Twice a year, during our Eat Local Challenges, the Belfast Co-op collaborates with other community organizations to bring the importance of locally grown food to the forefront. Last November we partnered with Maine Farmland Trust whose mission is to preserve Maine’s rapidly decreasing farmland. This March we are partnering with MOFGA, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, in order to highlight the ecological benefits of small, local & organic farms. MOFGA’s mission is to “…help farmers and gardeners: grow organic food, fiber and other crops; protect the environment; recycle natural resources; increase local food production; support rural communities; and illuminate for consumers the connection between healthful food and environmentally sound farming practices.” To find out more about MOFGA visit their website at http://www.mofga.org/.

For our March Challenge, we encourage your participation in one of three ways: educate yourself on the impact of your food choices on our environment, boost the local economy by spending $15/wk on local food, and celebrate the Eat Local Challenge with local food and entertainment.

On March 9^th, Jean English will talk with us on how to get our organic gardens going for the season; her talk will encourage us to not only improve our personal food security by “growing our own” but also provide pointers on how to do so without synthetic and chemical fertilizers or pest control that can have damaging environmental and personal health consequences.

On March 23rd the “Big River Harvest Tour” will be coming to Belfast. Join us for a screening of the short version of “King Corn” and its sequel “Big River” along with a discussion led by Heather Spalding of MOFGA about the connections between agriculture and the health of our environment. Resources are also available throughout the store and on our website to provoke thoughtful contemplation on this topic.

Participants can also challenge themselves to boost our local economy by spending $15 a week on locally-grown foods. Participants of previous Challenges may notice that we’ve upped the ante on participation for this March by $5. All customers who spend $15 on 100% Maine-grown products during a shopping trip will be eligible to enter a raffle for a local foods gift basket valued at $100 and chock full of delicious offerings. In order to encourage participation in the Challenge, the Co-op will be placing a number of qualifying items on sale during the month of March; look for more info about what is local and on-sale by picking up a sales flyer at any one of the front registers. If you are stumped about what to cook with what’s available this time of year, you can visit our recipe board at the end of aisle 2 for at least 15 ideas.

And finally, join us on March 24th for our Eat Local Challenge Celebration. Since our previous late winter Challenge in March 2009, the Co-op has been working to quantify the impact that the growth of the local foods movement is making on our community. We’ve been tracking our weekly sales of 100% Maine-grown products, and, with community input, have conducted a thorough inventory of the necessary elements, both existing and needed, to support a sustainable local foods economy. The celebration will provide us with an opportunity to reflect and measure the substance of what our community has accomplished in previous challenges, and look forward to the new opportunities and avenues for participation.

In addition, along with the traditional local food potluck there will be a Locavore Variety Show. All are welcome to bring a song to share, a poem to read or some other inspiration around local food. We want to encourage you to think outside the box. Just stick with the theme, “local entertainment about locally grown food.”  The celebration will take place from 5pm to 8pm at the UU Church in Belfast and all are welcome to attend. Donations will be accepted to benefit MOFGA.

Look for more information about the Eat Local Challenge at our website as of March 1st, www.belfast.coop. You can also visit our blog for recipes, local food resources and tips and tricks, www.belfast.coop/blog/.

“The Transition Handbook” written by Rob Hopkins
Discussion on Feb. 3, 10, 24 and maybe Mar. 3, 6:30-8:00 pm, Belfast Free Library
Facilitated by Douglas R. Fox, Dir. of Center for Sustainability and Global Change at Unity College.
VIDEO of Rob Hopkins describing his book.

Those interested in signing up for the discussion series, may do so at the Co-op or by calling the Co-op at 338-2532, or call Brenda Harrington at the Belfast Free Library, 338-3884 ext 30.  Books are available for purchase at the Co-op at a discount for discussion participants. You may also check out a copy through the library system while supplies last.

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“The Transition Handbook, from Oil Dependency to Local Resilience” by  Rob Hopkins is a book that is creating a stir in this country, the UK, and Europe. The Belfast Co-op and Belfast Free Library are teaming up to offer a Community Book Discussion series around this book, to begin in February 2010.

The series will kick off on January 26 at 6:30 pm with a short introduction of the Transition Culture concept by Jim Merkel & Susan Cutting (who have attended Transition Culture Trainings) and the showing of the documentary film “Kilowatt Ours: a Plan to Re-Energize America” at the Belfast Free Library.

What makes this energy/environmental book different than the other hundreds out there? It is aptly divided up into 3 parts which the discussion series will center around. The Head –theory behind why peak oil and climate change mean change is inevitable; The Heart -emotional psychological aspects and why having a positive vision is crucial;  The Hands -exploring the practical application of transition from oil to inspiring local resilience.  Hundreds of communities around the world and in this country have formed Community Transition Initiatives modeled on the ideas that have sprung from this book.

Organizers of this book discussion group, Fran Clemson, Bindy Pendleton, and Brenda Harrington are striving to include a diversity of individuals and organizations in this series, which will be limited to 25.   Books are available for purchase at the Co-op at a discount for discussion participants. You may also check out a copy through the library system while supplies last.

Belfast is the hotbed of Local Food Activity. We are doing things in isolated packets all around the State. How can we bring projects together and help to create a viable local food system. The following is a list of what we have for a local food system and what we need. It is not a complete list but is the beginning of trying to identify a just and secure local food system.

Pieces of the Food System We Have

(Participants of the session named farms and organizations that they had a connection with. Not all the pieces were named.)

Organizations

• Belfast Co-op (specializes in local food)
• Farmer’s Market
• Troy Howard Middle School Garden Project
• Crown of Maine Distributors
• Fiddler’s Green Grain Mill
• MOFGA
• Maine Farmland Trust
• Agriculture Extension Service
• Tanglewood
• Fedco
• Food For Maine’s Future
• Cooperative Maine

Grassroots Actions

• Local Foods Momentum in this Area
• Steady Supply of local food at times
• Value added
• Demand
• Pollinators
• Failure of a large corporate food structure (food recalls)
• New Farmer Generation
• Chrissy Fowler
• Belfast Co-op
• Support for Good Food Policy
• Channel 2 Belfast TV
• Belfast Free Library
• WERU
• Murray Carpenter (MPBN)
• Vermont as a Model
• Unity College

Farmers and Fisherfolk

• Meadowsweet Farm
• Teltane Farm
• Peacemeal Farm
• Chases Daily (restaurant and farm)
• Dilly Dally Farm
• Freedom Farm
• Little Garlic Girl Farm
• Village Farm
• Jan and Dean Anderson CSA
• Half Moon Farm
• Fisher Farm
• Sand Hill Farm
• Sewalls Orchard
• Gardiner’s Honey
• Heiwa Tofu
• Hope’s Edge
• After the Fall Farm
• Terra Optima
• Wee Bit Meat
• Caldwell’s meats and milk
• Oyster Creek Mushrooms
• Port Clyde Fisherman’s Co-operative
• Off’s Farm
• White’s Orchard Dairy
• Dickson’s Butter
• (There are many more)

Pieces of the Food System We Need and who we can look to for guidance:

Local Food School- Ag Vo Tech School

• Massachusetts has a model
• John Thurston at Troy Howard Middle School
• John Piotti at Maine Farmland Trust

Maple Syrup Cooperative

• Jennifer Hill of Cooperative Maine

Grains Year Round

• Mark Fulford

Another Sap Pail for local food in Belfast (The Compost Pile)

Fresh Greens Year Round

• Don White
• Elliot Coleman
• Half Moon Gardens
• Andre Bella (has a green house in Belfast that isn’t being used)

Winter Farmers

Collaborative Cooking

Community Root Cellar

Community Gardens

• Freddie La Port
• Marshall Mittnick

Home Gardens-Victory Gardens

• Jan and Dean Anderson

Community Canning/Processing

• MOFGA
• Extension Service
• Soup Kitchen could use canning and gleaning volunteers

Federal and State Support for Small Farmers

• MOFGA
• Food For Maine’s Future
• CDC

Affordable Farmland

Restaurant Support (labels for food when it is local)

• Sam Heyward

Outreach to Youth

• teachers
• MEA
• Belfast Co-op
• Other organizations

Internships & Apprenticeships Programs about local Food (Barter work for education)

• WOOFERS volunteer on farms around the world for room and board
• Farm link

Awareness about responsible consumption vs over consumption.

• Waste, climate change….the broad picture….the real cost of cheap food
• Composting City wide, Human manure
• Mark Dittrick (Waste Management Specialist)
• Vermont model

Your comments and contributions are welcome.

Topics in the news:

Copenhagen re-cap:

Only the numbers count—and they add up to hell on earth by Bill McKibben, 16 Dec 2009

Meat-Eating and Climate Change

Organics and Climate Change

The Organic Revolution, How do we Stop Global Warming?

Resources:

Cooperatives Addressing the Climate Threat

Cool Foods Newsletter

350.org

CommonDreams.org

Dry it, freeze it, can it or ferment it. There are many ways that you can “put by” or store produce when it is in season so that it will be available to you year round.  If you aren’t familiar with these techniques, maybe now is the time to learn.  Both MOFGA and the UMaine Co-operative Extension offer workshops on food preservation, or you can find how-to materials at your local library.

Stock up!: Buy an abundance of produce when it is in season.  It will save you money and make you feel rich in food security when you bring home that bushel of onions.

Consider joining a CSA. A Community Supported Agriculture program can keep you in fresh produce throughout the year.  And you get the benefit of knowing that you are directly supporting the livelihood of another member of your community.  Put a face with your food!  To find a Community Supported Agriculture program near you, pick up a handout at the Co-op or download a list of CSA’s sorted by county from MOFGA’s website:  www.mofga.org

Grow it! Imagine being able to eat your very own locally grown food this year.  You could grow a small container garden on your porch, convert some of your lawn into an edible landscape, or join or start a community garden.  A small windowsill herb garden could be kept going through the winter so you have fresh seasonings throughout the year.  Contact  Carolyn Pressley or Marshall Mittnick at 338-0842  for more information about the community garden project in Belfast.

Clean out your closet. A closet in an unheated room of your house could be the perfect area for storing an abundance of root crops during the winter.  Get ready by finding a new home for closet clutter and read up about innovative methods for winter storage.  Try Root Cellaring by Mike and Nancy Bubel.

Talk to your farmers: Farmers may have other products that they don’t make available for sale at market, or might be able to sell to you in bulk quantities.  Farmers are also often in touch with other producers and growers that you don’t see at your local farmer’s market and could put you in touch with other resources for local ingredients that you are looking for.

Ask at a Food Co-op: Your local food co-op buys from many local growers. Don’t hesitate to ask about pre-ordering local foods in bulk when they are in season. Sometimes we can also special order items that are not on the shelf.

More Information

Start with those changes easy to work into your life, or challenge yourself to adopt all ten. Either way you’ll be making a choices that benefit our one and only planet.

1. Organic food. By choosing to eat organically, you can reduce the number of harmful pesticides and chemicals that get applied to our food, fiber, and animal feed crops, which means these chemicals stay out of our soils, out of our water supply, out of our air, out of our food, and off of our farmers.
2. Local food. Local foods (foods grown or produced close to your home) don’t have to travel as far to get to your belly, thus reducing the amount of fossil fuels burned in transportation. Less air pollution, less damage to our soils and waters being drilled for oil, and less depletion of this non-renewable resource.
3. In-season food. Consider the difference in food miles traveled between a February strawberry, typically coming Florida or California, and a July strawberry, which is available locally. Again, energy is saved in the transportation and storage process. You might also consider the amount of energy input needed to keep a hot house tomato plant thriving in the middle of a Maine winter vs. the energy needed to vine-ripen a tomato in the middle of August.
4. A plant-based diet. Raising livestock and poultry on an industrial/factory scale requires inputs of synthetic medications, antibiotics, and chemicals to keep animals healthy, depletes the health of the soils where they are most often times confined, creates pollution problems related to the disposal of large amounts of animal wastes, and requires vast amounts of land-much of which has to be converted into pasture from native prairie and old-growth forests. Limiting your meat-intake, purchasing “pastured” poultry and meat products, or foregoing meat all together can help ensure that the earth can maintain diversity, health, and balance in its ecosystems.
5. Food from small, family farms. Industrial fruit, vegetable, and grain production is not without its destructive consequences either. Large-scale agriculture also requires large scale equipment requiring fossil fuels to plant, weed, and harvest those crops. Big equipment can compact soil and deplete it of its vitality, leading to an increased risk of erosion or salinization (too much salt), neither of which are conditions that can sustain life. Restoring depleted soils and their fragile ecosystems is an energy- and input-intensive process.
6. Fair-Trade Certified food. TransFair USA is a U.S.-based non-profit organization that certifies Fair Trade products based on decades old, internationally recognized standards which require producers to adhere to—and continually improve upon – sustainable environmental practices. Harmful agrochemicals, and GMOs are strictly prohibited in favor of environmentally sustainable farming methods that protect farmers, families and communities, and preserve valuable ecosystems for future generations.
7. Avoid fast food “restaurants.” See above commentary on eating a plant-based died. Fast-food joints source their meat products almost exclusively from Confined-Animal Feedlot Operations (CAFO) and use a wide-variety of chemical and synthetic ingredients to preserve, flavor, and cook their offerings. These chemical ingredients (and antibiotics and hormones) are bad for you, and become bad for the planet once they have made their way through your digestive tract and taken up new residence in our soils and water where they may or may not biodegrade.
8. Bring your own. . . . coffee mug, silverware, to-go containers, bags, etc. Keep them in your car so you can always have them on hand in case you find yourself hungry and with only disposable options for transporting your food or beverage of choice. And it’s really okay to bring your own to-go container to a restaurant. They might look at you funny the first time, but we can train them if everyone makes the effort, and think of all the styrofoam and/or plastic containers you can keep out of the landfill!
9. Buy in Bulk. It saves a lot of excess packaging. For example, we open 1 25# bag of brown rice and recycle the paper bag that it has been sent to us in. If our customers decided instead to buy the pre-packaged variety, conveniently available in 1# packages in most stores, then there are 25 packages to throw away, which may or may not be recyclable or re-useable. When you bring your own container to fill again and again, then only one piece of packaging has entered the wastestream/recyclestream/landfill.
10. Compost Don’t send those uneaten foodstuffs to the landfill to fester in amongst all those plastic bags. Turn them into the fertile basis for new life. It’s easy and rewarding. Don’t have a corner in the back-yard to grow a heap of black gold? Find a farmer, who will most likely be more than happy to take your food wastes off your hands. Find easy directions for getting started at www.howtocompost.org.

p.s. Remember when “50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth” was published back in the 1989? It was such a timely, useful, and empowering resource that authors John, Sophie, and Jesse Javna have recently put out a new edition, for sale at the Co-op.

• Healthy Heart Guide

• Healthy Recipes at the Cardiology Associates

• Recipes from the American Heart Association

• Healthy Heart Handbook for Women

• Heart Health projects in Maine

Cooking soup is easy once you understand the basics. Really great information is available through our local library system where you can take out cookbooks or cooking shows. Don’t forget about inter library loans.

My family has enjoyed watching the old Julia Child Cooking shows and I’ve discovered a really good book about making soup. It’s by Barbara Kafka and it is called “Soup, A Way of Life”.

You can also learn about soup making at the Belfast Co-op’s “Eat Healthy on a Budget” class at the UU Church on January 25th from 1-3 pm. At this free class, co-sponsored by the UU Church of Belfast, you will learn about basic soup making while enjoying hot soup and good company.

According to Global Exchange at www.globalexchange.org “In today’s world economy, where profits rule and small-scale producers are left out of the bargaining process, farmers, craft producers, and other workers are often left without resources or hope for their future. Fair Trade helps exploited producers escape from this cycle and gives them a way to maintain their traditional lifestyles with dignity.”

Fair Trade does not try to compete with local jobs. According to the Fair Trade Federation “Fair trade seeks to change the lives of the poorest of the poor who frequently lack alternative sources of income. As North American fair trade organizations grow, they employ more and more individuals in their communities. Most fair trade craft products stem from cultures and traditions which are not represented in North American production. Most fair trade commodities, such as coffee and cocoa, do not have North American-based alternatives.”

History

In 1946 Edna Ruth Byler visited a Mennonite sewing class in Puerto Rico. She found the lace work of these hard working women to be beautiful, which contrasted with the extreme poverty in which they lived. She began to bring their work back to the US to sell so that she could send them the money, helping to alleviate their poverty. In 1958 she opened her first fair trade shop and is now the largest fair trade retailer in North America. To find out more about her organization visit www.tenthousandvillages.com.

Other groups have developed over the years to create a network of support for the fair trade movement. The World Fair Trade Organization (IFAT) was founded as a global network of committed fair trade organizations who’s aim is to improve the lives of disadvantaged people through trade and to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and information amongst the organizations. The Fair Trade Federation is a North American based organization whose purpose is to create partnerships between retailers and producers based on their goal to alleviate poverty.

Fair Trade is certified by an organization called Fairtrade Labeling Organizations International (FLO), an umbrella organization which sets the fair trade certification standards and supports, inspects, and certifies disadvantaged farmers. In 1999, FLO affiliates TransFair USA and TransFair Canada opened in North America.

This holiday season, consider making a positive impact on our planet by buying fair trade gifts for your loved ones. Fair Trade is a business model that empowers poor communities by ensuring a living wage, appreciating their unique culture, assisting them in becoming stewards of the earth, ensuring the rights of children, improving their living standard and creating sustainable economic opportunities.

The Belfast Co-op carries certified Fair Trade gifts, coffees, bananas and other products. Visit the Co-op at 123 High St. in Belfast, ME. For more information visit www.belfast.coop or call 338-2532.

By: Fran Clemetson, Education Coordinator at the Belfast Co-operative.