Special Membership Meeting – Jan 28th at Gordon’s Grange

Posted on January 26, 2012 by

RESCHEDULED

Important Yelm Food Co-op
Special Membership Meeting

Saturday, January 28

Gordon’s Grange

12:30 – 1:30 pm 

 Immediately following Yelm Cinema’s showing of “Revenge of the Electric Car.”

Grab a coffee and come by for the meeting!

We’re on the move since last September!

Great things are happening and we want you to know about them!

  • Come find out about the New Coop Organization – and How this Change Benefits the Community.
  • Come find out about the New Membership Structure – and How this Change Benefits YOU!­­­
  • Plus!  Find out about the new programs and opportunities to give back to the community – Farmers’ Market, Community Gardens and more!

Bring your family and friends – membership is not required to attend!

 

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Long Term Study Supports Organic Farming

Posted on January 24, 2012 by

organic foodA recent article on Planet Save reports on a 30-year, side-by-side farming study has found that organic farming methods at Pennsylvania’s Rodale Institute beat conventional farming methods in every category.

Among other things the study found that organic farming is more profitable in the long run for farmers, creates healthy soil and is hugely more energy efficient.

From the article:

This is indeed good news and supports your Co-op’s long standing opinion that organic matters. And as we develop our Farmer-Direct program, we will be looking for farmers that produce organic food, whether they have met all the USDA requirements or not.

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Organic Food – The Controversy Continues

Posted on January 24, 2012 by

organic food“Does eating right mean eating organic?” This is the title of a Jan 18th, 2012 article on the Medill Reports website. These reports are written and produced by graduate journalism students at Northwestern University’s Medill school.

If you are following this issue, then you know there are two polar opposite attitudes to it. Here are 2 examples from the article:

Connie Migliazzo discovered her passion for organic living at the University of Virginia, where she helped build the school’s first community garden.

“Conventional agriculture is made up of acres and acres of monoculture farms that may look efficient, but in reality are destroying the soil, and depleting the biodiversity of both soil organisms and pollinating insects,” Migliazzo said.

On the other side:

Jessica Crandall, registered dietician and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics headquartered in Chicago, has witnessed controversy over eating organic.

“I have a lot of clients who get upset when I tell them they don’t have to eat organic,” she said.

While Crandall does recommend eating organic or hormone-free meat, she said organic fruits, vegetables and dairy aren’t different than their conventional counterparts.

One of the reasons that our Co-op supports the “Know Your Farmer” idea is that when you start getting close to the source of your food, and the source starts getting close to you, you can make better decisions. We also hope that the farmers you do know, have found the way to produce healthy, nutritious food without the risks associated with the heavy use of pesticides and other toxins that many farmers seem to think is necessary.

Watch for more articles here are our developing Farmer-Direct program in which we will be finding the best farmers and food we can for our members and customers.

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URGENT – GMO Free Washington meeting

Posted on January 23, 2012 by

Two bills have just been introduced to the Washington Legislature: SB 6298 and HB 2637, both of which address the labeling of GMOs. And they are both up for public hearing this coming week.

The Senate bill on Thursday, January 26 at 10:00 am in the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Water & Rural Economic Development; and the House bill on Friday, January 27 at 8:00 am in the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources.

We have a chance to win our right to know about GMOs in our food in Washington State, but we must act fast!

SB 6298 is scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Water & Rural Economic Development at 10:00 AM on Thursday, January 26, 2012.

HB 2637 is scheduled for public hearing in the House Committee on Agriculture & Natural Resources at 8:00 AM on Friday, January 27, 2012.

Monsanto will be there telling them to NOT label YOUR food.

Will you be there? We need 200 people in Olympia

We need you to get these bills passed! Here’s what you can do:

  • Write your state reps to ask them to cosponsor the bills.
  • Write your state senators to ask them to cosponsor SB 6298.
  • Call your state reps to ask them to cosponsor HB 2637.
  • Call your state senators to ask them to cosponsor SB 6298.
  • Come to the hearings in Olympia! RSVP for a bus ride from Seattle to Olympia Thursday. RSVP for a bus ride from Seattle to Olympia Friday.
  • Donate to the Organic Consumers Fund so we can reimburse the travel costs of supporters who couldn’t otherwise attend the hearings.

Learn more and get involved at GMOFreeWashington.com which is a Facebook page. Sign in and “Like” this page and then ask your FB friends to do the same.

P.S. If you need some information when you talk to your state representative or senator, here are some in this blog post called 10 Reasons to Avoid GMOs

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Special Membership Meeting Jan 21st POSTPONED

Posted on January 20, 2012 by

Due to the wide spread power outages in the Yelm area that my last through the weekend, the Special Membership Meeting that was planned for Jan 21st has been postponed.

Check back here and check your emails for updates.

It will still be a very important meeting and we want all our members to show up!

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