Recognizing the different tastes and learning how to create flavor profiles are the foundations for all great cooking. Join Chef Matt Laux to explore putting flavors together and investigating your own palate. Matt will share examples of the five basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami. Then, participants will have the opportunity to practice adding layers of flavor based on their own preferences in different dishes. Let’s cook together!
All Co-op classes at the Hannaford Career Center are $30 or free for members of the Co-op’s Food For All program. In an effort to provide a safe experience, we ask that all class participants are vaccinated and masks are required for the duration of the class. Classes are capped at 12 participants. Enrollment is first-come, first-served. Please register for classes at least one week in advance by contacting Denise Senesac at the Hannaford Career Center by phone at (802) 382-1004 or by email at dsenesac@pahcc.org.
Co-op Member-Owners – check your receipts! All September, you can track how much you spend on LOCAL each time you shop at the Co-op. Choosing local products is always a winning choice for the Vermont Economy, and this September, choosing local could make YOU a winner, too! Read on to find out how:
JOIN THE EAT LOCAL CHALLENGE!
All September, check the bottom of your receipts to find out how much LOCAL you’ve purchased.
Receipts from LOCAL purchases of $25 or more are eligible to be entered into a drawing for one of six $25 Co-op Gift Cards.
Receipts from LOCAL purchases of $50 or more are eligible to be entered into a drawing for one of six $50 Co-op Gift Cards.
You may enter as many receipts as you like.
The more LOCAL you purchase, the greater your chances of winning. Raffle Boxes will be located at the Customer Service Desk near the Registers. Not sure if you’re buying LOCAL products? Just look for these signs:
OK, so big food events are off the table this fall. But, we just can’t miss the chance to appreciate our members for the loyalty, understanding, and appreciation you have extended to your Co-op over the past year. Plus, it’s the Co-op’s 45th Anniversary in 2021 – let’s have some fun before the year ends! With a little creativity, we can pull off a safe AND fun Member Appreciation Day – come join us!
Anyone Can Get a FREE Co-op T-Shirt When They:
Become a Co-op Member-Owner
Renew their Membership (12 months will be added to any renewed membership, so nothing is lost by renewing early)
Round up your totals at the registers August 12th – 18th. The Co-op will match your donation for FARMACY.
Rally Every Time You Shop! When not featuring a specific non-profit, donations are given to Addison County Food Shelves
Part community-supported agriculture (CSA), part doctor’s orders, the Farmacy program is free for patients who have been recommended by their physicians. This “Prescription CSA” or “Food is Medicine” program addresses three major needs in Addison County: diet-related illness, food insecurity, and local farm viability.
It has been determined that three behaviors:
lack of physical activity
poor diet
tobacco use
contribute to four diseases:
cancer
heart disease
diabetes
lung disease
that cause 50% of all deaths in Vermont. This project addresses the nutritional and dietary needs of those patients. Even pre-pandemic, Vermont’s low-income families were challenged to afford fresh, locally grown foods. These families are recipients of Farmacy CSA shares.
The third year of the Addison County Farmacy program runs July 8 – September 23, 2021, and connects 65 families with 12 weeks of local fruit and vegetable shares and educational information.
Donations from Rally for Change will go to funding the 2022 Farmacy Food is Medicine program. We would like to extend next year’s season through December for a total of 15 weeks (with one monthly pickup in October, November, December). The effort is being led by ACORN in partnership with Porter Medical Center, the Vermont Department of Health, Rise VT, the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op, and Village Health.
Round up your totals at the registers July 8th – July 14th. The Co-op will match your donation for Abenaki Helping Abenaki.
Rally Every Time You Shop! When not featuring a specific non-profit, donations are given to Addison County Food Shelves
Vermont has a checkered and complex history involving the indigenous people who lived here before European settlers arrived. It is a history of exploitation, including separation of families, eugenic sterilization, and genocide. Rather than run the risk of appropriating their culture by “telling” their story through another white voice, we have chosen to repeat the words of this tribe, verbatim, from their website:
Our Mission – The Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki
The mission of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation is to strengthen our government; build our community, and ensure sustainability; protect our customs and traditions, and continue to promote our culture and celebrate our heritage while sharing it with those around us. The Nulhegan Abenaki tribe is nestled among the lakes, rivers, and forests of N’dakinna’s northern range and headquartered in the Northeast Kingdom at Barton, VT. We are one of the largest Abenaki Tribes still in existence today. As nomadic and place-based people, we live and travel throughout our greater Western Abenaki territories as our ancestors did. These traditional homelands we call N’dakinna include Vermont, New Hampshire, and parts of Canada, Maine, and Massachusetts. Our connection to this land cannot be described in any language. It is our birthright and obligation to advocate for our citizens and lands throughout our ancestral territories. We continue to respect and steward N’dakinna so that its uniqueness and beauty will be protected for generations to come.
Abenaki Helping Abenaki – 501C3 Non-Profit
The Seventh Harvest Relief Project is an evolution of the Longhouse Food Pantry. With unemployment at record-breaking highs and an ever-increasing cost of living, it is entirely necessary to share with those less fortunate. Food, hygiene, warm wear, and heat during winter are a necessity to survival and comfort in the Northeast Kingdom. Permaculture, organic community gardens, and a remembrance of the old ways brings us closer to sustainable and green living.
The Abenaki Land Link Project is a partnership with Rooted in Vermont, a program of the Vermont Farm to Plate Network, and the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT) This project provides indigenous seeds to over a dozen gardeners, homesteaders, and farmers around Vermont who have dedicated land to grow and harvest food for Abenaki citizens this season. All of the seeds have been graciously provided by the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk – Abenaki Nation and cannot be used for any other purpose outside of the project.
The Abenaki Bison Project is providing the first-ever tribally-owned bison herd in New England. We have partnered with Wiley Side Farm in Shoreham. We have an agreement with them to manage and feed the herd. All Bison Meat that is culled from our animals is distributed to our citizens through 3 distribution points located throughout our territories.
For more information about the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki, and to find out how you can help support their food security initiatives, please visit: https://abenakitribe.org/
Any day now, you’ll receive your Annual Report in the mail. Aside from the usual updates on the state of your Co-op, Board of Directors Candidates, and plans for our Annual Meeting, you’ll find directions to help you cast your online votes for our Board of Directors. Don’t want to wait for the mail? You can access the online version of our Annual Report right now to view candidate info and more!
Are you ready to vote? Please follow the link below to get started, May 1st – May 31st (link will not work until May 1st!).
You’ll need the first initial and last name of the co-op member-owner in your household, plus the last five digits of your member number (you can find this on the back of your paper Annual Report mailing label, or on the back of your co-op member card).
Your vote is completely anonymous, and after you participate in this year’s election, your name will be entered for a chance to win one of 50 $25 Co-op Gift Cards! Happy Voting!
Want to find out the election results right away? Join us for our Virtual Annual Meeting on June 2nd at 6:30 pm. More information HERE.
Round up your totals at the registers May 6th – May 12th. The Co-op will match your donation for the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Vergennes.
Rally Every Time You Shop! When not featuring a specific non-profit, donations are given to Addison County Food Shelves
The Boys & Girls Club of Greater Vergennes aims to inspire and enable youth of all ages to reach their full potential as caring, productive, and responsible citizens. We currently offer after-school programming from 2:30 pm to 6:00 pm, Monday through Friday. Membership to the Club is free of charge to any 4th through 12th grader in the Addison Northwest School District.
Our programs include opportunities in:
academic growth
health and wellness, and
leadership and service.
We are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to participate in the Co-op’s Rally For Change and will plan to use any funds raised to enhance our summer programs. This may include:
covering the cost of materials
purchase of equipment
hiring guest instructors
covering the cost of food
Thanks to you, we can continue to support great futures for our youth!
Like so many other traditionally in-person events, our Annual Meeting is going virtual again, this year. While we will miss gathering in person, sharing a meal, and enjoying the warmth of face-to-face community, we hope that we can keep you informed on Co-op happenings and provide a space for your voices to be heard through a virtual meeting. So much is going on at the Co-op this year, you won’t want to be left out of the conversation!
This year, Co-op Annual Meeting attendees will automatically be entered for a chance to win one of three Co-op Gift Cards, valued at $200 each! Winners will be announced at intervals during the meeting and MUST REGISTER VIA THE LINK BELOW BY 5/31 AND BE PRESENT AT THE MEETING TO WIN!And, there’s more! The FIRST 50 MEMBER-OWNERS WHO REGISTER to attend our Co-op Annual Meeting will be eligible for a free Co-op Snack Sack, to enjoy while we toast our Co-op Staff, Membership, and the Community for helping us all to get through this monumental year. WE WILL CONTACT YOU BY EMAIL IF YOU ARE ONE OF THE FIRST 50 TO REGISTER. Please click the link below, to register:
Once you have registered, you will receive a confirmation email with a link to the meeting. Registration enables you to be an active participant in the meeting and join in the Question and Answer Session, at the end of the presentations.
To Livestream the meeting, or to view it later, please watch on YouTube:
All April, Co-op shoppers receive an additional 20% off ALL Eos Botanicals products. Eos will donate 10% of Sales to United Plant Savers and the Co-op will MATCH this donation. 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 (from their website at unitedplantsavers.org).
Julie Mitchell has been working with the Co-op for 30 years, providing homegrown and handcrafted botanical products, and sometimes serving as our “herbalist in the aisle” in our Wellness Department. Here’s what she has to say about her experience working with botanicals and with our Co-op.
In 1989, I established Eos Botanicals and started making herbal products for the Farmers Market in Burlington and Middlebury. Over the years, I have tried to maintain the hand-crafted and quality aspect of my business, growing what I’m able or wildcrafting what is abundant and available here in the Northeast.
As the years have passed, the herbs and their optimal gathering times, mark the seasons – knowing when April rolls around, I need to prune the crampbark limbs, pick the young nettle; that first week in July is time to look at the flowering of St.Johnswort and the fall for digging many, many roots, elecampane, dandelion, yellow dock, and wild yam.
I was so grateful when United Plant Savers (UPS), came into being in 1994. Herbalist and visionary Rosemary Gladstar had the foresight to implement this non-profit. She recognized that conservation and sustainability would be necessary if we wished to continue to learn from these plant medicines. UPS has become an international endeavor, as we continue to ask plants to be part of our food and support our well-being. UPS’s mission statement is: to ensure an abundant renewable supply of our medicinal allies for generations to come. For information on how to become a member, visit UPS at www.unitedplantsavers.org
2021 is my 30th year of making and selling tinctures to the Co-op, and I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to the Co-op and this community’s generosity in supporting Eos Botanicals. I found my first invoice to the Middlebury Natural Food Cooperative from January 3rd, 1991 (see photo)…Yowza! I clearly remember being quite excited to be able to offer herbs to the community in this way.
Eos Botanicals and MNFC in conjunction, are offering a 20% discount on all Eos products. 10% of the total sales from April will also be donated by Eos Botanicals to UPS. The Co-op will MATCH this donation!
In humble appreciation, warmth, and goodness to all people and plants! Walk gently on the earth.
Round up your totals at the registers February 4 – 10. The Co-op will match your donation and pass it along to Addison Allies.
Rally Every Time You Shop! When not featuring a specific non-profit, donations are given to Addison County Food Shelves
In April 2017, responding to the Latino farmworkers’ desire to learn English, Addison Allies Network (AAN) was created. Now, we are a network of over 40 volunteers in Addison County. As times have changed, so have we, but our purpose has always been to:
offer English language coaching
help with accessing services like the GED program and driver licenses and permits
support the acquisition of daily necessities like cell phones and warm winter clothing
provide transportation for shopping and medical (or other) appointments
During these three-and-a-half years, we have built many social relationships and forged a strong web of social service providers who can work with those in the Migrant Community who need support. As Addison Allies Network continues to grow, we now also see the need to gain a deep connection with the farm owners in Addison County to create better solutions to some of the most pressing issues, like transportation and housing.
– Addison Allies
Redondea el total de su compra en la cooperativa del 4 al 10 de febrero. La cooperativa igualará su donación para apoyar la red de aliados de Addison En abril de 2017, respondiendo al deseo de los trabajadores agrícolas latinos de aprender inglés, se creó Addison Allies Network (AAN). Ahora, somos una red de más de 40 voluntarios en el condado de Addison. A medida que los tiempos han cambiado, nosotros también, pero nuestro propósito siempre ha sido: – ofrecer entrenamiento en el idioma de inglés- ayuda para acceder a servicios como el programa GED y licencias y permisos de conducir- Ayudar a adquirir las necesidades diarias como teléfonos celulares y ropa abrigada de invierno.- proporcionar transporte para compras y citas médicas (u otras) Durante estos tres años y medio, hemos construido muchas relaciones sociales y forjado una web fuerte de proveedores de servicios sociales que pueden trabajar con aquellos en la Comunidad Migrante que necesitan apoyo. A medida que Addison Allies Network continúa creciendo, ahora también vemos la necesidad de lograr una conexión profunda con los dueños los ranchos en el condado de Addison para crear mejores soluciones a algunos de los asuntos más urgentes, como el transporte y la vivienda. – aliados de Addison
