the motorized shopping cart.

Customers have been expressing a need for an Assisted Shopper Program for some time, but with the turnover of coordinators that has happened over the last year, it hasn’t been until recently that we were finally able to sit down and hammer out the logistics of such a system.

So how does it work? Customers who are interested in using the program can pick up a contact form at either store or call and have one mailed to them. You tell us what kind of assistance you would like and best times for you to shop. After the form is returned to a staff person, the working member coordinators will match up the customer with a working member who is available to shop at times that correspond with the customer’s needs. The system is free of charge – the customer is not responsible for paying gas or mileage for the delivery. Food stamp benefits can be used; the designated shopper simply uses the EBT card of the assisted shopper.

We expect the program to be fully functioning by the time you read this article. Keep your eye out for trainings for working members who are interested in being designated shoppers. For more information about the program, talk to Tara at the eastside Co-op.

By Tara Perkins, staff member

Co-op News Summer 2000 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News April 2000 PDF
HELP NEEDED TO INCLUDE ORGANICS IN WASHINGTON’S WIC PROGRAM
Did you know that 44% of the infants in the United States receive vouchers from WIC, the joint state and federal Women Infants and Children supplemental nutrition program? These vouchers purchase milk, cheese, eggs, juice, vegetables, tuna, peanut butter, and cereal. The WIC program does not allow the purchase of these products if they are labeled ORGANIC. Therefore, many mothers in the WIC program are denied the option of making sure their children’s diet is free from chemical residues and genetically modified foods AND none of the federal or state dollars that funnel through this large program to support organic farmers. Don’t you think that low income mothers should have the choice whether to purchase organic foods for their precious children?

The National Academy of Science, in the report “Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children,” published in 1993 in response to the Alar scare, made several recommendations. Their conclusions were based on data generated by the FDA, EPA and USDA, and reviewed by hundreds of medical specialists, and this is what they found:

• Since children’s systems are physiologically immature, they don’t have the immune system filtering ability to defend themselves adequately against these compounds.
• Children eat more food per pound of body weight, which increases the “mg/Kg” of pesticides consumed.
• Children also have less variety in their diets, making each food, such as apple juice, a larger component of the diet. Therefore, children are exposed to higher doses of pesticides than their adult counterparts.

The National Academy of Science specifically recommends that we delay the age of first exposure to carcinogenic and toxic pesticide residues. It is essential for WIC recipients to have the ability to choose organic foods, which are grown without these substances and which are tested regularly – not randomly – for possible contamination. Since carcinogens are measured by “lifetime load” risk levels, why wouldn’t we want our most nutritionally at risk population to be protected from reaching lifetime load levels early in their lives? (It was estimated that infants consume 35% of the lifetime load of one particular fungicide by their first birthday.) Please support our effort to allow WIC recipients to follow the recommendations of the National Academy of Science through the option of buying organic foods with their vouchers.

On January 25, 2000, Washington Sustainable Food and Farming network formed a task force to compel WIC to go organic. On June 30, 2000, a WIC panel in Olympia will decide whether to include organic food in the Washington WIC food package.

Co-op News April 2000 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News November 1997 PDF
EDITORS NOTE
As press time drew near, and I still hadn’t written my column, I searched my thoughts for what message I wanted to share in this “holiday” issue of the Co-op News. In past years, we have written articles about what you can purchase at the Co-op as you buy your holiday gifts, and we have written pieces about the pre Christian symbols which still remain as icons of Christmas and New Year. We have provided suggestions on how to “wrap” your presents in baskets or other containers that can be used again, rather than using wrapping paper which immediately becomes waste material after the unwrapping. (I know, there are those of you who carefully unwrap and reuse the paper. I try to do that, too.)

But my point is, that in the grand scheme of the Co-op’s mission and goals, the concept of diversity and honoring all cultures on this planet has become more and more prevalent in our thoughts, in our newsletter articles, and in our trainings and staff & worker discussions. And, in that spirit, the time has come for us to look back into history to see where some of our traditions truly began. This historical searching can give us truth, which can allow us to move forward in a way that embraces the responsibility of creating new traditions which honor what really took place instead of the fairy tales that permeate our popular (commercial) American culture.

The following piece was given to me by staff member Gary Galbreath. I know that it has influenced my way of thinking about the fourth Thursday in November, and I want to share it with you.

“throughout the u.s., thanksgiving is celebrated by millions of families. they gather to feast and most are unaware of the true history of the holiday. america’s schools have taught many americans that the coming of the pilgrims made everyone happy. in reality, it was the beginning of the longest war in the u.s.; the extermination of the People.

thanksgiving day was first proclaimed by the governor of the massachusetts bay colony in 1637 to commemorate the massacre of 700 men women and children who were celebrating their annual green corn dance in their own house… gathered at this place of meeting, they were attached by mercenaries, english and dutch. The People were ordered from the building and as they came forth they were shot down. the rest were burned alive in the building … the very next day the governor declared a thanksgiving day. for the following 100 years, every thanksgiving day ordained by a governor was to honor a bloody victory, thanking god that the “battle” had been won.”

Can we move into another century without rethinking our national holidays? We must admit the atrocities of the past and move forward toward healing by taking responsibility for our actions in the past, present and future. Thanksgiving is coming up. What will happen at your table that day to begin the healing revolution?

By Nancy Sigafoos, Co-op News editor

Co-op News November 1997 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News July 1997 PDF
EASTSIDE
Author and international lecturer Quentin Crisp once said, “My function in life was to render clear what was already blindingly conspicuous.” In my case, though, that isn’t necessarily so …

The problem over the last couple newsletters has been that the majority of stuff going on at the eastside Co-op is not all that visual, but has more to do with changes that those of us at the Co-op are going through at this time in history. It all started with the newsletter on diversity. That issue’s appearance in our collective mailboxes brought up an entire slew of things a lot of us had never thought of before. I’ve talked to staff and Co-op members alike, and it seems that the overriding thesis is that we’re not comfortable with ourselves. Our ways of being with each other just don’t quite fit us anymore, like a shirt that we’ve outgrown. So … what does that mean? It means it’s time to make a new shirt.

In that spirit, two diversity coordinator positions were formed to help the Co-op create its new clothes; to start the process of change. Our goal is to “draw a pattern” for new lines of communication to follow, so that everyone, whether Co-op member, staff, or working member, can more fully bring themselves into the store. To live diversity, rather than just talk about it. I believe that I told you in the last newsletter that the staff folks had decided to get the ball rolling on this by going to a diversity training, just to see where we are in the process. It was quite an eye opener. One of the many things that we learned was that we are, for the lack of a better phrase, “back in elementary school.” We must go back to the basics and unlearn some of the things that we’ve learned, in order that we might more fully embrace ourselves, and in so doing, become more fully able to embrace others. So, the staff of both stores have given up the upcoming July 4th “holiday,” and scheduled a day long workshop to begin the real work that our talking about diversity founded.

Now I can just hear some of you saying, “Well, what does that do for me?” Let me put it to you this way … the mission of the Co-op, aside from just putting out the best available food for the cheapest available prices, is to be a part of the Olympia community. To do that, it’s vital that we understand, and can interact with, the broadest range of the community possible. We all need to recognize things like the fact that there are folks who have been doing holistic medicine for years, and those who are just hearing about it. There are people in our community who have eaten plantains since they were children, and folks who just tried their first one yesterday. There are people who want to try every kind of food that the human race has ever cooked, and those that only want meat and potatoes.

But it goes beyond even that … the other day I put a CD of Algerian music on the stereo. This made Karim, one of our new staff members, extremely excited because, he said, it was music he didn’t expect to hear outside his own house. This taught me that the music we play, or don’t play, is also a way to embrace, or ignore, our community. I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this … that there are myriad ways in which all of us can embrace each other and ourselves. For the Co-op to embrace the community, it needs to reflect a larger range of the people that inhabit it. One Co-op member described the Co-op to me in this way, “Hey!” she said, “The Co-op is, like, this funky, groovy, hippie place where everything’s pretty laid back.” Yes, I can see that, but it will be a whole bunch more.

By Eion McReady, staff member

WESTSIDE

WELCOME
Lou Seligman is the new guy on the westside collective. He’s most recently from Minnesota and has tons of co-op experience. Howdy to Lou and his family.

HOT TIME, SUMMER IN THE CITY …
Many of the westside Co-op’s coolers and freezers are older than many of our customers … even the college age customers! On hot humid days, you can hear the compressors dutifully wheezing away in the back of the Co-op. We’re trying to get as many years out of the old machinery as we can (with a big thanks to Jim, our refrigeration wizard). You can help by opening the doors as little as possible during the summer.

TAKE TIME TO HELP US AND YOU
Summer is an excellent time to rack up the volunteer hours at the westside. Some families volunteer together and really accumulate discount hours. Sign up for a training at the Co-op. You can choose from social situations like cashiering or produce or less social tasks like cheese packaging or opening the store.

PUTTING OUT THINKING CAPS ON
Like the eastside, we will be closed for a staff workshop on July 4th. We’re trying to figure out how to run a 4 million dollar business with 34 employees. With consensus and working members, no less! I don’t know if it’s ever been done anywhere, but we will. I’s so cool our store is a successful renegade.

By Virginia Lange, staff member

Co-op News July 1997 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News November 1995 PDF
EASTSIDE
My goodness! Would you look at those leaves turning colors! I just love this time of year! We’ve bid a fond farewell to September and rushed head long into October with nary a backward glance. Well, maybe just this one backward glance that I’m going to make, so that ya’ll will be “up-to-speed” on the doing over here at the eastside store. September was “Back to School” month, and a lot of our young (and some not so young) members returned to the classroom for massive amounts of study and various other academia. Thanks to all of them for the terrific work that they did over the summer. (Boy! Will they be MISSED!)

September was also “Capital Plan Implementation” month, and a goodly number of the repair plans and a few upgrades that the Co-op needed went into effect. Two of them have gotten done already. One of them was that the deli was able to upgrade to a much needed industrial food processor. The other I’ll let the westside folks tell you about, because I don’t want them to go through the ceiling!

While we’re on the ceiling, the last day of September was the day that the staff and a core of wonderful working members counted everything from floor to ceiling thus completing another INVENTORY! If you weren’t one of the working members who helped out, you really missed out! There was laughter, fun, good music and conversation, not to mention the wonderful little buffet that fueled all of our fires ‘til the end was in sight. If you’re kicking yourself that you didn’t come in for inventory, we have another one coming up in December. Keep your eyes peeled for a poster announcing the day and time.

Don’t take your peepers off the future, yet, though because it’s time to take a beep at what’s coming up in October. First there’s going to be another of the capital plans finished … probably as this goes to print. The new French drain is being installed on the west side of the eastside store (confused?) down next to the warehouse, by our maintenance and repair manager, Fred, and his trusty working member, Doug. I took a look at it last night, and the hole looked pretty deep, so I’m grateful for all of their hard work. If you see ‘em, tell ‘em “Thanks,” if you feel the mood hit.

Also happening in October, All Hallows Eve is approaching, and the eastside has already laid in a supply of sugar free Halloween candy, which will be on the shelves for your trick or treat needs. These are accompanied by a pretty large batch of “sale” items for October, including many brand new products -such as caramel corn with nuts! – that may just surprise you. I know they surprised me!

Last of all, but by NO means least, is the fact that we’re now doing a slew of new working member trainings for folks who want to keep busy during the upcoming rainy season. Among the trainings planned are for the areas of deli, stocker, produce and cashier. We’re also in desperate need of openers and closers. If any of these sound like the working member job you’re aching for, contact Nina, our working member coordinator, and she’ll set you up.

So… that’s all the news I can think of this time. See ya!

By Eion McReady, staff member

WESTSIDE

RAISING THE ROOF
Thanks to an amazing crew of volunteers the ailing westside roof got torn off in an also amazing two days. The Co-op also got painted this month – thanks to Pyramid Painting and the leftover recycled paint from the eastside Co-op. We’ll be completing more capital plans in the next month. We’ll be moving most of the bulk department into more durable and cleanable dispensers AND increasing the product line. I’m excited about the new dairy cooler floor and the chance to ply, er, put in concrete into the mysterious access tunnel under the floor. The wet rack of the produce cooler will just barely make it to the installation of its new guts. We hope to reset some small areas of the store if we can make the time. But….

IT’S SO BUSY!
This is one of the busiest times of the year at the westside Co-op. Sometimes it seems like the old days before there were two Co-ops. Night times seem to be most frantic. If you prefer a more relaxed time to shop the mornings are a better bet than evenings. Thanks to all the volunteers that make that much business seem reasonable. We’re happy and gratified that the westside Co-op is still so popular even though there is that spiffy store on the eastside. We went from a financially bleak looking year to a pretty good year. Thanks to all our customers.

IT BEATS SHIVERING BORDOM!
I used to volunteer at the Co-op years ago to avoid my under heated student household and I stayed for the camaraderie and the discount. You can train at either Co-op for a shift at either or both Co-ops. Volunteers at the westside Co-op do about half the work done in the store. It’s a rare and beautiful thing.

By Virginia Lange, staff member

Co-op News November 1995 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News September 1994 PDF
THE GREEN STAR AWARD
Every morning, I hear the crash of glass outside my bedroom window. It’s not a car accident or a demolition crew, it is the sound of a local restaurant bar’s bottles being dropped into a dumpster. Living downtown or owning a business downtown means no curbside recycling. Residents of the downtown core must either take their recycling to a center like Top Foods or pay someone to pick it up. Many businesses pay to have this service performed, and in a way, my neighbor who sends all of his used glass to the dump pays, too. Knowing that all over Olympia people are painstakingly going to the effort to recycle, that daily sound of bottles breaking seems like a violation of the community spirit.

Peter Guttchen, recycling coordinator for the City of Olympia says, “It’s a matter of businesses choosing not to recycle, or not being aware of the opportunities. If businesses call the city, we can guide them to commercial recycling companies.”

There are businesses who have taken the task as a challenge. They are going the extra mile to reuse and recycle, and they are using their own resources and personal energy to make it happen. When you go out to eat or to buy goods in any store, you “vote” with your dollar. Wherever you plunk that greenback down, you are saying, “I support the continuation of your business and your business practices.” To help the Olympia area “voters” make good solid decisions, we have created the Green Star Award, for businesses that deserve recognition as positive, earth conscious establishments.

The first Green Star Award goes to The Smithfield Café, 212 West Forth Avenue. Owner S.J. Boyle bought the Smithfield in 1985. Originally called The Intermezzo, this café brought the first drop of espresso coffee to Thurston County back in 1977. A longtime favorite haunt of Evergreen (State College) students, artists, political activists and the avant garde, the Smithfield is an institution in the alternative community of Olympia.

Everybody knows the lore about the place … in its early days it was a gathering place for radical feminists and lesbians, and over the years it evolved into the hub of the “punk” scene. In the mid eighties, the Smithfield was a smoke filled haven for the new wave; a sea of black leather and mohawks with a few diehard dress for success caffeine junkies peppered into the crowd.

Who knows what’s going on there now? There are still people who won’t go in because of the smoke, and it’s been a nonsmoking establishment for over five years. Who knows that S.J. has a Masters in Nutrition from Harvard, and prepares some of the most nutritious vegetarian fare in Olympia, including vegan options? Who knows about the recent inside renovation, which left the place repaired and repainted? Well, now you know.

The reason the Smithfield was selected for the very first Green Star Award is the massive effort that is taken there to recycle. Every piece of paper, glass, and plastic used in the operation of the café is recycled. No big deal, you say, lots of places do that. But do they really? Investigate further and find out. If you find commercial places that do a first rate recycling effort, nominate them for a Green Star.

What is truly unique about The Smithfield is that they also compost all of the kitchen scraps and food left on people’s plates. The well meaning customer at the Smithfield will try to scrape their food scraps into the garbage, only to be stopped by an employee who transports the organic stuff back to the compost bin. Where does he take all of these melon rinds, coffee grounds, half eaten orders of nachos and soggy chips? I ask S.J., and he described the work. “Three times a week, we load this bin into the back of my truck, and I take it out to the compost pile at the organic farm (Evergreen State College). What makes it an effort is that the stuff accumulates constantly. If I get away for a vacation and my truck isn’t here, it requires a lot of creatively on the part of my employees to keep the process going. It isn’t a choice. We are committed to composting and recycling. We do not have a dumpster anymore, just 1 or 2 regular garbage cans. My garbage bill has gone from $200 to $68.”

What’s on the menu for vegetarians on a budget? Everyday there is a freshly made soup and a variety of salads available, along with a number of sandwiches and side dishes like hummus or quesadillas. The all time favorite dish of the Smithfield is the burrito, which is guaranteed to fill you up for not much more money and give you the complete protein and carbohydrates to get you through the day.

Don’t forget to try Eggs Espresso. Steamed on the want of the espresso machine, these fluffy eggs have never seen a drop of oil. For breakfast, lunch, or dinner, The Smithfield is a healthy (and ecological) place to eat.

By N. Sigafoos

Co-op News September 1994 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News September 1993 PDF
A DEAL IS BORN
Have you heard the big news yet? The members approved the recommendation to buy the property at 3111 SE Pacific Ave. The vote total was 665 in favor of the recommendation and 53 against. Did I hear anyone say mandate? Looks like we got ourselves a deal. Now what?

Well, let us take a big breath. Okay. It’s time for … implementation!! What follows here, is this report’s account of the process from now until opening. So, happy reading … and if you have any feedback, get it to that loveable expansion coordinator Harry as soon as possible. Oh, and, by the way … congrats to Susan Buis, Bill Fiorilli, and Nije Pinder for their victory in the Board election. Good luck!

IMPLEMENTATION – PHASE l

CLOSING OF THE DEAL
Closing requires obtaining the necessary financing and ensuring successful completion of all other contract contingencies. Most aspects of the closing will be coordinated between our band, the Co-op coordinator, the finance committee, our lawyer, and the seller. This process should be fairly straight forward and most of the timing will be dictated by the bank. We will also use the time before closing to insure that the property and building have no environmental problems or liabilities.

CREATING THE REMODEL PLANS
There are two buildings to consider – the retail space is approximately 5,300 square feet and is connected in two places to the warehouse, which is approximately 3,000 square feet. Current staff are responsible for all decisions concerning the floor plans and have already consented on retail and warehouse floor plans (see diagrams 1 and 2).

These plans will involve little to no change of the existing structures. In a nutshell, our remodeling plans for the retail building are: 1) reroof; 2) bring electrical and plumbing up to code and meet our needs; 3) drywall; 4) install flooring over the concrete; 5) paint it inside and out. The warehouse will contain offices, a kitchen for deli production, bathrooms, and, of course, all the coolers and warehouse shelving.

Usually the next step is to find an architect. The architect can: draw all our interior and exterior remodel plans to scale and specify materials where needed, make sure our plans follow the city building codes, work with contractors as needed, help us obtain permits as needed. It is also possible to use an architect as a consultant to the process and develop the plans ourselves. We hope to have our plans drawn by September 1. After the plans are drawn, we can get firm bids from contractors as well as building permits from the City of Olympia.

HOT TIMES, SUMMER IN THE CITY
Essentially, we will need approval of our site plans and a building permit. This sounds easy on paper, but it is actually a lengthy and detailed review process. Since we are new owners, the city can require that we bring the site and the buildings up to code. Overall, it could easily take us 2 to 3 months to get the necessary permits to begin remodeling.

CONTRACTORS AND BUILDERS AND PLUMBERS OH MY!
The first question to answer is, should we hire a general contractor or should we act as our own general contractor. Many people recommend hiring a general because the benefits far outweigh the costs (normally 10% – 15% of the remodel). Not only does the general have responsibility for coordinating all the work but they have experience in navigating all the hoops and permits and inspectors and subcontractors and anything else.

Others say it’s not that hard and we can do it ourselves. We have experience and trust with most of the subcontractors. We know how to coordinate things (process is our middle name). Also, there are contractors who will consult a project on an hourly basis.

If we decide to go with a contractor, we will need to get bids based on the drawings and work desired. Many factors will be weighed in deciding on contractors, including cost, availability, quality of work, experience, ability to communicate, etc. The Board will make the final decision regarding the hiring of contractors. It has been estimated that the remodeling work that we desire will take 2 to 3 months.

By Harry Levine, staff member

Co-op News September 1993 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News Winter 1987 PDF
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!
The Co-op celebrated its 10th Birthday in 1986, and a rousing evening of entertainment and dancing was held to honor a decade of hard work, steady growth and cooperative spirit.

About 300 people enjoyed the local talent of musician Paul Prince, the Mud Bay Jugglers, Seattle marimba band Kuamba, and the African Drum and Choir group, Oaydono. Blue Heron Bakery provided wholesome goodies, and fresh organic carrot juice whet the thirst of the dancers.

Blue Heron also baked a cake (complete with ten candles) which was passed slowly to the center of the crowd of about 200 people, where the entire group summoned their best wind and blew out the candles after singing “Happy Birthday to Us!” The small cake was stretched to serve all who attended the event.

Staff member Cindy Collard said the atmosphere had the feeling of “family, a down-home good time.” At the end of the party, the remaining members (150 to 200 people) gathered into a large circle, and held hands for a few minutes. They then raised a rousing shout to the ceiling in celebration of our Co-op community. Cindy mentioned that the good cheer even spread to clean-up – while no cleanup crew had been organized, about 50 people volunteered to quickly clean the room.

The party was such a success that plans are already in discussion for next year’s event. The 11th year party will probably be a fundraiser for a local organization such as the Food Band or another human services group.

Thanks to all who attended and made the 10th year Birthday Party a success, and a special thanks to the many folks who have worked to bring the Co-op through its first decade.

Co-op News Winter 1987 PDF

Co-op News Fall 1987 PDF
SUGAR POLICY
The present policy on sugars in the Co-op was developed to support healthy eating habits and global food politics. This is outlined in the pro and con statements following the ballot question, which reads:
“Shall the Co-op be allowed to carry refined sugars* and products containing refined sugars for their members that choose to buy them?”

* “Refined” refers to sugars such as brown sugar, date sugar, and white sugar currently not allowed under the present policy that was passed by member vote in the Spring of 1981. The previous policy allows the sale of turbinado, fructose, honey, and unrefined sugars such as molasses, barely malt, and various syrups, but disallows all other refined sugars such as date sugar, raw brown sugar, and white sugar.

IN FAVOR OF CHANGE
The Co-op receives many requests for certain products which contain sugars including Hagen-Daz and Double Rainbow Ice Creams, some seltzer brands and sauces like horseradish. We also get occasional requests for white and brown sugars in bulk.

There are some ethnic and specialty foods that are very difficult for people to get in Olympia, which contain disallowed sugars. There are good reasons to carry these products, including our own Mission statement and recent goals about increasing the diversity of the Co-op membership. Carrying products like our “Kosher for Passover” line, some of which contain sugar, helps to meet these goals.

Our current policy is contradictory. It leaves people with the impression that some sugars are bad and others are good. Many parents support the sugar restrictions because they feel like they can let their children select any treats in the store and those treats will be relatively healthy. It’s true that none of our treats contain white sugar, but that does not make them healthy per se. Children can and do get a sugar rush from honey (so do adults) or too many oranges for that matter. None of this means that white or other refined sugars are good for you. They aren’t. Some people fear that relaxing the sugar policy will fill the Co-op with Pepsi and Snickers. The irony of the current sugar policy is that we could sell the “new” Coke. It’s sweetened with high fructose corn sweetener.

Different people, however, have different tolerances for all substances. Different people also have different tastes and desires concerning their diets. A tolerance policy does not force people to eat things they do not choose to. It merely makes it possible for all of us to choose for ourselves.

By Eileen Watt Smith

Co-op News Fall 1987 PDF

Quarterly News

Co-op News Winter 1986 PDF
BLUE HERON BAKERY FLYING HIGH
The Blue Heron Bakery was put into granny gear in 1977 by Greg Reinemer, Carmella Courtney, and Teri Turner. Created with the ideals of creating good food, non-hierarchical working conditions, planetary consciousness, and support of local businesses, the bakery is still turning out high-quality organic baked goods. It is located in its original building on the banks of Mud Bay, west of Olympia. Although it has received an out paint job and a recent interior remodeling, it is still the same place that provided inspiration for the founding members.

Eight years ago, the first overs were moved into the building and the bakery went into business supplying whole grain bread to the Co-op and a handful of restaurants around town. The original retail sales were enough to pay the members sometimes a dollar a day. It was not long before they were able to pay themselves fifty cents an hour, increasing the pay to minimum wage after three years. We who joined the collective in the recent past would like to offer our full gratitude to the founding members for their hard work and perseverance during the early struggles. The wages at the bakery today are designed to be fair and equal, support our families, allow us to take vacations and rests, and not put the collective out of business.

The original anarchy of the bakery progressed to our current semi-organized business structure, a fact that the Co-op staff will testify to. The business today supports a total of twenty-six adults, children, and unborn babies. The workers are as follows: Robin Bergman, Anne Hunter-Anderson, Margie and Harry Bowron, Doug Martin, Steve and Peter Kirbach, James Skutt-Kakaria, Margo Murphy (bookkeeper), Doug denHerder (granola), and Doris Faltys (substitute). The group finds itself balancing in the middle between extreme anarchy (Peter) and extreme organization (Margo, Margie and Anne), as we strive to maintain a successful, socially conscious business in the midst of a grossly warped society.

The collective structure implies no boss, and our decisions are made on the consensus basis. We seek to work in an atmosphere of mutual respect, recognizing the gifts each member has to bring to the bakery. The fact that we are American adults always makes communication a challenge, as we are brought up in a society which tends to discourage true and honest verbal exchange. Another objective of ours is to encourage a flexible work schedule, which provides challenge and enables us to learn new skills. Most members work approximately three shifts a week, allowing time for families and fun, and to avoid worker “burnout”, a typical feature of American employment. Not having to answer to a “boss” is also a feature of the collective that encourages the development of personal authority and allows us to maintain a positive attitude towards work.

We are proud of supplying high-quality baked goods using the best organic ingredients wherever possible, to help support our fellow whole-grain collective, the Fairhaven Cooperative Mill in Bellingham, which supplies us with the finest of fresh, organic, whole grain flours which go into all our breads and sweets. Other ingredients for our products come to us from the Starflower Trucking Company, a collective business based in Eugene, Oregon. We all wish to maintain a loving relationship with the planet, thus all our products are made with organic ingredients wherever possible, and we use to chemicals, preservatives, etc. We also try to provide foods which take into account those customers with allergies, and we accept special orders to fulfill specific needs. The bakery also produces custom-made cakes for parties and special occasions. In addition to buying locally (Farmers Wholesale Cooperative, Country Cider Mill), we also sell our products in a variety of local markets. During the summer months we are involved in the Olympia Farmers Market.

We have had, and hope to continue a beneficial working relationship with the Olympia Food Co-op. Originally the only bread sold through the Co-op was bread from the Blue Heron bakers, and although they include the product of other bakeries today, we still have the only bread made with organic flour. We invite everyone who has a consciousness concerning pesticides and chemical poisoning to try our bread and enjoy it, knowing how much love went into its creation. We encourage the support of the local Co-op, but if you ever need organic whole-grain bred at two o’clock in the morning, feel free to stop by Black Lake or Tumwater Mark’n’Pak, or Bayview Market downtown.

If it were not for the patience and encouragement of the Olympia Food Co-op through the years, it is very questionable whether the bakery would have stayed in business. We offer heartfelt thanks to the members for their support and wise judgment in their choice of baked goods. Our wholesale bread market generates one-third of our income, of which the co-op is more than half. The other two-thirds comes from retail sales (come to the bakery!) and our wholesale granola sales.

Our granola is made at Doug denHerders Corner Bakery. After a year and a half of stirring granola, poor Peter was about to have a nervous breakdown. It was at this time where we were so full of granola that we couldn’t move through the bakery, that Greg came back with the proposal to make granola at the Corner Bakery. Well, we couldn’t refuse, so he took the granola away and we have room to move again. Eventually, through a couple of changes, Doug came to be making our granola, and we invite you to try it, because he does an excellent job.

Another person who is behind the scenes and who helps to keep our business running is the incredible Margo Murphy, who brought a semblance of order to our totally chaotic bookkeeping situation. She often sits in our office with a confused look on her face, mumbling about the miracle it is that we are still financially solvent. Yet, we are still in business, and we invite you and your friends to stop in and try our food. We would also like to invite people in local organizations working to make the world a better place, to come to us for food donation for the purpose of fundraising.

by Peter Kirbach and James & Kamla Skutt-Kakaria

Co-op News Winter 1986 PDF

Newsletter Archive

Co-op News Summer 1986 PDF
CHEESELAND
With the coming of the deli, there are a lot of changes in the cheese department, Some specialty cheeses are available in the new deli, as well as the display cooler. Deli services include -pre-cut, cut to order or sliced cheeses. We will also be carrying a whole new array. Try melted cheese on apple pie, or fresh fruit and cheese plates. And enjoy:

Lo-Salt and Lo-Fat cheeses –
Farmer’s, Pepper Jack, Cheddar and Swiss. All low in fats. Excellent for people wishing to lo0wer sodium intake or on sodium restricted diets.

Natural Green Onion Jack, Farmer’s with Caraway Seeds and Farmer’s with Dill –
Great lightly toasted on Ak Mak, or better still, in a fresh garden summer salad.

Soya Kaas has arrived –
A nondairy soy cheese made with all natural ingredients. Flavor ripens when cooked like other soy products. Try it in a Mexican meal on a quesadilla, or have soya enchiladas.

Smoked Cheddar or Gruyere –
Both excellent sharp flavored cheeses for the cheese connoisseur.

Try the following recipe:

No Nuke Noodles (For the Perfect Meltdown)

• ½ lb. of Smoked Cheddar or Gruyere, grated or cubed
• ½ pint of Sour Cream
• ¼ lb. of Finely grated Romano (save half for topping)
• Kelp Powder
• 1 clove minced garlic
• ½ bunch chopped Green Onion
• 1 lb. Fresh Noodles (boiled til tender in Mineral or Distilled water with a pinch of sea salt.

Placed cooked noodles in a casserole dish, while still hot. Mix in other ingredients. Place in oven at 425 for 15 minutes, or until lightly brown on top. Sprinkle fresh cubed tomatoes and finely chopped almonds with grated Romano cheese on top. Broil for about 20 seconds or until glowing brown.

Another meal for a nuclear free zone! Say Cheese Please – and enjoy!

By Cosette LeCiel

Co-op News Summer 1986 PDF

Newsletter Archive

Co-op News Spring 1986 PDF
LITTLE DELI HITS THE BIG TIME
For the past few months the Co-op has been conducting an experiment called the Little Deli. Every Wednesday a Co-op staff person (myself) has been whipping up approximately 40 sandwiches and offering them for sale out of the Dairy Cooler. Shoppers are usually offered two or three choices of sandwiches ranging from Awesome Cream Cheese Spread on an onion bagel; to Mom’s Tofu; to Swiss on a Rye Roll, to the Best P.B. Ever, with many variations in between. There are occasionally a few bonus sweet treats offered as well.

This Little Deli has been such a smashing success that the sandwiches rarely make it through the day. As a result, the Little Deli is going to grow up and become a new feature at the Co-op: the Bigger Deli.

On March 31, the Co-op Board approved a capital plan allotting funds for the installation of a deli-display cooler, a fruit/vegetable juicer, a slicer, and an industrial blender. All of this equipment will be installed in the cheese packaging area at the rear of the store. Co-op shoppers will soon be able to buy specialty cheeses sliced to order, freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable juices, and refreshing smoothies, as well as sandwiches and salads. The Deli will be staffed by Working Members during lunch and dinner hours. At other times deli items will be available in the Dairy Cooler. Opening day is set for May 31. So mark your calendars and get ready for some big changes to happen in the back of the store.

If this sounds like a great idea to you and you’re wondering how you can help, there are several possibilities. First, we are soliciting entries in the “Name the Deli Contest.” If you have any ideas, leave them in the suggestion bowl at the front of the store or look for the “Name the Deli” box to be appearing soon. If your name is chosen, you will win a free lunch at the Deli, and you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you were instrumental in the Deli’s beginnings. Another place the Deli will need assistance will be with working members. We will need a crew of about 16 working members to staff the Deli. Trainings will begin in May. This is a great chance to learn about running a deli, to get discounts on food, and to be a part of the beginning of a very exciting change at the Co-op.

If you are interested, please fill out a Working Member application and indicate that you want to work in the Deli. At last, Olympia will have a place for fast food that is both nutritious and fun, as well as being conveniently located at the grocery store. Keep watching for further developments as the Little Deli grows up.

by Cindy Dollard

Co-op News Spring 1986 PDF

Newsletter Archive

Co-op News Winter 1985 PDF
INTRODUCING NEWEST STAFF MEMBERS AND… GRACE COX
Born a Dallas Cowboys fan in 1951, Grace quickly switched loyalties in 1975 when the Seattle Seahawks joined the NFL. She was 9 for 13 in Wave participation at the Seahawk-Raider game December 22, and is slowly recovering from the devastating loss to the Miami Dolphins.

Grace owns the only purple sheet metal stand-up bass in town, and calls the Citizens Band (of which she is a member) second only to football among the loves of her life. Grace is well-suited to her job as a staff member at the Co-op having been exposed to food at an early age, and also possesses an extremely well-developed glarpo* (see photo). She firmly believes it is possible to be a good person and still have a messy room.

When asked for what one thing she wants to be remembered, Grace replied without hesitation, “It would have to be my Cousin It imitation.”

Respectfully submitted,
Renegade Café (A.K.A. G. Cox)

*glarpo (glar po) n. the juncture of the ear and skull where pencils are stored.

Co-op News Winter 1985 PDF

Co-op News Fall 1985 PDF
WATER FOR LIFE
Imagine walking a mile to the river, digging a hole in the dry river bed, waiting 2 hours for it to fill your bowl, and then carrying the fifty pound bowl on your head back to your village. Women in Liberia, West Africa, can spend as much as 6 hours each day carrying water for their families, using a precious 600 calories. The water they carry is contaminated—over half of their children will die before age 5, most from waterborne diseases.

WELLSPRING AFRICA is a non-profit organization, based in Olympia, that is committed to help Liberians drill water wells in several rural villages in their country. Cliff Missen and Carolyn Johnson are coordinating the project here.

The inspiration for the project came out of Cliff’s prior experience working in a village medical clinic in Liberia in ’82. He saw how the village’s contaminated water supply created disease and illness among the people. He talked with a friend, Gabriel Saytonneh, a respected church elder in the village, about the possibility of well digging. It seems the village has bad luck in their well-digging experiences: cave-ins occurred, rains flooded the wells, and they became contaminated easily. Cliff suggested well drilling, recalling portable well drilling equipment from his Alaska homesteading experience. Gabriel’s response was, “This is what my people need. You will send me one.” Cliff left Liberia promising to find a way to help. He sent information on the machines. Gabriel’s response was, “This information is great, but when are you bringing the stuff.” Cliff and Carolyn founded WELLSPRING AFRICA in response to Gabriel’s requests. They will spend 6 months training Liberians in well drilling, construction, and maintenance. At the same time, basic classes in health and sanitation will be conducted.

Carolyn – “I feel real comfortable with being invited to do something. It’s a very specific need and they’re asking us to come and bring a specific kind of equipment that they want and they’re willing to use. Our goal is to go over with equipment and to facilitate Liberians being trained to use it. They will be drilling the wells, providing the labor and materials with the idea that, when we leave, the projects will continue because they won’t be dependent upon us. And Gabriel has done a lot of work over there preparing for the project. He’s got us written into the national water plan, networking the government, He’s gotten letters of commitment from the first villages we’ll go into.”

The Liberian government and Gabriel Saytonneh’s church have pledged $13,000 and $15,000 toward the well drilling. Many, many hours have been spent working toward the goal of 12 wells. Cliff has taken grant writing and well drilling classes. They have studied more Liberian history and geology. Contacts with other people here who have also been to Africa have been made. Fund raising has been the primary concern.

WELLSPRING AFRICA relies on gifts and tax-deductible contributions from concerned folks. Olympians have been very supportive. Children at Boston Harbor Elementary worked and filled penny jars to raise $300 to buy a pump for Saywon village. Donations were collected at local fairs. A car wash was held. Ten people carried a basin of water on their heads for the CROP walk, and 75% of their donations went to WELLSPRING. A local church sponsored a garage sale and made $900 in one day. Cliff and Carolyn have made presentations to dozens of groups and may receive a couple of large grants. They have reached the half way point in their goal of $20,000. This really has been a community wide project!

WELLSPRING AFRICA is affiliated with Global Water Inc., a small, independent organization. Global Water’s purpose is to help educate the public about the world’s water problems, in this country and others. They sponsor demonstration projects like WELLSPRING AFRICA all over the world.

If you would like more information or would like to contribute to WELLSPRING AFRICA, contact Cliff and Carolyn.

by Penny Martindale

LIBERIA
Liberia lies on the western coast of Africa between Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast. About the size of Oregon, Liberia boasts low swamps, thick rain forests, and rolling plateau. Liberia’s two million inhabitants come from sixteen very distinct tribal groups with names like Kpella, Bassa, Gio, Kru, Gbandi, and Mano.

Liberia lies only five degrees above the equator, so the weather is always warm, and the annual 150 inches of rain usually falls between the months of April and November—with the remainder of the year being very dry.

The Liberians make their living mostly through their farming, with only 15% working in industries, and the annual per capita income is $196. Liberia’s major imports are rubber and iron ore.

The modern Liberia has a very unique history which dates back to its colonization by freed American slaves in the early 1800s. In an effort to rid America of the black influence, the American Colonization Society raised money and chartered ships which took 15,385 to the shores of Liberia.

The colonists set up an American-style form of government (the constitution was written at Harvard) and ruled the country up until 1980, when there were ousted by an indigenous coup led by army Sargent Samuel Doe.

by Cliff Missen

Co-op News Fall 1985 PDF

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Co-op News Summer 1985 PDF
BEATRICE BUYS MOUNTAIN HIGH
Some Co-op members have suggested that we stop carrying Mountain High yogurt since the new packaging proudly proclaims its ownership by the Beatrice (“You’ve known us all along”) Corporation. While we haven’t ruled out the possibility of discontinuing Mountain High (and Rosarita Vegetarian Refried Beans) we also have not decided to discontinue it. I want to take this opportunity to layout some of the issues as I see them and tell you what we are doing so far. We welcome any and all responses to these thoughts.

The day I opened the first case of Mountain High bearing the bright red Beatrice band I thought, “Ah ha! This should make the bottom fall out of the Mountain High market.” Quite the contrary, however, Mountain High sales actually increased briefly and since have remained steady despite the seasonal sales drop.
Mountain High is the cheapest available flavored 8 oz yogurt on the market that is both full fat (as opposed to low or nonfat) and honey (rather than sugar) sweetened.

It has been difficult to get facts about Beatrice – we know they own Samsonite luggage, Rosarita, La Choy, a lamp company, etc., etc., but that’s about it. We have been told with equal sincerity that Beatrice is heavily invested in apartheid South Africa and that their portfolio is “clean”, particularly as regards South Africa. (We have asked both sources for documentation.) Our guts tell us that you don’t get to be the biggest with completely ethical business practices, but we need facts.

Beatrice is just one example of the “corporatization” of natural foods. Some other examples we know about include Smuckers buy-out of R.W. Knudsen, Kraft’s buy-out of Celestial Seasonings, and Heinz buy-out of Chico San. One of the great things about the Co-op is that most Coop members really do care about how and where their food is produced. If the trend towards corporate control of the industry is allowed to continue, we may have very few options very soon.

So what can we do, short of discontinuing the line?

Decrease or eliminate Mountain High promotions. We have already decreased them. Eliminating Mountain High promotions is difficult because it is the yogurt most frequently specialled by our distributors, and there is something to be said for passing on low prices to the members. Expand the product line and do variable pricing to allow other yogurts to compete more effectively. We have brought in the 8 oz Honey Hill non-fat flavored yogurts as a price competitor (65c), and changed distributors on Brown Cow to bring it in a few cents cheaper (down to 68c from 71c). We are using a variable mark-up to allow Nancy’s quarts and 4# tubs to compete with Mountain High.
Promote other brands and encourage distributors to do the same. We have increased promotions and specials of Nancy’s and have talked to all our sales representatives about specials on other lines. Use more product information to help Co-op shoppers make better-informed choices. (Always plenty more to do in this area.)
Research these corporations so we have the facts to back-up what our guts are telling us. Secrecy is the watchword of the business world – we need your help on this one. (“Corporate take-over of the Natural Foods Industry” could make a dynamite individual contract for a student!

All of these points just skim the surface of a very complicated issue. We need to hear your comments, reactions, information and criticisms. Please respond. Thanks.

CHEESE PRICE COMPARISON

I always knew the Co-op had great cheese and dairy prices, but it wasn’t until I found myself with nothing to do at 3:00 one weekday morning that I discovered just how great they really are. Yes folks, there is something useful in having all the major competitors open 24 hours a day – the middle of the night is a great time to do comparison shopping – no crowds!

Seriously, though, I’m proud to say the Olympia Food Co-op has the best cheese prices in town, as well as a selection that is respectable by anyone’s standards. For the purpose of comparison, I divided our cheese selection into 3 major categories: specialty, natural foods, and commercial staple cheeses.

I knew before I went that we had ‘em in specialty cheese prices, hands down…Bayview, Safeway, Mark/Pak… Brie, Camembert, Romano, Muenster, Myzithra, Bleu, Parmesan, Rondele.

Several specialty cheeses we carry were either unavailable anywhere else, such as XX Sharp Cheddar, Smoked Danish, and Garlic Jack, or available only one other place, including Kasseri, Asiago, and Feta. Another interesting fact I discovered about both Safeway and Bayview is that there were some cheeses in their deli sections such as String Cheese that also appeared in their staple cheese sections, prepackaged and at considerably lower prices. So if, even after reading this glowing report on Co-op cheese and dairy prices, you still want to shop for cheese elsewhere, it behooves you to do your own price comparing aisle-to-aisle.

In natural foods cheeses, our selection totally overwhelms the competition – rennetless cream cheese, goat cheese and raw milk Swiss were unavailable at the other grocery stores.

The biggest surprise to me, however, was how well we compared in our commercial staple cheeses, Mild Cheddar, Monterey Jack, Mozzarella, and Swiss.

Elsewhere in the Dairy Cooler our prices remain competitive in milk, eggs and butter and our selection in natural foods dairy products (sugar free yogurts, soy products, kefir cheese, goat milk, raw milk products, etc.) is unique and unmatched in the Olympia grocery market.

By Grace Cox

Co-op News Summer 1985 PDF

Co-op News Spring 1985 PDF
HEALTHY SWEETS
Goodies and sweets! Why do most of us, especially kids, crave them? Sweets appeal because they are immediately pleasing to the taste and offer a quick energy boost. However a drastic drop in blood sugar often follows this boost, leaving one feeling ‘blah’ and unenergetic, setting up a cycle of craving more sweets.

Excessive sugar consumption is not advisable. Sugar is a major contributor to dental caries (cavities), and refined sugar offers only nutrient-empty calories. Sweets made with healthful ingredients offer an opportunity to satisfy your sweet tooth while building in good nutrition. Save even these for special occasions, however; eat in moderation and always brush your teeth well afterward!

The Co-op carries several ready-made goodies for those too busy to cook. Blue Heron’s baked goods, Panda brand licorice (made with molasses), fruit leathers and various dried fruits offer energy and a significant amount of iron. (Iron is especially important to women, athletes and growing children.)

The Co-op also carries several cookbooks with recipes for wholesome desserts and snacks. Two favorites are “Laurel’s Kitchen” and “Uprisings”; for decadent desserts, try “Moosewood”.

A baking tip – for any recipe using flour, add the following into the measuring cup before adding the rest of your flour, to increase vitamins, minerals and protein: 1 TBSP each of soy flour, non-instant dry milk and wheat germ.

Children will want the same snack foods as the adults around them are eating. Use this to their advantage. Let them see that you enjoy raw fruits and vegetables, cheese cubes and other wholesome treats. But when only sweets will do, try these simple, quick recipes. Involving children in food preparation helps develop personal confidence and encourages good eating habits. You won’t have to encourage them to join in with the eating, but afterward, remember to round out the project with a toothbrushing session.

Carob Milk Pudding

• • 2 C. milk
  • 3 TBSP roasted carob powder
  • 2 TBSP arrowroot powder, dissolved in 2 TBSP milk

Heat milk nearly to boiling. Stir in carob and arrowroot paste. Continue heating, stirring, for 5 minutes until thickened. Serve warm or chill. Serves 4.

Fruit and Juice Gelatin

• • 1 TBSP agar-agar or unflavored gelatin
  • 2 C. unsweetened fruit juice (Cherry cider is good!
  • 1 C. sliced fruit (optional)

Mix ¼ C juice with agar-agar. Heat remaining juice to boiling. Add to agar-juice mix. Stir thoroughly and refrigerate. After it begins to set, stir in fruit. Refrigerate until firm. Yields 4 servings (34/ cup each): 96 calories per serving.

Fancy Frozen Bananas

• • ¼ c. liquid barley malt
  • ½ c. carob powder
  • 4 ripe bananas
  • ½ c. finely chopped nuts or unsweetened shredded coconut.

Mix malt and carob. Place sticks in bananas, and roll bananas in carob mixture. Then roll bananas in nuts or coconut. Freeze on waxed paper.

by Jean Westerlund

Co-op News Spring 1985 PDF

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Co-op News Fall 1984 PDF
CO-OP BUILDING REALLY OURS!
The results are in! For those of you who haven’t heard it through the grapevine, WE’VE BOUGHT THE BUILDING—yet another milestone in the Olympia Food Co-op’s history. Thanks to the organized and thorough research of the Building Committee, the decision was a well-informed one.

Information and advisory ballots were posted at the co-op several weeks ago. Of the seventy members who participated in the balloting, all but thirteen were unconditionally in favor of the decision. Twelve members favored the proposition, but voiced some reservations or concerns. One ballot was against the purchase. The committee plans to contact all members who raised questions and who left names and contact numbers on their ballots.

The co-op has been at its current location since 1979, when we grew out of our downtown site at 121 North Columbia Street. With an initial three-year lease, we had an option to purchase before midnight of August 16, 1984. The deadline was extended to allow negotiations to continue.

As part of the purchase agreement, $10,000.00 in rents were to be applied to the purchase price. Consequently, that amount in rent credits would have been lost had the building been vacated, With the building purchase, mortgage, taxes and insurance will increase slightly. The tradeoff here is that the co-op will build up equity which, in the long run, can be used to wield positive, creative economic power in the community.

Speaking of the community, as part of the recent appraisal of the co-op, it was found that the location and its relation to property value is not entirely positive. Although the co-op is in a fully developed and stable neighborhood, its location is not particularly desirable commercially.

Nevertheless, overriding this blemish are four impressive points. First, with the completion of the new hospital, it’s very likely the Westside will expand more rapidly. Second, under the area’s current zoning laws, the building committee feels it wouldn’t be too difficult to attract another business to the site, if we wanted to sell in the future. Third, at its current location, the co-op is accessible by four modes of transportation: bus, car, bike and walking. Most major retail areas are only accessible by two or three. Fourth and most important, when it comes right down to making a choice, most members are satisfied with the North Rogers location.

By Maginel Galt

Co-op News Fall 1984 PDF

Newsletter Archive

WHO WILL DO THE WORK?
One bright summer morning, the little read hen thought how lovely it would be to have fresh bread for her family. “Who would like fresh-baked bread?” She asked her chicks.

“We would,” they all shouted.

“Then we shall bake some,” replied the hen. “We must gather the wheat from the field. Who will help?”

“Not us,” said the chicks. “The cats in the field frighten us.”

“Very well,” said the hen. “I shall gather the wheat. I will return soon.”

The little red hen set off for the field. Within a couple of hours, she had gleaned enough ripe wheat, grain by grain, to make her bread. She wrapped it in her apron and hurried home.

“Now,” she said, “who will help me grind the wheat into flour?”

“Not us,” said the chicks. “We are not strong enough to turn the mill wheel.”

And so the little red hen ground all of the grain herself, until she had enough fine, soft, brown flour to make her bread.

“Now,” she said, “Who will help me mix the dough and set it out to rise?”

“Not us,” said the chicks. “We have already made plans with our friends to go down by the stream to play.”

The little red hen worked on alone. When the loaves were in the oven, she poured a jugful of thick cream into the churn. Just then, the chicks returned from the stream.

“Ah!” said the hen. “Which of you will help me churn this cream into butter for our bread?”

“Not us,” chorused the chicks. “We are too tired to do another thing!”

So the little red hen churned and churned, until the cream turned to lumps of rich yellow butter.

At last the bread was ready!

“Now, who will help me eat this bread?” asked the red hen.

“We will!” shouted the chicks.

“No, you won’t,” said the hen. “You wouldn’t help gather the grain, or grind the flour, or mix the dough, or watch over the loaves set to rise. You wouldn’t help churn the butter. You will all go straight to bed without your supper. I did all the work, and I will eat the bread.”

(Of course, the little red hen saved most of the bread and butter for breakfast, and the chicks mended their ways. And so the story ends happily, as well as wisely.)

Who will do the work? Olympia Food Co-op has an enviable group of skilled and knowledgeable member workers, a paid staff collective whose success puts them in demand as consultants for other co-ops, an experienced and dedicated board. They will do the work…won’t they?

This article hopes to present a look at recent events in co-op labor management; to raise come questions about directions for the future; and finally, to motivate you to come to a decision about your beliefs about the co-op as a workplace. If you will send your ideas to the “News”, results will be published next issue.

The story behind labor coverage at the co-op is remarkable. Like the organic produce we market, the record bears abundant spots and blemishes reflective of the natural, imperfect aspect of human beings working to serve ideals. Yet with all of the differences among our workers, with the logistical difficulties of operating as a cooperative, even with our individual and collective failings, we are strong and growing.

Our labor management has a long way to go. 30+% growth assures our continuing existence, but puts enormous strains on our working systems. In the months to come, solutions for difficult labor issues may well become the major challenge we face.

CO-OP PAID STAFF

For several years, our staffing was an amazingly informal affair. Policy was loose and ambiguous. It’s a good way to start out. It leaves room for change and adjustment, for trials and, of course, errors.

This is a good time to acknowledge that the continuity of the co-op is partly a tribute to the devotion and determination of staff members, past and present. At times when owner-member involvement waned, staff not only kept the store running, they actively struggled toward greater member education and participation. The major advances in our co-op history are the fruits of various staff dreams: Beth Hartmann, providing a sound financial system; former staff person, Robin Begren, who turned a marginal produce bin into a veritable garden of fruits and vegetables, and worked to strengthen local farming; Debbie Leung, expanding the department and concept of consumer education. Tyra Lindquist fought for stronger, educate Board of Directors, and coordinated the recent remodeling efforts. And others, each making a unique contribution to the store we enjoy now. Credit is due.

Now we are seeing some interesting changes in staffing. The beginning of 1984 brought with it an experiment in cooperative management. For the first time, staff have identified specific areas of administrative responsibility and assigned “managers” to each. Other staff are designated “general” staff; they and the managers share in the operational work, as always.

The staff chose not to have a general manager to oversee the operations, instead banking on open and responsible communications and mutual accountability. According to Personnel Manager Karen Berkey Huntsberger, the transition has been successful.

Recently, long-needed new staff were hired, bringing the workload closer to under control. The concern for keeping labor costs in line brought it out with the obvious need to relieve existing staff of overwork; as it happens, the acquisition of additional staff is in line with the rise in sales, and labor costs, considered in context, are still pretty reasonable. In fact, the board has now approved reconvening the hiring committee to consider the addition of one more person, probably from among the recent applicants.

With the recently announced resignation of long-time staff person Tyra Lindquist, new staff may soon equal or out number experienced staff…a situation that has both advantages and disadvantages. The impact of these changes are sure to be felt in the months to come.

Nationally, co-ops have been staffed from the under-30’s, single, bright, energetic cream of the countercultural crop. These dynamic and idealistic folks come equipped with a passion for their work. They absorbed long hours, low pay, and the frustrations and traumas inherent in such organizations with pride. Members and boards naturally assume that staff work for something more than money; good thing, because as a rule, there has been precious little of it paid.

Co-ops usually hire people into a situation where they get little or conflicting guidance from their member-employees; where they must be self-reliant and strongly motivated to fulfill a vision and then are damned for “taking too much power.” No wonder so many co-ops sink in a morass of anger and bitterness among the various working contingents. And thank heavens we are, in Olympia, growing away from the “us-them” mentality, toward a more genuinely cooperative approach to dialog and understanding of one another’s dilemmas and needs.

With time comes change. The fray wears out a good many people, who change to other work, burned out or disillusioned. They leave, taking valuable experience and knowledge with them. Others stick with it, but under increasing stress as they accumulate responsibilities that tax their low incomes. Their supermarket counterparts are rising into the economic upper middle classes, while they subsist on income that averages about 60% of that earned by the supermarket’s cashier. But if the low wages, limited room for advancement and growth, and thin tolerance for a steady stream of criticism eventually drive them into another job market, they may find their years of experience discounted; co-ops share the housewife’s struggle with an amateurish image.

The situation in Olympia is better than most. The business, nearing the end of its first decade, is gaining community respect. Staff-member relations overall are good. Even so, according to Karen, every accolade is matched by 10 complaints. Some arrive in the unsavory form of cryptic, unsigned notes some are out and out abusive.

Staff wages here are still marginal, compared with those for similar work in “private sector.” As Phyllis Villenueve notes, with children and other responsibilities, it becomes increasingly more difficult to make ends meet on a co-op staff income. As member-employers, we need to examine the question of fair compensation for workers. We avoid stocking products from third world countries which exploit labor. Might we also need some social consciousness in our own neighborhood?

In hundreds of co-ops, staff are still implicitly expected to put the store first, before personal considerations. That’s a hardline, 1950’s corporate attitude. Staff in such places may have a hard time maintaining perspectives and treating the job as one’s work, not one’s entire life mission. Nationally, burnout is probably the number one cause of turnover.

Most of the co-op staff people I’ve talked with across the country who were leaving their co-ops were doing so reluctantly; they literally were mentally and physically exhausted or had the foresight to see that they soon would be. It’s not uncommon in our home co-op. How can we keep that from happening in the future?

MEMBER WORKERS

Summer is a difficult time to talk about member workers. Traditionally the ebb and flow of members sharing the workload bears an uncanny resemblance to population fluctuations at a certain nearby college campus. With a stronger base of permanent community members the problem has become less pronounced. But it is still significant enough to be troublesome.

Ideally, our worker system acts as a tool. One of its goals is the prediction of fluctuations in member worker coverage. We planned to cluster working member shifts quarterly, then schedule paid staff to fill in the gaps. For now, however, staff has all it can do to keep up with staff work. A look at the worker hours log is revealing: the same few names keep repeating, two, three, six times a week, substituting for others and filling vacant shifts.

Member workers are a relatively recent addition to co-op operations nationally. This participation really becomes economically viable when workers are knowledgeable. It works best if they are reasonably self-regulating and if they continue working after developing experience. The Olympia co-op is an “industry leader” in its system, but one with room for further development.

Yet in spite of comparative success with member worker privileges, our future probably holds the question of whether to continue the system at all. Many other co-ops have given it up. The problems: the expense of administering (sometimes out and out juggling) a system with too few participants usurps the savings the uncertainty of getting necessary work done from day to day, and the extraordinary amount of time spent seeking members to cover vacant shifts; the expense of training those workers who quit before even the minimum commitment is met; the burden placed on the other members and staff who pick up erratic, but constant, extra load…all are source drains.

While these are different (and less exhausting) problems than we faced three years ago in this era, and probably not unresolvable, they are still time, energy and money-consuming.

Another consideration: is a system exploitative, if regular member prices depend on the low-cost labor volunteered by a few? Probably not, considering all factors. But the line is still a thin one; we need to be vigilant.

Some particularly value the opportunity to contribute in a tangible way to something bigger than oneself, working with neighbors, substituting labor for cash in providing one’s food. For them, the question may not be whether to continue with a working member system, but how can we stabilize it? What can be done, realistically, to equalize the load and continue to improve working conditions?

ON THE THRESHOLD

Olympia Food Co-op rates well among co-ops in it’s labor handling. But then, the competition isn’t particularly stiff. All consumer co-ops have knotty problems to solve, if they are to be humane workplaces, as well as resources for caring consumers. It won’t work for too long to exploit the ideals of our workers in order to keep prices low and our freedom of choice in the spending of our food dollars alive. Like natural resources, this person-created one requires conservation and nurturing to endure.

The challenges in our present labor situation focus our attention: a new management structure – the resignation of valued, experienced staff person – the influx of several new staff in a short time period – the challenge to our hiring process by an applicant in a suit with the Human Rights Commission – rapid growth.

What better time to do some hard and creative thinking, to contribute to solutions, not only to the immediate problems, but to the long range planning for answering the question “who will do the work” …our work…and for determining what their work experience, which is like our hands, will be like.

By Cher Stuewe-Portnoff

Co-op News Summer 1984 PDF

Newsletter Archive

Co-op News Spring 1984 PDF
NEW STAFF FACES ON CO-OP SCENE
Rapid development brought some growing pains to the Olympia Food Co-op in 1982-83. The good news for the members: increased services and product selection, along with a new financial stability.

For workers, however, rapid growth created some problems. Essentially, the daily work and planning time needed to operate the store exceeded the labor supply. Co-op working member involvement didn’t increase enough to meet the higher work load. Staff was stretched to its working limit, trying both to take up the slack in daily operations and to maintain the annual planning cycle necessary for coping effectively with the challenges of growth.

At one point, a temporary solution was sought by paying a few steady working members to assist staff with store operations. In late 1983, the co-op undertook a process of evaluation and reorganization. The transition hasn’t been easy, for members or staff. But the Co-op is now the beneficiary of a hiring process, which gave us three experienced, and articulate new staff members. I recently had the pleasure of talking with them for this interview. So read on…get acquainted…then stop to say “hi” and welcome them next time you’re in.

CHER: Let’s start out by just getting acquainted…perhaps you could tell us who you are and a little about how you got here.

HARRY LEVINE: I’m Harry Levine, I just turned 27. I’m originally from Connecticut, but after eight years in Massachusetts, consider myself much more from there. I’ll have been in this area a year in July. I came out to Olympia to farm last year, and after a wonderful summer farming — but very unsuccessfully financially — I became a VISTA volunteer with Farmer’s Wholesale Co-operative and Farm Community Council. I live with my partner, Jean, in a household of seven people out in the Delphi Valley, although our existence is threatened because our water supply is no good. And our land is for sale — it feels like the whole thing is crumbling apart. We live in a cooperative household. That’s been real nice, to get to know people.

My other big involvements or passions in the world are political things, and music. Music has been wonderful since I’ve moved out here.

Cher: What areas of music?

Harry: Well, we just recently formed a political folk music band. Words are so strange when you try to describe that. We describe ourselves as songs of social change and celebration. It’s all acoustic instruments, a kind of folk orchestra of seven people. We’ve just started playing in the area, but it’s been great. That’s been a dream of min, and it was amazing to go from this place of expressing a dream and talking to one or two people, and all of a sudden we put it together and now it’s happening. Citizen’s Band!

Cher: Was your upbringing consistent with your current political and economic orientation?

Harry: I’d have to say ‘yes’ and ‘no’. The political ideas per se weren’t there. My father—even though we were staunch Democrats always—he still is just that, a staunch Democrat, and has never really moved from that. What did make for this foundation, I feel, is my mother and her overwhelming sense of fairness and needing to understand what’s going on around her, and support for the kids to do that.

Cher: How did you decide to come to work here?

Harry: I’ve always wanted to work at a co-op. I’ve always really like stores. I worked for years in a retail grocery store and managed a produce counter and just loved it. For some reason, I don’t know why, I like the work, I like working with food, and I especially like working around people. And that’s one thing that happens in a store. You’re always meeting new people, people who are bringing food to you and all their stories from around the area, and people you work with, and then the customers. You get to work with people on lots of different levels. I really like it a lot.

Cher: When you peer into your future over the next year or two, what relationship do you see for yourself with the Co-op?

Harry: I still feel basically at that very young stage or something…young and single stage…and I haven’t often thought past one year commitments in what I do. However I’ve never been able to do something like this, as much as I’ve wanted to do it. So it’s very interesting. I haven’t worked a lot of that out yet, because I didn’t perceive staying in this area for years and years and years, but that’s starting to change a little bit. Like the Co-op, I am doing some long range planning for the first time. It’s very new, but I can see just wanting to be here, because I like the situation so much.

Cher: Is there anything else you’d like to say to the co-op members?

Harry: I would encourage people to say anything in the world they need to say to me.

By Cher Stuewe-Portnoff

Co-op News Spring 1984 PDF

Newsletter Archive

Co-op News February 1981 PDF
PESTICIDES KILL — — EAT ORGANIC
Pesticides are chemicals manufactured for the purpose of killing organisms that interfere with production of commercial crops. They have been used extensively since World War II. Most of them were developed as part of the war effort. Thirty five years later we are in a position to evaluate the effects and implications of a world wide food system becoming increasingly dependent on these chemicals. In this series of articles I will present information on (1) human health issues, (2) land use and environmental issues, and (3) issues of international corporate irresponsibility, all as they relate to pesticide production and use. Accompanying this series is an annotated bibliography of books and other materials available at the Co-op on the politics of food.

It seems pretty clear that pesticides could pose a health problem. But the industry puts a fair amount of effort into obscuring the issue, calling these chemicals “safe as salt” or declaring that some of the same toxic compounds occur naturally, although in what concentrations and under what conditions is never made clear. Besides, the Food and Drug Administration and state agriculture departments are responsible for protecting us by monitoring and restricting pesticide use.

I’ve chosen four basic questions to answer about pesticides and health as a way to examine some of the potential health dangers.

1. Do pesticides used on crops actually end up on the food we eat?

The Food and Drug Administration sets limits on what concentration of pesticides residues is permissible on food sold in the U.S. The enforcement of these policies falls short at several points. Only a third of the pesticides used on raw food are monitored regularly. Many of the pesticides manufactured in the U.S. are not even testable by current Food and Drug Administration methods. Those foods that do get tested for pesticide residues have often been eaten before the tests are completed. Where violations do occur, punishment is infrequent and almost never severe.

Besides coming to us as residues on food plants, some pesticides (as well as other toxins) may be present in meat. This is because some of these chemicals, when used on feed grain, are eaten by livestock and concentrate in the animals’ tissues. As meat by-products and animal waste are more and more being fed back to livestock in various forms, these toxins reach increasingly higher levels of concentration.

2. What happens to pesticides in our bodies?

Twenty five percent of them may cause cancer. Pesticides are designed to suppress metabolism and growth. It is not surprising, therefore, to find them linked with miscarriages and abnormal fetal development. Oil soluble pesticides accumulate in body fat and are discharged into the mild of nursing mothers. In 1977, an Environmental Defense Fund study found that the average mothers’ milk would exceed FDA pesticide safety standards. These are a few of the known physiological effects of pesticides. There may be many other symptoms and side-effects that are never diagnosed as being pesticide-related. Such symptoms might include rashes, headaches, and flu-like symptoms.

3. What happens to the people who have the closest contact with pesticides; the farm workers, production plant workers, packers and so forth?

Clearly, the people who have the closest contact with these chemicals will suffer the greatest effects. The United Nations World Heath Organization estimates that 500,000 people worldwide are killed or incapacitated annually as a result of pesticide use. Most of these people live in developing countries. About one third of the pesticides manufactured in the U.S. are exported. Fifteen percent of them are banned here. In this country, many of the farm workers are undocumented and have no recourse if they are harmed by pesticide contamination. Even among documented workers, there is a poor record for safety standards.

4. How can we avoid consuming pesticide residues?

Eat organically grown food, when eating non organic fresh produce, either peel it or wash it with soap and warm water. These steps will help you keep these toxic chemicals out of your body. They won’t do anything much to affect the ongoing crisis in international agriculture. More on this subject in future segments.

The Co-op clearly marks organically grown foods with this symbol: circle with a dot inside. Farmers who sell us organic produce sign an affidavit stating that they have used no chemical fertilizers or pesticides.

By Beth Hartmann

Co-op News February 1981 PDF

Newsletter Archive

Co-op News December 1978 PDF
CO-OP STILL IN BUSINESS
Whatever became of the Co-op’s financial crisis last summer? Is the Co-op going to survive? Does anybody know? Yes, some of us have some of the answers. The purpose of this article is to spread a few of those answers around.

The specific crisis last August centered on the fact that we had a demand to pay mup past taxes and no money to pay up with. So we put out the alarm and received the needed support primarily via long-term personal loans.

The Co-op still has a large deficit, approximately $14,000. The reason this does not currently constitute a crisis are 1) we are now consistently showing a profit instead of a loss on the books (yes, we do have good books thanks to Sandy) and 2) the demand for repayment on the deficit is, at this writing, not exceeding a payment schedule we can meet.

Can we expect the fair financial weather to last? Probably not. A large part of our deficit is still in past due accounts payable, money owed to our major distributors namely, Community Produce and C.C. Grains in Seattle; and in past due loans payables to members. We are responsible for paying these debts on demand if the demand is made and they cannot be put off indefinitely.

On the bright side is our consistent profit which pulls us slowly out of this dangerous situation. The other, newest measure is the passage of the capital funding proposal by membership balloting last month. In effect, this system allows the Co-op to borrow a large sum of money by borrowing a little from a lot of people over a long period of time. The capital fund should allow us to avert financial crisis until we are out of debt and will enable us to offer better services in the future.

The statements in this article are very general. The Co-op does maintain an open books policy and specific details and figures will be made available upon request.

Co-op News December 1978 PDF

Newsletter Archive 

Co-op News September 1978 PDF
FINANCIAL HISTORY
The financial crisis the Co-op has been going through actually started when the Co-op opened in March, 1977. The Co-op started several thousand dollars in debt, from initial start-up expenses and the initial inventory. The Co-op started with a 15% mark-up over cost, and then later gave a 5% discount to working members and senior citizens. Starting September 1, 1977, the mark-up was raised to 10% working, 20% non-working and 32% non-member. But during this whole time no one really knew if the Co-op was making or losing money.

The staff did not have the time or expertise to set up and operate a work-able bookkeeping system. When the bank account got low and checks started bouncing, we would borrow money, which would stop it for awhile, and continue to muddle on. In March, 1978 we finally hired a real bookkeeper – who then found we were losing about $1,000 a month. There was initial panic, as some people wanted to raise the mark-up immediately and others were afraid of what the members should say if they found out we were losing so much money. We finally decided to wait another month until we had another month’s figures to base a decision on. Then the whole thing got stuck in the mud of cooperative process, and it was July 1 when the mark-up was finally raised to 15% and 30%.

By that time the Co-op was deeply in debt. At the end of June we could not come up with the sales tax money we had collected for the state in May. This money was in effect a floating loan: we would collect it for the month, and then pay it to the state at the end of the next month, in the meantime collecting another month’s worth of sales tax. So we had between one and two thousand dollars of the state’s money in our bank account. This money had gradually gone out to pay other expenses (remember, we were losing $1,000 a month) so when the sales tax ended, July 1, we weren’t collecting the money any more and had to pay the state May’s and June’s tax – about $2,000.00. This money had to come out of the store’s operations, which put us in severe financial crisis.

We didn’t have enough money to pay suppliers, checks were bouncing, we owed taxes to other government people, we owed payments on the new cash register and on loans. It was a day to day question if we would have enough money to continue.

When people found out about the crisis, they responded with loans that alleviated the day to day crunch – but the long-term crisis is still there and still as serious as it was then. The Co-op has been through several crises, each one worse than the last. It’s the time we learned our lesson and dealt with it. If we wait for another one to hit, it may be too late.

Co-op News September 1978 PDF

Quarterly News Page

Co-op News August 1978 PDF
SENATE PASSES BANK BILL
The National Consumer Co-operative Bank Act passed the Senate by a vote of 60 to 33 on July 13, 1978. The House of Representatives passed its companion bill a year ago. Senators Jackson and Magnuson both voted in favor.

This bill will create a National Consumer Co-operative Bank which will loan money at current market interest rates to cooperatives and guarantee such loans from other sources. In order to be eligible for loans a co-op must operate on a not-for-profit basis, must have a “sound organizational structure and future income prospects to permit full repayment of the loan,” must be ineligible for loans from other sources, and meet other technical structural requirements. The bank will originally be funded by the Federal government and governed by the board appointed by the President. However, as co-ops borrow from the bank they will also be required to buy stock in the bank such that the board will eventually consist almost entirely of co-op representatives. The bill contains provisions to prevent control by any one organization or class of organizations, i.e. housing co-ops, food co-ops, etc.

The bill also creates an Office of Self-Help and Technical Assistance which will provide training, information and assistance on co-op operation and management, will do and sponsor research in areas of interest to co-ops and consumers, and will be permitted to make some loans at lowered rates to co-ops that serve low income people.

Because the Senate version differs from the version of the bill passed by the House of Representatives, it will now have to go into a conference committee which will make the necessary compromises and return the bill to both houses for approval. Carter is expected to approve the bill as he came out recently in support of it. After this work is completed the House and Senate will then need to vote to appropriate the funds.

This could be a lengthy process. At this writing members of the conference committee have yet to be chosen.

The senate version of the bill cut government allocations for the bank from $500 million to $300 million (all to be eventually repaid) and allocations for the office from $250 million to $70 million as well as other changes. Nevertheless, it provides a powerful tool for the development of cooperatives. Proponents of the bill see the development of co-ops as a potential solution or partial solution for problems ranging from inflation to the quality of consumer goods and services to the lack of consumer control over what goods and services are available. It is hoped that government investment in co-ops will pay for itself by decreasing needs for other forms of government assistance programs. Opponents of this bill saw it as another financial responsibility of the government, a program funded by the taxpayers which would be a serious threat to other small businesses (a clause was added to protect small businesses) and a foolish way to invest government money are we sure we want to lend money to ‘those’ kinds of people?).

I will wonder for a long time how a government which I have been in opposition to over most issues for a long time managed to pass a piece of legislation as positive and powerful as this one seems to be, but I must admit (as I hold my breath and wonder, is it really going to work?) that I am pleased.

Co-op News August 1978 PDF

Newsletter Archive

Co-op News June 1978 PDF
CDC ISSUES
For those who have been unable to attend any of the Wednesday evening get-togethers down at Radiance, here is a brief sketch of what the Olympic CDC has been up to:

Since the benefit held April 16, at which we earned approximately $75 by donations and food sales, we have been meeting weekly to share our energies, drawing up preliminary by-laws for a community Credit Union and discussing information gathered throughout the week. Issues such as “What are the conditions of membership going to be?”, “How will the Board of Directors be comprised?” and “How will existing community service groups be able to work within the CDC organization?” are being discussed, and each week we make a certain amount of progress towards the first draft of by-laws.

A good deal of outreach work has been going on also – getting in touch with groups like the Community for Christian Celebration, which is attempting to organize extended families in Olympia/Thurston County; the Crisis Clinic, which so far has acted to get people in touch with people and groups of similar interest (something we hope to do as one of our major functions); and the Women’s Health Center. These groups have expressed encouragement and brought new ideas of how to go about the work we have set out to do.

Our feeling is that as we grow and learn with each other about the directions we share as individuals living in a community, bonds of cooperative, neighborly assistance can develop and that we all have a great deal to gain by walking/working together in this manner.

The original project of organizing a community credit union is already well underway, and each week we discuss new ideas and connections in other areas of community development, all of which leads to the birth of a group of folks, working together to facilitate alternatives and cooperative and working systems such as a hardware store, alternative school, musicians guild, retreat center, clothing exchange, skills bank, transportation collective, and any other needs which are brought out during meetings which can be developed by ourselves through working with one another to make it happen.

As the Beatles have sung, “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.” Whatever good energy you can share with the CDC will be amply rewarding. Come to one of the meetings when you are interested and want to share with us in community. Every Wednesday evening at 7:00 or slightly thereafter, Radiance Herbs and Massage, Fourth Avenue, Olympia.

Co-op News June 1978 PDF

Newsletter Archive

Co-op News May 1978 PDF
EVALUATIONS, VISIONS AND GOALS
The Co-op has been open for over a year. It has played an important role in the Olympia community by supplying a basic need; good, cheap food, within a community owned, co-operative framework. The Co-op has given many people an opportunity to work with one another and help shape our community. An essential part of this kind of process is to regularly take the time to evaluate the work which has been done, share our hopes and visions for what we could do, and set some realistic goals for where we would like to be in one year, or five or ten. Towards this end, four workshops have been scheduled for early June. The first will be for sharing feelings, ideas, and dreams about the Olympia community. The second will be a discussion of the role of the Co-op in this community. The third will focus on the Co-op itself, its internal process. The fourth workshop will be a wrap-up to bring together the most important ideas from the first three and to discuss viable goals. Anyone who is interest is welcome to attend any, or all the workshops. All workshops will be held at Radiance Herbs and Massage on 4th Avenue from 7:30-10:00 on the following evenings:

I     Mon, June 5 – The Olympia Community
II    Thurs, June 8 – The Co-op & the Comm.
III    Sun, June 11 – The Co-op
IV    Tues, June 13 – Wrap up & Goals

Written by Beth

Co-op News May 1978 PDF

Quarterly News Page

Co-op News April 1978 PDF
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE HOLDS BENEFIT
On April 16th the Gnu Deli was the site of a benefit fundraiser for an Olympia Community Development Committee. The popular jazz group Gila performed, helping to make the benefit successful. For the committee, it was a double success. Money was raised for project development and the public was given a presentation explaining these projects.

The committee has been meeting for the past 6 weeks sharing ideas centering on a community owned development organization and what this organization would provide the Olympia area. They come together out of a common feeling that people in a community should have the ability to direct and to participate in an integrated growth for that community. The group has decided upon some areas where people’s needs have not yet been met. One of their first projects has been work on development of a community based credit union. It was felt that control of financial resources is a necessary first step to gaining control over other aspects of one’s life.

Work in this area and in others will continue as the committee grows in size and experience. People interested in more information are urged to attend weekly meetings of the committee. These are held at Radiance Herbs and Massage, 202 W. 4th St. on Wednesday nights at 7.

Co-op News April 1978 PDF

Newsletter Archive

Co-op News December 1977 & January 1978 PDF
AN INVITATION TO BE A FOUNDING MEMBER OF THE COMMUNITY YOU DREAM OF – NOW!
The success of the Food Coop has caused a dream to reawaken within me. It is a dream of co-operative community, one where each person may share in the ownership and management of the sources which supply her/him with daily with daily goods and services. I believe such a community can arise within the Olympia area. I would like to share my ideas on this subject with the hope of others of like mind will join me in planning ways to make this dream a reality in the near future.
Structurally this community would center around a co-operative corporation. People could purchase a membership share in this co-op. The membership would enable them to shop at all stores run by the co-op and receive a reduced rate. The membership would also give them the ability to participate in deciding how the whole community should be run.

To finance this project two avenues are available. They are interrelated and complimentary. First, there would be an initial membership fee of $20 and a yearly renewal of $5. per person. Another aspect of this first part would also be a $30 accumulated cash reserve required from each member. The actual member fees would not be refunded but the cash reserve money could be received back by anyone giving up their co-op membership.

The second part of the community financing comes via establishment of a co-op consumer credit union. Co-op members would be members of the credit union also. They could use it to handle all their banking needs. With money from member deposits and from the co-op cash reserves, the credit union could finance the expansion of the co-operative community.
I see the co-op community concentrating growth in three major areas: retail stores, transportation needs, and community services. The retail stores would be centered mostly on necessity items, such as food, clothing, hardware, and home supplies. However, stores concentrating on personal pleasure items such as books, music, recreation, etc. could also come eventually. Transportation services could include the maintenance of autos and bicycles as well as providing community transportation needs. Purchase of parts and tools could also be included. The services area could include daycare, shelters, and halfway houses, etc. they would have to be financed from the revenues generated from the other co-op operations.

When the co-op community begins our F.O.O.D. co-op would be dissolved into it. I would see the transition occur by giving all present F.O.O.D. Co-op members the option of purchasing co-op community membership at a yearly renewal rate of $5. The F.O.O.D. Co-op assets could be easily transferred to the new organization because of a clause in our bylaws permitting such actions when we dissolve. People who are F.O.O.D. co-op members but who do not wish to become members of the new organizations could have their membership fee refunded.
As said in the beginning of this article the co-op community is just a dream. Yet is it also a very real possibility, within our means even now. What will make it happen is the desire of many people to see it come into being, the dedication and commitment to make it work. I would like to hear from anyone willing to work towards this goal with me.

Love,
Jim Cuningham

Co-op News December 1977 & January 1978 PDF

Newsletter Archive

Co-op News November 1977 PDF
TOWARD BETTER, MORE LOVING CO-OP MEETINGS
Every month or so since the CO-OP began, a General Membership Meeting has been held to make important announcements and come to decisions on important issues. There have been, in addition to general meetings, biweekly business meetings held on first Mondays and third Tuesdays of each month to discuss on-going business and reach decisions on lesser issues. This meeting plan sounds like a good one and it is, but it has had some problems. What seems to have happened is that the bi-weekly business meetings have diminished in interest and attendance. Because of this, more and more issues and announcements have been put on the general meetings where, hopefully, there would be more membership participation. The result of this has been that we end up with two and a half hours of general meeting time-…..to take care of 7 or 8 announcements, each requiring question/answer time plus three to five major decisions, each of which could take up an entire meeting to be thoroughly discussed. What is happening is that general meetings have become so intense and frustrating that people don’t like to come back to them, understandably.

Fortunately there are some good suggestions for what can be done about this situation. The by-laws of the CO-OP state that in order for any changes to be made to the bylaws, a general meeting must be announced at least two weeks in advance & a quorum of 20 members must be present to vote on the proposed change. Since at every general meeting at least 2 or 3 of the issues call for bylaw change, the suggestion has been made to limit general meetings to these issues and possibly limit the number of issues discussed at any one meeting to three. All issues not requiring bylaw change would be brought up for decision at bi-weekly business meetings and bring the general meetings down to a level of intensity at which good, reasonable decision making can occur. Hopefully, a fringe benefit will be increased attendance at all meetings. Here are some more suggestions for dealing with the problem of too high intensity/frustration at all meetings;

1) Begin each meeting with a moment of silence. This will give each person a chance to get calm and centered and bring the intention of the group together.

2) Have facilitators who are not staff members. Most issues and announcements originate with staff since we are most involved with the CO-OP. A good facilitator should be able to remain impartial to the issues, should not be motivated by the need to offer her opinions. It is impossible for staff members to keep this stance since so involved.

3) Have the facilitator make some opening statements about the meeting process… reminders about mutual respect, attention, time limits, ect. Sometimes, perhaps a poem or appropriate quote might accomplish this.

4) For highly charged issues, we might go to a council format. We go around the room, each person has a turn to say their piece on the issue… while a person speaks, there is no interruption…there is no reaction, discussion, or argument until every person has had an opportunity to speak. It is important in this format that people say what they think, not to react to what others have said. I have been in meetings where this for mat has worked very well and it is a wonderful exercise in patience. (It is also a method used in many democratic ‘primitive’ tribal groups…editors note)

Cooperative decision making is not simple. It requires far more time, participation, and energy than would the delegation of responsibility to individuals. There are many of us that feel that the extra effort is well worth it for the coop movement would have died long ago instead of growing as it has. Meetings are our forums, be they meetings of the membership, the staff, the board of directors, or the committees. In may respects, the process which develops and changes in our meetings is the best gauge of how successful we are at being cooperative, at working together for the good of us all. We have learned a lot. We have a lot left to learn. For me it is no doubt that it is worth every bit of effort, frustration and struggle to come to a point where I can see that the cooperative process is working better than it did before, that we have been and are learning and growing together.

Love and joy to you all, Beth

Hi-
For a brief while, our CO-OP had a ‘Children’s Corner’ where one could drop one’s little one(s) and have a few moments of leisurely shopping. The lures were toys, book, crayons and, that magical ingredient; other kids. Now, instead, we have a new cooler, and though I do appreciate it, I miss the children’s space. Until that wonderful day when the CO-OP expands and moves to a new location with plenty of room (dream on) maybe we could all take a look at what it can really mean to have children around…….even if one may not have children, or has decided to never have any, the experience of childhood belongs to all of us. Whether it was an enjoyable adventure, or one that you barely survived, we all did manage to pull through. It seems to me that every time anyone interacts with a child, they have the chance to add a little something…either positive or negative…to the little one’s experience. Now, I agree that babies wandering freely around the CO-OP floor aren’t really convenient..but until we have a place to put “them” , if everyone felt involved enough to keep an eye out, just a little bit, the whole scene would proceed much smoother… for everyone…..so…..when you spy a kid, knee deep in the honey call someone…tell daddy or mommy…Don’t just walk on by and breathe a deep sigh glad that the bother belongs to another!

Co-op News November 1977 PDF

Newsletter Archive

Co-op News September & October 1977 PDF
A FEW PLUGS FOR UGLY PRODUCE….
Just a reminder of the tremendous indoctrination we’ve all received which condemns any dirt or bug. We’ve been taught to see “good” fruit as that which is “orange orange” and “yellow yellow”. Meanwhile, we are guzzling much dyes, insecticides and other most probably harmful and/or carcinogenic chemicals which are applied to such fruit to maintain its beautiful unscarred appearance and to obtain (much of the time) such true (?) colors! So I merely want to relate to your consciousness, which you relate to on one level or another….. to remind everyone that UGLY PRODUCE means no dyes, no insecticides and no killing energy or “bad Karma”. A lot is locally grown. Thus, it is CHEAP and GOOD. So often, however, we see it sitting and going bad because it is ugly. Can we retrain our eyes at such a late time in our lives? Sure we can!! THINK ….. AWARENESS!! Turn a friend (as well as yourself) to a brown banana or a dull yellow speckled pear. They aren’t over-ripe or “bad”. They are merely “ungassed” bananas and “unsprayed” pears. And they are delicious!!! ENJOY!!!

By Sandi Slaby

SING ALONG – to the tune of Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice”
There’s lots of groovy people at the co-op
hoping you’re coming down real soon
They’re in the back room bagging up the cashews
and they’re saving you the prunes
It only costs 5 bucks to come and join our store
that gives you a discount and a whole lot more
You don’t have to shop at Safeway anymore
Don’t think twice, ‘cuz it’s alright
(soon to be released on record and tape)

Co-op News September & October 1977 PDF

Newsletter Archive