[cgfc] CGFC's Weekly Bytes, Vol.1, Issue #4

Mon Aug 15 17:04:19 CDT 2005

GREETINGS!

Welcome to Common Ground Food Co-op's weekly (for now) e-newsletter! You're 
getting this missive because you're a member of 
Common Ground who's also signed up to be on the CGFC mailing list. If you 
aren't interested in receiving these updates, 
please email commongroundfoodcoop at gmail.com. A paper version is posted on 
the bulletin board in the store.

Every week, via this transmission, members are provided with store 
updates/news, links to relevant news items/political 
actions, and other bits and pieces worthy of mention. If you have anything 
of a similar bent you think members should know 
about, please email links to commongroundfoodcoop at gmail.com. Thanks!

STORE/LOCAL NEWS:

****CGFC will be participating in the Volunteer Fair at the U of I on 
Friday, September 9 from 10 AM - 2 PM. PLease contact 
Lisa at the email address above if you're interested in representing CGFC.

****Five More Urbana Farmers' Markets left for us! CGFC's scheduled to 
appear 8/27 as well as every Saturday in September. If 
you're interested in taking a shift at our centrally-located/often 
stopped-at booth, please email Lisa at the address above. Thanks!

****Did you see the article in last Wednesday's News-Gazette about the 
cooking demonstration at the Urbana Farmers' Market 
sponsored by local food organization Prairie Table? No? Never heard of 'em 
or just want to know more? 

Check them out here: www.prairietable.org <http://www.prairietable.org>

****New product onslaught continues!

**Cascade Fresh Yogurt and Sour Cream are on on sale this month! Cascade 
Fresh is a family-owned company in the Pacific Northwest. Their milk comes 
from regional small dairies whose cows are raised on pasture. They don't use 
rBGH or antibiotics on their cows, and don't add any refined sugar or 
additives to their products. Their yogurts have 8 active cultures, including 
acidophilus and bifidus.

More info at www.cascadefresh.com <http://www.cascadefresh.com>

**Also! Temptation Soy Dessert is on sale this month - $2.75/pint! This soy 
ice cream comes from an up-and-coming Chicago company of two (Dan Ziegler 
and Ryan Howard). The emphasize local ingredients and use organic soybeans 
grown right here in Illinois! They got their start selling their homemade 
soymilk and soy ice cream to Chicago restaurants, including the renowned 
Chicago Diner vegetarian restaurant. Their packaging is recyclable and they 
support many animal and human rights groups. "Our company is run according 
to philosophy, not profits."

Check them out at www.welovesoy.com <http://www.welovesoy.com>

****CGFC Product Blog - it's a tool you can use to communicate with Molly, 
CGFC's Product Buyer! Go on over and suggest away! 

www.cgfcproducts.blogspot.com <http://www.cgfcproducts.blogspot.com>

INFO OF INTEREST:

*** Seeds & Breeds For the 21st Century
September 12-15, 2005, Ames, Iowa

This conference will have multiple sessions to engage a larger, more diverse
group of stakeholders interested in strengthening our public plant and 
animal
breeding capacity. Conference session topics will include the present
situation and direction of both public breeding and research and of 
federally
funded programs. We will also discuss policy work and coalition building, 
plan
for the next Farm Bill and review the Bayh-Dole Act. In addition, attendees
will learn about successful farmer-centered public and private plant and 
animal
breeding programs that are participatory and that address the unique needs 
of
diverse farming systems and growing consumer demands. If you wish to attend
please go to the conference registration site at
http://www.agron.iastate.edu/seedsandbreeds or contact the Seeds and Breeds 
for
the 21st Century Conference liaison Laura Lauffer, at 919 542 6067, or
laural at blast.com

*** The English get into the local foods act:

"More and more restaurant and gastropub menus list local suppliers, but the 
Broad Street Restaurant has gone one step further - a line under each dish 
on the menu informs customers exactly where each ingredient comes from, even 
down to which farm supplied the poached free-range egg in the broad bean and 
mixed leaf salad." Check it out:

http://shopping.guardian.co.uk/food/story/0,1587,1527320,00.html

*** The government doesn't subsidize the foods it says we should all be 
eating:

"Here we are as a society, talking constantly about obesity and diets, and 
yet our farm policies are not structured to 
encourage the kind of diet that the food pyramid suggests we should adopt," 
said Ralph Grossi, president of American Farmland Trust, a Washington-based 
group that advocates conservation on farm and ranch land." More:

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/men/wire/sns-ap-fit-diets-vs-subsidies,1,3504849.story?coll=sns-ap-healthmen-headlines

***Waste! Not only is it, well, wasteful, it's costly, costly, costly:

"It's just a matter of time before those staggering hikes in oil prices are 
translated into higher costs for food, reflecting the higher costs farmers 
pay for running diesel harvesters and using oil-based fertilizers and 
pesticides.

Timothy Jones, a University of Arizona archaeologist, says that makes the 
results of his studies of how much food is lost and 
thrown away very timely. For the last eight years, Jones has spearheaded a 
government-financed study that has documented how more than 40 percent of 
food grown in the United States is lost or thrown away - at a cost of at 
least $100 billion annually to the economy and over-taxing the soil and 
environment." More here:

http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=GARBAGE-08-10-05&cat=AN

*** Monsanto's trying to, uh, hog patents on animal life, in addition to 
their usual tricks:

"If these patents are granted, Monsanto can legally prevent breeders and 
farmers from breeding pigs whose characteristics are 
described in the patent claims, or force them to pay royalties," says Then. 
"It's a first step toward the same kind of corporate control of an animal 
line that Monsanto is aggressively pursuing with various grain and vegetable 
lines." More information:

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/monsanto-pig-patent-111

*** In the "But You Knew That Already" Department:

"In a 2002 University of Missouri study, chemists were shocked to discover 
that the smaller organically grown oranges 
delivered 30 percent more vitamin C than the large conventionally grown 
ones." More reinforcement here:

http://www.organic.org/?section=articles&page=showarticle&article=46

*** Analog farmer socks it to the Bigs:

" Frustrated by the federal rules that govern what foods can be labeled 
organic, Harvey, representing himself, sued the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture in 2002. He argued that the regulations were far 
more lax than the original organic legislation 
intended. While his lawsuit was tossed out of federal district court, Harvey 
won several crucial points on appeal earlier 
this year." Find out what those points were:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/health/chi-0508110201aug11,1,3387050.story

(If you need login and password info, use: email - 
privacy1st at mailinator.com/password<http://privacy1st@mailinator.com/password>-tribune)

SURF'S UP!

**** www.unitedplantsavers.org/ <http://www.unitedplantsavers.org/> - 
"United Plant Savers' mission is to protect native medicinal plants of the 
United States 

and Canada and their native habitat while ensuring an abundant renewable 
supply of medicinal plants for generations to come."

**** www.beanslentils.com/ <http://www.beanslentils.com/> - Just what it 
says! 

FOOD BLOGS/SITES OF THE WEEK:

**** www.cookingforengineers.com <http://www.cookingforengineers.com> - not 
vegetarian, but a great resource for cooking techniques and science

**** www.veganmania.com <http://www.veganmania.com> - Canadian vegan goes 
wild with the recipes!

Please feel free to forward these links to people you think might benefit 
from such knowledge.

Thanks and look for #5 same time (more or less) next week!

::compiled by Outreach Co-coordinator Lisa Bralts-Kelly::
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