Great coffee shops offer more than a good cup of joe; they provide a pleasant sensory experience for their patrons. It’s hard to deny the allure of the aroma and energy emanating from a great cafe. Whether you’re looking for a relaxing space to pull a caffeine-fueled remote work session or you’re seeking an inviting atmosphere to meet up with friends over a great cup of locally-roasted coffee, we invite you to check out Royal Oak Coffee! We’re thrilled to have Royal Oak as part of our Co-op Connection lineup, offering responsibly sourced, high-quality artisan coffee in a welcoming atmosphere along with a sweet 10% discount for card-carrying Co-op Member-Owners. Read on to learn more about this vibrant local business named to the list of the nation’s best coffee shops by Food and Wine Magazine, and the family that brings it to life:
Armed with 20 years of combined experience in the coffee industry, Matthew and Alessandra Delia-Lobo (known as Matt and Aless to their regulars) opened the doors to Royal Oak Coffee on Middlebury’s Seymour Street in May of 2019. The couple met in a Connecticut coffee shop back in 2011, so it only seems fitting that their lives together since then have revolved around a shared passion for coffee.
Royal Oak Coffee at 30 Seymour Street in MiddleburyRoyal Oak Coffee
Despite having traveled the world exploring coffee and cafe culture from Boston to Italy to Sweeden and the UK, the couple (thankfully) chose unlikely Middlebury as the home for their shop. Why Middlebury? The couple shares that over the course of six years visiting Matt’s mother, who lives here in Vermont’s shire town, they fell in love with the town, the pace, the gorgeous landscape, the kind people, and the sense of community. They decided it would be a great spot to settle, open up shop, and eventually start a family.
Matt behind the counter
At Royal Oak, Matt and Aless exclusively feature beans roasted in Winooski, VT, by Vivid Coffee Roasters. The couple prioritizes supply chain transparency and equity. They feel that the agricultural roots and vibrant local food scene in Addison County foster a community that understands the importance of supporting specific farmers and sustainable methods of production.
The smiling team at Royal Oak
Their cafe is artfully curated to create the kind of welcoming, unpretentious vibe that they feel is more in keeping with the rural Vermont scene. When the business initially launched, Matt and Aless were a team of two, handling all aspects of the business and serving each cup of coffee with a conversation and a smile. This gave them the opportunity to introduce themselves to the community and get to know their patrons. As the business and their own family grew, they recognized the need to hire a small team to support cafe operations, but they remain heavily involved with all aspects of the business. As for the name of their cafe, Aless shares that the Royal Oak moniker was a nod to her late father’s business — a reference to the tree where Charles II of England hid during a battle.
According to Aless, “our whole shtick is to do things intentionally, consider everything and be nice. That’s it. We want people to feel like they’re welcome, that their order isn’t wrong or bad because they want decaf or something with sugar in it.” And clearly, they’re onto something. Despite the challenges of opening a new business in the midst of a pandemic, Matt and Aless have managed to keep their community blissfully caffeinated and elevate the coffee conversation along the way. We’re grateful that they’re here and thrilled to have them in the Co-op Connection lineup!
It’s Board Election season here at the Co-op! Feeling confused about the election? Check out these answers to three of the most commonly asked questions:
I don’t know a lot about the Co-op…should I still vote?
Yes! You don’t need to have any prior experience or expertise to vote. If you’ve been inside the store, then you have the experience needed to vote.
We recommend you look for candidates who demonstrate a commitment to strategic leadership—leadership that supports the best interests of our Co-op as a whole.
Why should I vote?
It’s very rare that you have the opportunity to make decisions about the leadership of a business, particularly one that plays such a significant role in our daily lives, such as a grocery store. When you vote, you have a direct impact on our community and local economy.
We literally own our co-op grocery store together, as member-owners. Big-name grocery stores are owned by shareholders that do not live in our community–profits from these stores are extracted from communities.
MNFC is different because we own the Co-op together–profits recirculate in our community, and all decisions are made locally by the Board of Directors and the Co-op Management Team.
Does my vote matter?
YES! Our elections are frequently very close races. Directors are often elected by a margin of only a few votes, and we occasionally have ties that result in run-off elections. Your vote really, truly matters!
Many thanks for your time! Please reach out if you have any questions.
Are you gearing up for some spring cleaning? Keep it green with Seventh Generation! They’re basking in the glow of the Co-op Spotlight this week and member-owners can enjoy 20% off their full line ofproducts from May 4th – 10th! Read on to learn more about their energy-efficient practices, socially responsible business model, their fight for labeling transparency for cleaning products, and their impressive efforts to tackle climate change:
More than 30 years ago, a group of like-minded individuals came together to create Seventh Generation, a company dedicated to nurturing the health of the next seven generations. They do that by creating everyday products using plant-based ingredients, and by creating positive policy change through their mission and advocacy work. They’re on a mission to transform the world into a healthy, sustainable & equitable place for the next seven generations.
As a mission-driven founding B-Corps business, Seventh Generation aims to pioneer a more mindful way of doing business. They remain committed to examining their impacts as a business and considering the principles that matter to them as a company: responsible sourcing; using materials from plants, not petroleum; ensuring the health of our planet and the people on it; having an engaged, motivated workforce; and caring for their community. They track their progress toward these goals and present them with total transparency. Click here to check out their most recent climate impact assessment.
Not Business As Usual
Our planet’s future and the health of generations to come are far too important for business as usual, which is why Seventh Generation constantly strives to make their products more sustainable, why they’re racing to reduce their carbon footprint and become a zero-waste company by 2025, and why they’re advocating for climate justice. They stand with the Youth Climate Movement and seek to use their platform to elevate the voices and initiatives championed by the leaders of the Movement who have heard the call and stepped up to lead the charge.
As many climate activists have noted, though, this movement is about more than just switching to a renewable energy economy and curbing our fossil fuel usage. It’s about demanding true Climate Justice. It’s about changing our energy usage in a way that is fair and equitable so that frontline communities and those among us who are most vulnerable aren’t compromised in the process—as they often are. It’s about the need to divest from fossil fuels and invest in a renewable energy economy that prioritizes the health of people and planet over the health of the fossil fuel industry. The students have raised their voices and the team at Seventh Generation feels compelled to not only stand beside them but also to take action and use their own ability to affect change to help the movement grow and create the healthy future all of us deserve. As a sustainable business, Seventh Generation feels a responsibility to fight for that future and they invite you to join them. Click here to read more about their ongoing Climate Justice efforts.
Envisioning A Zero Waste Future
Packaging is more than just a container to the folks at Seventh Generation. In every packaging decision they make, they consider the impact on the health, safety, and sustainability of people and the planet. And as industry leaders in their use of post-consumer recycled plastic, their sustainable packaging embodies their mission to nurture the health of today and the next seven generations. By 2025, they plan to ensure that all of their packaging is sourced from 100% biobased or PCR (post-consumer recycled). By 2025, they also plan to ensure that 100% of their materials are reusable and reused, recyclable and recycled, or biodegradable and degraded.
But recently, the company doubled down and shifted tactics to involve moving away from plastic completely, starting with a new line called Zero Plastic Homecare.
“What we realized is that we really need to take action and move ourselves as a business away from plastic, because as good as the plastic is or as little you use, recycling alone will never solve the problem,” says Seventh Generation CEO Joey Bergstein. In the U.S., according to an EPA report last year with the most recent data, only around 9.1% of plastic waste is recycled; another 15.5% is burned. The rest—26 million tons per year—ends up in landfills. That’s despite years of effort to improve recycling rates.
To eliminate plastic in the new line, the company rethought the products themselves. By using non-liquid products, the containers don’t need plastic to act as a “moisture barrier.” “If we remove plastic from the equation, that means removing the liquid from the equation as well,” says Joe Giallanella, who leads the company’s growth incubator, the team tasked with eliminating plastic from packaging. The cleaning power of these liquid-free tablets and powders is activated with water when you are ready. A fundamental clean is achieved without the use of dyes, bleach, wrappers, or plastic. And they will biodegrade once you are done with your cleaning routine.
For now, these products are available exclusively through a small handful of online retailers. This will allow Seventh Generation to test the products with a smaller audience before going more mainstream. We look forward to seeing how these work!
The Fight for Ingredient Disclosure
Seventh Generation firmly believes that you have the right to know what is in the products you buy, which is why they helped launch the #comeclean campaign. Through this campaign, they aim to air the cleaning industry’s dirty laundry. They support state and federal legislation to require manufacturers of both consumer household and industrial cleaning products to disclose all intentionally added ingredients, including fragrance components, on their product labels and on their websites. Thanks to their vigilant efforts, landmark legislation (SB 258-California’s Cleaning Product Right to Know Act) was passed which required that, by 2020, companies must list certain ingredients on their packaging and website. It’s a major step forward in the fight for ingredient transparency and affirms our collective right to know what’s in the products we buy. This victory wouldn’t have been possible without the emails, calls, texts, and tweets from our collective community.
This week’s Member Deals Spotlight shines brightly on Violife! All of their plant-based products are 20% off for member-owners from April 20th – 26th, so it’s a great time to stock up on their award-winning dairy-free delights. Read on to learn more about Violife and the mission that drives them to succeed:
Back in the early ’90s, three friends in Greece were bemoaning how much they missed cheese during the dairy-free Greek Orthodox holidays (100 days/year). They couldn’t find any good substitutes, so they decided to create their own and thus, Violife was born. Violife comes from the Greek word Vios, which means Life. So it’s actually, life squared, encouraging us to live life to its fullest. They are a vegan-dedicated community based in the beautiful surroundings of Thessalonica in Greece. They’ve been committed to making delicious, 100% vegan, non-dairy, non-GMO foods since the ’90s, in their production plant in the small town of Drama in Northern Greece. They are proud and humbled to be a favorite brand for so many Vegans, Vegetarians, and Flexitarians in over 50 countries around the world.
At Violife, they understand the frustration of finding a product you love only to find that it will exacerbate your allergy, intolerance, or condition. Rest assured that all of their plant-based foods are free from common allergens lactose and gluten as well as being soy and nut free. Their foods are Kosher certified and safe for those with lactose intolerance, gluten intolerance, nut intolerance, soy intolerance, or celiac disease. Their products are also free of GMOs and preservatives, plus they’re enriched with Vitamin B12.
With more than 30 years of vegan products development and production experience, Violife is the world leader with a global footprint, backed by the world’s largest plant-based food transformation company, Upfield. They’re humbled and honored to be the number one award-winning vegan alternative to cheese.
So, why choose Violife?
Variety: styles, flavors, and formats for all preferences. Slices, blocks, shreds, and spreads – in a variety of flavors such as Cheddar, Gouda, Mozzarella, Smoked…
Functionality: their products melt, grill & grate, toast & roast, they are easy to cook with and to spread.
Whether you enjoy it sliced in your sandwiches, spread on your bagel, sprinkled on your pasta, or melted in your macaroni and cheese, Violife is the alternative that tastes and cooks just like cheese! Whether you are already living a vegan lifestyle, or are enjoying a more flexitarian way of living, Violife is here to help you get some great taste in your life.
Looking for tasty ready-to-eat meals for those nights when time is short and the to-do list is long? You’re in luck! We’re shining a bright Member Deals Spotlight on Joyti Foods this week and all of their tasty vegetarian Indian meals are 20% off for member-owners from April 13th – 19th! Read on to learn more about the family who founded Jyoti foods and their mission to produce high-quality, nutritious foods for all to enjoy!
JYOTI Natural Foods was founded in the USA in 1979 as a pioneering venture to produce, package, and supply high-quality, nutritious Indian Foods to all who were familiar with Indian Cuisine; and to introduce the wonderful tastes, aromas, and virtues of Indian home-style cooking to the unfamiliar. There were a handful of Indian Restaurants in the larger cities, but no prepared Indian foods or even ingredients were to be found in supermarkets. Founders Vijai and Jyoti Gupta chose ‘shelf-stable foods in cans’ to present the cuisine of India to customers through specialty foods shops and supermarkets.
Equipped with a graduate degree in Nutrition, Jyoti developed vegetarian recipes that used only fresh ingredients, reasonable fat and salt quantities, and no preservatives. A mini cannery was set up and they worked to achieve the desired authentic taste. After a few product recipes were perfected, production was started using co-packers. An occasional complaint from the customers was that of finding ‘stones’ in the foods like ‘Dal Makhani’ and ‘Punjabi Chhole’. The Co-packer had a well-known state-of-the-art ‘de-stoner’ for removing stones and cleaning the beans, but its performance was inadequate.
Out of necessity, Vijai invented a radically different but very simple technology for the cleaning of beans that are free from foreign debris like stones, metal, glass and sand, and even twigs and stems. With that invention, they decided to build their own food processing plant, using their own technical and financial resources. This gave them ultimate control of their quality assurance so that they could feel confident about the products they offered to their customers.
They’ve grown and expanded over the years, but their mission has remained the same:
Make safe, healthy foods that offer pantry storage convenience without preservatives.
Increase the portion of vegetables and legumes in every diet with delicious dishes.
Introduce the wonderful flavors and virtues of Indian home cooking and spread the aroma of spices from India to every kitchen and every dinner plate.
We’re casting our Co-op Spotlight this week on a local favorite – Lake Champlain Chocolates!All of their mouth-watering Fairtrade Certified chocolates are 20% off for member-owners from April 6th – 12th. Read on to learn more about this local confectionery that has called Vermont home for 40 years and its commitment to responsible sourcing:
History:
The story of Lake Champlain Chocolates began back in 1983 when founder Jim Lampman dared his pastry chef at Burlington’s Ice House Restaurant to create a better truffle than the ones he had been buying for his staff as holiday gifts. Together they began making the most amazing hand-rolled, creamy truffles and the rest, as they say, is history.
Sourcing Matters:
From the very beginning, long before eating local was cool, Lake Champlain Chocolates has been committed to sourcing Vermont-grown ingredients whenever possible. They knew that using high-quality Vermont honey, maple syrup, and fresh dairy from local farmers and producers would result in superior chocolates.
The goal is to bring you their best. To make high-quality chocolate that amazes with exquisite flavor and creates a moment of pure joy. It’s also why they’ve never added preservatives, extenders, or additives, and why they’ve worked diligently to remove GMOs from all of their chocolates and use organic and Fairtrade certified ingredients whenever possible. With each new product, the goal remains the same – to create something special, and to give you the best experience.
Eric Lampman in the Dominican Republic
A Family Affair:
Lake Champlain Chocolates is a second-generation, family-owned business, just like the generations of Vermont family farmers that provide them with fresh butter, cream, maple syrup, and honey. And just like the generations of cacao farmers in places like the Dominican Republic and Guatemala — with whom they have direct partnerships. Today, Jim’s son and daughter, Eric and Ellen, are defining the future of Lake Champlain Chocolates by developing award-winning organic products and spearheading sustainable sourcing initiatives. Along the way following the Lampman family principles: Dare to do better. Always do it with Passion. And do it your way.
The Lampman Family
Fair Trade:
Making great-tasting chocolate is hard work and the team at Lake Champlain Chocolates believes that every person in this process should be treated and compensated fairly and that their actions should make a positive impact on local and global communities. When you purchase Fairtrade chocolate, more money goes back to the farmers, allowing them to lift themselves out of poverty and build a better life for their families. It also allows these farmers to invest additional Fairtrade premiums in community development, ensures a ban on forced labor and child labor, and encourages environmentally-sustainable farming practices. Go ahead and indulge your sweet tooth and feel good knowing that 100% of the chocolate they use at Lake Champlain Chocolates is Fairtrade certified.
Why Buy Fairtrade Certified Chocolate?
Farmers and workers are justly compensated and have safe working conditions (this includes prohibiting the use of forced labor and child labor).
Farmers are empowered to lift themselves out of poverty and help to build sustainable businesses that positively influence their communities.
Cocoa farmers and co-ops receive an additional premium for investing in community development.
Farming communities develop skills that help them use the free market to their advantage.
Farming villages become better stewards of the environment — using sustainable, environmentally-friendly practices to preserve local habitats and increase biodiversity
B Corp Certification:
Lake Champlain Chocolates joined a growing community of more than 2,500 certified B Corporations worldwide who are united under one common goal – to redefine success in business. Rather than focus solely on profits, certified B Corporations are leaders of a global movement of people using business as a force for good. They meet the highest standards of overall social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability and aspire to use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. Unlike other certifications that look at individual products, B Corporation evaluates the entire business — assessing the yearly impact on the environment, workers, customers, community, and government. This new type of corporation is purpose-driven to create benefits for all, not just shareholders, working together to be the change we seek in the world.
For Lake Champlain Chocolates these performance standards provide a valuable third-party measurement tool, assuring customers and suppliers that LCC’s business practices meet the highest standards. “Achieving B Corp Certification is the next step towards fulfilling our company’s vision to become the gold standard of chocolate companies in the United States, a respected leader other companies aspire to be,” says Eric Lampman, LCC President. “For more than 35 years, our practices have been guided by one core value – ‘everything must measure up to the chocolate.’ And this includes making a positive impact on our local and global communities by respecting our employees, fostering long-term partnerships with our suppliers, and practicing environmental responsibility.”
FLŌRA offers our community a comfortable, clean, relaxing place to purchase high-quality, lab-tested, premium cannabis products from Vermont growers and they offer a 10% discount to card-carrying Co-op member-owners. Read on to learn more about this relatively new local business and the duo who brought it to life:
Act 164, a law passed in 2020 which allowed adult Vermonters to legally possess up to one ounce of marijuana, two mature cannabis plants, and four immature plants, also signaled the green light for retail sales of recreational cannabis beginning on Oct. 1, 2022.FLŌRA, located in the heart of downtown Middlebury, became one of only three fully licensed and permitted cannabis retail shops statewide to open for business on that historic October day. Blazing the trail to make this possible were FLŌRA co-founders Dave Silberman and Mike Sims. As a Middlebury attorney and longtime advocate for the legalization of recreational cannabis in Vermont, Silberman was well-positioned to navigate the permitting process to make the retail store possible, having provided input for Act 164, and being well-versed in its requirements.
An estimated crowd of 1,000 people visited the store on its opening day at 2 Park Street, the line stretching almost to the Cross Street bridge roundabout with visitors eager to peruse and purchase cannabis flower and an assortment of related products. FLŌRA’s product lineup currently includes dozens of strains of premium Vermont-grown cannabis flower, many from right here in Addison County, plus pre-rolled joints, vaping cartridges, topicals, and a wide range of edibles ranging from gummies to chocolates and even pure maple candy infused with THC. FLŌRA also carries a wide assortment of CBD products, pipes, grinders, herbal vaporizers, and more.
The FLORA team on opening day, October 2022
In an article in the Addison Independent, Silberman shared that he’s particularly proud to do business with a Bristol-based grower who had previously been sentenced to federal prison for selling cannabis around a decade ago. “Now he is doing it legally,” he said of the Bristol grower. “To me, that’s one small way we can help right the wrongs of the War on Drugs, and it’s the path we need to travel on now. It’s not enough to just legalize and open stores, no matter how beautiful and well-received they are.”
Those who haven’t yet visited FLŌRA might be surprised by the experience, which creates a spa-like atmosphere. FLŌRA staff have undergone state-mandated training and are well-versed in store protocols and legal requirements. Patrons are greeted at a check-in counter upon arrival, where they must show a valid picture ID to verify they are at least 21. Once inside, a store “bud-tender” is available to help customers explore the product lineup, and answer questions. A recent addition to the services provided by FLŌRA is anonline ordering system where customers can make their selection in advance of their visit, show up at the store with a valid ID and proof of purchase, then leave with their order. You can even pre-pay right online!
FLORA has received strong support from residents, the local business community, and town officials alike. For his part, Sims said he believes FLŌRA will be a boon to the community and is quoted in the Addison Independent shortly after opening day expressing that “It felt really great to open our doors to the community…downtown has been packed. All the other stores have been crushing their numbers. It felt great to see people on both sides of the sidewalk shopping at all the stores. I was proud of that.”
The latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world’s official body for the assessment of climate change, spells it out quite clearly: humans are unequivocally increasing greenhouse gas emissions to record levels that are inconsistent with a future on this planet, ANDwe have the tools to turn it around if we act swiftly across all sectors. To keep warming within 2℃ above pre-industrial levels, global greenhouse gas emissions must decline by around 21% by 2030 and around 35% by 2035. The greatest opportunity for impact comes when we embrace systems change at the highest levels, and to embrace effective systems change, we must stop thinking linearly and start thinking in terms of circularity. So what exactly does that mean? What makes circularity different from sustainability? Isn’t circularity just recycling? How do we know if we’re succeeding? To take a deep dive into answering these important questions, we would love to share a guest blog post penned by Circularity Analyst Kori Goldberg. This post first appeared in the February 10th edition of the Green Biz Circularity Weekly Newsletter and has been shared with the author’s permission:
Question 1: How is circularity different from sustainability?
If you’ve ever taken a sustainability course, you likely have come across the following definition, from the 1987 United Nations Brundtland Commission: Sustainability is “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
Sustainability generally strives to reduce impacts on people and the planet as compared to the status quo — say a baseline of previous operations or the industry standard. The ambition for sustainability has grown since 1987, but in too many cases, sustainability is still seen as “doing less bad.” As Joel Makower puts it, “There’s little honor in ravaging the planet incrementally less.”
The circular economy is a systems approach that answers one “how” in our quest for sustainability. For simplicity, the circular economy is often described through a juxtaposition with the traditional “take-make-waste” system we are all familiar with, the linear economy. Unlike a linear system in which raw materials are extracted, transformed into products and then turned into waste with little regard to environmental, social and even economic externalities, a circular model aims to keep materials in the system at their highest value for as long as possible.
Sustainability is often considered an addition to an entity’s collective practices to improve the whole. Circularity, in contrast, must sit at the core of operations, aiming for profitability while simultaneously addressing global issues such as pollution, nature and biodiversity loss and climate change. Given the pervasiveness of linear economic models, circularity often requires a rebuilding of systems, business models and operations from the ground up. As a prominent thought leader in circularity, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation organizes the circular economy under three design-driven principles:
Eliminate waste and pollution
Circulate products and materials (at their highest value)
Regenerate nature
The success of the circular economy at a systemic level depends on other global shifts: namely, the transition to renewable energy and a steady supply of responsibly sourced renewable material.
In summary: Circularity has a specific focus on the cycling of resources, lessening both our material use and waste to support a healthy planet. Sustainability deals in broader and more general efforts to reduce social, environmental and economic impact across an entity’s operations.
Question 2: Is circularity just recycling?
Given that circularity is all about keeping materials in use, at their highest value, for as long as possible, it’s natural to wonder if this just means recycling. And while this isn’t necessarily the wrong way to think about it, there’s some nuance here to be parsed out.
Circularity is, in fact, all about cycling materials repeatedly — so in this sense, recycling. This is in contrast to the way in which this term is more often used: to describe the industrial process of turning waste into new products. The latter type of recycling — for example, collecting plastic packaging and mechanically sorting, shredding, washing and reprocessing this plastic into new packaging — is actually one of the lower-priority strategies in the circular economy model.
Let’s back up a bit.
Integral to the circular economy are feedback loops, whereby products and materials are recirculated through the system. In nature, feedback loops nourish and add value to ecosystems. Take a tree that drops its leaves in the fall. These leaves decompose, feeding microbes and returning nutrients to the soil where they’ll be reabsorbed by another plant in search of nutrients.
In the biological cycle, renewable materials such as agricultural waste are recycled through the system through processes such as composting or anaerobic digestion. In the technical cycle, reuse, repair and recycling allow non-biodegradable materials to recirculate through the economy. This is demonstrated through the so-called “Butterfly Diagram,” seen below.
Photo Credit: The Butterfly Diagram. Image from The Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Designing our economic system with robust feedback loops to mimic nature is revolutionary; since the industrial revolution, we have built a system that forces nature to fit our economy rather than fitting our economy into nature.
Strategies such as increasing the durability of products, new business models that offer sharing, reusing, refurbishing and remanufacturing should be higher-priority strategies than recycling for many industries — from fashion to packaging to electronics.
There is a misconception that the circular economy is just a form of waste management or materials recovery. In reality, it is a model for a flourishing economy that minimizes waste as a natural byproduct of its inherent design of feedback loops that restore technical materials and regenerate biological materials.
Question 3: Degrowth and reduced consumption are tenets of the circular economy. How do we measure success?
As this is the hardest question to answer, I’ll respond with yet more questions. Is growth always good? Is growth the best thing to measure?
The success of global and regional economies have historically been measured by one single indicator, gross domestic product (GDP). But if current and future generations are to thrive within planetary boundaries, we must reimagine how we define progress and opportunity. This is the underlying rationale for the development of “doughnut economics,” a visual model for sustainable growth.
By DoughnutEconomics – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=75695171
The model resembles a doughnut where the doughnut ring itself represents a safe and just space for humans to exist within. Inside the ring (the doughnut hole) represents a situation in which people lack essential social necessities such as healthcare, education and political voice. Meanwhile, the outside of the doughnut (the crust) represents ecological boundaries beyond which earth’s natural systems are under threat. This model provides a revolutionary way to understand prosperity and set goals for humanity. According to this model, prosperity can be achieved when we are situated in the middle ring, neither overshooting planetary boundaries nor lacking the necessary social foundations for all people. As Kate Raworth, founder of Doughnut Economics, has said, “A healthy economy should be designed to thrive, not grow.”
I hope this essay helps you pause and remember the bigger picture. As you orient yourself in your role towards the larger, systemic goals we are collectively trying to achieve, take heart that you’re part of an exciting, growing community working to do the same.
Interested in learning more about the circular economy? Subscribe to the free Circularity Weekly newsletter and be sure to sign up for our April 19th Co-op Class on Zero Waste Strategies with Ben Kogan of Reusable Solutions! We’re looking forward to this empowering conversation where we’ll explore opportunities to reduce our personal impact on this planetary problem, highlighting circular systems of reuse.
On January 28th, the Board of Directors of the Coop met for a day-long retreat. Greg Prescott, General Manager of the MNFC, and Michael Healy a facilitator from Columinate, a cooperative that consults and supports cooperatives, joined us. Michael has worked with us since 2004 and knows MNFC well.
Over the course of the year, a lot of our time as a board is taken up by our Policy Governance work. We monitor the monthly reports of the General Manager in light of the Coop’s Policies and Ends:
Healthy Foods
Vibrant Local Economy
Environmentally Sustainable and Energy Efficient Practices
Co-operative Democratic Ownership
Learning About These Values
We also discuss issues that we have identified as priorities. Over the last three years, for example, we have focused on JEDI work (Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion), a topic that we recognized as a pressing and crucial concern at our retreat in January 2020.
As Michael Healy wrote in his report, this year’s goals were:
Build a common understanding of the board’s and the General Manager’s roles in a strategic planning process, and make a plan for beginning that work;
Identify the board’s priority work for the next 12 to 18 months; and
enjoy each other’s company and build our sense of community and cooperation.
After two years of holding our retreats on Zoom, it was a real joy and relief to be physically in each other’s presence, in the welcoming meeting room of the Champlain Valley Unitarian Universalist Society. To mark the return to in-person retreats, we decided to hold a potluck lunch, to share a meal together; the culinary results were magnificent.
We started our day by sharing personal stories connected to an object that each one of us had brought. Then, helped by the presence and knowledge of Michael, we worked first in small groups and then all together to identify the priorities for the coming year(s):
Board recruitment, onboarding, and retention
Ongoing JEDI work
Board-General Manager relationship
Our next step will be to turn this list into actionable items and to make space for them in our monthly work.
I always leave these retreats wishing that we had had more time to be together and brainstorm. For me, a rewarding aspect of our meetings is that they present the opportunity to connect more, both on a personal level and as a Board. The presence of Greg, our new General Manager, also makes a difference: the ongoing conversation with him is integral to our considerations because it helps us not get lost in abstract (albeit very interesting) discussions. It also reminds us that it is the work in the store (by our awesome staff) that allows us to be ambitious in our thinking, and allows the Coop to have the impact it has on the community.
Ilaria Brancoli Busdraghi is the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op Board Secretary
We’re shining a bright Member Deals Spotlight on Farmhouse Chocolates this week! Member-owners can enjoy a 20% discount on all of the delightfully decadent treats from this local Bristol-based chocolatier from March 30th – April 5th! Read on to learn more about the local couple who brings these swoon-worthy chocolates to our Co-op shelves and their deep commitment to ethical sourcing:
Having grown up in a dairy-farming family here in Vermont, co-owner and head chocolatier Erlé LaBounty is described on the Farmhouse Chocolates website as always being more concerned with lunchtime than recess, so it’s no small wonder that he gravitated toward the world of fine food. He’s been crafting delicately balanced, old-world chocolate confections since the tender age of 16! No stranger to epicurean adventures in her own right, his partner and co-owner Eliza LaRocca came to Vermont in 2010 after spending time in Florence, Italy’s specialty food market, Il Mercato Centrale, and leading food and wine tours in Italy, France, and Vermont.
Farmhouse Chocolates co-owners Eliza LaRocca and Erlé LaBounty
Since meeting, the couple has been hard at work hand-crafting chocolates while building a business and a life together. The business has evolved over the years, having started with a focus on hand-rolled truffles, then expanding to include chocolate-covered, burnt-butter salted caramels, and six different varieties of chocolate bars. While the product lineup has evolved, one thing that has remained constant from the onset was their commitment to procuring high-quality, ethically-sourced ingredients. All Farmhouse Chocolates are crafted with certified organic, fair trade, soy-free 70% and 85% chocolates. The majority of their remaining ingredients are certified organic, and the few that are not are thoroughly vetted and certified non-GMO, as well as being soy- and corn syrup-free; and sourced locally as often as possible.
Moreover, while co-packing (choosing to have products packaged at another, larger facility not owned or operated by the company) is something of a food industry standard, Farmhouse Chocolates proudly produces everything in-house in their Bristol, VT facility.
According to the chocolatiers, “our company’s ethos centers on the meeting of responsibility and pleasure. Sourcing organic, fair trade, and local ingredients, we carefully craft dark chocolate confections that emphasize taste, texture, and aesthetics as much as they do sustainability and purity of ingredients; ethics reflected in our environmentally friendly packaging and small batch production.”
If you’d like to try Farmhouse Chocolates’ delicious treats, we’ll have a tasting on Saturday, April 1st from 11-2!
