[cgfc] CGFC Weekly Bytes, Vol. 2, #2

Thu Jan 12 19:27:32 CST 2006

 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 lisabk at gmail.com.

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 lisabk at gmail.com.
Thanks!

STORE/LOCAL NEWS:

****NEW WORKER ORIENTATION:
If you're interested in becoming a CGFC working member, the next worker
orientation has been TENTATIVELY scheduled for Saturday, 21 January, at the
store at 1 PM. Hopefully the time will be nailed down by this time next
week. Please call the store at 352-3347 if you have any questions.

****FAIR TRADE DISCUSSION:
Manager Molly Stentz just returned last week from Mexico, where she was
learning more about fair trade issues with folks from Just Coffee, one of
our coffee suppliers. Come join her Monday, 23 January at 7 PM in the
Wisegarver Lounge (just down the hall from the co-op) for a roundtable
discussion about her trip, fair trade issues, our coffee suppliers, and
more! Cool, envy-inducing photos and snacks will also be provided.

****SEEDS!!
Our seed order has been placed and the seeds should be here in a week or
two. We'll have a fancy new spinner rack and everything!

Check out Seed Savers' website for information about who they are, what they
do, and to look at some of the seeds we ordered:

http://www.seedsavers.org

****HOME COOKING:
Is there a dish you wish the co-op cooks and bakers would prepare once in
awhile? Cooks & Bakers manager Eric is taking your suggestions. Feel free to
drop your request for a salad, soup, baked treat, bread or whatever you
relish into Eric's mailbox in the CGFC office.

****CO-OP CHILDCARE:
If you're interested in helping out with co-op childcare (every Thursday
starting at noon), please fill out one of the forms available on the media
table next to the freezer in the store.

****STUFF ON SALE!
Grocery Buyer Katie has made a list of everything that's on sale in the
store - you can find it posted on one of the bulletin boards at the co-op.
Here's a partial list:

Grocery, on sale for all of January

Blues Busters Full Spectrum Light Bulbs    $5.19
Eden Spelt Buckwheat Gemelli               $2.89
Emergen-C  all flavors                     $.37 each, $9.69 a box
Equal Exchange Tea  all flavors            $3.39
Garden of Eatin' Guacamole Chips           $2.59
Hodgson Mills Buckwheat Pancake Mix        $2.29
If You Care Aluminum Foil                  $3.89
If You Care Baking Cups                     $.95
Journey Vanilla Bean Soda                  $1.06 each, $4.24 a 4 pack
Kagome Autumn Reds                         $2.99

Much more in the store!

BOOKMARK FODDER:

****NATIONAL ANIMAL IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM (NAIS)
I'm having a hard time understanding the logic of making any person owning
any livestock at all -  EVEN ONE CHICKEN - register their home ("premises")
with the government AND microchipping every animal on the premises at the
owner's expense AND forcing the owner to file paperwork with the government
any time the animal is leaving the premises for any reason.

If you're a backyard chicken raiser, this affects you. If you own sheep for
fiber purposes, this affects you. If you raise animals to make dairy
products or for eggs to sell at market, this affects you. If you eat
locally-produced eggs, meat, or cheeses - this affects you.

The US government claims this will help them help us in the event of a
disease outbreak. I think factory farmers should be far more regulated than
they are, as their operations are cruel and incredible breeding grounds for
disease. But hey, that's just me.

Here's the US government's site:

http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/index.shtml

Here's an activist, anti-ID website:

http://www.stopanimalid.org/

Here's a link to a PDF of an article that appeared in the current issue of
Countryside magazine that takes apart NAIS:

http://www.profane-justice.org/2005_12_30_20_47_13.pdf

If you don't think this program is a good idea, here's a petition you can
sign:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/369063795?ltl=1137033723

Between Monsanto buying Seminis (a major seed company that supplies seeds to
many smaller companies) and this, all I can say is... ???????

*****RELATED:
"Felix Ballarin spent 15 years of his life developing a special
organically-grown variety of red corn. It would bring a high price on the
market because local chicken farmers said the red color lent a rosy hue to
the meat and eggs from their corn-fed chickens. But when the corn emerged
from the ground last year, yellow kernels were mixed with the red.
Government officials later confirmed with DNA tests that Mr. Ballarin's crop
had become contaminated with a genetically modified (GMO) strain of corn.

Because Mr. Ballarin's crop was genetically contaminated, it no longer
qualified as "organically grown," so it no longer brought a premium price.
Mr. Ballarin's 15-year investment was destroyed overnight by what is now
commonly known as "genetic contamination." This is a new phenomenon, less
then 10 years old -- but destined to be a permanent part of the brave new
world that is being cobbled together as we speak by a handful of
corporations whose goal is global domination of food."

The rest of this great essay on the contamination of real food with GMOs can
be found here:

http://www.counterpunch.com/montague01072006.html

****ALL HAIL THE PODCAST
I've discovered the joy of being able to listen to quality radio programs on
my own schedule with either my computer or a listening device of some sort.
This week's program on Beyond Organic was quite decent - "City Farmers:
Small Space, Big Impact". Listen here:

http://www.beyondorganic.com/

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Please feel free to forward these links to people you think might benefit
from such knowledge.
Thanks and look for issue 2.3 same time (more or less) next week!
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