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Grilling with Natural Hardwood Charcoal

Common charcoal briquettes are kind of like the fast food of charcoal; they’re cheap, reliable, can be found on almost every corner, but you really don’t want to know what’s in them. Unlike natural hardwood charcoal, briquettes are manufactured wood by-products compressed with additives that help them light and burn consistently. If you’d prefer to grill your dinner without a side of chemicals, try natural hardwood charcoal! In addition to being an all-natural product, hardwood charcoal lights more quickly, burns hotter, generates little ash production, and makes it easier for you to control temperature with air vents on your grill. Why not give it a try? Here’s what you’ll need to know:

  1.  Pour hardwood charcoal into a charcoal chimney starter about 20 minutes before you want to grill. Place a piece of natural fire starter (check out the ones we sell near the hardwood charcoal in the meat department), or wad up a few pieces of newspaper under the bottom chamber of the chimney. Light your fire starter/newspaper, wait about 20 minutes, then pour hot charcoal onto the grill. Either spread the coals evenly, or mound the hot charcoal to one side, spreading a bit of it into the center, and leaving one side free of hot coals. This will give you three distinct heat zones to cook your food. Once charcoal is in desired position, place grate over the top.
  2. Once the charcoal begins to ash over, brush the grate clean with a wire brush and oil the grate. To oil, use tongs to wipe a clean, wadded-up cloth dipped in oil. Place the items you wish to grill onto the grate and let it be. This is the hardest part! It’s natural to want to poke, prod, and flip, but this is a fast way to lose all the juices and flavor from your food. Depending on the items you’re grilling, check cooking times and try to flip only once, giving the food an even amount of cooking time on each side. Oil or yogurt-based marinades can be applied throughout the grilling process. Sugar-based marinades (like BBQ sauce) should only be applied in the last 5 minutes, or so, to prevent premature burning.
  3. When you feel like your food is cooked, give it another check with a meat thermometer to confirm proper temperature, then remove it from the grill and allow it to rest at least 5 minutes before slicing. This will ensure that your meats retain their juices. Serve and enjoy!

Spotlight on Tierra Farm

We’re casting our Co-op Spotlight on Tierra Farm this week to highlight the socially and environmentally responsible practices of this employee-owned business. They provide an array of healthy products to our bulk department that are certified organic, gluten-free, kosher, and GMO-free, all of which are produced in small batches in their solar-powered facility in nearby Valatie, NY. They’re featured in our Member Deals program this week, so member-owners can enjoy 20% off their delicious fair-trade coffee, dried fruits, nuts, nut butters, and other healthy snacks from May 24th – 30th! Read on to learn more about this fantastic small business and their commitment to responsible practices throughout the supply chain:

Tierra Farm is a Certified Organic manufacturer and distributor of nuts, dried fruits, and coffee located 20 miles south of Albany, New York. Their customers consist mainly of cooperatives and independently owned grocery stores that value working with an employee-owned, environmentally conscious company that manufactures its own products.

Tierra Farm started as a diversified organic vegetable farm in the Finger Lakes region of New York. The organic nuts & dried fruit portion of the business started in 1999, as a way to generate income in the slower winter months. That portion of the business has continued to thrive and evolve into a year-round operation, though they still maintain their original farm.

Tierra Farm offers their customers exceptional value through unbeatable quality at prices that are fair both to the consumer and to the farmer. Their products are made without preservatives, added oils or refined sugars, in their own peanut-free facility. They manufacture the products they sell: dry roasting and flavoring nuts and seeds, blending trail mixes, grinding butter, covering nuts and fruits in fair-trade chocolate, and roasting fair trade coffee. Everything is made in small, hand-crafted batches for freshness.

One of their core values has been to cultivate strong relationships with the best organic farmers in the world. They work directly with the farmers from which they source their nuts, seeds, and dried fruit and have worked with some of these farmers for over a decade. Being in direct communication with their farmers allows the preservation of their organic integrity and ensures fair business practices throughout the supply chain.

Tierra Farm handles only Certified Organic products which are grown without synthetic pesticides, genetically modified organisms, or chemical fertilizers. This helps sustain biodiversity, conserves fresh water, and enhances the soil. They generate over 70% of their electricity from solar panels and recycle over 60% of their waste. Their boxes are made from recycled cardboard and their deli cup containers are made from over 50% recycled material – both are recyclable after use. They’re continuously looking for better ways to protect the planet.

Tierra Farm also values the importance of investing in their staff. They have an in-house gym, an in-house chef who cooks daily organic, gluten-free meals for staff – often using fresh produce directly from their farm, a staff masseuse who visits weekly, and they offer many employee health initiatives such as a smoking cessation program that allows their staff to be 100% tobacco-free.

If you’re passing through the Albany area, they invite you to check out their retail store at Tierra Farm’s headquarters in Valatie, NY, where local customers are able to purchase all of their (almost 200) products!

Spotlight on Real Pickles

Our Member Deals Spotlight shines brightly this week on a worker-owned cooperative aiming to change the food system by making pickles – Real Pickles! All of their probiotic-packed products are 20% off for member-owners this week! Read on to learn more about what makes this co-op beyond worthy of the spotlight:

 

The Real Pickles story begins in 1999 when Dan Rosenberg attended a traditional pickling workshop during a NOFA conference. Armed with this new skill, he began pickling locally-grown vegetables as a way to preserve the harvest so that he could continue eating locally during the winter months. He was further inspired by the work of Dr. Weston A. Price, a researcher who traveled the world in the 1920s and 30s studying the diets of indigenous peoples, finding that those eating traditional diets including fermented foods enjoyed a high level of health completely unknown in industrialized societies.

After two years of experimenting with recipes and honing the craft, Dan was ready to launch the business. From the very beginning, he prioritized local/regional food and organic agriculture. Real Pickles would buy its organic vegetables only from Northeast organic farms and sell its products only within the Northeast. A year later, the business began operating out of the Western Massachusetts Food Processing Center in Greenfield, MA, a business incubator kitchen created to boost the local agricultural economy by providing a venue for making value-added foods with local farm ingredients. Dan was soon joined by Addie Rose Holland and the business began to grow.

Dan Rosenberg and Addie Rose Holland

By 2009, Real Pickles had outgrown the incubator kitchen and was ready to settle into their own home. They purchased a century-old industrial building in Greenfield, MA and transformed it into a solar-powered, energy-efficient, organic pickling facility. The move allowed for a significant expansion, tripling their purchases from local farms in the years to follow. Their success demonstrates that there is a real and growing demand for raw, fermented vegetables and that consumers value a business as deeply committed to social responsibility.

In 2013, with a goal of preserving their social mission for the long term and with the help of a successful community investment campaign, Real Pickles took the exciting step of transitioning their business to a worker co-operative. They are proud to join the ranks of other co-operatives that are supporting local ownership, workplace democracy, and contributing to the co-operative economy!

Want to learn more about the farmers in our region that supply Real Pickles with fresh, organic veggies? Click HERE!

To learn more about the health benefits of fermented foods, click HERE.

 

Spotlight on McKenzie

This week’s Member Deals spotlight shines brightly on McKenzie. All McKenzie meats (including their Alfresco line) are 20% off for member-owners from May 10th – 16th. Read on to learn more about this local Burlington-based company that’s been providing all-natural meats to our community10 for well over 100 years:

 

History

In 1885, John married his beloved Nellie an Irish farm girl. In 1898 they immigrated to rural Vermont to fulfill their dream of running their own farm. It flourished and included smokehouses for slow curing country hams. Nellie began giving hams as holiday gifts to neighboring farms. Word got out of their extraordinary quality and flavor. Soon the orders started coming and they never stopped.

Much has changed in this world, but some things are too good to change. Today, the McKenzie folks are still going to extraordinary measures to bring you the best meats made the old-fashioned way – based on John and Nellie’s farm methods for naturally hardwood smoking hams and using pure Vermont maple syrup for authentic flavor. They continue this tradition of bringing you authentic flavors with simple, wholesome food values. Attention to the little details served their family well back then, and that same integrity in their process and product continues to serve as their compass today.

The McKenzie Promise

At McKenzie, they believe in paying attention to all the little details, that meats and cheeses should be crafted with care, that every batch should be sourced from independent farms and trusted purveyors, and that a recipe with natural ingredients is always better than one with artificial ingredients or preservatives. To that end, here is there promise to you:

  • 100% natural
  • Raised without the use of antibiotics
  • No nitrates or nitrites
  • No growth hormones
  • Gluten-free
  • Sourced from independent farms

 

 

 

 

Spotlight on Weleda

Looking to give your skin and body care routine a Spring makeover? We’re shining our Member Deals Spotlight on Weleda this week and all of their natural body care products are 20% off for member-owners from May 3rd – 9th. Read on to learn more about this company that has been providing all-natural personal care products for nearly a century!

 

 

Heritage

What started in 1921 as a pharmaceutical laboratory, with its own plant garden, is today a world-leading manufacturer of certified natural by NATRUE personal care. Founder, Dr. Rudolf Steiner along with Dr. Ita Wegman and a team of scientists created the first synergistic products orchestrated to reconnect the body with its natural rhythms. For the most active ingredients, they planted the first biodynamic gardens with farming, seed production, and landscape maintenance following the rhythms of nature and the earth. They began delivering glowing, healthy-looking skin and wellbeing in Switzerland, then Germany and eventually North America.

Today, Weleda has partnerships and offices around the globe and, despite their success, they remain a people-and-planet over profits brand. They still cultivate their own biodynamic gardens and work in fair trade agreements with small farmers and gardeners to source the best raw materials. They still strive to make the best non-toxic, cruelty-free, paraben-free, GMO-free, phthalates-free and synthetic fragrance-free products available in the marketplace.

Values

At Weleda, they see beauty in the soil, flowers, plants and the fair-trade partnerships they build that honor the human spirit and respect the natural world. Their purpose is to cultivate beauty. They are committed to supporting your overall wellbeing and beauty, and that of every living being. They strive for each of us to be empowered to cultivate beauty in the world, for ourselves, for our children and the future of our planet. Here are their 7 fundamental principles:

  • Fair Treatment – Since 1921, Weleda proved that transparency and honest communication works with customers, partners, and suppliers. Our integrity is our foundation worldwide. We are committed to fair trade agreements with our farmers, gardeners, and other suppliers. The result is lasting, reliable relationships with everyone we touch.
  • Employees as Partners – We have deep gratitude for the people who work for us at every level. Weleda employees own their roles. Their hands-on experience gives them insight into decision-making, operating processes and structures as well as innovation and business advances.
  • Integrity and Quality – The raw plant, flower, and fruit materials for Weleda products are carefully cultivated and harvested in order to preserve their full effects. Our holistic products are cruelty-free in accordance with NATRUE standards, non-toxic, paraben-free, synthetic fragrance-free, SLS-free, and GMO-free. We believe the Earth is a living organism, as connected to the cosmos as it is to us. Our philosophy, rooted in anthroposophy, honors human beings and nature. That reverence drives us to create the highest quality products possible. Our mission is to give everyone the experience of extraordinary well-being.
  • Science and Spirit meet in our Research and Development – For Weleda, the human family is the center of our work. Integrating science and philosophy, we research and develop innovative, groundbreaking products and beneficial approaches.
  • Sustainability – The earth’s resources are limited. Our planet requires protection, for humans, nature and all living beings. Our responsibility is serious. We set demanding environmental standards. To us, sustainability means protecting the environment, biodiversity and the lives of our farmers and gardeners and their families, as well as conserving natural resources.
  • Ethical and Value-Creating Business Practices – Since our founding, we dedicated ourselves to human development, restoration of health, need for physical well-being and a balanced way of life. This vision determines Weleda’s business orientation and is the guiding light and driving force of all our actions. In every encounter, Weleda participates in cultural initiatives that empower people from our customers to our suppliers and investors.
  •  Cultural Diversity – The Weleda Group embraces cultural and racial diversity as inspiring, powerful and necessary to our evolution. Historically, Weleda grew from separate entrepreneurial initiatives unifying into a corporate group. Today, our reach spreads around the world but our ethical and quality standards, strategies and policies are binding for the entire Weleda Group.

Visit their webpage to learn more about their story, their standards, their products, and their commitment to quality.

Business of the Month – Jumelles Wellness Midwifery

Are you sprouting a new family? We invite you to check out our Co-op Connection Business of the Month for May Jumelles Wellness Midwifery! Located in Middlebury’s Historic Star Mill in the Riverside Natural Health Center Suite, Jumelles (pronounced ju-mell) is a woman-centered practice, offering central Vermont families homebirth midwifery care, doula services, lactation counseling, and childbirth education. Thanks to the Co-op Connection, Co-op member-owners can enjoy 2% off their initial prenatal appointment and 2% off a birth tub rental! Read on to learn more:

 

 

About the Practitioner:

Chenoa is a Traditional Midwife, a Certified Professional Midwife through North American Registry of Midwives (NARM),  Licensed Midwife in the state of Vermont, a certi

fied doula, Certified Lactation Consultant and Emergency Medical Technician.  Chenoa has been attending births since 1997. While pursuing her Bachelors of Art at the University of Oregon, she completed training as a birth doula through DONA (Doulas of North America.) Chenoa immediately began a three-year, traditional midwifery program.

Following the midwifery program/apprenticeship, she continued her training through another apprenticeship in a high-volume birth center in Portland, Oregon, specializing in water births.  During that time, Chenoa also volunteered with Doula Circle, a program that provided doula services for teen mothers, a commitment that she currently maintains by offering childbirth education and support to families.  In 2006, Chenoa moved with her family to Vermont, where she began working as the primary midwife at a group midwifery practice in Addison county. In 2010 Chenoa volunteered as the primary midwife for a busy birth center in Jacmel, Haiti with twin sister Nieve Shere leading to the eventual collaboration between Jumelles Wellness Midwifery and Riverside Natural Health Center in 2013.

Chenoa is certified by the Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP & BLS) in cardiopulmonary resuscitation for adults, infants, and newborns. She is a member of the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM), Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA), Vermont Midwives Association (VMA), and National Association of Certified Professional Midwives (NACPM)

Chenoa lives on a small farm in Cornwall, Vermont with her husband and three children.

Services Provided:

  • Home birth midwifery care including prenatal, birth & postpartum
  • Water birth & birth tub rental
  • Laboratory work
  • 24/7 on call service for labor & urgent matters
  • Complete newborn exams & screenings
  • Lactation consulting & breastfeeding support
  • VBAC (Vaginal Births after Cesarean)
  • Childbirth education classes
  • Doula services
  • Acupuncture for fertility, pregnancy, birth & postpartum through collaborative care

Visit their webpage to learn more!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why Should You Vote in This Year’s Election?

Why Should You Vote in this Year’s Election?

In short, because your vote matters, to all of us. As the primary governing force behind the Co-op, your Board’s eleven members make an impact every day. How? Partly, it is through carefully designed policies that define our Co-op’s core values and scope of operations; safeguard our financial well-being; track our performance; and ensure high levels of transparency.  It is also through working to understand the local, regional, national and global conditions that affect us now and inform the choices we’ll make in the future. We do this through strong, ongoing support of management, and a deep respect for our talented staff.  It is through a Board culture with high standards of collaboration, inclusion, discipline, and a sense of commitment that is reflected in its remarkably low turnover. (There is a shared sense of purpose that comes with making a difference.) Your Board prizes new ideas, pithy dialogs, great technology, humor, thinking fast and slow, and our four decades of cooperative history. It learns and communicates constantly, and knows the value of outside expertise. Its advice is sought by other co-op boards.  In the end, though, it all depends on you: your support, your participation, your vote. So please read those application essays, make your choices, and return your ballot. Give your Co-op the gift of four of this year’s excellent candidates and we’ll continue getting stronger together. Thank you.

 Tam Stewart is a Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op Board Member

It’s YOUR Co-op…Exercise Your Right to Vote!

This month, members will receive a copy of our 2018 Annual Report for MNFC in the mail (yes, the “snail” mail).  In this publication, you’ll find updates from our Board President and General Manager about how the Co-op has fared in our first year of Expansion.  In addition, you’ll get to “meet the candidates” for the four available seats on our Board of Directors.  Included with your Annual Report are Voting Instructions, Your Official Ballot, and a $3.00 Coupon (redeemable with your completed ballot).   Please bring your completed ballot into the Co-op by May 26th, so we have time to tally the votes and inform the candidates before our June 6th Annual Meeting.  Then, please join us on June 6th, 5:30-7:30 at American Flatbread to find out who won, get a first-hand account of how your Co-op is doing, and enjoy dinner on the Co-op!

 

Spotlight on Wellness Pet Products

In honor of National Shelter Pet Adoption Day on April 30th, we’re shining our Member Deals Spotlight on one of our favorite pet product brands – Wellness! All of their natural pet products are 20% off for member-owners from April 26th – May 2nd! During this time, for every purchase of pet food you make, the Co-op will donate the equivalent item to Addison County’s Humane Society – Homeward Bound!  Read on to learn more about Wellness and their philosophy of care for creatures great and small:

 

At Wellness, they know that healthy doesn’t have to be hard. That’s why they offer a simple, holistic approach to pet food that focuses on real ingredients with real benefits. In the 1990s, their dedicated team began working with animal nutrition experts, veterinarians, and scientists to develop a food that would revolutionize the pet food industry. Since then, they have continued to push forward to represent a new generation of natural pet food, supporting their local communities and creating long-term sustainability initiatives along the way.

Quality Ingredients

The team at Wellness recognizes that mealtime is more than just a bowl of food. They’re committed to your pet’s overall wellness and offer thoughtfully prepared recipes that are crafted to be as delicious as they are healthy. They include superior nutrients and probiotics to provide the foundation for whole-body health and wholesome, natural ingredients to satisfy every appetite. Click here to read more about their ingredients.

Rigorous Safety Standards

Their mission is to provide you with wholesome, natural pet food that is the best it can be. They require all suppliers to meet stringent requirements and adhere to the highest standards, exceeding even the strictest requirements from the FDA. They are determined to go further, to do better, and to take as many precautions with your pet’s food as is taken with food for humans.Click here to read more about product safety standards.

Sustainability

Wellness demonstrates their dedication to long-term sustainability by embracing and supporting recycling efforts. Through a unique partnership with upcycling and recycling leader TerraCycle®, they created a program allowing you to recycle your Wellness pet food packaging and providing you the opportunity to donate to your favorite school or nonprofit organization. Join the 230,000+ people currently participating in this program and register to Recycle Your Wellness Packaging. It’s free and only takes a couple of minutes. You can sign up as an individual or sign up to create a recycling hub at your child’s school, your office or your favorite local community organization.

Reducing and Reusing Before Recycling

Significant progress has been made since the development of modern recycling programs in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Most in our community have access to curbside recycling services and we’re rarely more than a few steps away from a recycling bin, even in public places. Thanks to streamlined all-in-one recycling services offered by the Addison County Solid Waste Management District which save us from having to sort our recyclables, it’s safe to say that recycling is pretty darned convenient these days. So convenient, in fact, that we might have forgotten about those other two “R’s.” We all know that recycling is the right thing to do, but perhaps we could use a reminder that the most effective way to reduce waste is to not create it in the first place.

Recycling an item definitely beats sending it to the landfill, but it still takes a significant amount of energy to recycle an item and transform it into something “new.” As a result, reduction and reuse are the most effective ways you can save natural resources, protect the environment and save money.

The Benefits of Reducing & Reusing:

  • Prevent pollution caused by reducing the need to harvest new raw materials.
  • Save energy.
  • Reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change.
  • Save money.
  • Reduce the amount of waste that will need to be recycled or sent to landfills and incinerators.
  • Allow products to be used to their fullest extent.

Ideas to Help You Reduce & Reuse

  • Buy used and refurbished when possible. You can find everything from clothes to electronics to building materials at specialized reuse centers, architectural salvage yards, and consignment shops. Often, used items are less expensive and just as good as new. Middlebury has several wonderful thrift stores and if you’re in Burlington, be sure to check out ReSOURCE.
  • Look for products that use less packaging. When manufacturers make their products with less packaging, they use less energy and fewer raw materials. This reduces waste and costs. These extra savings are often passed along to the consumer.
  • Buy in bulk. When you bring your own containers to buy bulk items, you save packaging waste and you can also save money. At the Co-op, you can bring your own container to buy foods such as flour, grains, maple syrup, and honey in the Bulk department; soaps, lotion, and bath salts in the Wellness department; on-tap beverages such as kombucha, coffee, and tea; and Deli items from the salad bar or hot bar.
  • Buy items that are reusable rather than disposable and incorporate reusable items into your daily routines. For example, you can bring your own silverware and coffee mug to work and bring your own shopping bags to the store.
  • Maintain and repair products , clothing, tires, and appliances, so that they won’t have to be disposed of and replaced as frequently. Think quality over quantity when purchasing these kinds of items.
  • Borrow, rent, or share items that are used infrequently, such as party decorations, tools or furniture. Front Porch Forum is a handy resource.
  • Think twice before discarding an item. Consider alternative uses. The mesh bag your citrus came in can be reused for future produce purchases and that empty two-liter bottle can make a fun hanging planter.
  • Plan ahead.Planning your weekly meals in advance, utilizing leftovers, and shopping the refrigerator first are great ways to reduce food waste. For more tips on reducing food waste, click here.
  • Donate gently used items whenever possible. You can drop them off at a thrift store, or consignment shop, or you can post them to Front Porch Forum. Let your trash be someone else’s treasure!