Near East Foods is basking in the glow of the Member Deals Spotlight this week, which means that member-owners can enjoy a 20% discount on all of their products from March 31st – April 6th! Read on to learn more about the humble beginnings of this company and its commitment to Fair Trade:
Near East started in 1962 in Worcester, MA as a small, family-owned company. George and Hannah Kalajian immigrated from Armenia to the United States and set up a grocery store in 1940. Soon after the store opened, Hannah began serving sandwiches and home-cooked hot meals at a twelve-stool luncheonette counter adjoining the grocery store. On Wednesdays, Hannah served her specialty: roasted chicken and Armenian-style rice pilaf. A tasty combination of rice, orzo pasta, and seasoning, the pilaf quickly became so popular that Hannah began to package it – filling bags of pilaf mix by hand in her home kitchen. As demand rapidly increased, more help was added and a growing number of food distributors helped to sell the product. Over the years, production moved out of Hannah’s kitchen and into modern manufacturing facilities.
Today the Near East family of products includes more than 30 different flavors and varieties of rice pilaf, couscous, and other grain dishes, all with the same high-quality ingredients, care, and handling that Hannah put into the first batch of pilaf. Their easy-to-prepare products offer you a variety of great tastes and authentic flavors from around the world.
Near East takes pride in using only the best ingredients in their products. Most Near East products are Certified Kosher and many are Non-GMO Verified. They remain dedicated to simple, high-quality food made with recognizable ingredients and authentic herbs and spices.
Fair Trade Partnership
For the folks at Near East, Fair Trade means going back to the source to ensure that the farmers who grow their ingredients are equitably paid and are empowered to invest in their communities. Near East is proud to source Fair Trade Certified™ quinoa. Sourcing Fair Trade means empowering quinoa farming communities through an additional investment that preserves the environment, ensures fair labor practices, and builds sustainable communities.
Looking to give your workout routine a spring makeover? Or perhaps you’ve set some new fitness goals and you’re ready to take that first step? We invite you to check out this month’s featured Co-op Connection Business — Middlebury Fitness! Flash your Co-op member-owner card and you’ll receive 50% off the enrollment fee and your first class or workout is FREE! Read on to learn more about what this community wellness center has to offer:
Middlebury Fitness is a community health and wellness center founded in 1997 that puts its members’ needs first. Their facility features a wide variety of the most current strength and cardio equipment by the leading brands in the industry. Is group fitness your thing? They offer a variety of live and remote programs and group fitness classes to meet the diverse and ever-changing needs of their member base, ranging from ages 13 to 93. Click here for their class calendar and descriptions. Other services and amenities include personal training, free equipment orientations, athletic performance training, Dietician consultations, saunas, and more!
The crew at Middlebury Fitness is incredibly proud to be so active in this great community and annually receives recognition and awards for various initiatives. For the past four consecutive years, they have received the United Way of Addison County’s “Partner Award” for an annual event that has raised $60,000 for our local friends and families in need since 2014. Wow!! They were also the 2018 recipients of the prestigious BOB (Best of Business) award in the Health Club category by Vermont Business Magazine.
At Middlebury Fitness they understand that you have options when it comes to your health and fitness needs. They aim to meet and exceed their members’ expectations every day and believe they have some of the most attentive, caring, professional, and knowledgeable instructors, personal trainers, and staff you will find. Their ultimate goal at Midd Fit is to ensure that each of their members achieves their personal fitness goals while experiencing exceptional customer service in a supportive atmosphere of fun and camaraderie.
If you are a current member, they’d like to extend a sincere THANK YOU for being a part of the Midd Fit family! If you are not yet a member, please visit and let Middlebury Fitness guide you through your fitness journey today! And don’t forget to mention that you’re a Co-op member-owner!
Warmer weather is returning and outdoor adventures await, so we think you’ll be excited to hear that CLIF Bar & Company is featured in our Member Deals Spotlight! Member-owners can enjoy a 20% discount on their full line of protein bars from March 24th – 30th so it’s a great time to stock up and save before hitting the trail! Read on to learn more about this employee-owned business and the forces that drive them to do things differently:
In 1990, during a one-day, 175-mile bike ride—forever to be known as The Epiphany Ride—an exhausted and hungry Gary Erickson realized he couldn’t choke down another unappetizing energy bar. And just like that, the idea for a better tasting bar was born! Erikson spent a few years testing recipes in his mother’s kitchen until he landed on the first CLIF bar recipe and he chose to name it after his father, Clifford, who first introduced him to wilderness adventures and encouraged him to follow his passions in life.
Ten years later, the company was enjoying success and making an impact in the food scene when Erikson and his partner Kit Crawford were presented with a $120-million offer to sell the company. Ultimately, they chose to walk away from this offer, keeping the company family-owned and values-focused, recognizing that to do more good in the world, CLIF needed to stay private, grow naturally, and sustain itself over time – patience over greed, purpose guiding profit.
By 2010, they took this a step farther by transitioning the business to an employee-owned model by offering 20% of their family-owned common stock to CLIF employees through an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). CLIF funds the ESOP annually—it costs employees nothing. Kind of like a 401k plan, except that employees don’t have to put any of their own money into it! With each passing year, employees receive more shares from Clif Bar, the price per share hopefully grows in value, and upon retirement, employees sell their shares back to CLIF, which pays them the value of the stock at that time.
When it comes to doing business, the folks at CLIF Bar & Company believe in a different kind of bottom-line guided by 5 aspirations:
Sustaining our People
Being family- and employee-owned means taking care of their people and their families because healthy, inspired people create delicious and nutritious food. CLIF offers paid volunteer and workout time (with their own in-house trainers), subsidized on-site daycare for all the little Clifsters, six-week paid sabbaticals, and an employee stock-ownership program.
Sustaining our Communities
From the volunteer work they do locally to the way they source ingredients globally, their commitment to the communities they touch is an important part of their identity. Globally, this means sourcing organic and sustainably grown food. For example, their cacao and palm oil are Rainforest Alliance Certified™. The Rainforest Alliance supports a healthy environment, promotes the well-being of workers and their communities, and strictly prohibits child labor.
They also created In Good Company® – an alliance of values-driven businesses working together for a shared purpose. They listen to people in local communities define their needs and then volunteer time to tackle projects focused on food, environmental restoration, and rebuilding after natural disasters.
Last but not least, CLIF® CORPS encourages CLIF employees to volunteer their services in the community on company time. The way they see it, cultivating community together makes them stronger as individuals and as a company.
Sustaining the Planet
The team at CLIF is inspired by the challenge of running a business based on ecological principles. They describe their model for sustainability in four simple words: Think Like a Tree. Trees run on renewable energy, recycle all waste, and sustain and improve the places they grow. As a food company, Think Like a Tree means that CLIF is working to craft food with organic, sustainable ingredients, made with renewable energy, packed in eco-friendly packaging, and delivered by transportation that doesn’t pollute. 84% of their ingredients are Certified Organic and/or Certified Sustainable, 90% of their waste is diverted from landfills and incinerators from CLIF bakeries, and they use 100% green power for their LEED-certified facilities. Click here to learn more about CLIF Bar & Company’s sustainability initiatives.
Sustaining our Brands
Creating brands with integrity, quality, and authenticity means crafting good food from sustainably sourced ingredients. Their commitment to organic and sustainably sourced ingredients guides them to make the right choices for farmers, communities, and the awesome people who love our CLIF®, LUNA®, and CLIF Kid® brands. They listen attentively to athletes, foodies, and the people they meet at events to tap natural demand and follow long-term trends, not short-term fads. But most importantly, they never lose sight of the fact that all the food from each of their brands is a tasty expression of their values and helps contribute to a healthier, more sustainable planet.
Sustaining our Business
Building a healthy, resilient company means that CLIF can invest in the long term, be a catalyst for change, and do more good in the world. Today, remaining a healthy business gives them the power to support their brands, their people, their community, and the planet…not to mention have a ton of fun doing it every day!
Looking for something sweet for your sweetie? Whether you’re celebrating Valentine’s Day with your partner, observing Galentine’s Day with your best gals, or simply treating yourself to some self-love this Valentine’s Day, we think that a special treat from Daily Chocolate is a perfect way to celebrate. Our Member Deals Spotlight shines brightly on this local chocolatier and all of their decadently delicious products are 20% off for member-owners from February 10th – 16th. Read on to learn more about this sweet little chocolate shop hailing from Vergennes, Vermont, and the people who put the love into the chocolate:
Daily Chocolate opened in 2006, the creation of Florey Mahoney and her partner Chris White. Three years later, after planting firm roots at 7 Green Street, the shop was purchased by Jen Roberts and Judd Markowski, an extended family of the shop’s originators.
Jen continued to operate the Daily Chocolate for the next ten years, vastly expanding the menu, and growing its reputation for creating delectable and unique confections. Under Jen’s creativity, she expanded the wholesale markets throughout Addison and Chittenden Counties. Thanks to Jen, Daily Chocolate can be found at numerous coffee shops, farms, and healthy food markets. Helping Jen along the way was Christina Caniyo, author, apothecary, and chocolatier, who was with the shop since it first opened in 2005. Also, a regular at Daily Chocolate, Vergennes artist and chocolatier Bethany Farrell.
On December 1st of 2020 Daily Chocolate changed hands once again. Leading the shop into a new decade is artist and chocolatier Dawn Wagner.
Dawn’s first foray into chocolate was in the mid-’90s at Lake Champlain Chocolates. During her three years there she created some of the factory’s finer chocolates, produced entirely by hand, including many sculptures and other decorative pieces. After moving to NYC to pursue her theatrical career, Dawn continued to make chocolate both professionally for El Eden in the East Village, and privately through her own company cocoSNAP!
In 2016, after nearly 20 years in NYC working both Off and On-Broadway, Dawn, and her husband, actor Jeremy Holm made their triumphant return to Vergennes, Vermont. An old family friend to Jen’s husband Judd, Dawn immediately began working seasonally at Daily Chocolate beside Jen, and very happily joined the team full-time in the spring of 2019.
It is one of Dawn’s dreams-come-true to not only operate a chocolate shop but to be able to do it surrounded by friends and family in her home town.
Quality Ingredients
Daily Chocolate works hard to choose the finest ingredients for our recipes. We use natural, whole foods, free of artificial flavors and colors. Our chocolate is soy-free, and all of our recipes have been modified to remove corn syrup and white sugar. We are committed to shopping locally and organic whenever possible. We are happy to support our local farmers by using Monument Farms dairy, local Vermont maple syrup, & honey, Lincoln Peak Wine, and Cabot Creamery’s butter.
Sustainability
Daily Chocolate is committed to the wellbeing of our planet. Over the past few years, we have worked hard to reduce excessive plastics and increase recycled and biodegradable packaging and shipping materials. Please don’t forget about the luckiest chickens in Addison County, the recipients of the contents of the Daily Chocolate compost bin.
Ethical Practices
We are grateful for the equatorial farmers of West Africa and South America who grow the magical Theobroma Cacao plants that give us chocolate. We promise to source ethically and work with companies who comply with international standards, to end child and slave labor, and to pay these hard-working farm families a fair wage.
Creativity
Making Chocolate is like making theatre. It’s magical, a little mysterious, and when done correctly, it’s moving. Here at Daily Chocolate, we are committed to keeping our ideas fresh, our flavors inventive, and our look beautiful.
We’re shining a bright Member Deals Spotlight this week on a local favorite that provides handcrafted, lovingly created products to keep our skin healthy and glowing even through the depths of a Vermont winter – Caroline’s Dream! Our entire line of Caroline’s Dream small-batch skincare products is 20% off for member-owners from February 3rd – 9th, so it’s a perfect time to stock up your skincare stash! Read on to learn more about the maker of this skincare line and the inspiration behind her brand:
The seed for Caroline’s Dream was planted over 24 years ago when founder Susan Shashok began her quest for a line of chemical-free skincare products suitable for her sensitive, acne-prone skin. That fruitless search inspired Susan to tap into her knowledge of herbs, agriculture science, and entrepreneurship to explore the possibility of creating a product lineup of her own. After many experimental batches tested on herself, her friends, and her family, Shashok dialed in on the precise alchemy from which her signature line of highly effective, handcrafted skincare products would rise. Her products are free of sulfates, parabens, and animal testing, and are crafted using sustainably-sourced ingredients and environmentally friendly packaging.
Throughout the creative process, Susan drew inspiration from her grandmother Caroline, who had a deep love of medicinal herbs, a pride in handcrafting, and a Pennsylvania Dutch work ethic. As the daughter of two artists, Caroline is described by Susan as “not of myth or legend but a real woman that should never be confused with being ordinary.” Though she passed away when Susan was a teenager, her legacy is alive and well both in the treasured physical works of art that she bestowed upon her family — quilts, Christmas ornaments, and crochet work — and also in the spirit of art, integrity, and craftsmanship present in the Caroline’s Dream line of products.
Shashok describes herself as an outdoor enthusiast who enjoys spending time hiking and biking across Vermont. Perhaps you’ve seen her delivering her products to the Co-op on her signature red bike? It’s the magical sort of thing that can only be achieved when working at a hyper-local human scale and we feel lucky to have the opportunity to be a part of it.
Being landlocked as we are, the very notion of “local” seafood seems implausible, but thanks to the team at Starbird Fish in Burlington, we are able to have the next best thing — sustainably sourced Alaskan seafood, harvested by Vermonters for Vermonters. Their small crew makes the annual voyage to Alaska to bestow Vermonters with the very best seafood available and provides us with a unique opportunity to know our fishermen. Starbird is featured in our Member Deals Spotlight from January 20th – 26th, so it’s a great time to stock up the freezer! Read on to learn more about this unique local business and the crew that makes the magic happen:
With over a decade of experience as a commercial fisherman, Anthony “Captain Tony” Naples has been involved in all aspects of the trade, including building his own commercial fishing boats under the tutelage of legendary boat builder Lyford Stanley. Prior to launching his career as a fisherman, the Moretown, VT native explored prior stints as a farmer, a design/build craftsman and carpenter, a botanist, a lighthouse restoration expert, a photographer, a filmmaker, and a musician. In short, there’s not much that Anthony can’t do. But what really floats his boat is to spend his summers immersed in the pristine environs of Alaska’s Bristol Bay, then return home to share his modest catch with his friends, family, and community.
After experiencing the rigors and extractive nature of the typical commercial fishing scene, he realized his preference for a different style and pace involving a more sustainable means of harvesting fish. In addition to captaining his own boat, he returns each year to the tight-knit Ugashik fishing community of Bristol Bay, where he teams up with longtime friends to practice a form of salmon fishing known as set netting. The Ugashik region is home to the largest sockeye salmon run in the world and is managed by the State of Alaska Fish and Game Department, whose team of state biologists ensures that a healthy number of fish return to the ecosystem every year.
It takes five separate flights to arrive at the comma-shaped estuary formed where the Ugashik River empties into Bristol Bay, on the western coast of the Alaska Peninsula. Upon arrival, the play-by-play goes something like this: prep the gear; check the tides; check-in with Alaska Fish and Game to learn of his “openers” which are the acceptable windows during which the salmon can be sustainably harvested; set the nets; catch the fish; harvest the fish from the nets; immediately deliver the catch to a “tender”, which is a nearby boat that cools the fish using a seawater refrigeration system and delivers them to the processor, who then flash freezes the fish and prepares it for shipment back to Vermont. These steps take place over a 24-hour period and are repeated for the duration of the salmon run.
Upon arrival in Vermont, some of the fish is smoked and stored in a facility in Burlington, while the rest of the frozen fish is warehoused at the Mad River Food Hub in Waitsfield until it finds its way to the Burlington Farmers’ Market and to the shelves of various food co-ops, restaurants, and other small markets across Vermont. According to a feature in Edible Vermont, Anthony explains that “the future for small seafood producers is in the artisanal food market. I want to provide high-quality product to restaurants and farmers’ markets, places where people care about the source of their seafood.” He continues, “There’s a lot of junk that’s sold as seafood, as well as misinformation bordering on outright lies about origins and freshness.” When you choose to purchase fish from Starbird, you’re supporting every aspect from fisherman to fishery, and that level of transparency and authenticity is critical for Anthony.
In an effort to create an authentic, transparent regional seafood supply chain, Anthony created the Northern Seafood Alliance – an organization with a mission to provide consumers access to wild fish and seafood caught by fishermen whom Anthony knows personally. He quips in the Edible Vermont piece that half of them are UVM grads. He also notes that “Cranberry” Bob Lesnikoski of Fletcher, Vermont, who you more likely know as Vermont’s only commercial cranberry farmer, has been a great resource. “He’s a true jack-of-all-trades and savvy about the food scene. Bob’s a commercial fisherman himself, and he came out to Alaska to crew on one of my boats.”
At the Co-op, you’ll find a supreme lineup of Starbird Fish, including Alaskan Coho salmon, King salmon, Sockeye Salmon, Rockfish, Halibut, and Cod. When you take it home to prepare it, we hope you’ll think of Captain Tony and the incredible journey that he takes each year to bring fish to your family’s table.
A whistling tea kettle, the spicy aroma of simmering chai, a quiet space to sit, relax, and enjoy the moment…these are all part of the typical experience when you visit our featured Co-op Connection Business, Stone Leaf Teahouse, and it seems to beckon us this time of year when the air turns cool and crisp. Of course, the challenges to community health and safety presented by the COVID pandemic have led Stone Leaf Teahouse owner John Wetzel to make the difficult decision to transition to a slightly adjusted model where you can place your order and sip your tea outdoors on the teahouse patio. You can also place an order online and select curbside pickup or have the tea delivered right to your door. Perhaps recreating the cozy atmosphere of the Teahouse in the comfort of your own home as you sip your delicious tea can be a fun way to spend a restful weekend day? The indoor area of the teahouse is now open for browsing Stone Leaf’s beautiful collection of teaware!
The staff at Stone Leaf Teahouse has an intimate knowledge of the impressive list of teas offered and John has traveled to many of the farms from which their teas are sourced, gaining an even deeper understanding of the tea’s journey from farm to cup. They have applied their collective knowledge to develop an extremely handy online “Tea Guru” tool that will walk you through the process of selecting a tea that you will love. Remind them that you’re a Co-op member-owner and you’ll receive 10% off your order! You can also find their premium loose leaf teas in our Bulk tea department. It’s a unique treat to have teas this fresh available in our store. Read on to learn more about the teahouse and its offerings.
About Us:
Based in Vermont, our teas reflect our ideals; grown with skill and heart to cultivate a healthy ecosystem and global community. Each year we visit the tea gardens that produce the finest teas in the world. We connect you to the families that have grown and processed tea for generations.
Established in 2009, Stone Leaf Teahouse was built, well from the stone. Upon returning from travels in India and Taiwan, we searched for the perfect space for storing and serving quality tea. We found that space in the Marbleworks in Middlebury, Vermont…our little “tea cave”. Surrounded by stone, our fresh teas keep fresh, and our aging teas age gracefully.
Our Focus:
We travel to all the regions where we source tea to forge a connection between the grower and drinker, directly importing from China, Taiwan, India, Nepal, and Japan (with more to come as we grow!).
We source teas fresh, buying the best harvests, often multiple times a year.
We connect the tea drinker to the tea garden.
We are students of tea, here to share the connection through a cup of tea.
Workshops:
Would you like to delve deeper into the world of tea? Check out the workshop calendar for some exciting opportunities to learn more! Of course, for now, these workshops will be offered online. You can also visit the Tea House blog to read more about the world of tea, including a fascinating post on the rich and complex history of tea, sugar, and slavery.
The Menu:
Stone Leaf Teahouse offers an extensive menu of some of the freshest and most unique tea varieties available. Many of their tea offerings are certified organic. To view the full menu, click here.
Are you craving that feeling of warmth and wellbeing that you get when you sip a cup of nourishing home-cooked soup, simmered low and slow all day on the back burner, but feeling short on time to make it a reality? That’s when we reach for Joe’s Kitchen soup! They’re featured in our Member Deals Spotlight and all of their local made-from-scratch soups are 20% off for Member-Owners from January 13th – 19th! Read on to learn more about Chef-Owner Joe Buley and the inspiration behind his scrumptious line of soups!
Joe Buley’s path to creating Joe’s Kitchen at Screaming Ridge Farm began as a child in his Grandmother’s kitchen in East Randolph, VT. Joe remembers his Gram’s kitchen as a hub for the entire family where a rotating cast of cousins, aunts, uncles, and friends was constantly passing through, and where all were greeted at the door with the smell of the ubiquitous soup pot simmering on a back burner. He describes his Gram’s philosophy on cooking as having an equal regard for flavor and economy, using whatever was at hand to pull together a great-tasting soup. What really made Gram’s soups extra special though, were the quality vegetables and herbs harvested from her garden out back. Joe’s mom continued the tradition and passed it on to Joe with love and skill, spending many memorable hours cooking with him.
Chef-Owner Joe Buley
These early experiences created a strong foundation for Joe’s early career as a restaurant chef and entrepreneur. He trained in France at the prestigious École Supérieure de Cuisine Française in Paris (also known as Ecole Ferrand) where he was the only US citizen in the school. Joe found his way back to the US where he sampled food and life in Brooklyn, San Francisco, San Diego, and Austin before ultimately settling back down in Vermont with his family in 1999. Joe became a chef -instructor at New England Culinary Institute, a role he enjoyed for nearly 10 years.
Meanwhile, he began to dabble in growing his own food, harkening back to those days in his Grandmother’s kitchen where he first experienced the magic that happens when fresh, home-grown ingredients find their way into the soup pot. Screamin’ Ridge Farm started small, with one tiny plastic greenhouse and a walk-behind tractor. Over the next several years, the farm slowly grew into a successful business focused on winter spinach production and a wide variety of summer crops (with 3 large hoop houses and a “real” tractor). The farm sold produce at the Montpelier Farmers Market and into summer and winter CSAs.
Connecting directly with customers at Farmers Markets and through the CSA, Joe saw first-hand his customers’ struggle to find the time and inspiration needed to prepare healthy meals from raw farm products. He saw an opportunity to realize his ambition of both growing ingredients and cooking them into great-tasting prepared foods and Joe’s Kitchen at Screamin’ Ridge Farm was born.
Joe’s crew hard at work at their production kitchen in Montpelier, VT
For sourcing ingredients that aren’t grown on his own farm, Joe looks to the neighboring small farms surrounding his Montpelier community. His goal is to create flavorful food prepared with integrity and with ingredients from local producers. He hopes that those who enjoy his soups can eat great food while also being active participants in the movement to preserve Vermont’s working landscape. He believes that using super-fresh ingredients from nearby farms gives his soups authentic flavor, eliminating the need to add sugar or excessive amounts of salt. Just great tasting, healthy, nourishing food like his Gram used to make.
Here at the Co-op, you can find a rotating lineup of Joe’s famous soups showcasing a seasonal array of Vermont-fresh produce. Which one is your favorite?
We’re shining our Co-op Spotlight on Garden of Life! Their entire line of products are 20% off for member-owners from January 6th – 12th, so if your New Year’s resolution involved recalibrating your wellness routine, it’s a great time to give them a try! Read on to learn more about their mission to empower extraordinary health!
The Science of Whole Food
Garden of Life is fanatical about food. This may not be the first thing that typically comes to mind for a company that makes vitamins, probiotics, and protein powders, but Garden of Life is different that way. They recognize that our bodies were created to eat, process, and derive nutrition from food—real, healthy food. So, when they set out to create a line of products, they challenged themselves to consider what “good stuff” present in the highest quality foods are typically missing in our diets. Which of these foods have the greatest potential to impact and empower extraordinary health?
Clean is Healthy
As fanatical as they are about what goes into their products, they are equally diligent about what to keep out of them. This means no synthetic chemicals, no GMOs, just true, whole, traceable ingredients. If it’s not found in real food, they don’t want it in their supplements. Their philosophy is to slow it down, make it by hand, grow it in rich organic non-GMO soil with enough sun, air, water, and time for it to be its best. Harvest it when ready. Treat it with care. Turn it into a power-packed nutritious food supplement.
The Lebaron Farm in Utah grows, harvests, juices, and dries the greens for the Perfect Food Raw products.
Traceability
Traceability is key to what makes Garden of Life’s products so special. Traceability starts with knowing where each and every ingredient in their products come from and getting to know each and every source: where it’s grown; the farming practices; how they pay and treat the farm workers—everything. Their mykind Organics line, co-founded with Alicia Silverstone, is made with Organic fruit and herbs—every single product in this line is Certified USDA Organic and Non-GMO Verified by the Non-GMO Project.
Fourth-generation family farmers growing organic cranberries in Massachusetts for Garden of Life
Certifications
There is a great deal of noise in the marketplace today that makes it difficult to find the clean truth. Independent, unbiased, third-party certification and verification provides the best option for that assurance. However, to attain Certified USDA Organic and Non-GMO Project Verified status, every ingredient must be traced back to its origin, which means tracing back to organic crops and family farms and also how and where it’s manufactured. Developing a fully traceable raw material supply chain is a massive, complex undertaking—especially considering some formulas could have over 100 different ingredients!
It’s no easy task, but it’s totally worth it. Garden of Life is committed to producing Certified USDA Organic and Non-GMO Project Verified supplements. They also use unbiased third parties such as Vegan.org, NSF, Kosher, and Informed-Choice whenever possible. Check out the logos below for a full rundown of Garden of Life’s third-party certifications:
Sustainability
Garden of Life is also a Certified B Corps! They are deeply committed to energy-efficient and sustainable practices including LEED Gold Certified facilities, use of renewable energy, recycled bottles, recyclable packaging, and soy-based inks. They are extremely proud to have reached Carbon Neutrality in June of 2021—the first vitamin and supplement brand to be Certified Carbon Neutral. Certified Carbonfree® by CarbonFund.org, Garden of Life has been committed to sustainability since its inception. Click here to read more about the sustainability initiatives at Garden of Life.
A whistling tea kettle, the spicy aroma of simmering chai, a quiet space to sit, relax, and enjoy the moment…these are all part of the typical experience when you visit our featured Co-op Connection Business, Stone Leaf Teahouse, and it seems to beckon us this time of year when the air turns cool and crisp. Of course, the challenges to community health and safety presented by the COVID pandemic have led Stone Leaf Teahouse owner John Wetzel to make the difficult decision to transition to a slightly adjusted model where you can place your order and sip your tea outdoors on the teahouse patio. You can also place an order online and select curbside pickup or have the tea delivered right to your door. Perhaps recreating the cozy atmosphere of the Teahouse in the comfort of your own home as you sip your delicious tea can be a fun way to spend a restful weekend day? The indoor area of the teahouse is now open for browsing Stone Leaf’s beautiful collection of teaware!
The staff at Stone Leaf Teahouse has an intimate knowledge of the impressive list of teas offered and John has traveled to many of the farms from which their teas are sourced, gaining an even deeper understanding of the tea’s journey from farm to cup. They have applied their collective knowledge to develop an extremely handy online “Tea Guru” tool that will walk you through the process of selecting a tea that you will love. Remind them that you’re a Co-op member-owner and you’ll receive 10% off your order! You can also find their premium loose leaf teas in our Bulk tea department. It’s a unique treat to have teas this fresh available in our store. Read on to learn more about the teahouse and its offerings.
About Us:
Based in Vermont, our teas reflect our ideals; grown with skill and heart to cultivate a healthy ecosystem and global community. Each year we visit the tea gardens that produce the finest teas in the world. We connect you to the families that have grown and processed tea for generations.
Established in 2009, Stone Leaf Teahouse was built, well from the stone. Upon returning from travels in India and Taiwan, we searched for the perfect space for storing and serving quality tea. We found that space in the Marbleworks in Middlebury, Vermont…our little “tea cave”. Surrounded by stone, our fresh teas keep fresh, and our aging teas age gracefully.
Our Focus:
We travel to all the regions where we source tea to forge a connection between the grower and drinker, directly importing from China, Taiwan, India, Nepal, and Japan (with more to come as we grow!).
We source teas fresh, buying the best harvests, often multiple times a year.
We connect the tea drinker to the tea garden.
We are students of tea, here to share the connection through a cup of tea.
Workshops:
Would you like to delve deeper into the world of tea? Check out the workshop calendar for some exciting opportunities to learn more! Of course, for now, these workshops will be offered online. You can also visit the Tea House blog to read more about the world of tea, including a fascinating post on the rich and complex history of tea, sugar, and slavery.
The Menu:
Stone Leaf Teahouse offers an extensive menu of some of the freshest and most unique tea varieties available. Many of their tea offerings are certified organic. To view the full menu, click here.
