March - Willy Street Co-op

Transcription

March - Willy Street Co-op
Reader
A Publication of willy street co-op, madison, WI • Volume 37 • Issue 3 • MARCH 2010
IN THIS ISSUE
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POSTMASTER: DATED MATERIAL
1221 Williamson Street • Madison, WI • 53703
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MADISON, WI
PERMIT NO. 1723
BOARD RETREAT; BREAKFAST IN THE DELI;
PARKING; JUICE BAR FAVORITES; AND MORE!
STORE CLOSING EARLY
Sunday, March 14th at 7:30pm
IN
THIS
ISSUE
3
CUSTOMER COMMENTS
4
GENERAL MANAGER’S REPORT
5
BOARD REPORT
News from Anya Firszt.
Rick Bernstein wraps up this year’s Board Retreat.
6-8 COMMUNITY ROOM CALENDAR
9
DELI NEWS
Black Earth Meats plus breakfast from Megan Blodgett.
10 PRODUCE NEWS
It’s leafy vegetable time for Andy Johnston.
11 JUICE BAR NEWS
The Juice Bar staff shares their favorite drinks.
12 KITCHEN NEWS
Josh Perkins talks up culinary herbs.
13-16SPECIALS
17 HOUSEWARES NEWS
It’s seed-starting time. Kathy Kemnitz tells us how.
18-19WALKING THE WALK ON WILLY
20 PRODUCER PROFILE: CHRISTINE’S GOURMET TOFFEE
22-23RECIPES AND DRINK RECOMMENDATIONS
24-25NEWSBITES
27 COMMUNITY CALENDAR
Reader
Published monthly by Willy Street Co-op
1221 Williamson Street, Madison, WI 53703, 608-251-6776
www.willystreet.coop
EDITOR & LAYOUT: Liz Wermcrantz
ADVERTISING: Liz Wermcrantz
Sale Flyer Design: Amber McGee
Sale Flyer Layout: Liz Wermcrantz
Cover ART: Amber McGee
illustrations: Amber McGee
Printing: Wingra Printing Group
The Willy Street Co-op Reader is the monthly communications link among the Coop Board, staff and Owners. It provides information about the Co-op’s services and
business as well as about cooking, nutrition, health, sustainable agriculture and more.
Views and opinions expressed in the Reader do not necessarily represent those of the
Co-op’s Directors, staff or Ownership. Acceptance of advertising does not indicate
endorsement of the product or service offered. Articles are presented for information
purposes only. Before taking action, you should always consult a professional for
advice. Articles may be reprinted with permission from the editor.
SUBMISSIONS
All advertising submissions must be reserved and arranged with the editor by the 10th
of the month previous to publication. All advertisement copy must be submitted by the
15th of the month. Submissions should be emailed to [email protected]
or mailed to Willy Street Co-op according to submission requirements.
CUSTOMER SERVICE: 608-251-6776
BUSINESS OFFICE: 608-251-0884
FAX: 608-251-3121
SEAFOOD CENTER: 608-294-0116
GENERAL E-MAIL: [email protected]
GENERAL MANAGER: [email protected]
EDITOR: [email protected]
PREORDERS: [email protected]
WEBSITE: www.willystreet.coop
BOARD E-MAIL: [email protected]
STORE HOURS: 7:30am to 9:30pm, every day
Juice Bar: Monday–Friday: 7:30am to 7:00pm; Saturday–Sunday: 7:30am to 6:00pm
Deli: 7:30am to 9:00pm
Seafood Center: Monday–Friday: 9:00am to 7:00pm; Saturday: 8:00am to 7:00pm; Sunday: 8:00am to 6:00pm.
MISSION STATEMENT
The Williamson Street Grocery Co-op is an economically and environmentally sustainable, cooperatively owned grocery business that serves the needs of its Owners and
employees. We are a cornerstone of a vibrant community in south-central Wisconsin
that provides fairly priced goods and services while supporting local and organic suppliers.
WILLY STREET CO-OP BOARD OF DIRECTORS
George Hofheimer, President 257-3295 Deb Shapiro, Vice President 238-4368
Rick Bernstein 251-4615
Doug Johnson 241-5667
Jeff Bessmer 301-580-9545
Emily McWilliams 469-3320
Raechel Pundsack 240-9074
Kathleen Doherty 244-2532
Mike Engel 219-3620
BOARD MEETING SCHEDULE
Tuesday, March 16th, 6:30pm
Tuesday, April 20th, 6:30pm
Tuesday, May 18th, 6:30pm
Tuesday, June 15th, 6:30pm
July 8th, Annual Meeting & Party
Tuesday, August 18th, 6:30pm
Tuesday, September 28th, 6:30pm
(All regular meetings are held in the Community Room unless otherwise noted.)
2
Willy Street Co-op Reader, March 2010
CUSTOMER COMMENTS
Write Us!
We welcome your
comments and give each
one attention and serious
consideration. Send them
to l.olson@willystreet.
coop or fill out a Customer
Comment form at the
Customer Service desk.
Each month a small
selection is printed in the
Reader. The rest can be
found in the commons or in
the binder near Customer
Service. Thank you!
We’re paying cash
New Year’s resolution—we’re
paying cash. We average $100/week.
How will this affect the coop? How
will this affect the price we pay for
groceries (in the future)? What kind
of critical mass would it take to significantly impact the price of groceries at the coop? Thank you for your
continued awesomeness.
A: Great resolution! Avoiding the
use of credit cards when possible can
substantially reduce operating costs for
the businesses that you frequent. Last
year I wrote an article on this topic
that explains the fees associated with
the various types of tenders (http://
www.willystreet.coop/article/739).
The savings from a critical mass of
Co-op Owners avoiding credit cards
when possible could be returned to
Owners via lower prices or via patronage refunds. Patronage refunds will
be issued by the Co-op following our
next profitable fiscal year. It is a way to
return profits to the Ownership proportionate to each Owner’s patronage.
We look forward to getting more info
to our owners about patronage refunds.
Cheers and thanks again for such a
helpful New Year’s resolution! -David
Waisman, Director of Finance
Local meats
Q: I’m a sometimes-vegetarian
who is interested in making a commitment to using only locally and
responsibly grown meats when/if I
have to use them. This is easier to do
during the farmers’ market months,
but I’m struggling now in the winter.
I’ve combed over your website, and
have been in the Co-op (not recently,
admittedly), and I’m wondering if all
of the meats you stock (excluding deli
meats) come from local producers.
Any assistance you might have would
be welcomed! Thank you in advance!
A: Thanks for your questions! I am
also extremely dedicated to only eating
meats that are produced locally and
humanely, so I completely understand
your concern.
Most of our meats, with a few exceptions, are local. My favorites are our
Willow Creek Farm pork products, the
beef from Black Earth Meats, and also
the lamb from Pinn-Oak Farm.
You’ll find Willow Creek pork in
the freezer case. It’s from Loganville,
Wisconsin, is humanely raised on
pasture, and is some of the tastiest pork
I’ve ever had. They have an excellent
web site that has pictures and more
information about their farm: www.
willowcreekpork.com. I especially
recommend the bacon!
Black Earth Meats is a group of
farmers from the Black Earth area.
They have some extremely delicious
organic and grass-fed beef products, as
well as hams. Their website also has a
lot of great information: www.blackearthmeats.com.
Pinn-Oak Ridge Farms in Delevan,
WI produces our fresh lamb products.
They make an amazing Cajun sausage!
www.wisconsinlamb.com.
Chicken is a little tougher to find.
There’s no one locally who can produce the volume that we need, so we
get the majority of our supply from
Bell & Evans, an all-natural chicken
producer in Pennsylvania. We do
however have whole organic frozen
chickens from Roesler Farms in Coon
Valley, Wisconsin.
The biggest non-local meats to look
out for are the Bell & Evan’s chicken,
all the Applegate meat products, and
also the meat from Stoddard’s Meat
Market. Stoddard’s is packaged locally,
so it can be a bit deceiving.
In the Deli, you’ll find local sliced
roast beef and also sliced ham from
Willow Creek Farm.
I hope that helps. Feel free to give
us a call or write back if you have any
more questions! -Megan Blodgett, Deli
Manager
Something green in the
Deli
Q: I would love to see something
green in the deli—like kale or broccoli (w/o cheese or buttermilk) vegan.
It seems to be all starches or very
heavy on starches and dairy.
A: Thanks for the comment! We
have a few salads this month (January)
on our rotating menu which should fit
your needs: our broccoli cashew salad
is vegan, also the savory sweet potato
salad is vegan and has lots of kale in it.
We try to stay as seasonal as possible
with our menu, so you will find that we
have lots of roots, tubers, and brassicas
in the winter. Look for lots more fresh
summer vegetable salads in the spring
and summer. Thanks again! -Megan
Blodgett, Deli Manager
One more thing to keep
track of
Q: The not allowed to shop using
your cloth grocery bag policy seems
like a hassle. One more thing to keep
track of... a cart or basket. With the
stiff bags given us at the membership
meeting (thank you) I like to keep
mine unfolded so it holds its shape.
A: I’m sorry to hear our request that
you use a Willy Street Co-op basket
when shopping is an imposition. Staff
really appreciate this new protocol,
though. Saving your canvas bag until
you’re ready to bag your groceries to
take home also expedites checkout at
the registers since your canvas bag is
available to bag into at the start of the
transaction. -Wynston Estis, Assistant
Store Manager–Operations
Grab a cart
Q: Help traffic flow—To customers. If you are heading in the store,
why not take in a cart for someone
who just loaded his or her car? This
will help open up parking spaces and
brighten someone’s day especially
the parents with small children.
A: This is a wonderful suggestion.
I know when I brought people’s carts
in they’ve always been appreciative.
Thanks for sharing your idea. -Wynston Estis, Assistant Store Manager–
Operations
Fig bars
Q: I miss the delicious vegan fig
bars that used to sold alongside the
yummy vegan grasshopper brownies.
Will they be coming back?
A: Thanks for the comment. We
discontinued the fig bars because they
were a poor seller and were so crumbly that they tended to fall apart very
easily. Our bakery is currently working
to develop another vegan fig recipe
that won’t fall apart so easily. Thanks
again! -Megan Blodgett, Deli Manager
Stems for slaw
Q: How about making up some
organic broccoli slaw from stems so
I can use in making broccoli slaw
salads? Thanks!
A: Thanks for the idea! We certainly have plenty of broccoli stems that
we could make use of. I’ll pass the idea
on to our Production Kitchen. -Megan
Blodgett, Deli Manager
Fits like a glove
Q: Seems that the deli folks have
decided not to wear gloves when
serving from the hot case. Strikes
me as a bad idea, especially during flu season. Can you look into it?
Thanks!
A: Thanks for the comment! It has
always been our policy to use gloves
when we handle food directly with
our hands (making sandwiches, serving deli meats, prepping veggies for
the salad bar, etc.) but when we use
utensils to serve food we do not since
we’re not coming into direct contact
with the food. This is not a decision
that has been made recently, but has
been standard procedure for quite some
time. Thanks again! -Megan Blodgett,
Deli Manager
The best thing ever
Q: The turkey chili with navy
and black beans was the best thing
I’ve ever tasted! Could you please
ask the chef to have the turkey chili
replace all other soups at all times?
Thanks!
A: Wow! You don’t often hear
praise this unconditional and emphatic!
I have passed along this feedback to
Julia Eggers, the cook who came up
with the recipe. Thanks! -Josh Perkins,
Kitchen Manager
Sugar is not a substitute
Q: Sugar is not a substitute for
butter! I would love to have a vegan
bakery option that is not so terribly
sweet. Vegan bakery is way sweeter
than the regular. I would think the
majority of vegans would have some
heath consciousness. It puts me in a
sugar coma—bad. Love the Nothing
Muffins
A: I’m sorry you find some of our
vegan bakery items too sweet. Most
of the vegan items have equal or less
sugar than their non-vegan counterparts. If you like the Nothing Muffins
perhaps you’d like some of the either
non-cane sugar-sweetened vegan items
like the Cowgirl cookies, Maple Fruit
and Nut Bars, Almond Thumbprints
and Morning Muffins. Thanks for your
comment! -Andy Giamber, Bakery
Coordinator
Willy Street Co-op Reader, March 2010
3
GENERAL MANAGER’S REPORT
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Playful, Imaginative
Yoga for Kids.
Ages 5-12
11:00 – 11:45am
4:30 – 5:30pm
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by Anya Firszt, General Manager
The lot and parking
CLASSES EVERY TUESDAY:
Ages 3-6
Business Matters
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When we moved to our current
store and went from four parking stalls
to 42, it seemed inconceivable at the
time that we’d be struggling with this
issue, but over the past 10 years we’ve
received dozen of com(plaints)ments
from Owners, frustrated by congestion in the parking lot. Some of the
ways we’ve addressed this issue have
been: re-striping the lot with directional
arrows to steer the stream of traffic, reserved a turn-around space at the end of
the lot adjacent to the fire station, ticketing cars over the time limit, installed
more bike parking and introduced
Co-Shop, a delivery service. But the
real work to resolve congestion in the
parking lot has been to open a second
retail store, because the truth is, we are
landlocked. We have approached other
businesses about sharing their lot space
for over-flow parking but were recently
informed by the City that this is not
allowed. While we continue to work
on solutions from our end, we would
like to suggest one way for drivers to
limit their frustrations by utilizing the
Co-Shop delivery service or, if that’s
not an option, the “we shop/you pick
up” option would have your groceries
bagged up and ready for quick purchase. Or, check out this handy guide
on our website (http://www.willystreet.
coop/Departments) that outlines some
of the busiest or least congested times
of the day/week to shop.
Expansion
In coming days, watch for in-store
signage and check the website to find
out what is happening with the second
retail site. There will be a 15-day period
during which we will share information
and gather suggestions. Plans will not
be finalized until the end of that 15-day
period.
Surcharge
Few subjects in our Co-op’s history have generated as much input as
the recent request for feedback on the
non-Owner surcharge and whether or
not to continue the practice of charging
non-Owners an additional 10% at the
registers. The committee (patronage
refund/non-Owner surcharge) began its
work October 2008 to review the Coop’s option to issue patronage refunds
and the surcharge. The first part of the
committee’s agenda was accomplished
in June 2009 when the Board accepted
their recommendation to allow distribution of patronage refunds if/when the
Co-op has a profitable year. The second
subject, surcharge, has at this point
provided a range of perspectives, and
the input has been a valuable reminder
that people really do value their Co-op,
and we in turn value Owner involvement. Thank you to those who sent us
their opinions; this work is expected to
culminate with the committee’s final
recommendation to the Board in early
spring.
POS (Point of Sale)
Reminder
On Sunday, March 14th the store
will close at 7:30pm to facilitate the
work being done to install the new register system; we will be opening at the
usual time the following morning.
Spring break
March 29th is the start of spring
break; back to school on Monday, April
5th.
STORE
CLOSING
EARLY
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4
Willy Street Co-op Reader, March 2010
Sunday, March
14th at 7:30pm
January meeting
highlights
• Board member Mike Engel invited representatives from Summit Credit Union to discuss their
organization’s Community Outreach efforts during this month’s
Board Education Session.
• The January Board meeting was
devoted to completing the GM
Evaluation.
March meeting agenda
• At the March meeting the Board
will discuss and refine their
Committee Member Recruitment
Process. They will also deliberate on a more strategic approach
to Community Reinvestment
and consider Executive Minutes
Release.
Ongoing projects/
Committees
• The Board’s one standing committee, the Finance Committee, reviews monthly financial
reports at each of its meetings.
In addition to the usual reports,
this month the Finance Committee will dig into the budgeting
process for Fiscal Year 2011.
• The Board’s Retreat Planning
Committee’s work is largely finished! They will be conducting
a final survey of Board members
on this year’s retreat and documenting processes for next year’s
Committee members.
• The Patronage Refund and
Non-Owner Surcharge Committee continues to look into the
advantages and disadvantages
of the non-Owner surcharge.
Your input is very important to
this group, so please continue to
share your perspective!
• Expansion opportunities in the
greater Madison area continue to
be explored.
Educational Sessions
• The Board of Directors will be
engaging in educational sessions from 6:00pm–6:45pm,
immediately prior to the Board
meeting. This month’s Educational Session is on Improving
Board Processes. All Owners
are welcome and encouraged
to attend! Be sure to check out
the Owner Forum as well, from
5:30–6:00pm by the Coffee.
Snacks are provided!
Remember, you can always
catch play-by-play board minutes at: https://board.willystreet.
coop:444/board_minutes/board_
minutes_home
BOARD REPORT
Board Retreat 2010
by Rick Bernstein, Board Member
S
ince 1995 your Co-op Board
has had a retreat in February.
That first retreat 15 years ago
was two days long. Since
then the retreat has been limited to a
single day.
This year the retreat was held
Sunday, February 7th, at the Goodman Community Center, a great local example of both green-inspired
sustainable design and historic
preservation. The meeting itself was
located in the girls’ clubhouse with
Girls, Inc. posters dotting the walls.
Girls, Inc. is a national non-profit
that inspires all girls to be strong,
smart and bold. Maybe the vibe in
the room rubbed off on us because it
seemed people jumped right in once
the meeting started.
I’m glad to report that the retreat
had perfect Board attendance with
all nine members present. Also
joining us were Anya Firszt, General Manager, Stephanie Ricketts,
Executive Assistant, and of course
our facilitator, Darin Harris. Darin,
a professional meeting facilitator,
with 15 years professional experience, led the meeting, as he has
for many of the past Co-op Board
retreats.
Retreats are designed to allow a
Board to consider issues on a deeper
level without the time pressure of
having to come to a decision because of pressing deadlines. With
the luxury of a full day and no need
for a quick decision there is more
time for a fuller discussion of the
issues.
Darin, along with the retreat
committee, set the agenda that
focused on the following: “The Role
of the Board with Two Locations”
before lunch and “Medium-Range
Planning for Willy Street Co-op”
after. The last half hour was reserved for tips for running a productive meeting. By all accounts the
meeting went smoothly with little
open disagreement, which pleased
everyone.
With the second retail site as a
looming issue the Board wanted to
discuss how to manage itself once
the new store opens. A full discussion ensued and some of the things
proposed included:
• Research what other Co-ops have
done. Many co-ops within our
region have two locations and we
will look to them and others to
learn more.
• Keep a sharp eye on our current
monitoring policies and how they
should evolve to encompass two
retail locations.
• Develop a well-researched and
deliberate outreach plan to the
new community(ies) the new store
will be serving.
After that the Board took a nice
walk to the Daisy Café and Cupcakery for lunch (and a signature
cupcake of course). Although it
was a gray day, it was nice to get
outside and breathe some fresh
air. The restaurant was packed (no
signs of a down economy here) but
luckily Stephanie had called ahead
and there was a table waiting for us
in the back. Over lunch a few of us
heard about Anya’s recent trip to
Mexico and her visits to a co-op (of
sorts?) south of the border.
After a wonderful lunch we
walked back and dug in for the
second half of the retreat. The
agenda called for “Medium-Range
Planning” with a time horizon of
three to five years. Although the
Co-op won’t have a great deal
of capital to work with until the
new site becomes profitable, there
should still be several reasonable
and achievable goals we can set and
accomplish. The ideas that came up
included:
1) Provide nutritious food to local
schools
2) Partner with other co-ops in the
area, i.e., Group Health Cooperative
3) Remodel 1221 Williamson
The day ended with a short
presentation by Darin about how
to run an effective meeting where
he ran down a quick checklist of
suggestions. It was interesting to see
that we were doing many of these
already, so for me it seemed to confirm that we are on the right track
in terms of being an effectively run
Board.
It was a long day, but well worth
the effort and ended in time for us to
see the Saints win the Super Bowl.
The Co-op Board is always looking
for your comments and suggestions
so please feel free to email me at [email protected] with any thoughts
or questions this article might have
inspired.
Willy Street Co-op Reader, March 2010
5
however registration is requested by
stopping in or calling Customer Service at 251-6776.
Irish Music Jam
Sunday, March 7th, 1:00pm–
3:00pm AND Sunday, March 28th,
2:00pm–3:30pm (continuing each
1st and 4th Sunday). All those interested are invited to come and play—or
relax and listen. For more information
click on http://www.celticmadison.org.
Free Lecture: Transforming Stress with Kelly Hora,
M.Ac., L.Ac.
CLASSES AND EVENTS
Free Lecture: Foods
for Mental/Emotional
Health with Katy
Wallace, ND
Wednesday, March 3rd,
6:00pm–7:00pm. Looking for
food ideas for a child or adult with
autism spectrum disorders, learning disabilities, or depression? Join
Katy Wallace, ND RYT of Human
Nature, LLC for a discussion about
the food-based ways to address these
and other issues. Katy will discuss
Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride’s
book Gut and Psychology Syndrome,
and offer information regarding how
proper food combining and specific
food programs can address imbalances in the digestive tract that relate
to brain function. This class is free
Get Growing!
Pots
Starter Mix
8qt bag
99¢after Rebate
#7100662
Greenhouse Tray
w/ Peat pellets
$4.99
#7091781
Large
Selection
Experience the Magic of
Morocco
Wednesday, March 10th,
Drafty House? We can Help.
We can also take care of your Kitchen, Bath, Deck,
just about anything on your list.
Comfort . Safety . Efficiency . Appeal
“Thanks for being so easy
to work with while still
doing an exceptional job.”
- Randy B.
Reliable
Renovations
LLC
Eco-Friendly . Design . Remodeling . Repairs
Hardware Center 1398 Williamson St. 257-1630 [email protected]
6
Tuesday, March 9th, 6:00pm–
7:00pm. Learn how to transform stress
and create a personal plan to respond
to stress in a positive way. We will
also explore Acupuncture and Chinese medicine’s holistic approach to
stress, as well as lifestyle choices you
can make to support yourself. We will
begin with an overview of the physiology of stress, then complete a selfreflection worksheet to generate new
tools and approaches to stress and how
we respond. Kelly Hora is a National
Board Certified Master of Acupuncture who teaches and works in private
practice in the Madison area. This
lecture is free, however registration
is requested by stopping in or calling
Customer Service at 251-6776.
We deliver Home Performance
with ENERGY STAR®
Schedule your Free Estimate Today
(608) 577-9120
www.ReliableMadison.com
Willy Street Co-op Reader, March 2010
6:00pm–8:00pm. Imagine a romantic
adventure back in time to the land
of Kasbahs. Morocco is a crossroads
of culture steeped in history, a country that melds the intrigue of North
Africa with European and Arabic
influences. Be immersed in its natural
beauty from sunsets over the Atlantic
to picturesque mountain river valleys
or mystical panoramas of the Sahara
Desert.
Savor the flavors of Morocco with
Chef Sabi (formerly of The Casbah
Restaurant and Lulu’s). His travel
tasting menu will be complemented
by French wines selected by Adam
Casey of Star Liquor, a recent visitor
to Morocco. Richard Bunk, a Moroccan tour guide will present a brief
look at the history, culture and scenic
beauty of this magical Mediterranean
destination. Be inspired by this land
of beauty and intrigue surrounded by
the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean,
the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara
Desert.
A portion of the proceeds from any
Moroccan tour by Willy Street Co-op
Owners will go to support Moroccan
food growing cooperatives.
Join us to sample and savor:
Moroccan Mint Tea, Tamerhindi
(a sweet and sour drink made from
tamarind dates), Zitoun (Olives),
Khobz (Moroccan whole wheat flat
bread, baked in traditional fire ovens),
Shrimp Chermoula (shrimp marinated
in coriander and cilantro), Salata
Tebsil BilKizou, Batata and Camoun
(a carrots, beets, potatoes and cumin
salad plate), Mqualli wa K’dra (lamb,
peas and artichoke stew made in a
tagine), Griwash (sweet honey cakes
with sesame), dates and almonds, and
French wines selected and presented
by Adam Casey of Star Liquor. Please
sign-up at the Customer Service desk.
Cost for Owners is $10, for all others
$15. Discover the Magic of Morocco!
For information, go to t-imperial.com.
Body Basics: Getting
Ready for Exposure
Thursday, March 11th,
12:00pm–1:00pm. Get your body
ready for exposure as the warmer
weather nears. Discover the simplicity
in healing your skin from the inside
out. Join Terri Klas, RN ND, in a
discussion and demonstration class,
focusing on the benefits of cleansing
foods. Learn the value of incorporating skin brushing and ginger baths
into one’s lifestyle and learning to
make natural skin care products. Cost
is $6 for Owners and $16 for all others. Payment is required at registration; please register by stopping in or
calling Customer Service at 251-6776.
Book Signing: The
BugaBees: Friends with
Food Allergies
Thursday, March 11th, 6:00pm–
7:30pm. Literacy Network of Dane
County invites the community to participate in Literacy 24/7, taking place
during the week of March 7th-13th,
Community Room Information
The Community Room is available to you! Do you need a space to hold your next
meeting or gathering? Are you an artist who would like to exhibit in our gallery
space? Do you need a room with a kitchen to hold your kid’s next birthday party?
Would you like to teach a class and have it be available to our 16,000 Owners? The
Community Room is available for gallery space, private rentals, as well as public
functions and classes. If you would like to submit a class proposal, please contact
Lynn Olson, Cooperative Services Manager, at 251-0884 ext. 320 or l.olson@
willystreet.coop; for information about fees and availability, contact Liz Hawley, Cooperative Services Assistant, at 251-0884 or [email protected]. Most of the
Willy Street Co-op cooking classes are intended for cooks of all ages (it is requested
that children from 6 to 12 be accompanied by an adult).
Refund Policy
If we must cancel a class for any reason, we will contact you by phone and refund
your tuition. If YOU must cancel a class, notify us at least 3 days in advance for a
full refund. There will be no refunds less than 3 days prior to class.
2010 to celebrate National Reading Awareness Month. Children and
adults are invited to hear Amy Recob
read from and discuss her book, The
BugaBees: Friends with Food Allergies, a whimsical tale of eight friends
with food allergies in a light-hearted
story that explores the daily routines
of friends who face their food allergies with positivity and poise.
Bring your book to be signed by
Amy or more books will be available
to purchase before and during the
event. To learn more about Amy’s
book, check it out at thebugabees.
com.
Baked snack samples from Enjoy
Life Foods, free of most common
food allergens (dairy, nuts, wheat
gluten, and soy), will also be available.
Literacy Network teaches reading, writing and speaking skills to
Dane County adults and families
so they can achieve financial independence, good health and greater
involvement in community life.
Literacy Network serves more than
1,200 people in our community each
year and works with more than 450
volunteers.
You can help advance the cause
of literacy for people in your community! Find out more about this event
and others at litnetwork.org.
Admittance for either one family
or a single individual is $5 and all
proceeds will be donated to Literacy
Network. Payment is required at
registration; please register by stopping in or calling Customer Service
at 251-6776.
Seed Starting with
Charles Dykman
Sunday, March 14th, 9:00am–
11:30am or Thursday, March 18th,
6:00pm–9:00pm. Instructor Charles
Dykman will share the proper techniques for starting tomato and eggplants from seed through a hands-on
experience in our Community Room.
Starting over 350 tomato plants from
seed each year, Charles has been
raising vegetables on Madison’s east
side since 1967 and shares a wealth of
knowledge in this class. Additional information provided will include finding the seeds you want, seed saving,
how to plant and water the seeds, how
to keep them warm, propagation mats,
damp-off control, initial and garden
transplanting and artificial light. Class
participants will go home with their
own tomato and eggplant starters.
This class is limited to 14 students per
session, and is a perennial favorite, so
sign up early! Cost is $10 for Owners and $20 for all others. Payment is
required at registration; please register
by stopping in or calling Customer
Service at 251-6776.
Sweet and Savory Crepes
with Chef Laurie Conrad
Sunday, March 14th, 2:00pm–
4:00pm. Laurie Conrad, whose many
talents include innovative cuisines and
the science of taste, offers this handson class to teach the art of making and
flipping crepes. Join Laurie in this
entertaining and interactive environment where she will demonstrate and
provide recipes for Crepes Suzette,
Earl Grey and Lavender Crepes, and
Buckwheat Blinis paired with fresh
chives and crème fraiche. Cost for
Owners is $15 and $25 for all others.
Payment is required at registration;
please register by stopping in or calling Customer Service at 251-6776.
Coherency vs. Stress in
Your Life
Monday, March 15th, 7:00pm–
8:30pm. As we deal with stress and
turmoil in our lives, we grow accustomed to the static of constant
internal chatter. Join Lyrea Crawford
as she discusses how we may find
internal chatter to be annoying at
times, and how few of us realize that
we are actually experiencing a very
inefficient way of functioning. Our
systems, including the right and left
hemispheres of the brain, are designed
to smoothly work together in a clear,
balanced, coherent way. This free presentation takes a look at the roots of
our “incoherent” coping processes and
offers glimpses of what the ease of
coherency might be like in our lives.
The presentation will also provide a
brief introduction to a simple set of
meditative techniques. Please register
by stopping in or calling Customer
Service at 251-6776.
Introduction to
CranioSacral Therapy
with Dawn Papke
Saturday, March 20th, 11:00am–
12:00pm. Individuals who experience CranioSacral Therapy describe
profound states of relaxation. Additionally, it can help acute and chronic
pain, TMJ, injuries, fatigue, insomnia,
concentration problems, stress, headaches, sinus and ear imbalances, neck
and back pain. CranioSacral Therapist Dawn Papke will demonstrate
and explain this remarkable healing
modality and what it can do for you in
the Community Room. This event is
free, however registration is required
by stopping in or calling Customer
Service at 251-6776.
Introduction to
Growing Blueberries in
Dane County
Saturday, March 20th, 2:00pm–
4:00pm or Saturday, March 27th,
2:00pm–4:00pm. Eric Johnson
harvests gallons of blueberries from
his eastside Madison home each year.
He will share practical tips for getting
ready for Spring blueberry planting
and will discuss planting methods,
site location, threats, and Madison’s
water supply, including lime content
and pH information. It is difficult to
grow blueberries in Dane County with
our calciferous soil and hard water;
however, Eric will speak about the
methods and materials to work around
this problem successfully. Cost for
Owners is $10 and $20 for all others.
Payment is required at registration;
please register by stopping in or calling Customer Service at 251-6776.
Luscious Lamb with Chef
Sabi and special guest
Rainbow Fleece Farm
Monday, March 22nd, 6:00pm–
8:00pm. Chef Sabi loves to cook with
lean, luscious lamb. He considers lamb
the most flavorful meat. The Eastside
Farmers’ Market held on Tuesdays
from May to October (and moving to
the Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center this
season) regularly welcomes Rainbow
Fleece Farm, a sustainable agriculture farm outside New Glarus, WI
that produces high quality, grass-fed
lamb and wool. Chef Sabi, formerly
of The Casbah and Lulu’s, will create
a feast of Mediterranean lamb recipes
with fresh, flavorful lamb direct from
Rainbow Fleece Farm. Since 1978,
Rainbow Fleece Farm has raised freerange lamb, chickens, turkeys and eggs
fed from their chemical-free pastures.
Their farm festivals seek to educate
local consumers about the benefits
of lamb and wool. Patty Reedy and
Andy Wersal of Rainbow Fleece Farm
will join us to discuss the benefits of
grass based lamb and wool. Their farm
produces a variety of lamb cuts year
round along with wool yarn, socks and
blankets. Learn about lamb and wool
as you sample and learn to prepare:
Lamb and Sun-Dried Apricot Tagine,
Lamb Brat (Sausage) Paella, and Lamb
Grape Leaves. Cost for Owners is
$15 and $25 for all others. Payment is
required at registration; please register
by stopping in or calling Customer
Service at 251-6776.
Individual Nutrition
Sessions
Wednesday, March 24th,
1:00pm–6:30pm. An individual nutrition consultation is your opportunity to
learn how the correct food choices for
your body can enhance your wellbeing. A one-on-one session with Katy
Wallace, ND of Human Nature, LLC,
includes a consultation regarding your
Willy Street Co-op Reader, March 2010
7
health goals and lifestyle, a health
assessment survey, and food choice
suggestions geared toward addressing
health goals and developing sustainable change (may include tour of most
appropriate Co-op foods/products).
Participants must complete and return
confidential health history forms prior
to the session, so email or a home
number is needed. A limited number
of sessions are offered each month,
however by indicating your interest,
you will be offered the next available
open session. Fees are just $15 for
Co-op Owners and $45 for all others.
Please pre-register for the next available opening by emailing l.olson@
willystreet.coop or calling 251-6776
to leave a message for the Co-op Services Department and someone will be
in contact with you soon.
Nourishing Food Store
Tour and Tasting
Thursday, March 25th,
12:00pm–1:00pm. Join us for a tour
and tasting of the healing foods available at the Co-op with Katy Wallace,
ND. Tour includes sugar-, gluten-,
and dairy-free options, healthy fats,
nourishing dried goods, fermented
food, and unpasteurized food. We will
also cover the value of reading labels
and avoiding synthetic and highly-processed ingredients. Cost for Owners is
$10 and $20 for all others. Payment is
required at registration; please register by stopping in or calling Customer
Service at 251-6776.
Six Spices: Classic Indian
Cooking with Chef Neeta
Saluja
Tuesday, March 30th, 6:00pm–
8:30pm. A treat from South India, Neeta Saluja, author of Six Spices, is back
to present a classic menu of inspired
dishes. Neeta’s informed and interactive style creates a pleasant learning
experience along with generous tastings
of the dishes including recipes for the
following:
• Sambhar: A lentil and vegetable
dish simmered with the seasoning
prepared with chilies, cumin seeds,
coriander seeds, and fresh coconut.
One of the most favored dishes from
the southern part of India.
• Cabbage Salad: A quick and simple
salad prepared with fresh cabbage and
tomatoes and seasoned with mustard
seeds, whole chilies and fresh curry
leaves.
• Oothappam: Savory pancakes made
fresh in the class with the batter prepared with mixture of rice flour and
cream of wheat and fresh herbs and
spices.
• Red Pepper Chutney: Flavorful peppers stir-fried and later blended with
spices and tamarind juice.
Cost for Owners is $15 and $25
for all others. Payment is required at
registration; please register by stopping in or calling Customer Service
at 251-6776.
Forest Garden Workshop
Wednesday, March 31st,
6:30pm–8:30pm. Instructors Erin
Schneider and Marian Farrior invite
you to create a sustainable life. Learn
ways to transition the blank slate of
your backyard into an edible ecotopia by co-creating the design of a
backyard forest garden. Topics will
include: understanding plant guilds
and plant community functions, plant
species and site selection criteria
and consideration, erosion control,
and troubleshooting management
strategies using project case studies. We will help you look at your
next garden design with a systems
perspective and see how we can
design our backyards and gardens
in the image of an ecosystem. This
inquiry-based, experiential learning
environment will integrate a combination of lecture, hands-on activities
in small groups, discussion, audiovisual materials to meet the needs of
diverse learning community. Cost for
Owners is $15 and $25 for all others.
Payment is required at registration;
Wisconsin Union
MINI
COURSES
please pre-register by stopping in or
calling Customer Service at 2516776.
IN THE GALLERY
Rose Cameron: Red Rose
Mosaics
Artist’s Statement: “I began
doing mosaics in earnest ten years
ago when the pink tile in the bathroom where I worked fell off the wall
inexplicably one morning. Mosaics
have defined many of my adventures.
I mosaicked a public shower house
on a commune in the Ozarks. Friends
and family let me do art in their
homes. I recently went to Europe
and Tunisia and saw mosaics thousands of years old. I am amazed at
the process of putting pieces together
and making a whole. Much of my
work is made of trash so I see myself
as bringing all we thought we threw
away and making it part of a whole
again. I take small pieces and try to
create a bigger picture so I can see it.
“You can see one of my public
pieces at 1877 E. Main St. in Madison.
“I am interested in turning
people’s broken favorite dishes and
treasures into a mosaic.
“I have to do a bit of dancing
before the work comes out.”
 FW
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troygardens.org
[email protected]
Learning
Experiences
for a Lifetime!
• Short, fun, informative live courses
• One-on-One instruction
• Mini Courses “To Go”
UW Students & Guests
TAKE 25% Off!
www.wisc.edu/minicourses
Wisconsin Union programs are open to Union members;
UW-Madison students, faculty, staff and their guests.
8
Willy Street Co-op Reader, March 2010
*")$#"=%+?%@"07(')%A#--
DELI NEWS
Black Earth Meats Plus Breakfast in the Deli
by Megan Blodgett, Deli Manager
O
n January 2nd, 2010, a Coop customer purchased a few
cuts of Black Earth Meats
beef from our meat department. After cooking it, he noticed a
“strong and strange” flavor that he
was not able to identify. He discarded
the beef and wrote an email to Black
Earth Meats inquiring about what
might have been the cause. The customer included the production information listed on the package in hopes
that Black Earth Meats would be able
to give him more information.
Black Earth Meats responded with
an in-depth email. They had been able
to track the product from the date the
cattle arrived at their processing plant
to the date it was shipped to the Coop. It had been harvested on December 17th, dry-aged for 10 days, cut
into primal parts on December 28th,
stored at 38 degrees until it was cut
and vacuum-packed for the Co-op’s
order on December 30th.
Not only that, but Black Earth
Meats talked with the farmer who
raised the animals. That farmer remembered the cattle he had delivered
to Black Earth that day. They were
a Galloway-Simmental cross that
had been on pasture for a year and a
half. During the fall of 2009, he had
brought them closer to the barn and
started supplementing their pasture
with silage (semi-fermented hay commonly used in grass-fed operations
during the winter months), pea oats,
and free choice minerals. The farmer
thought that perhaps the strong flavor
was a result of the silage, which some
people find adds a distinct flavor to
meat.
Black Earth Meats didn’t stop
there. They still had some ribeye from
the animal the beef in question came
from. They cooked it up for all their
employees to try. Everyone agreed
that the flavor was not out of the
ordinary for grass-fed beef, although
it was quite distinct from the flavor of
corn-fed beef. They explained to the
Co-op customer that, unlike cornfed beef, the flavor of the meat from
animals on pasture changes throughout the year because their food source
changes with the seasons.
Compare this to a recent recall of
ground beef researched by The New
York Times. On October 5th, 2007, the
Minnesota Health Department warned
residents not to eat ground beef pur-
chased at Sam’s Club. They suspected
that it was the source of an E. coli
outbreak that had sickened at least five
people in the state. The next day, food
giant Cargill announced a recall of
844,812 pounds of hamburger patties
and other ground beef products. These
patties had been sold to Sam’s Clubs
and other retailers nationwide. The
outbreak sickened over 940 people
across the nation, some with extreme
symptoms including seizures and
paralysis.
The New York Times (with no
help from Cargill) attempted to track
down exactly where the meat in those
patties came from. They found that
the meat in question was a mix of
scraps and “mash-like product” from
four different locations: large (as in
football field-size) slaughterhouses in
Texas, Nebraska, and Uruguay, and
also a company in North Dakota that
processes fatty trimmings and treats
them with ammonia to kill bacteria.
Because Cargill did not test the product from each facility before it was
ground together, there was no way to
know which was the source of the E.
coli.
Recalls like the one above are not
an isolated occurrence, nor did they
end in 2007. A quick search on the
USDA website shows that since October 2009 there have been six recalls
involving beef products totaling over
a million-and-a-half pounds of meat.
Getting any information about where
this meat came from and how it was
handled is considered a trade secret.
I recently asked Bartlett Durand,
the Farm Administrator for Black
Earth Meats, how many animals end
up in one package of their ground
beef. His answer was simple: “On
average, each one pound package
contains the grind made from the solid
meat of ONE animal.”
A hamburger from Black Earth
Meats and a hamburger from a large
supplier like Cargill may look the
same, and they may taste similarly,
but when you realize what each is
actually made of there’s simply no
comparison.
Responsibility for our meat section recently moved from the Grocery
department to the Deli. As the person
now ultimately responsible for meat
at the Co-op, I was very heartened to
learn how easy it is to trace the meat
we sell back to its source. Meat from
small producers like Black Earth
Meats is a world away from the industrialized meat products that make
up the majority of meat sold in this
country, and I’m proud to support the
small local suppliers who are rejecting that industrial model and embracing a more transparent, humane and
healthy way of farming.
Breakfast in the Deli
In early February the Deli started
serving breakfast from 7:30am–
9:30am. Monday through Friday
we offer a delicious selection of
savory frittatas (made with organically raised eggs from New Century
Farm), Willy Street home fries, and
local and organically raised bacon
from Black Earth Meats. Please let us
know if you would like us to assemble a bacon, egg and cheese breakfast
biscuit on a homemade vegan or
buttermilk biscuit. For those of you
who are vegan, we offer a selection
of savory tofu scrambles every day
of the week. If you are looking for
something a little on the sweet side,
try one of our hot apple pie pockets, or oatmeal made with organic
thick rolled oats. At the salad bar,
you’ll find a variety of condiments to
choose from for dressing that oatmeal
up: Thai Kitchen organic coconut
milk, Organic Valley half and half,
Silk soy creamer, organic raisins,
organic brown sugar, organic raw
agave nectar, demerara sugar, local
organic honey from Gentle Breeze,
and organic ground cinnamon.
On Saturday from 7:30am–
9:30am we offer a special breakfast
entrée as well as the home fries, hot
apple pie pockets, oatmeal, bacon
from Black Earth Meats, and a tofu
scramble. On Sunday from 7:30am–
10:30am we offer fruit- and cream
cheese-stuffed french toast with the
option of local maple syrup as well as
the home fries, hot apple pie pockets,
oatmeal, and local bacon from Black
Earth Meats, and a tofu scramble. If
you have suggestions of some things
you would like to see on our breakfast
menu please fill out a customer comment card to let us know. We value
your input, especially when we are
trying new things.
CHEESE CORNER
by Stuart Mammel
Last month we told you about a
wonderful new addition to the cheese
case. We brought in the Holland’s
Family Farm six- to nine-month-aged
Marieke Gouda from Thorp, Wisconsin. Densely textured; with a rich and
complex, slightly sweet, slightly nutty
flavor—a marvel. It quickly became
one of our very favorite locally crafted
cheeses. And it has caught on with
our customers as well! We were so
taken by Rolf and Marieke Penterman’s Goudas, we decided to bring in
four more varieties. Not only do we
have the delicious aged Gouda, we
also now carry a two- to four-month
“young” Gouda, a fenugreek-flavored
variety, a cumin-flavored variety,
and a terrific smoked variety. All the
Penterman’s Goudas are made with
their own fresh milk, unpasteurized,
and rBGH free. Do yourself a favor if
you haven’t tried any of these yet, and
buy a piece today for a truly luxurious
indulgence.
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Willy Street Co-op Reader, March 2010
9
PRODUCE NEWS
Leafy Vegetables
by Andy Johnston, Produce Manager
L
eafy vegetables are perhaps
some of the most versatile
vegetables in the Co-op. There
are so many options and so
many different ways to use them.
Whether they’re in a salad or soup, or
served as a side dish, there’s something for just about everyone. And the
best thing about them—they’re really
good for you. The Co-op offers a wide
variety and selection of organically
grown leafy vegetables. Here’s a guide
to help you choose and incorporate
more of these delicious and nutritious
vegetables into your diet.
You can’t beat leafy
greens
Leafy vegetables are a great way to
maintain your health. Calorie for calorie, they are nutritional powerhouses.
They are rich in Vitamins A and C,
and are good sources of calcium, fiber,
iron, potassium and folic acid. Additionally, they provide a variety of
phytonutrients including beta-carotene,
lutein, and zeaxanthin. Leafy vegetables are low in sodium and carbohydrates, and are virtually fat-free.
The more you eat, the better. A single
serving of most raw greens is about
one cup, and contains between 1-40
calories. One cup of cooked greens
is the equivalent of six cups of raw
greens. If we look at spinach, one serving of raw spinach is about seven calories. Cooked, you’re getting around 40.
For a standard 2,000 calorie a day diet,
neither is a significant calorie contribution. What this does mean is that you
are getting a concentrated dose of the
nutrients in a cooked serving versus
a raw serving. In a single serving of
cooked spinach, you’re getting 377%
of the RDA of Vitamin A compared to
56% in a serving of raw spinach.
Nutrient availability of leafy
vegetables is somewhat dependent on
how you prepare them, and what you
are eating them with. If you boil and
drain them, you’re losing vitamins
and minerals to the water, which is
now most likely more nutritious than
the vegetable; this is not a problem if
you’re making soup.
Additionally, while some nutrients
are readily available in the vegetables’
raw forms, other nutrients become
more readily available for absorption
when they’ve been cooked or are combined with other foods. Light steaming
or braising helps break down the plant
10
cells and access nutrients. Combining foods rich in Vitamin C with leafy
greens increases the absorption of
iron and calcium found in those leafy
greens. Regardless of whether you’re
eating them raw or cooked, leafy green
vegetables are an excellent source of
nutrients that will help you stay fit and
healthy.
Fresh, fast, and
not-so-fast
Let’s start by breaking them down
into simple groups. While some leafy
vegetables are best suited for the salad
bowl, others do well in the soup pot,
and some can go either way.
Salad
When we think of leafy salad veggies, most of us think lettuce. There
are four different types, and you can
find them all at the Co-op. We offer
romaine, green and red looseleaf, bibb
and iceberg. Overall, romaine is the
most nutritious, though each variety
contains a unique spectrum of comparable nutrients; iceberg is higher in
fiber and Vitamin C, while romaine
is higher in Vitamin A and mineral
content. Lettuces are a good source of
Vitamin C, beta-carotene, iron, calcium, folate and dietary fiber. You can
find all of these lettuces at the Co-op,
year round, and locally grown when in
season.
Other leafy salad veggies include
escarole, radicchio, and frisee, which
are all members of the chicory family. Radicchio looks like a small, red
cabbage with white veins. Frisee has
narrow, serrated leaves, and escarole
basically looks like a head of green
looseleaf lettuce, with thicker leaves.
Because of their slightly bitter flavor,
they tend to be used as an accent in
salads. We offer escarole and frisee
in season locally from Tipi Produce.
Radicchio is available locally from
Keewaydin, and from California in the
off-season.
Additionally, you can find all of
the items pre-mixed and ready to eat in
our salad cooler. You’ll find a variety
of lettuces in our bulk spring mix, and
a selection of mixes in the pre-packed
salads.
Either/or
Perhaps the most versatile of the
leafy vegetables, this group can be
eaten raw or cooked, and contains
Willy Street Co-op Reader, March 2010
the bulk of the leafy vegetables offered at the Co-op. Dandelion greens,
beet greens, arugula, mustard, chard,
mizuna, sorrel, tah-tsai, ramps, and the
workhorse of all the leafy vegetables—
spinach.
Dandelions greens are the nutritional champion of all the leafy green
vegetables. In addition to range of
nutrients offer, they contain concentrated amount of Vitamins A and K.
They’re fairly bitter, and are often
mixed in with the milder lettuces for
a salad. Cooked on their own, you
can sprinkle them with a little lemon
juice, olive oil, and sesame seeds for a
power-packed side dish. Vitamin K is
fat soluble, so a little oil is necessary
for absorption.
The young and tender leaves of arugula also make a nice addition to salads, or a salad on its own. Arugula has
a peppery flavor that pairs well with
raspberry vinaigrette. Lightly braise
with olive oil and toss with pasta for
a light and healthy dinner. Arugula
enjoys cooler growing conditions, and
is one of the first local greens available. You’ll find locally grown arugula
available from Jen Ehr and Harmony
Valley, and in the off-season, look in
our salad cooler for Taylor Farms baby
arugula from California.
Spinach, beet greens, and chard are
also greens that do well cooked or raw,
and are all members of the beet family.
They’re a great source of Vitamins A
and C, and iron. Younger chard and
beets greens are great raw and add a
little flair to an otherwise simple salad.
More mature leaves fare better cooked,
and are extremely versatile.
Speaking of versatile, how about
spinach? For breakfast, lunch, or
dinner, you can incorporate spinach
into just about anything. Its buttery
texture and mild flavor make it one
of the most popular leafy vegetables
available. Spinach is available in flat
leaf, semi-savoy, and savoy types. Our
favorite is the local spring and fall
savoy type from Harmony Valley and
Keewaydin. Cooler conditions produce a buttery sweet leaf that eats like
candy.
Mustard and mizuna, a Japanese
mustard variety, are perhaps the most
pungent of the leafy greens, and add
a peppery flavor to dishes. Smaller,
tender leaves can be added to salads,
however, if you were a first timer to
mustard, I’d recommend a sample
taste before committing the bunch to
a salad. Tipi Produce supplies us with
both mizuna and mustard, and judging by our sales, the fall crop of red
mustard the favorite. Tipi also supplies
us with the mysterious tah-tsai. Look
for tah-tsai in October. It has a deep
“green” flavor, and is less pungent
than standard mustard varieties. Its
thick tender leaves and juicy stalks
work well in salads and stir-fries.
Hearty
When I think of hearty leafy
vegetable, I think kale and collards.
They’re tough. Kale and collards
work well steamed, braised, and slow
cooked. They’re both nutritionally
impressive, packed full of Vitamins A
and K.
Collards and kale have a historic
following depending on what region
of the country you’re from. Southerners tend to lean toward collards, while
the North gravitates towards kale. It’s
a mystery as to why. There are several
theories on this phenomenon, but regardless of your preference, you’ll find
several options in the produce aisle.
Like many of the other leafy green
vegetables, kale and collards have
many uses. They go great with grains
and legumes, soups and are delicious
on their own. Lightly steamed, they’re
excellent incorporated into salads that
can be eaten warm or cold. And don’t
forget, kale is an ESP item, so it’s
always an affordable price.
Selection and storage
When choosing your leafy green
veggies, look for product that has firm,
crisp leaves and vibrant, even color.
Store your leafy veggies in the crisper
drawer in an airtight container or bag.
If they start looking tired, crisp them
by giving their stem ends a fresh cut
and submerging them in lukewarm
water, and then get them back into
refrigeration. This method is used in
the industry as a means of reducing
loss and maintaining freshness. Always wash your veggies. Leafy green
veggies tend to have crevasses that can
trap dirt and bugs. The aphid hatch
in California starts in late winter, and
without the use of pesticides, you’re
bound to find a few critters on your
organic produce. Before using, give
them a good rinse or submerge and
agitate in a little water.
So, think spring and eat greens.
JUICE BAR NEWS
Juice Bar Favorite Recipes
by Tim Ruddy, Juice Bar Staff
Just ask a local
Whether you have never gotten
anything at the Willy Street Co-op
Juice Bar, or are in a Juice Bar rut and
just need a new suggestion for a tasty
treat or a nutritive boost, you may be
interested in the some of the favorites
of the Juice Bar staff.
Pygn
• Favorite Juice: Celery—Plain, or
served in the Inner Peace, it is one
of the lower sugar juices we have
on the menu. With a taste on the
savory side, the sweet carrots and
salty celery of the Inner Peace create
a broth of creamy greens offset by
a nip of lemon. It is a great choice
to have with a “regular” meal from
the Deli hot case or grab-and-go.
Like drinking a pound of salad, the
Inner Peace has very little fruit, thus
avoiding potential digestive issues
when mixed with heavier foods.
Plenty of parsley aids digestion and
freshens the breath.
• Favorite Smoothie: The Funky
Monkey—Even with the JB’s loss
of OatsCreme due to its discontinuation by our supplier, Pygn’s
smoothie of choice remains the
Funky Monkey. She likes to replace
the OatsCreme with hemp milk,
extra peanut butter, and an extra
banana. Hemp milk is also a great
replacement for OatsCreme in the
Berries and Cream smoothie as
well. It keeps the creaminess from
the OatsCreme while lowering the
calories and carbs, and offering a bit
of omega-3 and -6 fats.
• Favorite Coffee: Ethiopian from
Kickapoo Coffee
Amanda
• Favorite Juice: The Green Zinger—
The sweet-tart combo of apple and
lemon with the warmth of ginger
provides excellent cover for a shot
of our locally produced wheatgrass.
• Favorite Smoothie: Green Dream—
A long time staff favorite, the Green
Dream blends frozen organic mango
and pineapple with our fresh organic
orange juice. This tropical classic
completely masks the taste of the
mineral- and protein-dense spirulina,
and also provides the essential fatty
acid gamma linolenic acid. Another
popular way to make it “green” is
to substitute parsley for spirulina,
raising its fiber, Vitamin C and iron
content while balancing the orange
juice’s digestive acidity. For an additional charge, one can also substitute wheatgrass for the spirulina.
• Favorite Coffee: Kickapoo Mexican Medium Roast.
Tim
• Favorite Juice: Celery—If there is
anything I try to have on a daily basis it is this mineral-rich juice loaded
with organic sodium, an electrolyte
the body needs but is in desperately
short supply of from non-sodium
chloride sources. I like it plain just
fine, but you can substitute celery
for part of the apple in any Specialty
Juice, e.g. Green Zinger, Sweet
Greens, etc. My favorite combo is
half celery, half apple, with parsley,
spinach and tiny bit of ginger and
lime—The Alkaline Electrolyte.
• Favorite Coffee: Las Diosas—
My first choice would be the Las
Diosas light roast. Roasted down
the street at Just Coffee and grown
by the Foundation Entre Mujeres
(La FEM), an organization in Esteli,
Nicaragua, dedicated to women’s
empowerment, this coffee’s politics
are as tasty as the brew.
• Favorite smoothie: The Immunity
Plus—Only available on our grabn-go juice shelf due to the number
of ingredients, this green smoothie
is probably the most nutrient-dense
juice or smoothie we offer. Complete protein from the Goji and Chia
seed, as well as Chia’s omega-3
fats, are blended with fresh OJ and
bananas, antioxidant-rich blueberries
and açai, and elderberry and maca
root providing support for the immune and endocrine systems.
• Kid Smoothie: Many people ask
for a smoothie that goes over well
with the kids. My favorite is the Evil
Genius an equal part fresh organic
orange juice, and hemp milk blended
with strawberries, raspberries, and
your choice of a teaspoon of honey,
agave, or organic vanilla-flavored
syrup.
colds.
• Favorite Smoothie: Green
Dream—Another vote for the Green
Dream.
• Favorite Tea: Jasmine Green Tea—
The floral, antioxidant-rich, Iced
Organic Fair Trade Jasmine Green
Tea is from the Rishi tea company.
Brittany
• Favorite Juice: Cucumber Ocean—
Cooling cucumber and celery’s
hydrating sodium make the ultralow calorie Cucumber Ocean a
refreshing option for those feeling
more thirsty than hungry. The ironrich parsley provides a natural kick
of immediate energy and makes it
excellent choice for both summer’s
heat and winter’s drying dew points.
• Favorite Smoothie: Green
Dream—Yet another vote for the
Green Dream.
• Favorite Tea: Organic Peppermint—Organic Peppermint tea
from the Rishi tea company. Iced or
hot peppermint soothes the nerves
while stimulating circulation. An
often overlooked soother of upset
stomachs, research has found it to
increase the flow of digestive juices
while relaxing the muscles of the intestine, easing symptoms of irritable
bowl syndrome.
time getting adequate nutrition
from rocks. Plants take up these
raw minerals and bind them to a
protein via photosynthesis, creating
“organic” sodium that has far more
bio-availability than even the purest
of mineral salt.
• Favorite Smoothie: Blueberry
Bunny—The Blueberry Bunny
blends fresh carrot juice with frozen
Organic blueberries and strawberries
for a sweet yet low-sugar antioxidant-rich treat.
• Favorite Tea: Yerba Mate—With
a little more caffeine than tea and a
bit less than coffee, yerba mate also
contains the stimulants theobromine
and theophylline in small amounts.
Its slightly bitter, highly vegetal
flavor is in part a result of its high
concentrations of the minerals potassium, magnesium and manganese.
Yerba mate has been employed
successfully by many trying to kick
a coffee habit.
Katherine
• Favorite Juice: Celery—Another
celery juice fan! Why the focus on
celery and its high levels of organic
sodium? Quite simply you cannot live without sodium. Sodium
chloride (salt) is the plain mineral
source, essentially a rock. The human body may have a difficult
Michael
• Favorite Juice: Caribbean Queen—
With orange, lemon and ginger, the
Caribbean Queen is a peppy Vitamin
C heavyweight whose anti-bacterial
and anti-viral ginger helps makes
it a solid choice for those suffering from one of Madison’s myriad
Willy Street Co-op Reader, March 2010
11
KITCHEN NEWS
Culinary Herbs
Josh Perkins, Production Kitchen Manager
A
s a budding cook (before all
and sundry became known
as “chefs,” much in the same
twist that made cashiers “sales
associates”), a key piece of received
wisdom pertaining to the higher levels
of culinary achievement was the use
of fresh—not dried—herbs. Many
kitchens I worked in as a lad had not
caught the wind on this front, having
in stock as the only fresh herb curly
parsley for garnishing plates. Like kale,
curly parsley unfairly became synonymous with plastic, corporate cooking
and unimaginative plate presentations. However, now more than ever,
kitchens all up and down the gamut of
sophistication are using fresh herbs and
small farm and garden magazines often
tout boutique herb production as the
highest return on investment available
to the grower of limited means.
So, you’re a well-meaning and
reasonably well-educated person in
the kitchen. You want to achieve the
optimal flavor in your cooking, and
you know that dried herbs, used with
poor judgment, can result in musty
and overpoweringly “processed” tastes
in your meal. But which herbs go (or
do not go) with which foods? Specific recipes call for specific things,
of course, that’s easy enough. What
about ground rules when you strike out
on your own, though? Here are mine,
applied to some very common Western
culinary herbs.
Thyme
My favorite in all its varieties,
especially lemon thyme. This herb is
a little bit of a headache to process,
but well worth the trouble. Being, in
essence, a shrub in miniature, it is quite
hardy and stands up to long cooking
without becoming bitter or losing its
wonderful earthy perfume. Works in
almost any application, but especially
well with roast chicken or beef, soups
and classic French sauces. Also—and
this is a personal peeve, so take me
with a grain of salt—the dried form
of this herb is perhaps the most odious impostor when contrasted with the
fresh article.
Rosemary
Another very hardy herb, but a
loud, almost shrill, conversational
partner in the pan with other ingredients. A member of the mint family, this
herb has the same powerfully aromatic
volatile oil as the parent plant. For
this reason, rosemary must be paired
with ingredients that can hold their
own against it; pork roast, beef roast,
steak, potatoes (this last does not do
battle with rosemary but rather submits
gracefully, avoiding a clash on your
palate). It is used occasionally with
shellfish to good effect, acting as a
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Willy Street Co-op Reader, March 2010
skewer and leaving behind its essence.
Actually using the leaves in combination with fish, however, is generally
viewed in a dim light, as the flavor of
the fish will be lost. Be sure to mince
the leaves very finely if they are to
be left in a dish. Otherwise, if using
as part of a marinade or in a sauce,
simply put the whole sprig in at the
beginning and pluck out at the end.
Dried rosemary is like pine needles and
the ground article is too powerful and
musty to be much use. Use it fresh.
Basil
All things being equal, probably
the best-loved culinary herb in the
world. Easy to grow, prolific in yield
and synonymous with the brilliant
simplicity of Italian cooking, basil is a
friend to everyone. It comes in many,
many strains, more and more of which
are appearing in the “kitchen garden”
sections of seed catalogs. Basil is an
herb that enhances nearly everything
it touches and works harmoniously
with any number of flavors. Even the
dried form is pretty good, especially
in tomato sauces. Be careful, though,
when using the fresh leaves, not to
bruise them or cook them any longer
than you absolutely must. Sharpen
your knife before cutting and toss the
leaves in just as the dish is finishing for
the best flavor. If you have to cook the
dish longer than 10 more minutes, use
dried.
Tarragon
Watch it. This willowy looking
little customer packs a punch and the
flavor of it is not something most people are used to. It’s a great accompaniment to fish and chicken, or for use in
egg and butter sauces. Don’t use much
and use the same caution as applied to
basil—the small leaves bruise easily
and this turns them bitter. It can stand
longer cooking than basil, though. It
weathers the drying process very well,
and for some reason, seems to reconstitute in a sauce almost perfectly.
Parsley
As mentioned earlier, an herb that
many people do not even consider a
culinary player due to its legacy as a
hackneyed garnish. However, that’s a
grievous error. The flat leaf variety is a
marvelously versatile player in cooking
and straddles almost every European
cooking style as jack-of-all-trades.
The flavor is strong but mellow, with a
bit of the acid tang that celery brings.
Very easy to grow, so easy that using
the dried stuff should never be necessary. Also known to freshen breath, so
long as you don’t mind the green in
your teeth.
Oregano
As much associated with Italian
and Greek cooking as basil, if not more
so due to its indelible signature on
pizza. A very pungent flavor and one
of those herbs where the dried form
and fresh form are apples and oranges,
neither for better or worse. The fresh
form, I find, is best used somewhat as
you would use rosemary with shellfish—as a basting brush or accent to
be removed when the cooking is done.
If you do use the leaves as an ingredient, it should be in a dish with some
backbone—think tomato, briny cheese,
garlic, bread (it would make a beautiful finish to a bread-based soup with
romano or feta cheese). Gets along
famously with fresh black pepper.
Dill
Sure, for pickles and havarti. This
herb shares some of the character traits
of tarragon—not terribly familiar as
a flavor outside the aforementioned
venues and therefore not easily identified by many. In a dish, it takes charge
and can overshadow other flavors
with ease. The dried form works well,
chiefly because very few people can
make use effectively of very much of
the fresh form at one time. Works well,
like tarragon, in butter sauces and with
beets, potatoes and onions.
Marjoram
A nice alternative (cousin) to
oregano, but very perfumed. Do not
use on pizza, it does not pack the requisite gritty wallop. This herb goes well
with some Mexican dishes (there is a
Mexican strain as well as a Mediterranean strain) and as an accompaniment
to firm grilled fish.
So there you have it. It’s a lot like
pairing wine. The worst that can happen is your whole dinner tastes like
one herb if you mess up, which is not
that bad. If you bear in mind that herbs
which feel and look somewhat thorny
are the ones to throw in the pot first
and the ones that feel and look somewhat flowery go in last, you’re off to a
good start. Bonne chance, mes amis.
HOUSEWARES NEWS
Just Grow It
by Kathy Kemnitz, Housewares Buyer
O
ver the past few years, I have
half-heartedly joined the
ranks of city folk attempting to be more sustainable
by urban farming. Most of my yard is
covered with plants other than grass
and I’ve got chickens (much to the
dismay of one set of neighbors) roaming around. While on one hand I’m
lucky to have a yard to tear up and
experiment with growing my food, it
also means more work and mess, especially if you can’t seem to control your
desire to shred turf and start projects.
It is great, though, to see my kids eat
green beans off the vines, so I keep
starting projects and some survive.
Sometimes I even grow enough to
completely support all of the rabbits,
birds and bugs on my block.
Earlier seeds
Ordering the seeds from Seed
Saver Exchange for the Co-op has
been a great learning experience for
me in growing my own veggies and
in learning suggested planting times.
You may have noticed that seeds
started re-appearing here at the Co-op
in January this year. I remember it
seeming a bit crazy to me at first how
many of you were asking when the
seeds would arrive last year while I
was in full hibernation mode with not
a single seed-starting thought in my
mind. I have Mother’s Day etched in
my head as the safe time to put plants
and seeds in the ground. Why you
needed seeds in January, my bear-like
head did not want to comprehend.
Fret not, it didn’t take too much armtwisting to get me looking at my seed
catalogs and ordering earlier this year.
I’ve also tried something new to ease
into the seeds arriving this season by
having them arrive in shifts based on
their growing seasons.
Longer growing season
The seeds that arrived first were
mainly for plants that have a longer
growing season than our weather allows (like broccoli, Brussels sprouts,
eggplant, kale, onions, peppers, tomato, oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme).
These plants do well started indoors in
March and transplanted outside when
it’s warmer (early-mid May).
Seeds can be started in just about
any type of recycled containers (ice
cream, milk, yogurt) or you can buy
seed starting materials (like inex-
pensive black plastic trays or seed
starting peat pellets). There are pros
and cons to each but it’s easy to keep
costs minimal. With either choice,
your seeds need light (a window is not
enough—use a cool white fluorescent
for about 16 hours a day. Keep them
close to the bulbs, they can almost
be touching), heat (the seeds like to
stay warm, keep them on or near your
furnace vent), and moisture (keep
them just right—not too much water,
not too little and allow for good drainage). You still probably have time to
start these types of seeds, but these are
plants that are also typically available
already started for you as transplants
beginning in early May through June
(and maybe even July if it’s a cool
summer again) from Weststar Farm
and Voss Organics.
Even if you are container gardening, you can start seeds ahead of the
outdoor growing season. Still start
your seeds in a small growing space
(container). This will make it easier
to keep them warm and cozy. When
you are ready to transplant to a larger
container, be creative with what you
use; last year I had a friend who grew
tomato plants in doubled-up plastic
shopping bags hanging from the banister on her front porch. She produced
enough tomatoes to eat fresh and can
for the winter.
Better Scores.
Better Choices.
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notice that you’re working on being
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work. Check out all the great gardening books at the library, look for articles online or grab one of the garden
books we have on special this month.
Just grow something.
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Going green
As much as I hate to confess, I am
a bad leafy green-eater. I don’t really
eat kale or spinach or arugula or chard
or any of it. I don’t know why the
reluctance, maybe just my unyielding Taurus ways. I see people buying these green bunches all the time,
but you seed buyers may just be the
ones to convert me. You really love
growing this stuff! The number of
seeds you all purchase to grow greens
greatly outnumbers any other type of
seed. So this year, I’m going to grow
some of your favorite greens in my
yard (I may even try to eat them!), and
bring in some new varieties for you to
add to your garden collections. Look
for new varieties of arugula, spinach,
beets, cabbage and chard. Actually,
now that I think about it, there are
new varieties coming of about everything! We are even going to hopefully
have seed potatoes available.
I invite you to join me in trying
to grow something this year. If you
Willy Street Co-op Reader, March 2010
17
OUR IMPACT
ON THE COMMUNITY
by Lynn Olson, Cooperative Services Manager
A
s we’ve been planning for a
second store, we’ve also been
evaluating our own answers
to questions such as, “What
impact does Willy Street Co-op have
on its community?” Although it would
be difficult to attach hard numbers, we
have been discussing the tangible and
intangible ways in which it does. In
doing so, we also realized two things:
1) we do a
lot of sustainable
things, and
2) they’re
so much a
part of the
way we
do things,
we don’t
always keep up with telling our Owners all the things we’re doing.
A large portion of our daily practices in sustainability and community
education are driven by the Co-op’s
mission and monitored through the
little-known Global Ends Policies, a
long list of directions for what staff
and management are expected to accomplish. From financial performance
to safety and environmental responsibilities to name a few, the complete
list of Global Ends Policies can be
viewed on our website (willystreet.
coop/Global_Ends_Policy). Our hope
in presenting the following information is to create awareness about those
things we are doing to reduce our
carbon footprint, promote sustainable
businesses and organizations, and support the lives of people we
serve each day.
cool products (not to mention the people working and shopping in them).
Freezers, coolers, ovens, hot-cases,
cold cases and other equipment not
only consume a lot of energy, but they
typically produce a lot in the form of
heat. Rarely does a season go by we
don’t hear the store is too cold, especially in summer. This unfortunate
dynamic is actually part of a plan to
reduce power needs for the engines in
the store’s many freezers and coolers
that would be forced to work harder at
staying cold if the temperature around
them was kept too warm. Meeting a
balance that satisfies everyone’s needs
is our goal, however when extreme or
sudden changes in outdoor
temperature
occur, it can
take a while
for the temperature in the
store to adjust.
To offset our use of fossil fuels in
the store and in our Production Kitchen, Willy Street Co-op has developed several approaches to meet our
high-energy demands and to decrease
Carbon Happens
A carbon footprint
measures the impact an
individual or business
has on the environment
through the burning of fossil fuels and greenhouse gas
emissions generated on a typical day.
This includes our heating, transportation and waste, which produce carbon
dioxide and are measured in tons.
Grocery stores generally use enormous amounts of energy to heat or
18
wasted energy. When the current store
building was acquired, designers of
the space planned for lighting occupancy sensors in offices and non-retail
areas to decrease wasted light energy
and they installed high windows to
harness day lighting wherever pos-
Willy Street Co-op Reader, March 2010
sible. Equipment and appliances
bought for the store are Energy-Star
certified, and high-efficiency refrigeration systems and a heat reclamation
system were installed. Eventually a
solar-collection system was installed
on the Co-op’s roof to offset some of
the energy needs, but the scheduled
installation of a solar thermal system,
which will be used to pre-heat water,
is expected to
significantly reduce the amount
of carbon-based
fuels used in
daily operations
at the
store.
Our
local energy provider, Madison Gas
& Electric (MG &E) has also been
working for decades to research
alternative sources for clean energy
and the Co-op is pleased to be a
partner in their Green Wind Power
program which works to expand the
sustainable creation of power through
the use of wind and wind turbines
(windmills). MG&E is also exploring
the introduction of electric vehicles in
Madison and will provide another opportunity
for us
to cooperate by
housing a
charging site for this
new hybrid
vehicle. Two
spaces in our parking lot will be accessible for electric vehicle-charging
(but not reserved exclusively) where
users can recharge their vehicles using the three-foot high “pump.”. We
are pleased to see MG&E working on
these initiatives and hope to see these
exciting projects succeed and reduce
the use of not-so-green or other traditional energy resources.
Reduce, reuse, recycle
Another commonality among retail
grocery stores is our reliance on reams
of paper products. To reduce our
environmental impact while providing essential packaging materials, we
choose post-consumer recycled paper
for store supplies, including shopping
bags whenever possible. And the colorful printing on those paper products
became more earth-friendly when
manufacturers began offering waterbased inks on shopping bags and other
foodservice items (cups, salad boxes,
etc.).
Until we discover a revolutionary new plan to replace the cardboard
box with a more sustainable product,
we’ll continue to handle the hundreds
of boxes received in the store each
week by crushing them together to
make large bales, which are then
picked up by a local recycler. Some of
our vendors have found ways to save
money and reduce waste by requesting
that their boxes be returned to them
for reuse when it’s appropriate and
wouldn’t conflict with safe food handling guidelines. Still, only a fraction
of the boxes received on a delivery
day are made available for shoppers
to also reuse for their groceries or
personal use.
Graduating from plastics
Next is our use of plastic. It’s
taken some time, but new innovations
in corn-based forks, spoons and knives
have finally made it affordable to offer
this compostable cutlery instead of
unrecyclable plastic. If you’re not onthe-go and want to enjoy your prepared
foods or salads in the store, the blue
plastic plates and bowls and metal
cutlery available in the Deli are a good
environmental choice and can be left
in the dish tub in our Commons area
to be washed and sanitized in our
Deli kitchen. Or if you’re grabbing a
cup of coffee and plan to spend some
time in the Commons area, let the
Juice Bar staff know you’d rather use
one of the available mugs or glasses
at the Juice Bar.
When a national natural food
chain issued a press release announcing they would no longer offer plastic
bags in their store, Willy Street Coop was contacted by local news writers who inquired about our position
on the plastic bag issue. We were
happy to report that throughout our
35-year history, we have purchased
only paper bags. We do, however,
offer the reuse of plastic bags, which
are dropped off by other customers.
In 2005, as the national movement to promote bringing your own
canvas or recycled bags to the grocery store started to accelerate, we
kicked off the “Nickel & Dime Us”
campaign to encourage more people
to use re-useable bags by issuing a
five-cent credit to shoppers for each
paper or plastic bag they brought and
used or ten cents for canvas or other
textile bags. By 2009, nearly 295,000
individual credits were issued for
cloth and paper/plastic bag reuse,
totaling $28,388.
Though we’re seeing more
and more shoppers using fabric or
recycling plastic produce bags from
home, our Produce department uses
100 percent post-consumer recycled
content bags for customers who need
them. Packaging for pre-made dips,
grab-and-go food and the Deli case is
made from at least 50 percent recycled post-consumer plastic bottles
and we continue to seek out and
request better options for these essential items from our bag vendors.
By the way, if you haven’t
already seen the clear bins near the
front doors of the store, you can now
unload your stashes of plastic bags in
one of these City of Madison receptacles. As if it wasn’t a sweet enough
deal to begin with, the city plans to
send their own drivers to pick-up the
bags and deliver them to the recycling center.
Nuts and bolts and wires
and pipes
When it comes time to call a
plumber, electrician, architect, or
other professional, our first choice
is to partner with a local business
or service provider. To support an
economically vibrant community, we
recognize the role this decision plays
in retaining and creating local jobs
and reducing fuel and transportation
costs.
Righteous garbage
Sometimes things happen just
when they’re supposed to, and so
it was on that serendipitous day
when our Kitchen Manager, Josh
Perkins, inquired about who we
might partner with to compost the
hundreds of pounds of organic fruit
and vegetable scraps generated in
the Willy Street Co-op kitchens
each week. A call was placed to the
Christie Ralston, Executive Director
for Groundworks at Troy Community Farm on Madison’s North Side,
and they were thrilled to get the
call as they were in the final stages
of constructing a greenhouse to be
used for teaching and sustaining the
farm year-round.
A significant project to create nutrient-rich compost through
a process called vermiculture will
take up one portion of the greenhouse and essential to creating compost are vegetable and fruit scraps.
Christie and Farm Manager Claire
Strader were even more thrilled to
learn that Willy Street Co-op will
also be delivering the scraps to the
farm each week.
Grounds for concern
Work to prevent run-off from
our parking lot from flowing toward
Madison’s lakes was in the forefront of our thinking when the Coop’s rain garden on Jenifer Street
was designed and installed. Absorbing rainwater that’s collected from
the building’s roof, loading dock
and parking lot, the main garden
consists of a large gulley to temporarily hold all of that water, which
is deposited there through drain
pipes on each end. Native plantings
in the gulley were selected for their
beauty and ability to withstand the
occasional flooding and act as a
natural water filter.
During a downpour, or when
melting occurs, salt, gas and oil
drippings from cars parked in the
parking lot flow toward an intentional dip in the center of the
parking lot to allow water to stream
toward another rain garden, referred to as the “snake garden.” To
our knowledge, there are no actual
snakes there, but through a series of
s-curves dug into the landscape, the
run-off is partially dammed, creating an opportunity for the plants to
filter the water and inhibit those elements from ending up in the lakes.
Around the rain gardens and
grounds of the Co-op, maintenance
staff follows strategic protocols designed to eliminate or reduce waste
or pollution. To compost trimmings
or foliage from direct weeding, a
“brown” yard composter was built
on the Jenifer St. side of the building.
As it would be expected, there
are no synthetic pesticides or herbicides used in maintaining the lawns
on Co-op property, but taking a cue
from our organic farmers, a vinegar
and clove-based herbicide is used
around the building’s exterior as
needed during the growing season.
Inside the building, environmentally sound soaps and cleaning
agents are used whenever possible,
and cleaning and office supplies are
bought in bulk to limit the amount
of packaging and pollution from
transportation. Led by Maintenance
Coordinator Jim Jirous, the maintenance team of handy craftspeople
also have a knack for finding ways
to fix or renovate broken or discarded furniture and display fixtures into useful creations to meet
our needs and keep more trash out
of landfills. These brave souls are
also shepherds of our robust recycling systems which collect paper,
packing peanuts, light bulbs, toner
cartridges and plastic.
More next month
Next month, this article continues outlining ways in which we participate in our community outside
the Co-op walls.
Willy Street Co-op Reader, March 2010
19
Producer Profile
Decadence & Benevolence = Sweet Rewards
by Lynn Olson, Cooperative Services Manager
A
t the recent Madison Food &
Wine Show, Christine’s Toffee samples were a popular
hit. Company co-owner
Leanne Cordisco sampled pieces
of their now-famous Bacon Toffee in the Willy Street Co-op booth.
Through her many in-person product
demonstrations, Leanne has grown
accustomed to people assuming that
she is “the” Christine, so she was
happy to sit down for an interview
to tell us more about the candy, its
namesake and her influence on this
new and novel snack company.
Originally from northeastern
Pennsylvania, Leanne says one of her
first memories is of cooking with her
mother, specifically rolling meatballs. She attributes her life-long passion for cooking and feeding people
to her Sicilian heritage. She later
followed collegiate paths through
biomedical engineering and business.
Repeatedly finding herself gravitating toward the kitchen and cooking
for friends and family given during
her free time, Leanne confesses,
“While growing up and all through
high school and college, it was in
the back of my mind that I wanted to
own a restaurant. To me, cooks are
like rock stars, and in my culture,
food equals love.”
Toffee meets chocolate
After making her home in Madison and spending two decades in the
field of biomedicine and corporate
training, Leanne’s business professor Denis Collins introduced her to
legendary local business owner Sam
Jacobsen. Sam opened his first PDQ
Food Store on University Avenue in
Madison in 1949, and subsequently
built the PDQ chain of convenience
stores into one of the most prolific
of its kind in the U.S. In 1991, after
selling the company to his sons, Sam
continued to encourage and enable
aspiring entrepreneurs using his own
“slow money” approach.
Leanne says she wasn’t expecting
to strike up more than a friendship,
but by the end of their first meeting,
Sam was inviting her back to continue the discussion about her idea for a
candy company, telling her she was
20
“on to something.” Leanne recalls, “I
Paid forward, in full
don’t know what I did, but for the uni“This whole company started,”
verse to drop that gift, wrapped up in
Leanne says, “because my business
a bow, in my lap, there was only one
partner was at a point in his life where
answer; it was. ‘Yes, of course.’”
he could fund entrepreneurs; he could
Their company, Popular Snacks,
take chances like that, and he wanted
Inc., was founded in 2007. Their first
to honor his mom.” By providing
collaborative product, however, was
financing and moral support as well
somewhat of a delicious failure that
as introductions to valuable connecnever made it out of the developtions in the industry, Sam was offering
ment stages. The chocolate-covered
Leanne an extraordinary opportunity.
popcorn ball was a recreation of one
Explaining the one caveat to Sam’s ofof Sam’s favorite treats made by his
fer, Leanne explains, “No matter what,
mother Christine. Unable to perfect
Sam or Sam’s estate would always
the popcorn ball recipe for retail sale,
control ten percent of the company
Leanne turned to another of Chrisand that money would be put into
tine’s recipes and has used it to dea fund to help other entrepreneurs.
velop a growing selection of gourmet
So his legacy for me will be to find
toffees.
someone else and help them with that
Although Christine’s original
ten percent and give somebody else
toffee recipe was an excellent start,
a chance at their dream.” Sadly, Sam
Leanne was resolved to create a recipe
passed away in late January 2010.
that would satisfy both sweet and salty
Leanne says of the significance of this
tastes in one snack. After weeks of
man’s life, “He was not just a finanexperimentation and testing on friends
cier but also a champion, a mentor
and family, she discovered,
among other things, the delicious
combination she had in mind.
Each small, handmade batch
starts with Grade AA butter
(lots and lots of butter) from
Shullsburg, Wisconsin, and
sugar which are the combined
with other ingredients in copper
kettles and are attentively stirred
while cooking. Of her production methods, Leanne says, “We
are a very simple production—
all natural, no preservatives.
Basically, but on a much larger
scale, we do everything you
would do at home.” After reaching the correct temperature, any
extra ingredients for special
varieties are added (nuts, coffee, etc.) before the hot toffee is
poured out onto thick, marble
candy-making tables. Next,
precisely-sized French sea salt
crystals are scattered across the
Co-owner Leanne Cordisco.
quickly cooling toffee and tempered (melted) Belgian chocolate
and something of a father figure who
is poured over one side of the candy,
just lived and breathed business.” She
ultimately creating a taste that packs a
assures, “Just because Sam, physiwonderful ripple effect of multi-facetcally, isn’t here anymore doesn’t mean
ed flavors. Lastly, the toffee is cut into
that he’s not going to be a part of this
pieces, hand-packaged and ready for
company as it grows. His principles
delivery.
Willy Street Co-op Reader, March 2010
will stay with us.”
Professor Denis Collins adds,
“Sam was an amazing entrepreneur,
following through on his dreams
and turning them into reality. Most
importantly, he inspired others to
do likewise. He was very generous with his time and welcomed the
opportunity to have entrepreneurial
students pick his mind on how to turn
a potential consumer service into a
profitable venture. His contributions
will be missed.”
Leanne, who spent hours listening to and learning from Sam during
their weekly visits says she recorded
several golden nuggets of information and advice from him, including
the conversation they had after the
popcorn ball idea was scratched. “We
hit a brick wall,” she admits, “and
for him it was just a game and he’d
say, ‘So, you just hit a road block,
now how are we going to get around
it?’ It was never, ‘Oh no, this is the
end of it.’ He never looked at the
negative side. He would say, ‘This
is a game; this is a maze, and
if you’re going to succeed, you
have to find your way around the
hurdles.’”
Sweet indulgence
“What I’m making,” Leanne
says, “is a super-premium candy,
and I want people to feel like our
candies are a treat, so I want to
make sure that what goes into it is
exactly right.” Bacon from Usinger’s in Milwaukee and coffee
from Kickapoo Coffee in Baraboo
are among the many local foods
and vendors Leanne has tried and
tested before approving them for
use in the toffees. The pistachio
toffee has become a clear favorite
but the pecan and cashew varieties are also doing well and we can
look forward to a new flavor very
soon. Production of the toffees is
currently taking place at the James
J. Chocolate Shop in Lake Mills,
Wisconsin, however Leanne reports
that she’s looking for a space in the
Madison area and plans to hire for
positions here. Look for Christine’s
Toffees in the front of the store on
the register displays.
:
Deli
Black Earth Meats Deli-Sliced Meats:
Smoked Ham
Willy Street Co-op Breakfast Biscuit:Vegan,
Buttermilk
Willy Street Co-op Plato’s Polenta Pie
Willy Street Co-op Beef Shepard’s Pie with
Fondue
Willy Street Co-op Deepak’s Vegan Korma
Willy Street Co-op Grilled Sweet Potatoes
Stuffed with Bacon
Willy Street Co-op Grab-n-Go Salads:
Ginger Chicken Mandarin, Ginger Tofu
Mandarin, Sultan, Bella Donna, Bella
Donna with Chicken
Willy Street Co-op Treehugger Pizza
Powerkraut Organic Sauerkraut: Ocean,
Classic, Purple
Black Earth Meats: Organic Thick-Cut
Bacon
Bulk
Heartland Mills Organic Bulk Oatmeal
Frontier Organic Bulk Fennel Seed
Cheese
Holland’s Family Raw Milk Marieke Gouda
Cheese: Regular 2-4 Month, Fenugreek
2-4 Month, Cumin 6-9 month, Smoked
6-9 Month
Bread
Wild Flour Bakery Bread: Jalepeño Cheese
Bakery
Willy Street Co-op Cupcake: Carrot,Vegan
Carrot, Chocolate,Vegan German
Chocolate
Earth Cafe Raw Food Cheese Cake:
Rockin’ Raspberry, Blueberry Thrill,
Banana Cream
Juice Bar
Willy Street Co-op Double Shot Cubano
Willy Street Co-op Cubano Latte: 12 oz,
16 oz
Willy Street Co-op Juice: Ginger Juice (16
oz)
Willy Street Co-op 8 oz Juice: Ginger Juice,
Sweet Greens, The Green ‘C’, Popeye,
Rising Sun, Inner Peace, The O.C.,
Caribbean Queen, Green Zinger,
Apple Jack, Beetnik
Sundries
Rock n Socks Over-the-Knee Socks:
Pomegranate, Spice, Marine, Kali-Ma,
Bridgid,Venus
Rock n Socks Crew Socks: Uma, Apollo,
Miranda, Caliban, Lono, Dylan, Prospero
Rock n Socks Socks Ankle: Indra
Rock n Socks Knee-High Socks: Trinculo, Dylan Burgundy, Lakshmi, Dylan
Carbon, Demeter, Garcia Autumn,
Hendrix Carbon, Garcia Carbon
Housewares
High Wave Javaale Tea Brewfish
Fox Run Rotary Cheese Grater
High Wave Mug: Natural Take-Out, Black
Autotray, Forest Autotray, Joemo TC
Tea, Cobalt Autotray
Aloha Bay Mini Himalayan Salt Lamp with
Black Base
Juniper Ridge Western Juniper Sachet
Hues N Brews Travel Tumbler: Scotty,
Laguna Green, Laguna Orange
Hues N Brews Mug: Cattitude Infuser,
Heart Vines
Hues N Brews i-pot Ballet Pink 24oz
Hues N Brews i-pot Pear 17oz
Down To Earth Bamboo Utensil Set
Paradigm Seed Wheat Sprouting Seed
Down To Earth One Liter Flip-Top Canning Jar
Age Old Organics Fertilizer: Grow Pint,
Bloom Pint, Kelp
Aloha Bay Himalayan Salt Lamp 4” Cube
Aloha Bay Himalayan Bar Crystal Bath
Bar
Aloha Bay Energy Votive Candle
Aloha Bay Himalayan Salt Lamp
Aloha Bay Crystal Lamp Halite
Kitchen Art Gel-Grip: Peeler, Pizza Cutter,
Cheese Slicer
Wellness
Herb Pharm Passion Flower Herbal
Extract
Nordic Naturals Arctic-D Lemon Cod
Liver Oil
Nature’s Way Eyebright Herb
Go Macro Banana Almond Vegan MacroNutrient Bar
Hyland’s Homeopathic Migraine Headache Relief
Hyland’s Homeopathic 4 Kids Allergy
Relief
Bodycare
Juniper Ridge Soap: Coastal Sage, California Bay Laurel, Sierra Cedar
Nonie of Beverly Hills AHA! Sunblock
Facial
Weleda Pomegranate Body Wash
Weleda Pomegranate Regenerating Body
Oil
Weleda Pomegranate Regenerating Hand
Cream
Desert Essence Eco-Harvest Tea Tree Oil
Quantum Super Lysine Lip Little Lips
Protector
Boiron Arnicare Gel Value Pack
Preserve Mint Tea Tree Toothpicks
Burt’s Bees 3-Step Acne Solutions Regimen Kit
Burt’s Bees Kids Toothpaste: Orange
Wow With Fluoride, Berry Bee
Fluoride-Free
Burt’s Bees Fluoride-Free Toothpaste:
Multicare, Whitening
Burt’s Bees Toothpaste With Fluoride:
Whitening, Multicare
Burt’s Bees Baby Bee Fragrance-Free
Shampoo & Wash
Burt’s Bees Lip Gloss: Sheer Lemon, Juicy
Peach
Grocery
Fruitabu Organic Smooshed Fruit Twirls:
Apple, Grape, Strawberry
Ginger People Ginger Sesame Vinaigrette
& Marinade
Newman's Own Alfredo Pasta Sauce
Driftless Organics Organic Sunflower Oil
Christine’s Bacon Toffee
LaraBar Organic Raw Food Bars: Jocalat
German Chocolate Cake, Cinnamon
Roll
Alexia Savory Onion Strips
Alexia Ranch Waffle Fries
Stirrings Cosmopolitan Mixer
Country Choice Irish-Style Steel-Cut Oats
Instant Oatmeal
Glutino Original Gluten-Free Breadcrumbs
Wild Planet Tuna: Wild Skipjack Light,
Wild Albacore No Salt, Wild Albacore
and Sea Salt
Wild Planet Sardines: Wild Oil & Lemon,
Wild in Spring Water, Wild in Extra
Virgin Olive Oil
One Sun Farm Pizza: Just Cheese, Just
Crust,Veggie Revolution
Nikki’s Cookies & Confections Butterfly
Cinnamon & Sugar Shortbread Cookies
Tomato Mountain Organic Habañero
Salsa
Wilderness Poets Raw Hempspread: Cashew Cacao Grab n Go, Pecan Butter
Grab n Go, Civil Disobedience Grab n
Go, Pecan Butter
Pet Food
Mrs. Beaster’s Biskits Dog Biskits:Veggie,
Venison & Potato Grain Free, Tuna,
Turkey
Mrs. Beaster’s Biskits Itty Bitty Kitty Bits
Cat Treats: Salmon, Tuna/Mackerel
Mrs. Beaster’s Biskits Grain-Free Dog
Treats: Bison & Sweet Potato, Elk &
Potato
Dairy
2.375x6.375
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Willy Street Co-op Reader, March 2010
21
RECIPES AND DRINK RECOMMENDATIONS
DRINK RECOMMENDATIONS FROM STAR LIQUOR, 1209 WILLIAMSON STREET, 255-8041
Take 10% off recommended beverages… Just show your member card at Star Liquor!
Italian Spinach and Potato Roulade
Adapted from The Vegetarian Epicure, Book 2 by Anna Thomas
This is like a giant rolled dumpling, with a spinach filling. A potato
dough reminiscent of gnocchi is rolled
around the filling, then the whole thing
is wrapped in cheesecloth, boiled in
salted water, and served hot, in spiralpatterned slices.
Ingredients:
Filling
2 lbs. fresh spinach
3 T. butter
1 lg. onion, chopped
1 lg. clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp. white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. oregano, crushed
pinch nutmeg
Dough:
2 lbs. potatoes
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
2 - 2 1/2 c. flour
Garnish:
1/2 c. butter, melted
3/4 c. fresh-grated Parmesan cheese
Directions: Filling: Wash spinach
and cook it, covered, in the water that
clings to the leaves, until it is completely wilted. Squeeze to remove
excess moisture and finely chop.
Melt 3 T. butter in skillet and cook
onions and garlic until golden. Stir
in spinach, vinegar, 1/2 tsp. salt,
oregano, and nutmeg. Cook, stirring
frequently, until the mixture is thick
but still moist—about 3 minutes. Adjust seasoning to taste. Dough: Boil
potatoes until tender, peel, and press
though coarse sieve into large bowl.
Beat egg yolk with 2 whole eggs and
stir into the potatoes with salt and
nutmeg. Stir in about 2 c. flour and
begin working the dough with hands
until smooth. Work dough until stiff
enough to be formed into a ball.
Star Recommends: Bruna Grimaldi Barbera d’ Alba—The Barbera
grape adapts very well to the
soils around the city of Alba. The
wine which it gives is an intense
ruby red in color with very complex aromas. It is well adapted
to a long period of aging in wood
which further adds to the richness of the bouquet. A great food
wine.
Black Bean, Corn and Roasted Tomato Quesadillas
From The Co-op Advantage Rush
Hour Recipes Series
Ingredients:
1 med. onion, chopped finely
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. salt
1 T. canola oil
1 c. corn
1 14-ounce can fire roasted tomatoes, drained
1 tsp. hot sauce
1/2 lime, zested and juiced
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained
1/4 bunch cilantro, chopped
6 10-inch tortillas (or smaller tortiallas, if desired)
6 oz. shredded Cheddar or Colby
cheese
Directions: Saute onions, garlic,
coriander, cumin and salt in oil until
onions soften. Add corn, fire-roasted
22
tomatoes, hot sauce, lime juice and
lime zest. Sauté an additional 5 minutes and then remove from heat. Mash
half of the black beans to one side.
Combine with intact beans and add
chopped cilantro. Add bean mix to the
sautéed mix and stir together. Scoop
evenly onto tortillas. Add cheese and
fold tortillas in half. Heat in a lightly
oiled skillet, cooking each side until
golden brown. Serve whole or cut into
halves. Enjoy! Makes 4-6 servings
Star Recommends: Paso a Paso
Tempranillo—The 2008 Paso a
Paso Tinto is 100% Tempranillo
that spent six months in French
oak. A glass-coating opaque purple, the nose offers up aromas of
chalky minerality, violets, incense,
and black cherry. Medium-bodied,
it has a smooth texture, ripe,
spicy, savory flavors.
Willy Street Co-op Reader, March 2010
Beets with Angel Hair Pasta
Adapted from More Home Cooking, by Laura Colwin
Ingredients:
8 oz. angel hair pasta
4 medium beets, any variety
2 T. olive oil
1 clove garlic
1/2 sm. red onion, minced
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 c. broth or water
1/2 tsp. chopped rosemary
crushed red pepper flakes
Parmesan cheese
Directions: Finely dice the
beets and sauté in oil with salt and
pepper until just tender. Add garlic
and onion next, cooking for an
additional minute. Next, add the
broth/water, followed by the rosemary
and pepper flakes. When heated and
beets softened to a pleasing consistency, spoon over cooked pasta and serve
with lots of freshly grated Parmesan
cheese—yum!
Star Recommends: Mas de Gourgonnier—Combines the richness
and intensity of top Rhone or
Bordeaux with a crystal-clear and
unmistakable expression of Provençal soil. This wine is set apart
even further from the pack with
the eye-grabbing rustic, squat
bottle used for this unbelievably
great-value red.
Phytopia (Kale Pesto)
Adapted from www.fooddownunder.com
Ingredients:
3/4 lb. kale, leaves only
4 garlic cloves, peeled
3/4 c. basil leaves, or combination of
basil and cilantro
1 lemon or lime, juiced
1 tsp. salt or garlic salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper, or less to taste
Directions: Wash kale—leave
water on leaves. Coarsely chop and
steam in the water clinging to the
leaves until tender, about 5 minutes.
Let cool. Finely mince garlic in a
food processor. When finely minced,
add the basil, optional cilantro and
kale. Process until uniform, then add
juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Pulse
to combine.
Star Recommends: Naked Earth
Organic Blanc—Crisp upon entry, with the immediate notes
of lemon and grapefruit, moving
into other flavors like vanilla and
hibiscus flowers, ends on a dry finish with gripping texture, coming
from the wines’ generous minerality and balanced acidity.
Sweet Pickled Carrots
Adapted from Simply Carrots: www.
veg.ca/newsletr
Ingredients:
3 lbs. carrots
3 c. apple cider vinegar
1 c. water
1 1/2-2 c. turbinado or other natural
sugar
1 T. whole allspice
1 T. whole cloves
1 T. mustard seeds
1 stick cinnamon, broken into pieces
1 tsp. coarse sea salt
1 orange, thinly sliced
Directions: Scrub the carrots, then
cut then into sticks. Combine water,
sugar, salt, 1 c. vinegar and all of
the spices in a large pot. Bring these
ingredients to a boil, then cover and
simmer for 20 minutes. Pack the carrot sticks into 3 hot pint jars. Slide
in orange slices where they will fit.
Add the rest of the vinegar to your
spice brine. Once again bring it to
a boil, then immediately remove
from heat. Strain the spice brine into
the jars, leaving 1/8 inch at the top
of each jar. Seal immediately with
hot, sterilized (a.k.a. BOILED) lids.
If you love pickles, you will surely
love these carrots!
Green Veggie Sauce
adapted from the New York Times
Natural Foods Cookbook
This sauce can be eaten as a cold
or hot soup, or as a sauce over wholewheat noodles or brown rice!
Ingredients:
2 1/2 c. water
1/3 c. scallions
1 c. shredded romaine or escarole
1 c. shredded spinach
1/4 c. shredded beet tops
1/2 c. pitted avocado, peeled
2 T. chopped parsley
2 T. chopped fresh mint leaves
2 T. chopped fresh basil
kelp to taste
lime juice to taste
Directions: Place the scallions
and water in an electric blender/food
processor and blend until smooth.
Continue to blend at a low speed and
gradually add the lettuce/spinach, beet
tops, avocado, parsley, mint and basil.
Season with kelp and lime. Yields
about 5 cups.
Ethiopian Collard Greens and Spiced Cheese
Adapted from www.fooddownunder.com
Ingredients:
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 c. butter, divided into 2 1/4
pieces
1/4 tsp. freshly ground cardamom
seeds
salt and freshly ground pepper to
taste
1 lb. dry curd cottage cheese or
farmer’s cheese
2 lb. collard greens, stems discarded, leaves chopped
1/2 c. water
1/2 tsp. cayenne
1-2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. crushed garlic
3 T. coarsely chopped yellow onion
salt to taste
Directions: Melt 1/4 c. with cardamom, salt and pepper. Sauté the
chopped garlic in this spiced butter
for a few minutes, just long enough
$16 Squares are menus that feed
four people for $16 or less. These
menus incorporate products that are on
sale this month at the Co-op. The cost
of basic pantry ingredients like flour,
spices, oil, and condiments are not included in the cost of each menu. Serving sizes are based on manufacturers’
recommendations where appropriate.
Share your favorite economical
recipes with other Co-op Owners.
Drop your recipes off at Customer
Service or email them to: j.kear@
willystreet.coop. Please include your
name, member number and the source
of the recipe.
to infuse the butter with its flavor.
Remove from heat and cool. Stir into
the cheese. Cook the collard greens,
covered, in a 4-quart saucepan with
1/2 c. water. Add the cayenne, more
1-2 tsp black pepper, crushed garlic,
remaining 1/4 c. butter and chopped
onion. Cook, covered, until the greens
collapse. Allow the greens to cool a
bit- salt to taste. Drain and place on a
platter, spooning the cheese over the
greens to serve.
Star Recommends: Chateau Ste.
Michelle Gewurztraminer—
This is an easy-drinking style of
Gewurztraminer, without any of
the floral or soapy scents, or the
oily mouthfeel, that characterize more concentrated and richer
bottlings. Here instead is a rather
simple, roundly fruity white wine,
masking its residual sugar in
ample natural acids.
Parmesan Crusted Chicken
From The Co-op Advantage Rush
Hour Recipes Series
Ingredients:
1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
2 eggs
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 T. minced flat leaf parsley
4-6 chicken breasts, trimmed if needed
2 T. olive oil
Directions: In a shallow dish,
combine flour, parmesan, salt and
pepper. In another dish, lightly beat
together eggs, garlic and parsley.
Dredge (coat) each chicken breast in
the egg mixture and than through the
flour mixture. Set aside on a plate until
all the chicken is coated. Heat oil is a
sauté pan over medium heat. Cook
each chicken breast 6-10 minutes on
each side, making sure not to burn
it! The coating should be golden
brown and the chicken should reach
an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. Enjoy! Makes 4-6 servings.
Star Recommends: Corte alla
Flora Vino Nobile di Montepulciano—The nose has raspberry
and cherry aromas, plus a little
leather and vanilla. The palate
is full of raspberry and plum,
mixed with a touch of oak and
spice. The tannins are solid and
it had a nice truffle finish that
went on a long time.
Greek Citrus Meal—$11.93
Recipes by Jack Kear, Willy Street Co-op Event Coordinator
Avgolemono or Greek Lemon-Egg Soup
Knorr Chicken bouillon @ $1.29 or Rapunzel Vegan Vegetable bouillon
@ $2.89
1/2 c. long grain brown rice*
1 bay leaf*
4 green cardamom pods, crushed*
1 1/2 tsp. salt*
2 large eggs*
2 large egg yolks*
*10 lemon strips
1/4 c. fresh lemon juice*
1 medium shallot, sliced long and very thin*
* totals @ $2.49
Directions: Prepare 6 cups of bouillon as directed and bring to a boil.
Add rice, bay leaf, cardamom, strips, and salt. Reduce to simmer until rice
is soft, approx. 350 minutes. Remove bay leaf, cardamom, and strips. Whisk
eggs, yolks, and lemon juice together. Continue whisking while slowly ladling hot stock into eggs. Return egg mixture to hot stock, cook on low until
soup thickens, approx. 6 min. Serve with sliced shallots.
Spiced Pita
Ezekiel Pita Bread @ $2.45
2 T. butter or margarine
1/2 tsp. sweet paprika @ 40¢
Directions: Set oven to 350 degrees, melt butter or margarine, add paprika. Tear pita bread into quarters. Brush the inside of the pita quarters with
spiced butter or margarine. Bake for 10 minutes in oven and serve.
Orange Yogurt Cake with Orange Glaze
7 oz. Fage Greek yogurt @ $1.69
Navel orange, whole zest grated and reserved @ 66¢
5 bulk eggs @ $1.35
3 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 1/4 sticks butter or margarine, softened
1 1/2 T. baking powder
Directions: Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Beat the sugar with butter or
margarine until creamed. Add eggs one at a time. Whisk together flour and
baking powder. Alternately add flour and yogurt to sugar-butter mixture. Mix
until smooth, blend in orange zest. Transfer to a lightly oiled 13” cake pan
and bake for 45 minutes. Remove, cool, and drizzle with orange glaze.
Orange Glaze
1/4 c. of orange juice from navel orange
1 3/4 c. of confectioner’s sugar
Directions: Blend juice with sugar.
Please drink responsibly.
Supplies and prices limited. Not valid with other offers or discounts.
Willy Street Co-op Reader, March 2010
23
NEWSBITES
Nilsestuen appoints
panel to consider raw
milk issue
Wisconsin’s Secretary of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection Rod Nilsestuen announced that
he is convening a raw milk working
group to consider legal and regulatory
perspectives pertaining to the sale of
unpasteurized milk directly to consumers, and consider what conditions
would be required to protect public
health.
“In recent months, raw milk sales
have been an increasingly contentious
issue in Wisconsin and other states.
There is a clear demand among some
consumers and a clear desire on the
part of some producers to open this
market. But we also have a clear duty
in the Department of Agriculture,
Trade and Consumer Protection to
protect public health, and the reputation of our vital dairy industry,”
Nilsestuen said. “My goal in appointing this group is to recognize the
many and varied interests within the
milk production, manufacturing, and
distribution system.”
Richard Barrows, a widely respected agricultural economist and
retired Associate Dean of the College
of Agriculture and Life Sciences at
the University of Wisconsin-Madison,
will chair the group. The committee also includes: large, mid-size and
small dairy farmers, both organic and
conventional; large and small cheese
makers and dairy processors; dairy
veterinarians; consumers; and food
safety and public health professionals.
Nilsestuen charged the group with
conducting an open-minded review
and discussion to decide whether raw
milk sales should be allowed in Wisconsin, and if so, under what conditions. The Legislature will be advised
of the committee’s recommendation.
The group’s assignment will be to:
• Review the department’s statutory
mission
• Examine current laws regulating
dairy farms, milk and other dairy
products, retail food sales, dairy
product labeling, and the prohibition
on selling raw milk to consumers
• Examine the current system of
enforcing dairy regulations and
consider public health needs
• Evaluate other states’ raw milk
regulations
• Analyze ways that Wisconsin might
allow sale of raw milk
• Recommend policy, program and/or
regulatory recommendations related
to retail sales of raw milk
“We need farms of all sizes and
shapes in Wisconsin. I strongly support opportunities for dairy producers
to diversify and increase their income,
and I strongly support consumer
freedom of choice, but they must be
informed consumers, and they must be
informed producers,” Nilsestuen said.
Wisconsin law has required since
1957 that milk sold to consumers be
pasteurized. Milk must go from farms
to licensed dairy plants, and must
meet strict quality standards even before pasteurization. Regardless of any
action Wisconsin were to take, federal
law would prohibit interstate sales of
unpasteurized milk.
Pasteurization is a heating process
that destroys potentially disease-causing organisms in milk, including E.
coli 0157:H7, Campylobacter, Listeria
monocytogenes, and Salmonella. Effects from these bacteria range from
nausea and diarrhea to kidney failure,
miscarriage and other serious health
impacts. -Wisconsin Department of
Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer
Protection
Consumer groups
challenge feds to ban
dangerous pesticide
found in consumer and
personal care products
The national consumer advocacy
group Food & Water Watch and
Beyond Pesticides, a public health and
environmental organization, submitted a petition to the Environmental
Protection Agency to ask it to ban
non-medical uses of the antimicrobial
pesticide triclosan. More than 70 organizations signed the petition, which
also outlines ways in which triclosan
violates numerous environmental
statutes, including laws on pesticide
registration, clean water, safe drinking
water, and the Endangered Species
Act.
Originally developed as an antibacterial agent for hospital settings,
triclosan is monitored by the Food and
Drug Administration and EPA, and
widely used in many consumer and
household products ranging from dish
soaps and detergents to soaps, toothpastes, deodorants and more.
“Scientific studies indicate that
widespread use of triclosan causes a
number of serious health and environmental problems,” said Wenonah
Hauter, executive director of Food &
Water Watch. “EPA needs to ban its
use in non-medical settings and stop
allowing companies that market triclosan to exploit consumer fears regarding bacterial-born illnesses. Evidence
suggests that triclosan is not effective
for many of its intended benefits, and
through its presence in an array of
products that consumers use every
day, may actually be doing more harm
than good.”
Chief among triclosan’s health
effects is resistance to antibiotic
medications and bacterial cleansers, a
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24
Willy Street Co-op Reader, March 2010
problem for all people, but especially
vulnerable populations such as infants
and the elderly. Triclosan is also a
known endocrine disruptor and has
been shown to affect male and female
reproductive hormones, which could
potentially increase risk for cancer.
Exposure to triclosan is widespread and now found in the urine of
75 percent of the U.S. population, according to the Fourth National Report
on Human Exposure to Environmental
Chemicals, published by the Centers
for Disease Control. Due to the fact
that many products containing triclosan are washed down the drain,
triclosan shows up in water systems
and sewage sludge. Accumulation of
the pesticide in waterways and soil has
been shown to threaten ecosystems
and produce hazardous residues in fish
and other marine animals, and potentially contaminate food crops.
“Given its widespread environmental contamination and public
health risks, EPA has a responsibility
to ban household triclosan use in a
marketplace where safer alternatives
are available to manage bacteria,” said
Jay Feldman, executive director of Beyond Pesticides.
In July, Food & Water Watch and
Beyond Pesticides submitted a similar
petition to FDA making the argument
that triclosan violates the Federal
Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act. In
January 2010, Representative Edward
J. Markey (D-Mass.) submitted letters
to EPA and FDA urging them to reevaluate their oversight of the pesticide. -Food & Water Watch
FDA changes position on
BPA, requests further
studies
The Food and Drug Administration recently announced a reversal
umanNature
h
nutrition and wellness
Spring cleaning for the body!
Give your liver some love
Katy Wallace, ND RYT
Terri Klas, ND RN CNHP
608-301-9961
2158 Atwood Ave, Ste 105
Madison, WI 53704
www.humannaturellc.com
in its position on the health risks
of the plastic additive bisphenol A
(BPA). In mid-January the FDA
declared that in light of recent studies there is “some concern” about
the potential effects of BPA on the
development of infants and young
children.
While the FDA recognized the
plastic additive BPA as a cause for
concern, the federal agency stopped
short of banning the chemical. The
FDA cited substantial uncertainties in the interpretation of the new
studies, and therefore, is pursuing
further studies and information
from other expert agencies. The
FDA is also seeking public input.
BPA is a chemical used to make
polycarbonate plastic, which is a
rigid, clear plastic used for many
consumer products, including reusable water bottles and baby bottles.
BPA is also used in epoxy resins,
which serve as a protective lining
in most food and beverage cans.
The Department of Health and
Human Services has published
information and tips for parents trying to reduce children’s exposure
to BPA. This information can be
found at www.hhs.gov/safety/bpa/
-fda.gov
ATTORNEYS
PAUL & LAURA
O’FLANAGAN
PROGRESSIVE & LOCAL
FAMILY LAW FIRM
OFFERING:
WILLS, TRUSTS, TAX,
ESTATE PLANS, PROBATE,
GUARDIANSHIP & FAMILY
ASSISTANCE TO
EASTSIDE FOLKS
AT LOW COST.
CAL L : 6 08 -63 0 -5 06 8
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Willy Street Co-op Reader, March 2010
25
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Willy Street Co-op Reader, March 2010
LISTING INFORMATION
We welcome your submissions
to the Community Calendar.
Please send via mail or via email
to l.wermcrantz@willystreet.
coop. Submissions must be received by the 5th of each month
for inclusion in the following
month’s issue. If space is constrained, priority will be given
to those pertaining to food and
farming, health and wellness,
environmental, and neighborhood events.
Buddhist Chanting
Mondays (1st, 2nd, 3rd of each
month), March 1st, 8th, 15th, 6:45–
8:00pm. No experience necessary.
Everyone welcome! Donations accepted. Please contact the Tao Sangha
Center at 257-4663 or usa@taosangha.
com and visit www.taosangha-na.com.
A Course in Miracles
Introduction
Every Monday at 7:15pm. Join
us for a joyful, daring, and amazing
meeting of self-discovery that is A
Course in Miracles. By entering into
a series of “now” moments, you can
experience a new sense of time. This
simple teaching makes full use of miracles, as the human condition requires
nothing less. What have you got to
lose? Join us at the Center for Conscious Living, 849 East Washington,
Suite 118 (corner of Paterson). Alden
& Darla Hughes, 608-254-5275, or
[email protected].
Empowerment Through
Movement: A Therapy
Group for Women
Wednesdays, March 3rd–May
12th. 6:30pm–8:00pm. Would you
like to feel more connected and in tune
with your body? Hancock Center for
Dance/Movement Therapy is offering a 10-week Empowerment group.
This group will incorporate the use of
movement as a vehicle to creatively
explore blocks to feeling connected
to one’s authenticity and power. We
will use movement expression, relaxation and discussion to explore client
centered issues such as body awareness, self-worth, healing, relationships
with others and setting boundaries. No
prior dance or movement experience
necessary! Therapists Grace Valentine, MA, BC-DMT, DTRL, LPC and
Robyn Lending Halsten, MA, BCDMT, DTRL, LPC. $35/week, for 10
weeks. Call for info or to register 2510908 or www.hancockcenter.net.
A Time for Moms: A
Self-Care Class
First Saturday of the month,
March 6th, April 3rd, May 1st,
10:00am–12:00pm. Begin the new
season energized. Learn calming
strategies that are simple enough to
do anytime and anywhere! This class
provides a space for moms to join
together to honor ourselves and our
bodies using a combination of dance,
play, meditation, relaxation exercises
and journaling. Ann Wingate, the
class facilitator, is a state-licensed
dance/movement therapist and a mom.
$30 each class or register for the series
of three for $75. Hancock Center for
Dance/Movement Therapy. Call for
info 251-0908 or www.hancockcenter.
net. Drop-ins welcome.
Healthy Bones, Naturally
Saturday, March 20th, 9:00am–
5:00pm. A workshop for those wondering what they can do to strengthen
their bones and avoid fractures,
regardless of the current state of their
bone health. We will discuss bone
physiology, fracture risk factors,
eating for healthy bones, managing
stress, and safe movement at any
age. At Well Within Center for Yoga
& Health, 715 Hill St. Cost: $100
before March 6th; $120 after March
6th. For info: www.WellWithinMadison.com or 608-236-9138.
Weston A. Price
Foundation—Madison
Chapter Meeting
Monday, March 22nd, 7:00pm,
Wil-Mar Center, 953 Jenifer St.
Nutrient-dense foods, education
and activism. The public is invited.
For more info, call Carolyn at 2218696 or see http://my.madison.com/
Groups/Madison_WAPF.
Tao Sangha Open House
Friday, March 12th, 7:00pm–
9:00pm. Stop in anytime to learn more
about the health classes, practices and
aid projects of Madison’s Tao Sangha
Center. Come to enjoy a slideshow
and refreshments in good company.
Please contact the Tao Sangha Center
at 257-4663; 2330 Willard Ave. or
[email protected] and visit www.
taosangha-na.com.
Charity Shiatsu and Chair
Massage for Haiti:
Fundraiser for Haitian
Community Hospital
Sunday March 28th, 10:00am–
4:00pm. Combine relaxation and donation by receiving 10 or 30 minutes of
Tao Shiatsu or Chair Massage. 100%
of proceeds will go to the hospital.
Adults and children welcome. Please
reserve an appointment by contacting
the Tao Sangha Center at Tao Sangha
Center, 2330 Willard Ave., 257-4663
or [email protected].
Growing Food and
Community in the City
Tuesday, March 9th at 7:00pm.
Come and hear Will Allen, CEO of
Growing Power, in the Atrium Auditorium at the First Unitarian Society of
Madison (900 University Bay Dr.) as
he tells the story of his pioneer work
founding the non-profit organization Growing Power. Growing Power
raises 159 varieties of food, including fruits, vegetables, animal forages,
goats, ducks, bees, turkeys and—in an
aquaponic system designed and built
by Allen—tilapia and Great Lakes
perch.
Keeping your Travels
Green
Wednesday, March 17th,
6:30pm, Goodman Community Center, 149 Waubesa St., Bolz A meeting
room. Every time you step out your
door to take a trip, you have choices
you can make that will make your
trip greener. Whether it is the mode
of travel, the place you stay, where
you eat or buy your picnic lunch and
what you do for fun. Supporting the
local economy while respecting local
culture and the environment form the
core of green or sustainable travel.
Join Liz Wessel, owner of Green Concierge Travel, to explore green travel
options and to share your ideas.
Willy Street Co-op Reader, March 2010
27
Not all birthing centers
are created equal.
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Experience Natural Childbirth at Madison Birth Center
sunparalleled support before, during and after your baby’s birth
sincreased breast feeding success
sincreased control & satisfaction
sreduced risk of c-sections
We’re giving you a choice.
(608) 821-0123
s
madisonbirthcenter.com
Book
Now for
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Find your path at
Wildwood Institute
Herbal
Traditions
Science &
Intellect
Intuition
Spring apprenticeship program starts in April 2010
Class size limited - Apply by March 15 to reserve your place
• The science and tradition of
herbal medicine
• Using herbs safely & effectively
for common health problems
(608) 663-9608
•
•
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Making herbal medicines
Home apothecary
Outdoor herb walks
Wild foods & Nutrition
www.wildwoodherbs.com
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