FBFC Newsletter November

The Co-op has many options for your holiday table this year!

We will be selling 3 types of turkey: Natural, Organic & Local.

• Natural turkeys will be coming from Murray’s & Koch farms. These birds are humanely raised with natural feed. No antibiotics or hormones.

Sizes will be 12-26# for $3.99/#.

• Organic turkeys are coming from Organic Prairie and are certified Organic. Sizes will be 8-16# for $4.99/#.

• Local turkeys are coming from Blue Ridge Mountain Foods, Balsam Gardens & hickory Nut Gap. These turkeys are humanely raised with natural feed. No antibiotics or hormones. Sizes will be 14-24# for $4.99/#.

All turkeys are $1 off/# for current owners! This is a great time to renew or become a new owner! All reserved turkeys require a $25 deposit, you can do this at any register.

In addition, we have two alternative offerings this holiday.

Local food company No Evil Foods is offering a Pardon Roast, a vegan, festive roast made from local sweet potatoes, shittake mushrooms, onions, garlic & locally made balsalmic vinegar for $19.99. Come and sample on Saturday November 8, 2-5pm. Pre-orders are being taken at the Co-op.

We are also working with The Farm Sanctuary’s Adopt a Turkey Project.

Since 1986, Farm Sanctuary’s Adopt a Turkey Project has encouraged people to save a turkey at Thanksgiving through sponsorships that help us rescue animals and provide care for them at our sanctuaries, as well as educate and advocate for turkeys and other farm animals everywhere.

For a one-time donation gift of just $30, anyone can sponsor a turkey. As a turkey sponsor, you will receive a special Adopt a Turkey certificate with a color photo of and fun details about your new friend.

Turkey sponsorships also make perfect gifts, so make an even greater impact this holiday season by sharing the love with others. More details at the Co-op.

Bobby Sullivan General Manager

Sage Turner

Finance & Project Manager

Clare Schwartz

Outreach Co+ordinator

Ryan Prenger

Grocery Manager

Darren Stroupe Produce Manager

Greg Mosser Deli Manager

Melissa Fryar

Health & Body Care Manager

FBFC Board of Directors Justina Prenatt President

Danielle Goldstein, Vice President

Jennifer Gustafson Secretary

Bob LeRoy Treasurer

Sarah Oram Alanna Hibbard Kelly Fain Pauline Heyne Josh Littlejohn Daav Wheeler Rosemary Fletcher Jean Karpen Board Assistant

French Broad Food Co-op 90 Biltmore Ave. Asheville, NC 28801 Tel:828.255.7650 info@frenchbroadfood.coop

Monday-Saturday 8am to 9pm Sunday 11am to 7pm

Turkeys Sleep In Trees Because turkeys are so large and heavy — with the heftiest wild turkey weighing 37 pounds (17 kilograms), according to the National Wild Turkey Federation — it’s often assumed that these big birds stick to the ground. In fact, turkeys prefer to sleep perched atop tree branches, where they are safe from predators, which include coyotes, foxes and raccoons. They often sleep in flocks, and upon waking, call out a series of soft yelps before descending to make sure that the rest of their roosting group is okay after a night of not seeing or hearing one another.

fact credit -www.livescience.com

Giving Thanks for Cooperative Economics Bobby Sullivan, General Manager Thanksgiving is around the corner and as it’s widely recognized as a time to give thanks for one’s blessings, I will be giving thanks for co-ops. It is amazing to me that there is not more of a national sense of urgency for cooperative economics, given that the excesses of Wall Street almost totally collapsed our financial system. I’m so passionate about this in fact, I even had a meeting with the headliner of the last LEAF Festival, Talib Kweli, to implore him to rap about it.

What’s not to love? Co-ops are non-partisan and they build quite the community infrastructure. They enhance food security, economic stability, community participation, accountability, leadership skills, all while providing better wages and engaging in better environmental practices. They’re the answer to the Occupy Movement, without having to be confrontational.

For all these reasons, I thought Talib would be pretty receptive, so I gave him a co-op hoodie and copy of my new favorite book, Collective Courage. I had recently been on a conference call with the author, as part of the Diversity Committee for the National Cooperative Grocers Association, of which we are a member. Her work is groundbreaking indeed and needs to be read by all. Diversity is something we are working on as a national group, because our food co-ops need to get better at attracting participation from a wider swath of our local populations. Her work not only fills in the gaps of a missing history, it highlights the importance of coops in general.

Her name is Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard and the full title of the book is Collective Courage – A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought & Practice. It’s available online, but it may be a good idea to get your favorite local book store to order it for you. In it she profoundly points out that “according to the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), in 1994 the United Nations estimated that ‘the livelihood of nearly 3 billion people, or half of the world’s population, was made secure by co-operative enterprise’ and the cooperative movement has continued to grow.” (pg. 3) The book contains the most comprehensive history to date of African American co-ops. Following up on W. E. B.Dubois’ 1907 work, Economic Cooperation Among Negro Americans, Nembhard details the work of such stalwarts as Dubois, Marcus Garvey, Fannie Lou Hammer, Ella Jo Baker, the Black Panther Party and the Nation of Islam. It is telling that more of this incredibly rich history has not been significantly commented on since 1907. Pointedly she highlights the fact that “economic participation in cooperatives increases the capacity to engage in civic and political participation and leadership development. Cooperatives also increase women’s economic participation,

control over resources and economic stability, with important implications.” (pg. 25) Much of the cooperative economic activity she reports on was supported by the Cooperative League of American or CLUSA, which started in 1916 and eventually changed its name to the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA). Our co-op works both with the ICA and the NCBA through our national organization. In fact we worked with the ICA to get the facts about how co-ops compare to other stores, which are now on our bright colored bags and on posters in the store.

The ICA is a non-profit international association established in 1895 to advance the co-operative social enterprise model, today hailing from Brussels, Belgium. It has 267 member organizations from 96 countries active in all sectors of the economy. Together these co-operatives represent nearly one billion individuals worldwide. This alliance provides a global voice and forum for knowledge, expertise and coordinated action for and about co-operatives, ranging from banking, agriculture, fisheries and insurance, to food, health, and housing. It includes both consumer co-operatives, and worker co-operatives.

Their 2020 vision seeks to build on the achievements of the United Nations’ International Year of Co-operatives and the resilience demonstrated by the co-operative movement since the great financial collapse. By pursuing the strategy outlined in their Blueprint for a Cooperative Decade, they aim to make 2011-2020 a “decade of confident growth.” They report, “the International Year of Co-operatives had a number of significant achievements, but they need to be seen in the context of the dominant emerging trends that are likely to shape our politics, societies and economies for the foreseeable future. Co-operatives already make a significant contribution towards alleviating these pressing global problems. But, with appropriate support and greater understanding and recognition, they could contribute much more.

The Alliance is invigorating its commitments to serve the global co-operative community with exciting Blueprint initiatives, and members worldwide are adapting the strategy to their local realities. Join us in achieving our 2020 vision.” (from ica.coop) The overall idea of their Blueprint is to help create the kind of growth by 2020, which will make all of us able to look back at 2012 as a turning point in taking the co-operative way of doing business to a new level. In their report, which was adopted by their General Assembly at the end of 2012, the idea was that by 2020 cooperatives would become, “the acknowledged leader in economic, social and environmental sustainability, the model preferred by people and the fastest growing form of enterprise.” Here’s more: “The co-operative model is a commercially efficient and effective way of doing business that takes account of a wider range of human needs, of time horizons and of values in decision-making. It is an approach which works on a very small, and on a very large scale. The co-operative sector is worldwide, providing millions of jobs around the globe. Co-operatives develop individual participation, can build personal self-confidence and resilience, and create social capital. Co-operative institutions create long-term security; they are long-lasting, sustainable and successful.”

Blueprint for a Co-operative Decade

Nourishing Our Community Sarah Oram, FBFC Board Member

How Your Co-op uses your purchases to build and strengthen Asheville Believe it or not, the Co-op is not just another natural foods grocery store.

Your Co-op is governed by a global ends policy that states it shall be “a transformative force in our community…that nurtures economic and social well-being”. With that mandate, the staff, General Manager and the Board, each year, seek to support organizations in our area that also meet those criteria. We do this because we believe that investing in the health, education and well being of Asheville community makes us all better and healthier together.

Green Opportunities (GO) has been one of the Co-op’s strongest ongoing relationships. GO helps youth and adults living in poverty to get and keep jobs and improve community and environmental health. The Co-op is currently working with GO to address issues facing residents in Asheville’s food deserts, areas where residents have no or limited access to high quality food stores. Ensuring access for all Asheville residents to high quality food is a top priority for our Co-op.

The Co-op is the main sponsor of LEAF. LEAF in Schools & Streets(LSS) supports bringing local artists and teachers of arts (dance, music, movement) into the Asheville City School system. Through LSS, the Co-op also supports the program, In Real Life , which provides high quality learning for middle school students in afterschool. High quality education for all children is also a top priority for our Co-op.

This year’s Urban Homestead Fair featured over 30 vendors and educators presenting agricultural and sustainability ideas and products to the public.

This included extensive education for the public on bee keeping, mushroom growing, poultry raising, how to’s on mead, bread and herbal medicines production, permaculture, alternative energy, small scale farming and fermentation. The Co-op believes that inspiring the public to grow and make

high quality food and supplements for their personal good health is a huge step toward creating a healthier community.

The Co-Op has significantly increased its sponsorship of empowering educational presentations about health and nutrition, both at the Co-op and offsite.

The Co-op is a sponsor of the work of Living Web Farms whose hands on education for our community about organic and sustainable food production makes us all stronger and healthier together. Presentations cover proper techniques for soil preparation, tomato growing, fermenting and six figure farming techniques for small plots. Teaching local growers how to safely grow and financially sustain their production is another top priority for the Co-op.

The Co-Op joined the Go Local Card program which supports the Asheville City Schools Foundation. Through this, we were able to offer our organic high quality foods at a discount to many shoppers.

Finally, the Co-op made strategic investments in the form of food to many important local organizations involved in the struggle to ensure that all persons, regardless of income, have access to a nutritious and affordable diet and to education for healthy self care: Ujaama Freedom Market, Women’s Wellbeing & Development Fund. Asheville Buncombe Food Policy Council, Manna Food Bank, the American Herbalist Guild, the WNC Birthing Center and most recently, the screening of the movie GMO-OMG at AB Tech.

As we enter this season of giving thanks and sharing with those we love, I find myself as a longtime shopper and a Board member of the French Broad Food Co-op so grateful that we Ashevillians have this choice to shop at the Co-op where our purchases support our community in so many important ways: ensuring affordable access to high quality food for all residents, enriching education for children and creating healthy and informed growers and public. I hope you will share this gift with those you love!

The French Broad Food Co-op Honors

Roz Marlowe for over 29 years of service and education to our customers and staff.

Everybody loves Roz. Dr. Roz, as her friends and co-workers affectionately call her, has been an incredible resource and asset for Asheville during her 29 years at the Co-op. Her customer service and knowledge of the Wellness Department, not to mention her straight talk, have been essential to countless numbers of people.

When you’re talking to her, Roz is the kind of person who beams a light into your eyes that makes you feel loved and cared for. Her wit is unmatchable, her candor refreshing and her smile very comforting. To the staff she’s a mother figure, a good friend and a treasure trove of stories that everyone listens to attentively. Thanks, Roz, for all you do! We love you!

Have you picked up your new Co-op card?

Greetings from the Deli!

As summer slides down the incline into fall, we’re gearing up to bring back a few simple old seasonal treats in the coming weeks. As an example, look for more roasted veggies in the mix – Squash and Pumpkin! Roots! You may have noticed that some winter classics like our baked Mac & Cheese never left our menu for the summer – too much demand! – but they will of course continue to be there through the colder months ahead.

New owner cards are ready for pick up at the registers. Come and get yours today ! Also, Co-op Worker Owners will be making calls to our entire ownership database to make sure we have all of the correct information to reach you and send you updates, deals and coupons. You can update your information over the phone or in the store next time you shop. We look forward to seeing you.

A few words about canola: I’ve received a few comments recently about the use of canola oil in several things we carry in the deli, mostly regarding some of our Hot Bar offerings. I absolutely appreciate customers’ concerns about this ingredient, and we minimize its use as much as we can – but our options in many areas are limited. As you may know, much of our Hot Bar food isn’t made in-house; we don’t have the space or the staff to support such an endeavor, though we’d love to. Instead we source from local companies whenever possible – think Luella’s BBQ or our awesome weekend Southern Grits Bar as currently made for us by the good folks at Asheville Sandwich Company. Alternatively, we buy a few things from larger national manufacturers, available through our distributors (like the food that goes on Monday and Tuesday’s Indian Hot Bar). We can make suggestions to our local suppliers, but they make the final decisions about sourcing for their ingredients. Similarly, we can contact and suggest things to the larger national producers, but as we aren’t even direct customers of theirs, it seems to have little effect.

The upshot of all this is that we can only serve the food that we have available to us. We hope to continue to find more options that meet our requirements, including cost, ‘clean-ness’ of ingredients, etc., that also avoid using some ingredients, like canola oil, that many customers object to – but we’re limited in this search by the lack of choices in the marketplace. If anyone has suggestions for things or sources that might fit the bill, we’re of course always interested to hear about them and check them out – we do want customers to feel good about eating here! Until we can put together the more perfect menu, though, we can only stock the best items that we can get and that customers give us positive feedback about – either by directly saying something about, or by regularly and enthusiastically buying. As with many items in the store, the ultimate choice is the consumer’s, and one of the most immediate ways to get those choices noted is at the register.

Or fill out a comment card! Or come talk to us in the kitchen! We’re listening!

November already!

By Melissa, Health & Body Care Manager

My how the year has flown. Its been lovely to see falls progression, the cooler temps and the change of light that happens this time of year. The mountains never cease to amaze me with their beauty and abundance. This is the time of year that, though there is much busy, I just want to ground in home....put on a big pot of soup, bake all of those fall goodies coming out of the garden such as pumpkins and squash, throw a kettle of tea on the woodstove and just hunker down! Even though it can be difficult to let go of the sun and warmth of summer, there is something kind of wonderful about gathering with friends and family, or even alone, and creating comfort within. This season is also wonderful for all of the varied food traditions many of us have. Here is one of my families favorites:

Ellie’s Pumpkin Cheesecake

Crust: 1 1/4 cup gingersnap crumbs 1/4 cup melted butter Filling: 3- 8oz. packages of cream cheese 1/2 cup sucanat 1/2 cup organic sugar 2 large eggs 1 cup pumpkin puree 1/2 cup sour cream 2 tsp. cinnamon (i love the vietnamese) 1 tsp. ground ginger 1/8 tsp. ground cloves good dash of nutmeg 1 tsp. vanilla extract To make- mix together butter and gingersnap crumbs and pack into the bottom of a buttered springform pan. Set aside. Next, in a stand mixer or food proccessor, whip together the cream cheese and sugars until well blended. Add the remaining ingredients and mix together well. Pour the batter on top of the prepared crust. Bake in a preheated 325* oven for 40 minutes or just until the middle is set.

The sooner you take it out, the creamier it will be. Refrigerate for 24 hours before slicing for best results. This is delicious as is or with fresh whipped cream and, if you want to make this gluten free, just replace the gingersnaps with the gluten free variety or you can omit the crust all together...still delicious!

This recipe is from the famous Ellie in the Deli, an amazing woman and one heck of a cook. She has fed thousands of us over the years...THANKS ELLIE!!!!

I always love to make medicinal broths in the fall. There’s nothing better than warm rich broth on a cold or sickly day. For those of you who are new to broth making, or who just love Sally Fallon and traditional diets, her new book is here! Nourishing Broth- An Old Fashioned Remedy for the Modern World is packed with more great information on the health benefits of a variety of made from scratch broth and delicious recipes. Here is one of my favorite broth recipes that can be adapted to be vegetarian if you wish:

Melissa’s Medicinal Broth

Chicken carcass from baked chicken (omit if vegetarian) A variety of vegetables and scraps (carrot ends, whole onions, celery, etc) A handful of medicinal and culinary herbs- I use astragalus, thyme, garlic, oregano, dandelion and burdock roots and occasionally a ginseng root)

1 cup dried mushrooms (wild and/or cultivated-reishi, turkey tails, porcini, shiitake....Yum!) 1 cup vinegar Water to cover all.

Place all ingredients into a heavy bottom pot and simmer together for 6-24 hours. The longer the better! If you have a woodstove, throw this on top overnight and let it simmer away. Once done, strain all solids and place in fridge or freezer. I use this plain as a soup, as a base for other soups, or to cook grains in. It’s always nice to make up a huge batch to freeze and have on hand. I freeze mine in quart mason jars, so all you have to do is pull one and let it thaw.

We have lots of new products in HBC. The 2015 calendars have arrived!

We have some old favorites like the We’Moon, 2 sizes of the Slingshot, as well as the popular Stella Natura Biodynamic Planting Calendar. We also have some new titles and an assortment of moon calendars. It’s so hard to settle on just one! This is also the time of year when all of the lovely scarves and hats, gloves and armwarmers fill the store! We have opted to go with companies that practice fair trade principles, so you can feel good about your purchase.

In the case of Maggie’s Organics, they are also organic cotton... which is a feat, as about 85% of cotton grown in the US is heavily sprayed with pesticides. These are both eco-concious and beautiful gifts for the season! Pacha Soaps have hit the shelf as well! These are made in the USA and for each bar purchased, they give a bar to someone in need.

This is especially important in countries where basic hygiene is a struggle. The scents include holiday favorites like Lump O’ Coal with activated charcoal and O Tannenbaum with fir, juniper, and cedarwood...and also fun scents for every season such as Pocket Full of Cozy with lavender and lemongrass. Simplers Botanicals is sending new essential oils our way! Cacao (yup, its amazing) manuka, and wild scotch pine, among others.

It is the time for cold and flus! I highly recommend Stephen Buhner’s Herbal Anti Viral & Herbal Anti Bacterial books. He really shares some wonderful plant allies to help overcome a variety of viruses and bacteria. One of my favorite herbs to help during the cold and flu season is the delicious elderberry! As a tea, syrup, or honey...this is a great ally to have on hand during the cold months.

I take mine daily as a preventative. Other favorites for this season are Planetary Formulas Old Indian Cherry Bark Syrup, Herb Pharms’ Super Echinacea, Olba’s Oil blend to open up sinuses and clear congestion (also check out the new Olba’s Tea and Cough Drops), and Dr. Shinghas Mustard Bath. With that group of products, your cold or flu is bound to be cut short! Here is a recipe from a great book- The Home Apothecary by Stacey Dugliss-Wesselman

Cold and Flu Honey

1 part rosemary 1 part elderberry or elderflower 1/2 part ginger 1/2 part lemonbalm Slightly heat honey (don’t overheat, as you will kill all the lovely en-

zymes) and pour over herbs in a clean mason jar. Let sit for 4 weeks and strain (if you like). This can be taken straight or as an addition to your favorite cold season tea as an added boost. Herbal honeys also make great gifts!

We have lots of new books to guide you in your health quests...Nourishing Broths, several new herbals including The Herbalists Bible and The Herbalists Way by the Philips’, and

Peter Holmes duo of books on the Energetics of Western Herbs. This information is so exciting to me...basically how to use the local herbs we so easily find and grow here using the chinese medicinal perspective, which is so in depth. And don’t forget all of the gardening books we have on hand, which are my favorite kind of winter reading. There is something comforting about curling up by the woodstove and reading and dreaming about next years garden plans and abundance to come. Two of my favorites are by Frank Tozer, author of the New Food Garden: The Organic Gardeners Handbook and The New Vegetable Gardeners Handbook. As we are all faced with rising food costs and GMO’s in so many modern foods, I think becoming a gardener, even with a small plot of land or a couple of pots, is a revolutionary act. We need to take our food back! Relearn those old ways which have been lost. Nourish our families with not only great food we have grown, but with the lessons we learn with gardening: living with the seasons, dealing with success and with failure, witnessing the beauty and sheer magic of nature and growing things. I never get tired of witnessing and being part of this cycle!

I hope that, whatever your family traditions, that this year is filled with warmth, laughter, and delicious food! Thank you for letting the co-op be a part of those traditions.

Melissa HBC Manager