September 2007 Vol.36,No.9 phone:215-843-2350 · fax:215 ... · shameless self promotion in the frontpage “interview”about my new book, Blood Poison (Sept. 4, 2007, Penguin Books)

Manager’s Corner Expanded Co-ops

559 Carpenter Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19119

phone: 215-843-2350 · fax: 215-843-6945

www.weaversway.coop

Inside:Product News 3

Infusion & Coffee Co-op 5

Farm Fresh Co-op 9

Suggestions 24

And of course... scads more

Presorted Standard

U.S.

POSTAGE

PAID

Philadelphia, PA

Permit No. 2658

Weavers Way Cooperative Association559 Carpenter Lane · Philadelphia, PA 19119

September 2007

Vol. 36, No. 9

Over the three years that I have beenworking at WW, I have noticed that whenI travel, I like to visit other co-ops. On ourfamily vacation in the Berkshires, I stop inat the Berkshire Co-op in Great Barring-ton, or the Williamstown Co-op. I knowthat many other WW members also dosimilar visits. I hear some wonderful re-ports from members and great ideas.

On a recent trip to Bloomington, In-diana, depositing my firstborn at IndianaUniversity, you would think that all Iwould be thinking about would be howmuch we would miss her around thehouse. But then I realized she wouldprobably be wanting us to leave as soon aswe had her last box in her room. What todo then?

I thought this would be a great oppor-tunity to do some field work on co-op ex-pansion. It is here, in this small Midwest-ern town (small when the university is notin session), that Bloomingfoods Co-op re-cently expanded to their third store withina three-mile radius of the first store. Thehistory of this co-op is similar to ours.Starting in a small location near the Uni-

(continued on page 2)

by Glenn Bergman

Save the DateSaturday, Oct. 20

General Membership

MeetingMeet, Greet, & Eat“Past Meets Future”

details to follow

The last time I tried to interview D.H.Dublin, before the release of his firstnovel Body Trace, I didn’t even have achance. He was holed up in the basementof Weavers Way suffering from first-bookanxiety, refusing to see anyone. EsteemedShuttle editor, Jon McGoran, with hisnebulous connection to Dublin, gracious-ly offered to sit in Dublin’s stead for thatinterview.

Well, Dublin’s anxiety had somewhatabated, as the world has accepted his sta-tus as a bright new voice in the arena ofcrime fiction (“Dublin’s detailedapproach and lively characters make animmersive read” — Publisher’s Weekly).So, in anticipation of the September 4release of Blood Poison, Dublin’s secondvolume in the three-book C.S.U.Investigation series from Penguin, I hadno trouble setting up an interview withthe elusive author well in advance. Then ithappened. And “its” name is Harry Potter.

“In talking about expansion, there are,absolutely, risks,” says Weavers Way BoardPresident Stu Katz. At the same time,“there are also risks in not doing any-thing.” These risks — as well as potentialbenefits — of expansion were on theagenda at the lively and occasionally con-tentious Weaver’s Way Open Meeting onExpansion on July 23rd in the Sanctuaryof Summit Presbyterian Church. In par-ticular, the assembled members discussedproblems with the current Corner Storeon Carpenter Lane and proposals to opena new store, or possibly two new stores, in

Chestnut Hill, Germantown, and/or EastFalls in the near future.

The meeting began with opening re-marks from Stu, emphasizing that whilevarious plans are being developed for ex-pansion, no decision has been made yetand that ultimately the meeting’s goal wasto initiate a conversation. Before openingthe floor to comments, General ManagerGlenn Bergman outlined the longer-termvalues and goals of the Co-op, its currentfinancial situation, history of expansion,the limitations and advantages of the Car-penter Lane location, current considera-

Shuttle EditorShamelesslyPromotes Newest Book

by Chris Kaiser

A Range of Views at Expansion Meeting

(continued on page 22) (continued on page 6)(continued on page 2)


by Jay Winston

Hard to believe we are approachingthe end of the summer. As of early Au-gust, the weather has been cooperating forthe most part, keeping the temperaturefairly reasonable and leaving us with afairly regular soaking via thunderstorms.Though just as we are trying to get our fallcrops started (I know, it seems like we justgot the summer ones in the ground) weare hit with multiple days above 90 de-grees and no rain in sight. That means ir-rigation, which comes from city water that

we pay for, albeit at a lower, communitygarden rate. So David Siller and I runaround trying to keep the ground wetwhere we just sowed seeds of brusselsprouts, broccoli, more kohlrabi (yes!),beets, turnips, radishes, Swiss chard, kale,collards, lettuces and dill. The fields lookdifferent each week as the summer cropsstart to come out and we turn over thebeds, add more compost and put in newcrops. Can’t let any space go unused forlong.

On a bright, clear Saturday morning inmid-July, well-wishers came together atthe Awbury Arboretum to pay tribute toNorma Brooks and mark the dedication ofan attractive new sign and recycled plasticbench that are now in place at the WeaversWay Mort Brooks Memorial Farm. Theoutpouring of love, respect, and admira-tion for Norma, wife of the late Mort

Brooks (Weavers Way co-founder, presi-dent, and treasurer), was impressive, espe-cially to those of us in attendance who hadnot met Norma before or known the fullextent of Norma’s tireless efforts in creat-ing the farm. The event also gave first-time visitors a chance to learn about thefarm and its operation, meet Weavers Wayfarmer David Zeloff and other key per-

New forensics novel from theauthor of Body Trace will try tounseat the latest Harry Potter

Farm Dedication Ceremony Honors Norma Brooks

by Aron Goldschneider

Down on the FarmSummer is Winding Down

MEMBERS GATHERED TO DISCUSS ALL ASPECTS OF WEAVERS WAY’S PLANS FOR

EXPANSION IN THE NEAR AND NOT SO NEAR FUTURE.

PHO

TOBY

JOSH

GIBLIN

DOZENS GATHERED TO THANK NORMA BROOKS FOR HER HARD WORK AND VISION

IN BRINGING THE CO-OP FARM INTO EXISTENCE.

PHO

TOBY

SO

LLEVY

IN THE SECOND HALF OF SUMMER, THE FARM IS VERDANT, LUSH, AND PRODUCTIVE.by David Zelov

PHO

TOBY

SO

LLEVY

PAGE 2 SEPTEMBER 2007THE SHUTTLE

Editor’s Noteby Jonathan McGoran

The Shuttleis printed on 100%

recycled paper

The Shuttle is published by Weavers Way Co-op and is mailed to all members. Deadlines for each issue are

the first of the preceding month.Statement of Policy

Articles should be under 500 words and can besubmitted neatly typed, on disk, or e-mailed [email protected]. Be sure to include yourname, phone number, and membership number.Drop them off by the deadline to the Shuttle mail-box on the second floor of the Co-op. The purposeof the Shuttle is to provide members with informa-tion as well as education about co-ops, health foodpractices, and other matters of interest to the mem-bers as consumers and citizens of the community.

Articles express only the views of the writersand not those of the Co-op or the board of directors,unless identified as such. Articles, letters, comments,criticisms, and suggestions are welcome and shouldbe directed to the editor. Space limitations requirethat the editor has the right to edit all articles.

Ad rates are available upon request, in theadvertising mailbox on the second floor, or atwww.weaversway.coop. All ads must be camera-ready and submitted with payment. Products or serv-ices advertised in this paper should not in any waybe construed to be endorsed by Weavers Way Co-op.

The big story in this issueof the Shuttle, as it has beenfor the last 15 years, is the de-bate over expansion. As members gath-ered on July 23 to discuss the pros andcons, there were many reasons cited forexpansion, including some you might nothave thought of. In addition to claustro-phobia and parking issues is the ineffi-ciency of our current operation, like howwe currently handle products three timesto get them onto the shelves (and that’swhen the cooperators put them in theright place on the first try). Also men-tioned were the risks of not expanding;we might have to cap the size of the mem-bership (not a problem unless you’re oversix foot or 200 pounds).And at this rate,it’s only a matter of time before some Co-op employee goes postal. (There’s a poolon who it’ll be, if you want in).

While some talked about the risk oflosing what makes us special, otherstalked about the benefits of bringing it toothers, or “exporting cooperation.” We’llbe greeted as liberators, they argued, andbesides, the expansion will pay for itself.

In other news, the USDA wants to gasyour nuts. Your almonds, to be specific.The USDA is on the verge of mandatingthat “raw almonds” must be “pasteurized”using either heat or ...chemical fumigants.Raw foods advocates among others, areoutraged, and I sympathize. (Althoughpersonally I find the raw foods diet al-most as disgusting as the whole foodsdiet. Maybe you have to be a vegetarian.)

Local artists are encouraged to sign upon Allens Lane Art Center’s new databaseof local artists. Not only do you becomepart of an essential local artists resource,but you’ll be helping keep our countrysafe from the terrorists.

Finally, I must issue an apology for theshameless self promotion in the frontpage“interview” about my new book, BloodPoison (Sept. 4, 2007, Penguin Books). Ifeel terrible about this abuse of my posi-tion, and I pledge an investigation intothis blatant promotion of both BloodPoison and last year’s critically acclaimedBody Trace (both written under thepseudonym D. H. Dublin). This will notbe swept under the rug, either; I will pub-lish results of the investigations intoBlood Poison and Body Trace, and notburied somewhere, but right there on thefront page. And I’ll keep it on the frontpage until we get to the bottom of it,howver long it takes.

Or until I sell out of books.

The release of the final Harry Potterbook in July shattered Dublin’s confi-dence as it overtook Body Trace’s topspot as the all-time bestselling book at BigBlue Marble Bookstore. Once again,Dublin is hibernating in the bowels of theCo-op, unwilling to come forth even topromote Blood Poison. And once again,McGoran, apparently with nothing betterto do, has stepped into the troubled shoesof his doppelgänger, answering questionsfor deadline-focused journalists, whileensuring that the brilliant Dublin takeshis daily medication.

Chris Kaiser: First of all, how isDublin coping?

Jon McGoran: He’s upset about thewhole Harry Potter thing, but it’s scienceversus magic and in this instance magicwon. I tried to tell him that soon thescales would once again tip in his favor asadults—who were rudely shoved aside bythe hordes of costumed prepubescentPotter fans—regain their courage to pop-ulate the sidewalk outside Blue Marbleand buy Body Trace. Only this time, theycan buy Blood Poison as well.

CK: You have a lot of confidence inthe human condition.

JM: I do. I really do. Psychic scarsfrom hormone-challenged preteens canbe devastating. But in our progressivecommunity, those potentially deep-seatedaffronts don’t take serious hold within thefree-range, pesticide-free cortexes of youraverage Mt. Airy citizen. I can’t speak forthose who eat Scrapple, though.

CK: I love Scrapple.JM: Case closed.

CK: OK, never mind. Can you tell us

about Blood Poison ? JM: Sure. From what Dublin has

told me and my own quick reading,Derek Grant, an environmentalist andvegetarian, dies from an apparentheart attack. But the more that rookieforensics detective Madison Cross(remember her from Body Trace ?)investigates, the less Grant’s “natural”death makes any sense. So, as Madisonentangles herself in the web of Grant’sperverse family, she realizes, to herhorror, that the killer is honing in onher.

CK: Wow! Tell me more.JM: You’ll have to buy the book—

or see the movie when it comes out.

CK: Is there talk of a movie?JM: No.

CK: Who would play you and me?JM: We’re not characters in the book.

CK: Can you ask Dublin to put me inhis next book?

JM: I’m sure the next book, which isthe last in the scheduled three-bookPhiladelphia Crime Scene Unit series, ispretty much completed.

CK: There’s gotta be a reporter inthere somewhere. Reporters are always

hanging out at crime scenes. Just tellDublin to name a reporter Digger, whichis a name I sometimes use on theInternet.

JM: Chris, have you ever covered any-thing more important than zoning meetings?

CK: When your cooperator hours aredue you can interview somebody. You dohave to do cooperator hours, right?

JM: Sorry for the interuption. Can weget back to Dublin’s latest novel?

CK: Sure. In Body Trace, protagonistMadison Cross was brand new to the

sons involved, and observe firsthand thebeauty of the farm and its surroundings.

The Weavers Way Farm was foundedin the year 2000, when Norma Brooksconsidered it high time that contributionsmade to the Mort Brooks Memorial Fund,which were “just sitting in the bank,” beput to use. Her idea was to start a WeaversWay Farm on a plot rented from AwburyArboretum, land that had once beenfarmed by the Arboretum’s members butnow lay fallow. The land now under culti-vation is approximately ¾ of an acre insize, consisting of two plots—a ½- acreplot close to the Farm’s entrance, and anadditional ¼-acre plot a short removeaway on higher ground.

Many of the tributes to Norma fo-cused on her perseverance in overcomingobstacles that might have daunted lesserindividuals before the project got off theground, and her leadership in energizingthe many volunteers that have made thefarm a success. “Norma’s leadership got usto this point,” says farm committee mem-ber and volunteer Mark Klempner.“Everything was a struggle — water,funds, and so much else.”

Farm committee members Liza Haw-ley and Raisa Williams both told of thetravails of “harvesting rocks” in the earlydays of the farm, but also about how re-freshing it was to be on a committee thatdidn’t squabble unnecessarily and whosework was not waylaid by troublesomeegos. Howard Field spoke humorouslyabout his long history of gardening withNorma, and how on this and other proj-ects he had said to her “this is nothing buta weed patch,” only to have her calmly re-

spond, “this goes here, and thatgoes over there!” He said thatthe results showed that “Normawas right and I was wrong.”

Norma’s son Dana, who at-tended the event along withNorma’s other two sons, Joshand Bart, came down fromBoston, bringing with him a$450 contribution to the farmfrom Massachusetts friendswho were sorry that they wereunable to attend. As Norma lis-tened from her seat on thehandsome new bench at oneend of the oval of speakers, Dana relatedconversations he’d had with Norma aboutjust how serious and dedicated the FarmCommittee members and volunteers were,and how they had stuck together, despiteany heated disagreements over what toplant or other matters.

David Zeloff had much good newsabout the progress of the farm and plansfor its future. He reported that the farmhad earned $8,500 wholesale to-date forthe year, more than the five years before,and said that the goal of the Farm was anultimate yearly gross of $60–70,000 anacre, if possible. Most of the produce,David said, was being marketed to theWeavers Way Co-op, though some wasalso being sold across from the Co-op atthe Thursday farmer’s market, by theReading Terminal Fair Food Farmstand,and by the Mariposa Co-op in WestPhiladelphia. He reported that restaurantssuch as Cafette, Black Fish, and the WhiteDog Cafe had expressed interest in thefarm’s products. David spoke of how hewas energized by Norma’s vision of localfarming and community and how enthu-siastic he was about continuing to pursue

the farm’s twin goals of being a commer-cially viable local food enterprise and aneducational center for the region’s chil-dren, with this latter goal fast becoming areality through partnerships with schoolsand applications for grants.

What shone through by the close ofthe event was how Norma had enriched somany people’s lives not only through thefarm project, but also through her pres-ence in the community. Meenal Raval,who runs the farm’s table at the Thursdayfarmer’s market, said that before she cameto Philadelphia, she had heard great thingsabout Mt. Airy and the Co-op, and, inkeeping with the positive things she’dheard, Norma had done so much forher—“much more than farming.” Themost emotional moment of the day camewhen Fishtown resident Katherine Mad-den vowed to try to start a co-op in Fish-town, which already has a farm, as a wayof showing how deeply Norma hastouched her life. Madden, who lost hermother last summer, seemed to expressthe feelings of many attending when shesaid, “Now, Norma is my mom.”

S h ame l e s s S e l f - P r omo t i o n(continued from page 1)

Hon o r i n g N o rma B r o o k s(continued from page 1)

NORMA BROOKS


PHO

TOBY

ARO

NG

OLDSCH

NEIDER

Home DeliveryAvailable to all members

DDeelliivveerriinngg MMoonn.. && WWeeddss..,, 1122--77 pp..mm..Order by PHONE: 215-843-2350, ext. 309

E-MAIL: [email protected]

FAX: 215-843-6945

D. H. DUBLIN, WHO BEARS AN UNCANNY

AND UNFORTUNATE RESEMBLANCE TO

SHUTTLE EDITOR JON MCGORAN.

PHO

TOBY

RPBIN

HITESH

EW

SEPTEMBER 2007 THE SHUTTLE PAGE 3


Howdy, shoppers. Lots of changes inthe grocery aisles lately; here are those fewthat are mentionable in a family publica-tion:

Due to many shoppers’ requests, we’veadded Gaga’s Sherbetter to our freezerline, in four flavors: chocolate, lemon, or-ange, and raspberry. The oddly named“sherbetter” is a hybrid, one might say, be-tween sorbet and ice cream, and co-opstaff raved about it after a recent tasting ata food show. Also in the freezer, Ian’swheat-free gluten-free fish sticks. Thisitem replaces the Omega salmon burgers,which seem to have “slipped off thescreen” and are no longer available fromany distributors.

Big changes in the jam and jellies sec-tion; we’ve replace Cascadian jams withCrofter’s organic spreads and conserves, ineight flavors: black currant, blood orange,mango, four fruit, apple, grape, pome-granate, and “superfruit” (consists of acaiberries, morello cherries, pomegranate,and grape). Crofter’s is much cheaper perounce than Cascadian, and we’re support-ing a small independent jam company(Cascadian isowned by su-permarketgiant Gener-al Mills.)Also new, onthe cerealshelves: Bar-bara’s Grain-shop cereal,brought indue to re-peated shop-per requests.

In thedairy case,look forthe half-gallon sizeof Organ-ic Valleylactose-free milk,which re-places theLactaid“70% lac-tose-freemilk” in the same size. Of all the productsand situations that I inherited as the newgrocery manager three years ago, fewstand out as much as the “70% lactose-free milk.” If you are lactose intolerant,how can you drink something that is only70% lactose-free? If you have no problemwith lactose, wouldn’t you just drink regu-lar milk? Yet this item sold, week afterweek. As intriguing as this mystery hasbeen, we will let it fade into the WW his-tory books.

Before I go, let me mention that Sep-tember is National Emu Egg month atWeavers Way, and these little beauties areON SALE for $4.89 each (reg. $5.71). Ifyou’ve never tried them, now’s the perfecttime to start. See Glenn Bergman’s excel-lent culinary advice on cooking with emueggs in last month’s Shuttle, and see theproduce aisle for the emu egg bin, locatednext to the cantaloupes and honeydews inthe “roundish foods” section. As always,thanks for reading, and my pledge to allCo-op members is to continue to run intoyou...in the grocery aisles.

Rolings Bakery

Round Challahs (Plain, Raisin, Whole

Wheat)

Bagels

Apple cake

Mindy’s/Greenberg Bakery

Challah

Babka

Pound cake

Rye bread

Pumpernickel

Pastries

Goldberg Bakery

Bagels

Rye Bread

Honey cakes

Night Kitchen Bakery

Challah (Round or Twisted)

Honey cakes

Please place bakery preorders by

September 5 for Rosh Hashanah and

September 14 for Yom Kippur.

Acme Smoked Fish

Sliced Nova

Pastrami Nova

Herring (in wine or cream)

White fish

Kippered Salmon

Blue Hill Bay (all natural smoked fish

products)

Sliced Nova

Baked Salmon

Pepper baked Salmon

Herring (in wine or cream)

Banner Smoked Fish

White Fish salad

Kippered Salmon salad

White Fish

Please place deli preorders by

September 2 for Rosh Hashanah and by

September 9 for Yom Kippur.

Weavers Way Deli will also carry our

usual plethora of olives and cheeses.

Squiggle Enamel Saver ToothpasteThis effective and gentle toothpaste is

a long-time Co-op shopper favorite prod-uct. This toothpaste does not contain SLS(sodium lauryl sulfate), flavoring agents(like cinnamon or spearmint), bleaches ortartar control agents. The Squiggle com-pany, which is based inNarberth, tells us thatthe 37% Xylitol helpsto prevent plaque andcavities. We are askedabout products thatcan be helpful forthose who strugglewith issues of “drymouth” and the needfor oral care productsthat sooth and help toprotect. This tooth-paste is recommended for these folks.

New Wave Enviro Products Shoppers sometimes wonder why a

company’s products have been chosen forour shoppers. It’s a question I value be-cause, as a long time Co-op member, it’sone I asked. As a purchaser, it is one I askmyself when I consider adding a newproduct to our shelves. (As we all know,our Co-op is “space challenged” and, assuch, every available nook and cranny thatcan be used for our products is used!) Wecarry many products from New Wave. Youcan purchase their water filters, replace-ment filters, shower filter and the replace-ment filters, polycarb bottles and stainlesswater bottles from this Colorado-basedcompany.

One question we hear is this: why do

we carry polycarbonate water bottles?Some of you know that answer and forthose who do not, here’s the scoop and I’llgive it to you in five parts.

1) Polycarbonate is the hardest andmost durable plastic with a recycle code of7. (Look for the triangle with the digit 7inside to determine that it is polycarbon-ate.) For many people, polycarb bottles

are second to glass.2) It is a glass-like,

nonporous materialand there is no leach-ing of plastic taste.

3) The bottles canbe used over and overagain, thus easinglandfill overflow!

4) The bottles aredurable and will notdistort or rupture un-

der normal conditions for carrying orstoring water.

5) The bottles are easy to clean withdiluted vinegar, baking soda and water.Please see the next paragraph for more onthis.

These bottles can be washed by handusing tap water and dishwashing soap.Some may like to disinfect them usingvinegar, which is considered to be a natu-ral disinfectant. To clean your bottles, use1/2 teaspoon vinegar per quart of water.The bottles can withstand temperaturesup to 250 degrees, so hot tap watershouldn’t be a problem. (Please note thatif the temperature in your dishwashergoes that high or higher, you should NOTto wash your polycarb bottles in the dish-

It’s that time of year again. Anyonewho ever went to school, especially ele-mentary school, in the United States gets akind of thrill in late August — a new year!A fresh start! New clothes! The wonderfulsmell of new books, new crayons!

Recycled produce columns! I say thesame thing every year about this time, so ifyou’re one of my faithful readers (either ofyou), you can skip this column and re-readNorman’s Suggestion column.

If we all ate the recommended eight toten servings of fresh produce every day,we’d be a lot healthier. But how do you getyourself and your family to eat fresh? Hereare the best ideas I’ve collected so far,mostly in an effort to find painless ways toget more fresh fruits and vegetables intomy own family’s diet. If you have moreideas, please tell me, and I’ll make a hand-out to share with members.

When they’re hungry, they will eat.Duh. Present your kids — or yourself —with fresh snacks right after school, whenthey’ll eat anything you give them. Have abig salad ready ten minutes before dinneris ready.

When they‘re watching TV, they willeat. Just give them — or yourself — a plateof fruits and veggies, and stand back.

Have dip, will eat. I don’t know aboutyour kids, but mine would eat cardboard ifI gave it to them with some ranch dip orhummus. Carrots, of course, but also redor yellow bell peppers, jicama (very highin Vitamin C, and won’t turn brown),kohlrabi, celery, and lightly steamed broc-coli, cauliflower, or green beans.Watermelon radish – more of an adulttaste – is great with bleu cheese dip.

Slice it. Research shows that we’ll eatlots more of almost anything, but especial-ly apples, if it’s sliced into bite-sized pieces.Unfortunately, many fruits, especiallyapples, discolor quickly when sliced. I’mstill trying to find affordable conveniencepacks of sliced organic apples.

Crisp it. What is it about salty-crunchythat is so satisfying? Instead of chips, tryroasting green beans, asparagus, broccoli,

cauliflower, beets, rutabaga, carrots, sweetpotatoes, and of course potatoes withsome olive oil, maybe a dash of vinegar,and whatever seasonings you like. Toss in afew nuts. Stand back.

Freeze it. My daughter immediatelyfreezes all the grapes I buy, then snacks onthem like candy. Berries work, too. Freezeberries individually on a cookie sheet sothey won’t stick together.

Make smoothies. Freeze overripebananas, bought when I’ve once againordered too many bananas and had to dis-count them. Our family’s favorite smooth-ie: Apple juice, frozen banana for sweet-ness and iciness, some other fruit — usu-ally a berry — for flavor and color, andsome protein powder or calcium supple-ment, because my still-growing teensnever get enough in their diets. If you useenough frozen banana, it’s more like sor-bet than a smoothie.

Make it look like dessert. A favorite inour house is vanilla yogurt (Pequa orSeven Stars) layered with berries, sprin-kled with toasted wheat germ. It can makeyou forget ice cream.

Trick them. Actually, in my line ofwork, this is not a trick. I buy a few vari-

Deli & Bakery NewsWeavers Way will stock a variety of products for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

The following bakery items will be stocked, but you may preorder any items in

advance using the preorder slips located next to the deli.

Produce News

Back to School with Produce:Lunches and Snacksby Jean MacKenzie, Produce Manager

September Grocery News

What’s Up Upstairsby Martha Fuller

by Chris Switky



Uncommonly Good Meat fromLancaster County – that is the slo-gan of Meadow Run Farms locatedin Lititz, PA. Their humanely raised,grass-fed beef, lamb and heritage-bred pork are the focus of this thirdgeneration farm. Farmers Philip andDorcas Herst Landis believe in rais-ing their animals with plenty ofgreen grass, fresh air and wholegrains.

The animals are never fed anyantibiotics or injected with hor-mones. Grass-fed meats have threeto five times more conjugatedlinoleic acid, which can help protectyou from heart disease and cancer. In ad-dition to being lower in calories and totalfat, pasture-raised foods have higher levelsof vitamins, especially A and E and two tofour times more omega-3 fatty acids than

conventional meat. Look for Meadow RunFarms’ ground beef, steaks, stew beef,lamb and pork products in the fresh foodcase. They are the package with the roos-ter on the label.

eties of something — apples, citrus, differ-ent vegetables — put them on plates withnumbers, and ask my kids to test and com-pare. Which is sweetest? Juiciest?Yummiest alone? Yummiest with dip? Thisworks especially well when your kids havefriends over.

Lie. When I was a kid, my mom told usthat carrot sticks helped prevent carsick-ness. I don’t know whether she believedthis, but we sure did. Twenty miles intoone of our endless family vacations toMinnesota, we’d be begging for carrotsticks. And we never got carsick.

Coming AttractionsAs the weather cools off, look for a few

weeks of wonderful organic spinach fromParadise Organics, baby spinach in bags,

and bunches of mature spinach. I knowwe’re all anticipating the triumphantreturn of watermelon radish, quite a bit ofit from our own Weavers Way Farm. Localapples will return in September andOctober, and this year we hope to carryIPM (integrated Pest Management), low-spray local apples from Kauffman’s, a sus-tainably run orchard in Lancaster County.Local organic hard squash—including myfavorite, delicata squash—will start com-ing in, some from our farm. We’ll getkiwiberries again—little bitty fuzzlesskiwis you eat like grapes—but watch forthem, their season is short. Kiwiberries area new fruit, very sweet, yummy and con-venient.

That’s it for September produce news.And remember: Quiz on Monday. Spellingcounts.

Now that September has arrived, fallseems right around the corner. I thoughtthis would be a perfect time to learn moreabout wild bird feeding. I meet manymembers who are very serious about feed-ing wild birds, and bird seed is a big sellerin the pet store. Feeding wild birds can bean interesting and satisfying hobby and, asthe colder weather begins to settle in andwinter approaches, it is a great service tobirds, as it becomes more difficult forthem to find food. This year, I hope to of-fer several types of seed and suet, as wellas feeders. The Cornell Libratory of Or-nithology gives useful information con-cerning different types of seed, feeders,and the birds they will attract.

Overall, the best option seems to bethe black oil sunflower seed. These attractthe greatest variety of birds and are a year-round favorite. They have a high meat-to-shell ratio and a high fat content. They aresmall and thin-shelled enough to make iteasy for small birds to handle and crackand are as pleasing to tree-dwelling birdsas they are to ground feeders. We stockblack oil sunflower seeds in 25-pound and50-pound bags, both of which are a goodvalue. For those who are concerned aboutthe mess that the shells can leave, there isthe option of sunflower chips.

Dried whole corn kernels are a favoriteof jays, pigeons, doves, turkey, pheasants,and quail. Cracked corn is better for at-tracting smaller birds like blackbirds,finches, and sparrows.

Millet comes in two varieties, red andwhite. Most birds prefer white proso mil-let. The red millet tends to attract undesir-able non native birds like the Europeanstarling and the house sparrow.

Safflower is popular with cardinals. Itis more expensive than sunflower seed andwill also attract grosbeaks and doves. It’suse is suggested to discourage undesirablebirds, as it tends not to appeal to starlings,house sparrows, and squirrels.

Nyjer, also called thistle, is a tiny seedthat draws song birds and small finches

such as goldfinches, siskins, and redpolls.This seed is more expensive than the oth-ers, so it is best offered in special thistlefeeders, which feature small openings thatdiscourage larger birds and preventspillage.

Peanuts are effective in attracting tit-mice, chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeck-ers, cardinals, jays, many sparrows, andCarolina wrens. These can be offeredshelled or whole.

Milo is a round, reddish seed that iscommonly used as filler. Most birds willeat it only if there is nothing else. It canalso attract undesirable aggressive birdslike cowbirds, starlings, and grackles.

Commercial seed blends are very pop-ular not only for the convenience but alsofor the reasonable cost. Often though,these can be wasteful. They can be ladenwith fillers that are less appealing to mostwild birds, resulting in a leftover mess.Seed blends are best sprinkled on theground or a platform feeder as they are of-ten higher in millet, which is preferred byground feeders.

Suet is a good choice especially as theweather turns colder. It is a high energytreat made from the rendered fat that sur-rounds beef kidneys. There are a good va-riety of flavors which can also attract amore specific species of bird dependingon which you choose.

Many wild birds are also fond of freshfruit and fruit seeds. These can be a goodtreat while the weather remains mild.Some suggestions are raisins or currantssoftened in water, or diced apples, melons,or grapes. Orange halves are very desirableto orioles in particular. Birds that do noteat seeds as a major part of their diet, such

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What began as a few entrepreneurshanging out, drinking coffee, and swap-ping stories has grown into a unique co-operative that is bound to ignite curiositybeyond its present Philadelphia environs.

Independents Coffee Cooperative(ICC) started informally in 2003 when the“four founding frothers” began to meetand share information and resources.Members have since participated in jointadvertising, bulk purchasing, publicspeaking, educational events, and grouptrainings.

“Recognizing a common triple bottomline philosophy, we realized we could havea greater impact on people, profit, and theplanet if we did it together,” said JasonHuber, current president of ICC and own-er, along with wife Jocie Dye, of InFusionCoffee and Tea in Mt. Airy.

About two years into the informalmeetings (including a Yahoo group), theyapplied and received grant money fromKeystone Development Corporation. Thegrant money helped them formalize thegroup, hire a consultant to guide them indeveloping long-term goals and strategies,and pay for web development (www.inde-pendentscoffee.com).

Their mission is to increase the sale offair-trade and organic coffee and educateconsumers on fair-trade and sustainabilityissues, while making a positive impact inthe communities, on the environment,and in the lives of the people who producethe products they sell.

“When you patronize an Independentsmember shop, you join us as an agent ofglobal change,” Jason said.

Inside InFusion, soft colors fill the in-terior and invite people to hang out. Looseteas are displayed in glass test tubes thatsit in small chemistry racks. Customersdrink their beverage of choice while fid-dling with laptops, reading books, or con-versing. Jason sports a small silver hoopearring in each ear. His sunglasses rest ontop of his shortish, spiky black hair. A thinbeard sits like a tromp l’oeil painting, dar-ing onlookers to determine if it’s deliber-ate or accidental. He glides from one ap-pointment to another. He fits into his 36years well and one might surmise his senseof humor impacts his youthful appear-ance. While he readily laughs at himself,he is serious about advocating for sustain-able business practices.

One particularly vexing decision waswhether to use plastic or wooden stirrers.Plastic, of course, contributes to landfillpollution. Wood has to be chopped down.Wood stirrers are heavier than plastic, so ittakes more energy to transport fewer ofthem. The later concern tipped the scalesin favor of plastic. It is this type of globalconsciousness that members put intoevery decision.

In May, all ICC members committedto purchase clean, renewable energy equalto 100% of their energy use. The clean en-ergy choice will be supplied by wind ener-gy marketer and developer CommunityEnergy. Members buy local.

Although Jason and Jocie hail fromPhiladelphia, they lived in Denver formore than a decade: he a grade schoolteacher, she an advocate of the homelessand runaways. Their hobby was hangingout in coffee bars. When they decided toget married, they sold everything andhung out in South East Asia to “explorethe world of possibilities.” As in Denver,they were attracted to places and peoplethat ritualized coffee and tea. You knowJason still hears in his head the “tink, tink,tink” of spoons lightly tapping against theinterior of coffee cups when he retells thestory of Vietnamese men incessantly stir-ring their heavily sweetened coffee in theearly morning. And you know he stillsmells the aroma of Malaysian tea as herecounts their visit to tea plantations.

ICC members already had a relation-ship with Equal Exchange, a worker-owned company and the pioneers of fair-trade and organic coffee roasting, whenthe company decided to partner with thecooperative. Equal Exchange has sincecontributed a lot of support and encour-agement and has connected ICC to thesmall farmer-owned Cooperativa San Fer-nando located high in the Andes moun-tains of Peru. If you want a cup of Inde-pendents Peruvian Select coffee, you gottaget it at an Independents member cafe.

In the fall, the Independents Coffee

Coffee Klatch Grows into Fair-Trade Cooperativeby Chris Kaiser

Co-op is bringing the Peruvian farmers toPhilly, so they can experience the globalimpact of their environmentally consciouscoffee-growing. They will home stay, andmultiple fundraising events will be heldfor the farmers to assist them in buyingsolar panels. Members hope to raise$26,000.

While neighborhoods continue topopulate with Starbucks (although Jasonis quick to say that Starbucks is not the en-emy), ICC members value their independ-ence and strive to maintain whatever it isthat gives them their own flair, individual-ity, and uniqueness. For Jason, it’s con-tributing his coffee grounds to theWeavers Way farm compost or buying lo-cally grown organic produce. For all ofthem, it is buying a certain percentage offair-trade coffee.

“We are what we believe,” Jason said.“The way of the future is responsible capi-talism. We as small business owners havean input into the health and sustainabilityof the community.”

ICC MembersToday, ICC has grown to nine member busi-ness with 13 locations around Philadelphia.They are (beginning with the founding four):IInnFFuussiioonn, with a newer second locationnear the Italian Market (they offer bocceballs for the court across the street)GGrreeeennLLiinnee CCaafféé West PhillyMMuuggSShhoottss near Eastern State Penitentiaryand a future store opening in ManayunkJJooee CCooffffeeee BBaarr Center CityCChhaarrtteerrhhoouussee CCaafféé && GGaalllleerryy SouthPhillyRReedd HHooookk CCooffffeeee aanndd TTeeaa Queen VillageKKaaffffaa CCrroossssiinngg West PhillyMMeettrrooppoolliittaann BBaakkeerryy && CCaaffee West Philly GGoooodd KKaarrmmaa CCaafféé,, opening soon at 22ndand Pine.


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tions for expansion of the Board andmanagers, and previously stated desires ofthe membership and staff.

Weavers Way, Glenn pointed out, has ahistory of expansion, beginning as achurch-basement buying club in the early1970s, then renting 555 Carpenter Lane in1975 and gradually growing to its currentcollection of buildings at the corner ofCarpenter and Greene. Following a rockystretch a few years ago, the Co-op has re-bounded financially, entering a period ofstrong growth in terms of membershipand finances. The properties on Carpenterare now owned free and clear, with prop-erty values going steadily up; householdmembership has increased by 14.2 percentin the past three years, from 2,800 to3,200; and sales are growing by 10 percentper year. As a result, Weavers Way has beenable to offer a wider variety of products,while supporting a number of communityinitiatives and expanding donations to lo-cal organizations.

Alongside this positive growth, howev-er, has been a corresponding increase indemands on staff and the Co-op’s limitedspace. Weavers Way’s popularity hascaused, or exacerbated, a number of prob-lems for the Co-op and surroundingneighborhood. In particular, parking isextremely limited and the store has be-come increasingly cramped, making it dif-ficult and stressful to navigate, particularlyfor staff. During busy times of the week,there are sometimes gridlock conditionson the sales floor. Glenn pointed out thatthe optimal figure for sales per square foot

for comparable cooperatives is $1,200,while the figure for Weavers Way is nownearly double that at $2,200. Not surpris-ingly, in such a dense space, shelf-spacelimitations mean less product choice andcause numerous logistical difficulties forstaff. It is also important to note that all ofthis is taking place in an increasingly cor-poratized environment. Wal Mart, Stunoted, is projected to be the largest sellerof organic produce in the United States inthe near future, thus forcing cooperativeenterprises like Weavers Way to considerwhat changes will be needed to survive ina far more competitive atmosphere.

At the same time, the current site atCarpenter and Greene is loved by manyand holds a central place in the West Mt.Airy neighborhood. In addition to beingimportant to the community in itself, itnow anchors a number of other business-es in its immediate vicinity, including theHigh Point Cafe, Big Blue Marble Book-store, and the Wellness Center. For theseand other reasons, replacing the cornerstore is not currently on the table. Instead,following a recently completed marketstudy, the board and managers are consid-ering lessening the demand on the currentstore by adding a second and possiblythird site. Possible locations might be inGermantown, Chestnut Hill, or East Falls.This expansion, ideally, should lessen thedemand on the currently overcrowdedspace as well as possibly allowing differentstores to handle different tasks for thebenefit of all, such as creation of preparedfoods.

Responses from those assembled were,not surprisingly, mixed. A number of

members expressed what member LarrySchofer termed (in reference to his owncomments) “the curmudgeon’s view,” as-serting that Weavers Way could lose itsuniqueness and sense of community withthis kind of expansion, becoming toomuch like co-ops in other places that,though they are “real nice stores,” are alsothe kinds of businesses that “people cantake or leave.” Weavers Way, on the otherhand, was repeatedly described as a partic-ular expression of the Mt. Airy communi-ty, with members who see one anotherevery day while “walking the dog.” Ex-panding into other areas, then, would, atbest, help to form a number of communi-ties separate from one another, while per-haps undermining this one.

Supporting these views, members sug-gested that an increasingly competitive cli-mate is precisely why Weavers Way shouldbe cautious about “spreading too thin,”and “moving too fast” in opening newstores. The failure of a new store, perhapsdue to the encroachment of a Trader Joe’sor other chain store, could end up endan-gering Weavers Way itself. Past PresidentDavid Baskin, noting that he was in factpresident during the Co-op’s last expan-sion, argued that Weavers Way is “not anexportable brand” like Kentucky FriedChicken. Maybe, he and others suggested,Weavers Way could simply help people innearby communities to start their own co-ops instead of trying to extend our owninto their neighborhoods.

Others voiced strong support for theproposal. One member emphasized “so-cial entrepreneurialism” with the possibil-ity of making an impact in the largerNorthwest area by balancing a new storein an affluent neighborhood with anotherin a less affluent one, as well as openingthe issue of expanding the number ofshoppers at the Co-op by getting the wordout that nonmembers are welcome. Gina

Snyder, a member of the East Falls Devel-opment Corp., expressed great enthusiasmfor Weavers Way opening a store in herneighborhood and said there was alreadya great demand.

Questions were also raised as towhether Weavers Way truly has a choiceabout whether or not to expand, or, to thecontrary, whether there is any point in ex-panding. Shuttle editor Jon McGoran ar-gued that, given current conditions, if theCo-op does not expand it will at somepoint need to limit membership as well aslimiting shopping to members. As it is, hesaid, we are possibly losing business due tothe lack of parking spaces and difficulty inshopping, as well as losing employees, giv-en difficult work conditions. Staff mem-ber Josh Giblin concurred, pointing outthat Weavers Way is “not the easiest placeto work,” with the problems of negotiatingnarrow spaces and the necessity of some-times working in the rain for lack of aloading dock as well as a lack of space forstaff members to keep belongings whileworking. On top of that, as Glenn pointedout at the beginning of the meeting, theentire building needs extensive renova-tions, which may require a brief closure tobe completed. Member Dave Tukey, onthe other hand, remarked that aside fromrisks, given the current growth of WeaversWay, “we can outpace any expansion intwo years,” and, therefore, there is little tobe gained in expanding to other sites. In-stead, he says, the most important ques-tion we should be asking is, “How do wewant our village to evolve?”

Clear disagreements were expressedconcerning the importance to the Co-op’smission of building community. Mem-bers, it was pointed out, are already com-ing from Chestnut Hill and East Falls, aswell as from communities as far removed

E x p a n s i o n M e e t i n g(continued from page 1)



as Bala Cynwyd and Center City. In fact,according to Stu, only a third of memberslive within easy walking distance, whileanother third live nearby but generallydrive, and the final third are spread outthrough the Northwest and beyond. Thus,Co-op lawyer David Kraut pointed out, alot of Co-op members would simply liketo be able to buy healthy food cheaply“without having to schlep into Mt. Airy”and deal with the parking problem at Car-penter and Greene. For others, however,community is clearly central. MembershipManager Robin Cannicle went so far as tosay that she does not care about food, butbecame involved in the Co-op for thecommunity.

In the end, what was most clear wasthat Weavers Way means a lot to its mem-bers, and a lot of different things to differ-ent members. Nonetheless, the meetingserved its purpose of bringing many dif-ferent viewpoints into the open air, begin-ning a dialogue that needs to continue inthe weeks and months to come.

Rob Fleming: Green ArchitectWho Walks the Walk

Rob Fleming lives a few doors downfrom the Co-op, so he’s not looking forany green credit for walking to WeaversWay when he needs to do his marketing.Fleming lives—this is too easy—in a well-shaded house on Greene Street with hiswife and two young children. He’s think-ing green all day long and not just whenhe’s working his day job, as the co-directorof the Engineering and Design Institute atPhiladelphia University. The shade helpskeep the house cooler in summer. Ofcourse, it diminishes the amount of natu-ral light the house gets, which means us-ing more electric light for reading. No-body said any of this would be easy. Still,his PECO bill averages $62 a month. (Canyou beat that?) There are weeks wherehe’ll spend more than that at the Co-op.

The Engineering and Design Instituteis in a building off Shurs Lane near theheart of downtown Manayunk. The pro-gram is housed in a big old brick buildingwhich was formerly a textile mill. In otherwords, the building has been recycled.One of the things that Fleming and hiscolleagues do is advise clients on how tocomplete their projects in ways that are asenvironmentally sensible as possible. Nearhis desk, there’s a display of a vacationhouse Fleming designed, where he and hisfamily would live in a sun-drenched towerin the warm weather and in a cave in win-ter. “It was going to be in a meadow on 3.5acres outside Scranton,” said Fleming, 44,silver-haired, fast-talking, and energetic.“Unfortunately, we sold the land.” Some-thing had to pay for the family Prius.

Fleming’s a Philadelphian through andthrough. He grew up in West Philadelphia,went to Central and Temple and began his

career as an architectin a downtown firm,Francis Cauffman.Then he discoveredwhat he really wantedto do with his life:Help make the world agreener place. The en-gineering and designinstitute hears fromarchitects almost daily,some of whom wantto get their buildingscertified for being en-vironmentally sound.“They’ll say, ‘We buildhomes, office build-ings, condos, andgreen,’ ’’ Fleming says.“They’ve already lostme.” Green should notbe a separate category.“You incorporate green into everythingyou do.”

You may be pleased to know thatFleming gives the Co-op high marks—and bear in mind the man is a teacher—for being environmentally aware. The Co-op’s own Steve Hebden has studied sus-tainable architecture through PhiladelphiaUniversity and is constantly tinkering withthe building to make it more efficient,with projects big (moving the air-condi-tioning compressor) and small (makingsure faucets don’t leak). Then there’s theCo-op’s participation in the PhillyCar-Share program and the monthly recyclingprogram that encourages people, mem-bers and those without a giant-index cardto their name, to recycle products that thecity doesn’t accept, including plastic andcardboard. “Plus you’ve got the ‘Co-opShuffle,’ ’’ Fleming says, referring to thepacked aisles on Friday nights after work.Efficient use of space is one the hallmarksof the sustainable architecture movement.And you thought the place was just toojammed.

Fleming’s excited, thrilled to be livingwhen he does and where he does. Hismother was a hippie, he said, and a lot ofthe awareness about the environment to-day comes out of the hippie movement.Over in Manayunk, Fleming and his peo-ple are pushing cork as a flooring materi-al. Maybe you’re old enough to remembercork’s first heyday, circa 1970. Peace, love,understanding—and a cork wall. “In the

‘80s, Reagan kept gas prices cheap andconservation died,” he says. “That startedto change again in the mid-1990s.” AsFleming sees it, we’ve gone from the In-dustrial Age to the Information Age to theGreen Age. Green is a verb now. Green iseverywhere. Green is not just the color ofmoney. Green’s a way of making money.

“Philly’s tough,” Fleming says. “Insome ways, we’re way behind on the wholegreen thing.” But that means more oppor-tunity. “The new Comcast building is go-ing to be one of the greenest skyscrapersin the world,” Fleming says. In business,you can’t afford not to be progressive any-more. One of the reasons Fleming and hiswife, Nica, who runs the technology pro-gram at the Philadelphia School, shop atthe Co-op is because there’s so much lesswaste in how Weavers Way products arepacked. It’s more efficient, it keeps pricesdown, it’s better for the environment.

Now they’re trying to teach conserva-tion to their two children, Serafina, 7, andTrevian 5.

“I’ll ask them to help with the recy-cling,” Fleming says. “Sometimes they justsit there watching cartoons. Sometimesthey actually do it.”

Most particularly when they are of-fered an incentive: cash money. This is, af-ter all, Philadelphia, where moneyscreams. Anyway, the city’s getting green-er, all the way around. Rob Fleming seesthe whole thing unfolding, and it thrillshim.

by Michael Bamberger

E x p a n s i o n M e e t i n g(continued from page 6)

(CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT) ROB FLEMING WITH WIFE

NICA, SON TREVIAN AND DAUGHTER SERAFINA

PHO

TOBY

CH

RISTINE

BAM

BERGER

Mt.AiryVillage Fair 2007

Sunday, Sept. 16, 12-4 p.m.Greene St. & Carpenter La.

We are gearing up for another

Mount Airy Village Fair. The Mt.Airy

Village Fair 2007 will be a gathering

of good food, fun games (a Mt. Airy

old-school Olympics to be exact),

unique shopping, and wildly

creative entertainment.

For more info, please callMeredith at 215-713-2666.


Avenue Art & Framing Your neighborhood shop for quality custom framing

Open Tuesday through Friday 10 to 5:30 and Saturday from 10 to 4.

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215.848.4420

In between all the transitioning ofcrops, we are still at the height of harvest-ing, with all the summer crops still veryproductive. We have had a few gaps,sometimes welcome, in crops such asbeans and cucumbers, and will likely see agap in carrots shortly. Beans, cucumbersand squash, among others, don’t grow allsummer long and it’s necessary to do mul-tiple plantings in order to maintain a con-stant harvest all season. We are still get-ting the exact timing down so that as oneplanting slows down, the next one is thereto take its place. In the case of the carrots,we got so caught up in the summer cropfrenzy, the next seeding got pushed back alittle too far.

Despite these few gaps, the farm hasbeen more productive this year than ex-pected, and we’ve found that we haveneeded to expand to other markets tomove all the produce we are growing. Thebulk of it will continue to go to the Co-op,but we have also been selling to the FairFood Farmstand at Reading TerminalMarket, Mariposa Co-op in West Philly,Cafette in Chestnut Hill, and two farmersmarkets — one just outside the Co-op onThursdays, and Headhouse Square at Sec-ond and Lombard on Sundays. Threeharvests per week supplies all of this and iscertainly enough to keep us busy. Whichis why it’s extremely important for us tohave enough help on the Tuesday, Thurs-day, and Saturday morning harvest shifts.We rely heavily on all you cooperators toget this stuff out of the fields and into themarkets as quickly as possible. So pleasekeep on signing up (and I will try to getsign-up sheets up sooner) and please,please, please, try hard to give 24 hoursnotice if you have to cancel so that we canget someone to replace your able hands.

Hope to see you out on the farm!

washer.) If you would like to clean yourbottles further, you can use baking soda inwater. If your senses detect any residuefrom the vinegar, the baking soda/watermixture would help to dispel any odor ortaste.

Desert Essence Organics By popular demand, we have expand-

ed our line of Dessert Essence OrganicsHand and Body Lotions. This company,which was founded and is still owned byCountry Life, was the first to introduceAustralian tea tree oil to the United Statesand pioneered the use of tree tea oil in theU.S. The products we have added fromthis line are 100% vegan and do not con-tain parabens, sodium laurel/laureth sul-fates, phthalates, artificial fragrances orcolors, silicones, EDTA, glycols, or petrole-um-based ingredients. We carry theseHand and Body Lotions: Spicy Citrus, Al-mond, Coconut, Bulgarian Lavender, andVanilla Chai.

It's back-to-school time!Let's all sharpen our number-two pen-

cils and get to work.We have Cool Totes’ lunch bags, which

are practical and fun, sturdy and attrac-tive, good for children and grown-ups.The New Wave Enviro Lunch Box kitpromises to be a big hit. Rhodia has puttogether a “kit” of some of their productsthat has excited the many Rhodia fansamong us. We have academic year calen-dar books as well as 2008 calendars.

If you have a college student whoneeds some extra touches to make thatdorm room or college apartment morelivable and fun, think of the Co-opHousewares department. You'll find manyreasonably priced items that just mightmake that new living situation easier andstylish.

Hands-On Workshops in WestFairmount Park

WindowsTuesday, September 4 at 6:00 p.m.

Masonry and PointingTuesday, September 11 at 6:00 p.m.

RoofingTuesday, September 18 at 6:00 p.m.

Flat Plaster RepairTuesday, September 25 at 6:00 p.m.

Hands-On Workshops Location:The Sheep Barn, Fairmount Park His-

toric Preservation Trust, Inc., 2020Chamounix Drive, West Fairmount Park

(For directions contact the Preserva-tion Alliance, or visit www.preservational-liance.com)

Lecture Workshops at Cliveden

Roofing on Historic BuildingsWednesday September 5 at 7:00 p.m.

Masonry and PointingWednesday, September 12 at 7:00 p.m.

Window Sash ConservationWednesday, September 19 at 7:00 p.m.

Energy Efficiency in HistoricHouses

Wednesday, September 26 at 7:00 p.m.

Lecture Workshops Location: Clive-den, 6401 Germantown Avenue

(Workshops at carriage house: enterproperty through the gate at Cliveden andMorton Streets)

Workshops for Owners of Older Homesby Patrick Hauck

Are you planning to purchase and restore an older home? Are you in the midst ofhome renovation looking for great how-to information? The Preservation Alliancefor Greater Philadelphia is pleased to announce two upcoming series of workshops inSeptember for the owners and aspiring owners of older and historic homes. Attendeeswill have the opportunity to learn about the best practices for renovation of older andhistoric homes, as well as great hands-on demonstrations of maintenance and restora-tion techniques. These popular programs are free and open to the public, but seatingis limited and reservations are required. The workshops are presented in collaborationwith the Fairmount Park Historic Preservation Trust, Cliveden of the National Trust,the Chestnut Hill Historical Society, the Germantown Historical Society, HistoricGermantown Preserved and the University City Historical Society.

To reserve a space, or for more information, please contact Patrick Hauck, Direc-tor of Neighborhood Preservation Programs, at 215-546-1146 x4 or [email protected].

Down o n t h e Fa rm(continued from page 1)

Wha t ’s U p U p s t a i r s(continued from page 3)

Bison meat issome of the lean-est around, with afat content hover-ing around twopercent.

After a detourto buy somehomemade rootbeer at a housenearby, we endedup at FarmdaleOrganics withFarmer HenryStolzfus. Mr.Stolzfus was oneof the farmers onthe LFF board,and is a natural spokesperson for the co-op. He described for us how not too longago, the LFF farmers were working so hardto grow a large variety of crops and tomarket and distribute their product, eachan entity unto themselves. With the ad-vent of the co-op however, they are able totake advantage of central marketing anddistribution, which allows them to spenda lot more time in their fields. Also, all ofthe farmers get together and decide whichfarm will produce which crops for the sea-son. This way, each farm can spend moretime improving the quantity and qualityof a few select crops. The farmers are alsogetting better prices for their hard work,and this in turn is attracting more andmore farmers to participate in the co-op.All around, it seems that as a cooperativethese farmers have benefited in so manyways, and their pride is evident. Only ayear old, this co-op has been wildly suc-cessful; Mr. Stolzfus “never dreamed ofsuch a nice organization” and he predictedthe doubling of production in the comingyear.

As we gathered in his farm’s old tobac-co drying shed, Mr. Stolzfus told us abouthis shift to organic farming. Though clear-ly a shrewd business decision, organicfarming is something he came to natural-ly, from thinking about what all the chem-icals and processes involved in his farmingpractices were doing to his land, his ani-mals and his own family’s health. He be-gan “grazing” his dairy herd and soonfound that his cows were producing milkthat he felt was superior to his fellowfarmers’ products. He originally ap-proached Natural by Nature, the organicmilk dairy, who felt he was still three yearsaway from a product they could use. Mr.Stolzfus continued in this direction andafter three years was selling his milk certi-fied organic. That milk is also used now inthe production of PA Noble cheeses, avail-able in our very own deli cheese case. Infact, it is the grass diet that gives thecheese its distinct yellow color. Removingchemicals from the farm meant that the


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As part of the Buy Fresh, Buy Localweek, I recently joined the coordinator ofBuy Fresh Buy Local, Fair Food, and agroup of 50 buyers, chefs, market staff andco-op staff on a tour of three farms inLancaster County that are part of the Lan-caster Farm Fresh (LFF) Cooperative. Themission of Fair Food is to connect whole-sale buyers with local farmers. It also co-ordinates farm tours throughout the sum-mer. While most of these are open to thegeneral public, this tour was industry-onlyand a rare opportunity to visit traditionalAmish farms. LFF cooperative, as stated intheir literature, is made up of 22 “Amishand Mennonite farmers who take greatpride in building their soil to producehealthy plants, animals and people.” I waseager to get a good look at where some ofour neighborhood’s local produce comesfrom and to get a greater understanding ofthe food’s journey to our plates.

Heading OutThe tour began at the LFF warehouse,

a small, clean space that was empty savefor some flattened produce boxes waitingfor action. We learned how each of thefarmers delivers a prediction of what theyexpect to harvest, twice a week, andwholesale orders are made based on thosepredictions. Crops are harvested and pre-packed for individual deliveries at thefarm and delivered to the warehouse,where all of the individual orders are sort-ed, wrapped and sent out to Philadelphia.There is little to no storage of food, asmost of it is picked to order. Aside from

the many businesses that order wholesale,LFF also has a 400-member CommunitySupported Agriculture (CSA) group towhich it delivers. All of the produce com-ing from the cooperative is organic, exceptfor tree fruit and some produce fromfarmers that are transitioning to organic.LFF delivers meat as well, including chick-en, turkey, organic duck, beef and bison.All meat is delivered frozen except for theturkeys at Thanksgiving. One of thebiggest challenges for LFF right now ishow to provide a greater supply of choicecuts. Bison in particular is only availableground.

The first farm we visited was the CLBison Farm, hosted by farmer Christ Fish-er. Mr. Fisher has been farming bison ex-clusively for eight years now, and hasabout 60 head of animals. These bison getall they need from grazing the land theylive on. This is a bold decision for afarmer, and one has to work that muchharder at keeping the land healthy. Mr.Fisher grows a blend of mostly nativegrasses to ensure the animals’ continuedgood health and rotates the herd aroundhis fields to give the land a chance to re-cover. The bulk of this herd came from arancher in North Dakota, and it was sur-prising to learn that some of the bison hadto be removed because genetically, theywere not prepared for an all-natural grassdiet. Mr. Fisher has a unique product,running the only bison farm in LancasterCounty, and aside from one local restau-rant, he sells all of his meat through LFF.

Lancaster Farm Fresh Co-op Opens Its Doors to Its Philadelphia Customers

HENRY STOLZFUS' FARMDALE ORGANICS FARM

by Josh Giblin PHO

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JOSH

GIBLIN



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Philly forensics unit. In Blood Poison, shereturns with a bit of experience under herlatex gloves. Any specific writing chal-lenges given Madison’s veteran status?

JM: It’s true that the events in BloodPoison take place a few months after theevents in Body Trace. But Madison is stillpretty new to the job, she still gets razzedby colleagues as the new kid in town, andthere is still a cloud of nepotism hangingover her, but overall she’s surer of herself,at least that’s my reading of the character.I’m sure Dublin could be more specific interms of the challenges of continuing thischaracter’s development. But in my ownattempts at fiction, I’ve found that…

CK: Jon, Jon, Jon! Have thoseattempts been published yet?

JM: No, but my agent is very excited.

CK: Yeah, well, my dog gets excitedevery time he sees a squirrel, but thatdoesn’t mean there will be extra proteinin his dinner any time soon.

JM: Isn’t there someone somewheretrying to circumvent zoning requirementsthat you should be on top of?

CK: OK, OK, let’s get back to thebook. What else can you tell me aboutDublin’s new book?

JM: It’s more psychological in nature;the motives of the characters are not soclear-cut. And it revolves around thedynamics of a family who are all deeplyscarred psychologically. I’m sure it waschallenging and fun for Dublin to exploredysfunctional aspects of a family, but I’mnot so sure it was in his best interest as afragile human being.

CK: Doyou knowwhat writersDublin looksto for inspira-tion?

JM:Definitely vet-eran crime fic-tion writerElmoreLeonard forhis interestingdialog, charac-ters, and amazing plot twists. And comicnovelist Carl Hiaassen. There is a bit ofdark humor in Dublin’s works.

CK: So the third book—tentativelytitled Hard Frost—comes out September2008. Does Dublin have any advice foraspiring writers?

JM: I think he’d say to just write a lotand drink a lot of coffee—fair trade whenever possible, and I know he prefers DarkRoast Breakfast Blend and Midnight Sun.Now when I’m writing, I like to outlinemy plots…

CK: Jon, I’m already over 1000 wordshere. Tell you what. If I say somethingabout your unpublished novels, will youask Dublin to write me in as DiggerMcSwigger?

JM: Deal. Now, Slapdash and PigLatin are totally different novels thanDublin’s. They’re funny and lighter, butwith a bit of…

CK: Thanks, Jon. That’s great.JM: Um... no problem, McSwigger.

as robins, thrushes, wax-wings and blue-birds, can be interested in fruit treats. An-other good option is pumpkin seed orsquash and melon seeds. These can bespread out to dry and then ground in afood processor making it easier for smallerbirds to enjoy.

In addition to stocking seed and feed-ers, we also have some additions to thedog and cat food inventory. First, I amhappy to report that we have finally addedAnnamaet dog food to our shelves. This isa product we had been considering for along time and it is exciting to finally stockit. Annamaet is a local company based inSellersville, PA that has been producinggood quality pet food for 20 years.

The president of the company sharedthat his wife grew up in Philadelphia. Herfamily belonged to Weavers Way and sheremembers it fondly.

We currently are stocking the Encoreformula, which is corn- and wheat-freeand contains low-ash chicken and farm-raised catfish, a good choice for dogs withsensitivities or allergies. Annamaet Optionalso contains farm-raised catfish and veni-son. There are several other varieties thatcan be purchased by pre-order. Also newis a grain-free wellness line called Core,which is similar to Innova’s Evo line.There is both a feline and canine formula.We have been unable to get Max Catcanned foods through our vendor forsome time now. The company has ex-plained that it is seeking a new canningplant. In the meantime we’ve taken theopportunity to begin stocking Eagle PackHolistic Select canned cat food. It is greatquality, very reasonably priced and my kit-ties gobble it up. I think it is a great alter-native to Max Cat. In addition, we arestocking a few varieties of Eagle Pack drycat food. You’ll also find several new treatsfrom Merrick, like the ever popular PorkyPumpers and some new varieties of thecanned dog food, including a senior for-mula. As always I hope to continue sup-plying you and your pets with qualityproducts.

Thanks for shopping at the pet store.

Pe t S t o r e U p d a t e (continued from 4)

S h ame l e s s S e l f P r omo t i o n(continued from page 2)

See D.H. Dublin (or maybesettle for Jon McGoran) at:

Fri., Sept. 7, 6-8 p.m.Infusion Coffee & TeaJoin us for the book launch/party for BloodPoison at 7133 Germantown Ave. (togetherwith the opening night of Co-op memberEugene Martin’s photography show)

Sat., Sept 8, 4 p.m.Doyelstown Arts FestivalDoylestown Town Center, signing

Sun., Sept 16, 1-3 p.m.Mt.Airy Village FairBig Blue Marble, 551 Carpenter La., signing

Thurs., Sept 20, 7 p.m.Borders Chestnut Hill8701 Germantown Ave., signing & reading

Tues., Sept 25, 7 p.m.Big Blue Marble551 Carpenter Lane, signing & reading

For more information about visit

www.dhdublin.com

closed Sundays for the summer


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land was healthier and able to producebetter vegetables, paving the way for agreater variety of organic crops. Chemicalfree cows also meant a huge reduction ofveterinary visits, from once every twoweeks to twice a year!

Continuing across the street, ourgroup walked past the pole beans andhives of bees used to pol-linate the zucchini ofMeadow Valley Organics,where we naturally grav-itated to the shade of abroad oak tree. Just thatmorning, the space hadbeen the site of the zuc-chini packing, and emp-ty waxed boxes werespread out like so manyhungry mouths. Ourunassuming host, AmosBeiler, echoed much ofwhat Mr. Stolzfus hadsaid about the shift toorganic farming. It justseemed “right” and Mr.Beiler did not feel theneed for much fanfare.He lets his vegetablesspeak for themselves.

Where Do We Fit In?After this exciting tour, I was eager to

speak with Jean MacKenzie, our producemanager, about how Weavers Way cansupport the Lancaster Farm Fresh. Ourco-op has a history of supporting localproducers, and it is also one of our corevalues to support other co-ops. LFF seems

like a natural fit. Weavers Way currentlygets most of its organic produce from an-other Lancaster Co. farm, Paradise Organ-ics. From four and a half acres, farmerChris Petersheim produces a vast array ofvegetables with spectacular quality.Weavers Way has been doing businesswith Paradise since we began offering or-ganic produce some 17 years ago. Whenrunning a market such as ours, consisten-

cy is a key factor inestablishing good re-lationships with ven-dors. If the farmscan’t hit the numbersthat we need andmanage the particularpacking needs of theCo-op, it can be diffi-cult to make a switch.Also, quality of prod-uct is crucial to ourcustomers, and untilthe produce from LFFis equal to or betterthan that of Paradise,it doesn’t make muchsense to change.Weavers Way is alsoParadise’s biggest cus-tomer, and a drop in

our business will make a significant im-pact in their success. When LFF was get-ting started last year, the logistics were stillbeing worked out. With a more efficientdistribution network, and an ever-increas-ing quality of product, I’m sure there willa place for LFF produce on our shelves atsome point.

Bringing it Home

In an effort to get to know the producecurrently coming from Lancaster FarmFresh, Jean decided to buy a share of theLFF CSA (Community Supported Agri-culture) summer crop and raffle the vari-ous weeks out to staff members; I was for-tunate enough to get a week in mid-July,coincidentally the same week that I visitedthe farms where the produce originated.For those not familiar with CSA, con-sumers buy a “share”in the farm before aseason begins, thenreceive weekly boxesof farm-fresh foodthroughout the sea-son. The LFF CSAbrings the produce inbulk boxes on Thurs-days to a centralizeddrop-off point (inour case a house acouple of blocksfrom Weavers Way).Participants receive alist of what they areallotted and picktheir produce fromthe various boxesand bags. My list thisweek consisted of: 1bunch of beets, 2 green peppers, 3Cubanella peppers, 1 Walla Walla onion,12 ears of sweet corn, 1 bag of red pota-toes, 2 lemon cucumbers, 1 head of let-tuce, 1 bag of green beans and 11 Earli Glopeaches. The produce was clean and at-tractive and as nice a product as youwould expect to see on a farm stand or co-op shelf. The peaches were one day frombeing perfect and they were robust. Thatnight, we had a salad with the lettuce, pep-per, onion and cuke. The onion was sweet,with a sharp finish; a nice contrast to thesimpler flavors of the other three. Somespiced and sautéed tofu was tossed in tokeep it interesting. After dinner, we en-joyed an amazing peach cobbler whippedup by my wife. Later in the week, thebeans performed well, even after over-steaming! The only veggies in our bag that

we don’t normally buy are the beets, butwe plan on using those for a beet-potatosalad.

If you are a CSA participant, you cer-tainly have to be prepared for unexpectedfood in your pantry and be willing to be abit adventurous. This may feel intimidat-ing, but even for our household of two,the food we received was not nearlyenough for a full week of meals, so there

was plenty of room for usto supplement our ownfamily favorites. As far asvalue goes, if I hadbought the same producefrom the Co-op that day,I would have paid rough-ly the same the sameprice as the cost of thatweek’s share. Coupledwith the fact that youcannot choose what youare going to get, you maynot feel compelled to jointhis CSA program. How-ever, there is an educa-tional element that Ithink is overlookedsometimes when shop-ping at the grocery store.Getting to know what

grows in your region, and at what time ofthe year, might help you to make a moreinformed choice about where your foodcomes from, how far it has to travel to getto you, and how fresh it might be by thetime it gets to you. I can see how beingpart of the CSA increases not only yourknowledge of the local growing seasons,but also your sense of play and inventive-ness where food is concerned. You mayfind yourself thinking twice about thosegreens driven in from California and learnto savor the wait for that bunch of chardfrom your own backyard.

There are numerous CSAs and foodbuying clubs in the Philadelphia region.Visit www.localfoodphilly.org for moreinformation about food local to theGreater Philadelphia region and to sign upfor a farm tour.

Fa rm C o - o p(continued from page 9)

WATCH OUT CONVENTIONAL

PRODUCE!BISON IN LANCASTER COUNTY

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Ned Wolf Park now has a beautifulnew wooden “parks” style sign made bylegendary local wood craftsperson, JackLarimore. It was installed on July 14 bysome of the diligent and highly valuedvolunteers at another workday. The iden-tification of the property has been verymeaningful to neighbors who thought itwas an abandoned private property foryears.

Some gathered on that warm morningin July for a few hours of toil in the soil. Itturned out that it took seven hours for thegroup to complete planting five dozenmore plants (donated by the AmericanRock Garden Society), spread a largedump truck load of mulch, and open anew garden bed.

“The trash can is coming, the trash canis coming,” I am told by the Departmentof Recreation’s Barbara McCabe. But ithasn’t gotten here yet. In the mean time,there are some substitutes that I am gladto report are being used by neighbors,with weekly trash pick-up provided by theCity.

Upon arriving for our first workdayback in March, we found drug envelopesin the park, and neighbors reported hav-ing to frequently clean up empty alcoholbottles left about. As of the most recentworkday in mid July, we are happy to re-port no more evidence or complaints ofalcohol or drug use at the park.

Response to local fundraising effortsin the two-block area surrounding thepark has been great. Neighbors have do-

nated $1,500, allowing us to repay start-uploans and start planning for future proj-ects. To date, from all funding sources, theNed Wolf Park Project has raised $3,900.Costs to complete all of our lighting andwall repairs will total approximately$15,000 and require a lot more volunteerefforts. Can you help us with talent, timeor contributions?

You can find out more about the who,what, when, and why of the park and itsrehabilitation at the Mt. Airy Village Fair,held September 16, between 12 and 4 p.m.at the corner of Carpenter Lane andGreene St. We will have a table to answeryour questions about the Ned Wolf ParkProject and raffle some items we hope youwould like to win.

You might like to know that we havesubmitted a grant application to the Penn-sylvania Horticultural Society to fund thecosts of purchasing benches. We want tocreate places for you to visit the park andlinger, and this is what Philadelphia Greenfelt could be accomplished with theirfunding. We will have word back on thatapplication sometime in September 2007.The amount of money we could receivewill not eliminate our need to continue tohave financial help from the communityin order to completely rehabilitate thepark by the end of 2008.

The Ned Wolf Park Project has alreadymade a difference in our neighborhood.Those of us who are working together toachieve the much-needed improvementshave gotten to know each other the old-fashioned way; by digging in as a team andworking together on our common goal.

The group of neighbors and individualswho showed up on our big workdays havevaried widely from toddlers to grandpar-ents, some of whom were Ned Wolf ’s fam-ily members. Others were at-risk teensneeding to perform community service.

Many dog-walkers and parents ofyoung children are now seen in the parkevery day with their “babies” in arms, instrollers, or on leashes, lingering in what isbecoming an attractive public space. Theynow route their walks through the park toenjoy the gardens, chat with each other,and give thanks to the volunteers working.People even call to us from their cars asthey are stopped at the stop sign at thecorner of McCallum and W. Ellet Sts.,where the park is located. The commentswe receive are generally about how nice

the park looks and that they appreciatethe remediation of a neighborhood eye-sore. We invite you to visit and see it foryourself and let us know what you think.We do ask that those who bring their four-footed family members remember toplease pick up after them, as we have had abit of trouble with that.

To join the dozens of neighbors whohave made a tax-deductible donation,please send your check to WMAN (with“Ned Wolf Park” in the memo section),6703 Germantown Ave., Ste.# 200, Phila,PA 19119. If you would like to join ourgroup of caring volunteers and help in thepark renovations, contact Ronda Throne-Murray at 215-848-4222 or at [email protected]. See you at the Fair.

Ned Wolf Park Now Has a Sign

MIKE MCCLEARY, STEVE DONEGAL AND BRUCE P. MURRAY, WHO ASSEMBLED AND

INSTALLED THE SIGN AT NED WOLF PARK

by Ronda Throne-Murray

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Allens Lane Art Center in West Mt.Airy has started the process of creating adatabase that will capture information onlocal visual and performing artists. Theproject was initiated as a resource forplanning the Center’s own gallery ex-hibits, but it soon became clear that therewas a larger need in the community for acentral artist database. Though still in itsbeginning stages, Allens Lane is hoping torecord information on artists living orworking in Mt. Airy, Chestnut Hill, andGermantown to start. Then, if the projectis manageable, they will branch out toother neighborhoods in the Northwest.

The idea is not new, though an earliereffort to compile this information did nothave the advantage of being computer-ized. In the late 1990s, an organizationcalled the Mt. Airy Arts Alliance created aCultural Arts Directory that was pub-lished by the Chestnut Hill Local as a sup-plement. It included painters, printmak-ers, photographers, sculptors, calligra-phers, and more; however, all artists listedwere in the 19119 zip code.

The Center is applying for some small

foundation grants to help with the tech-nology and human resources that will berequired for capturing, managing and us-ing the data effectively. It has not been de-cided how the information will be dissem-inated, whether only upon request or alsopublished. The project is ongoing andartists will be added continually. AllensLane Gallery is planning to create annualexhibits of artists who are included in thedirectory, with a new group being featuredeach year as more submissions are re-ceived.

Visual and performing artists areasked to visit Allens Lane’s website to seeguidelines for submitting their informa-tion. For now, the Center is requestingjust basic information, and there is an op-tion to not have that information madepublic if requested. Artists are welcome tosend links to their websites, but for nowdigital photographs, other large files, andhard copy materials cannot be accepted.

For more information about theArtists Directory, the renovations or Al-lens Lane’s other programs, visit the artcenter’s website at www.allenslane.org.

Local Artist Databaseby Amy Masterman

Allens Lane Art Center has been un-dergoing renovations since early May, andthe work is expected to be completed inearly September in time for a full fall sea-son of theater, classes, and gallery exhibits.A state capital grant of $1,250,000 sup-ported by Senator LeAnna M. Washingtoninitiated the project, and the Center hassince raised additional funds to cover themany costs associated with such a big un-dertaking. The theater, art, and dance stu-dios; gallery; and other spaces includingthe restrooms will be much more func-tional and attractive, and the exterior willhave a more welcoming appearance. Aformer carriage house, the 100-year oldbuilding has presented many challenges tothe architects and contractors who aredealing with building code and ADA is-sues in a tight space. The Center is stilltrying to raise the remaining funds for theproject, which is estimated to be in the

$200,000 range.The final budget number is a moving

target as more necessary things keep crop-ping up, so if you’ve never donated to Al-lens Lane, now’s the time. This is our bigchance to create an Art Center that every-one in the community can get excitedabout as their local art center, but we needsome additional financial support to makesure the work gets finished.

Allens Lane Art Center RenovationsApproaching Completionby Amy Masterman

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On September 8 at Historic Ritten-houseTown we will host our EighteenthAnnual Paper Mill Run, the name ofwhich was chosen to honor the legacy ofthe Rittenhouse family as the builders ofthe first paper mill in British North Amer-ica. Today the Mill Site and adjacentHomestead and Bake House remind us allof the importance of the papermaking in-dustry to the development of early Ameri-ca and the essential role of the Ritten-house family as suppliers of locally pro-duced paper for letters, legal documents,maps and books. It is from a location closeto the site of a second mill built along theRun in 1703 that our race begins andends. Runners will follow a course alongone of the many scenic trails that traversebeautiful Fairmount Park. This year weanticipate over 200 participants for the 10a.m. start time. The Run is an importantfundraiser for RittenhouseTown.

At the heart of the thriving early in-dustrial community known as Ritten-houseTown was the first paper mill inBritish North America, built on the banksof the Monoshone Creek by William Rit-tenhouse and his son, Nicholas, in 1690.Skilled papermakers, they had learnedtheir craft from William’s uncle, who op-erated a successful paper mill in Amster-dam. Emigrating from Holland in 1688,the Rittenhouse family settled in WilliamPenn’s newly formed colony and quicklydeveloped strong social and economic ties

to the early community at Germantown.As members of the first permanent settle-ment of Mennonites in America, bothWilliam and Nicholas served as ministersof the Meetinghouse built on land givenby William along Germantown Avenue.William, Nicholas, and other family mem-bers are interred in the burying groundadjacent to the Meetinghouse.

The Rittenhouse family depended onthe flourishing community of weaverswho lived and worked in Germantowntransforming flax into fine linen cloth.When the cloth had outlived its useful-ness, linen rags were transported to theRittenhouse Mill and made into pulp. Forthe first few generations, the Rittenhousefamily produced high quality paper fromlinen rags which found its way to printersin Germantown, Philadelphia, and NewYork City. As technology changed, thefamily expanded their water-drivenmilling operations and began to grindgrain, produce textiles and carpets, andmake blankets for the Union Soldiers. Bythe last decades of the 19th century, how-ever, steam engines had replaced water asthe principal source of energy and the Rit-tenhouse family gave or sold their land toPhiladelphia’s newly formed FairmountPark. Nearly a century later, Hugh Hansonorganized Friends of Historic Ritten-houseTown to preserve and protect the re-maining six Rittenhouse structures. TodayHistoric RittenhouseTown enjoys the sup-port of over 500 members from through-out the United States and several other

countries. Both the Ritten-house family and the Mennonitecommunity consider RittenhouseTown to be animportant part of their history.

Nestled in the quietand peaceful valley of theMonoshone Creek inbeautiful Fairmount Park,our National HistoricLandmark District wel-comes visitors of all agesthroughout the year. Over 2000 schoolchildren from the greater Philadelphiaarea learn about local history as they makepaper in our Barn Studio, tour our earlyindustrial village, and participate in acolonial German cooking demonstrationin our 18th century Bake House. We areopen to the public for tours from June un-til September on weekends from 12 until4. Visitors to Historic RittenhouseTowncan still experience the sense of communi-ty and purpose that has characterized thisunique spot since the 17th century. Wealso host a variety of themed weekendevents including an Egg Hunt, Family FunDay, Spirits of the Wissahickon, our Holi-

day Weekend, and the upcoming AnnualPaper Mill Run 5K Race. Our Summer Pa-per Arts Workshop Series brings togetherprofessional paper crafters and enthusias-tic members of our community for a dayof paper arts.

Visit www.rittenhousetown.org formore information about Rittenhouse-Town.

If you are a runner, or wish to supportone, please join us. You can register to par-ticipate by calling us at 215-438-5711 orvisiting www.active.com and searching“paper mill run.” Runners may also regis-ter before 9:30 a.m. on the morning of therace. We hope to see you there!

Historic RittenhouseTown Hosts Paper Mill Runby Chris OwensHistoric RittenhouseTown Executive Director

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LAST YEAR’S PAPER MILL RUN. THIS YEAR, MORE THAN

200 PARTICIPANTS ARE EXPECTED.


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Each fall, scores of families across theDelaware Valley look forward to an after-noon of fun and activity at the Morris Ar-boretum’s Fall Festival. Now in its ninthyear, the Morris Arboretum will host thisyear’s annual Fall Festival on Sunday, Oc-tober 7 from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. For the sec-ond year in a row, Weavers Way Co-op willbe joining the Fall Festival fun, with a se-lection of organic, locally-grown produceand other Co-op products. Visitors candelight in sampling the various apples va-rieties and choosing an assortment to takehome.

The Arboretum’s glorious landscapeprovides the perfect backdrop for this live-ly event. Colorful trees burst forth withhues of orange and red as families gatherto make a scarecrow or paint a pumpkin.Fall Festival is a highlight of the Arbore-tum’s fall calendar, last year drawing over1700 visitors. What makes the event sounique is that almost all the activities aregeared toward both children and adults,allowing families and friends to spend awonderful afternoon together.

Among the favorite activities is thescarecrow making. For a small fee ($10 formembers, $12 for nonmembers) the Ar-boretum supplies all the materials, includ-ing the scarecrow frames, hay, and a vastselection of clothing. This is serious busi-ness for many folks who are intent on hav-ing the “best-dressed” scarecrow around.Visitors are encouraged to come early forscarecrow-making, as many visitors headright to that area to ensure their pick ofthe best outfit.

Returning for a third year in a row willbe Wendy Whitten “The Singing Scientist”and her friend, Flumpa the Frog. Flumpais a character based on the red-eyed treefrog, and together he and Wendy makescience fun in an interactive 30-minuteperformance that includes music, sing-a-longs, and storytelling. Shows are sched-uled for 12 p.m., 1 p.m., and 2 p.m..

Mike Dupuy, master falconer, will beon hand from 12 p.m. – 2 p.m. to show ushis wonderful birds of prey and demon-strate the 4,000 year old art and sport ofFalconry.

Kids also enjoychoosing and creating apumpkin “master-piece.” Pumpkins canbe purchased andpainted in a variety ofcolors and decoratedwith glitter, yarn, pom-poms, and doilies.

Other activities in-clude face painting,honey demonstrationsand sales, and craftmaking by the Philadel-phia Unit of the HerbSociety of America and the Wild BirdCenter.

No visit to the Arboretum at this timeof year would be complete without a stopat the Garden Railway Display. This year’stheme, Great American Train Stations en-chants visitors with its charming replicasof historic train stations like Gettysburgwhere Lincoln delivered his famous ad-dress. Be sure to see the display before itcloses for the season on October 8.

Finally, visitors should take a few mo-ments to look around and enjoy the spec-tacular fall color. In the Philadelphia area,there is truly no better place to see beauti-ful autumn trees than at the Morris Ar-boretum. The Arboretum is home tosome of the area’s oldest and largest trees,as well as many trees known for their par-ticularly superb color — including redand sugar maples, scarlet oaks, and blackgums.

The Fall Festival is the perfect way toenjoy an afternoon of fun in a gloriousautumn setting. Make plans to visit theArboretum and it will become an annualevent for your family too.

The Morris Arboretum of the Univer-sity of Pennsylvania is located at 100Northwestern Avenue in the Chestnut Hillsection of Philadelphia. The 92-acre hor-ticulture display garden features a spectac-ular collection of mature trees in a Victo-rian landscape. The Arboretum featuresnumerous picturesque spots such as a for-mal rose garden, Japanese gardens, swanpond, meadows, and the elegant Fernery.The Morris Arboretum is listed on the Na-tional Register of Historic Places and isthe official arboretum of the Common-wealth of Pennsylvania. For more infor-mation, please visit www.morrisarbore-tum.org.

Celebrate Fall at the Morris Arboretum’s Fall Festival by Susan Crane

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Sixteen artists fromthe Northwest ArtistsCollective will exhibittheir work at the Sedg-wick Cultural Centeron Mt. Airy’s OctoberFirst Friday in prepara-tion for PhiladelphiaOpen Studio Tour(POST) 2007. Severalyears ago, POST artistslocated in German-town, Mount Airy, andChestnut Hill recog-nized the need to sup-port the vibrant creativ-ity of practicing artistsin our communitiesand formed the Northwest Artists Collec-tive. The Collective, which meets monthly,includes painters, sculptors, printmakers,photographers, and fiber artists. Thegroup has had several exhibits, with morein planning stages through 2008. In addi-tion, they have produced “Brickyard Note-book,” a compendium of images and biog-raphies of the artists. It is available as anotebook and compact disc, with a cata-log publication in the works.

Featured artists in the exhibition —most of whom are members of WeaversWay — include Elena Maria Andrete,Cynthia Back, Debs Bleicher, Anne Boy-sen, Deborah Curtiss, Eleanor Day, HeleneHalstuch, Elfie Harris, John F. Hollis, DanOliva, Wendy Osterweil, Kathy Romano,Barbara B. Rosin, Ilene Spiewak, ValarieEna Swain, and Nicole Tomassi.

A public reception for the artists’ exhi-bition will be held on Mt. Airy’s First Fri-day, October 5, from 6 to 8 p.m. at theSedgwick Cultural Center (7137 German-

town Ave.). All are welcome to stop by tomeet the artists, see their artwork, andlearn more about POST 2007.

The Northwest Artists’ studios will beopen to the public during POST(www.philaopenstudios.com), Saturdayand Sunday, October 27 and 28, noon to 6p.m. During POST’s eighth annual city-wide event, more than 230 professional vi-sual artists in 20 neighborhoods will opentheir studios to the public to show and sellartwork. Invitations, catalogs, and maps tothe studios will be available at the Sedg-wick exhibit.

Artwork at the Sedgwick CulturalCenter will be on view throughout theweekend from Friday, October 5 throughSunday, October 7. Hours are: Friday, 5p.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.,and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. For furtherinformation, please contact Deborah Cur-tiss ([email protected] or 215 438-5759) or exhibition coordinator WendyOsterweil ([email protected] 215 849-8768).

Northwest Artists Exhibition at theSedgwick on October’s First Fridayby Deborah Curtiss Garlic is my friend. So when I saw the

white 12-ounce tub “Your Favorite Hum-mus Recipe by Bobbi” with a caption “ForGarlic Lovers Only” in the far left end ofthe bottom case where the homemade sal-ads are, I had to try it. I had taken a longhorseback ride out of nearby MonasteryStable and picked up a spoon on my wayout of the store. I opened the containerand was immediately soothed by thesmooth garlic-lemon hummus melting inmy mouth. I knew that indeed this wasnow “my favorite hummus.”

I am a self-confessed foodie and thereigning “Meatloaf Mania Queen” inChestnut Hill and have gone to greatlengths attempting to make a garlic-charged hummus of my own. Truth totell, my own hands could not make any-thing as good as Barbara “Bobbi” Katz andnow her son, Robert. For $5.65 a contain-er, it is a bit pricey, but oh, soooooooooooworth it. So when it came time to put insome hours at the Co-op, this formerjournalist approached newsletter editorJonathan McGoran about doing a storyon the product. I will openly admit that Iam openly biased toward this product.Actually, I’m more than biased. I’m ad-dicted.

Robert Katz, 36, Bobbi’s son, took overthe business from his mother in May of2006. At that time, the product was in 28states in the United States. Since then,with the help of United National FoodsInc., it has expanded to 40 states. Katzhopes to be in 50 states within a year. Yet,with all of this expansion, they still makethe product by hand. On an unan-nounced visit to their Fifth and SpringGarden manufacturing operation, threeworkers were huddled around a table,hand-peeling fresh garlic.

“From a business perspective, there isalways the temptation to streamline oper-ations and cut corners. But my motherwould have my head on a stick if I did,”admitted Katz, who looks more like a fit-ness model than a hummus producer.

“Our customers are loyal and they under-stand what goes into this product.”

Katz recalls delivering the product toWeavers Way while studying finance at thePhiladelphia College of Textiles and Sci-ence, now Philadelphia University. Katz islooking to move into a larger facility with-in the year and add to his loyal staff ofseven employees. “We are developing abrand of Bobbi’s Garlic Pita Chips, Tuscanwhite bean dip and salsa,” he added, not-ing that the hummus now comes in sevenvarieties – but only the ‘Garlic Lover’s’ ver-sion is available at Weavers Way.

Bobbi’s has been in operation since1993, and Weavers Way was one of thefirst specialty food stores to carry theproduct. There are no preservatives, andquite frankly, I cannot imagine anyonehanging onto the product for more than50 days, which is the shelf life. The hum-mus is 100% vegan with 0 grams trans fatand no cholesterol. I would be remiss if Ididn’t note that 2 tablespoons has 65 calo-ries and 45 of those calories from fat. Theingredients list is simple: chick peas, freshhand-peeled garlic, soybean oil, handsqueezed lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

There is a guitar symbol and the words“For Sara” on the white tub. Robert sayshis mother knew a musician named Sarawho had leukemia and the only thing shecould eat toward the end was the hum-mus.

When I check out, I hope it is with anempty spoon and a mouthful of thiscreamy garlic pleasure in my mouth.

Bobbi’s Hummus:Your Favorite Hummusby Barbara Sherf

AMONG THE ARTISTS IN THE COLLECTIVE ARE (L TO R):ELEANOR DAY, JOHN HOLLIS, CYNTHIA BACK, WENDY

OSTERWEIL, ELFIE HARIS, ILENE SPIEWAK, DEBORAH

CURTISS.

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You garden people know that springand early summer is when the world ofsalad greens explodes and you can grazeon a multicolored feast of leaves likemache, arrugula, mizuna, baby purplekale, cress, sorrel, chicory — not to men-tion a panoply of lettuces of all hues. Andlater in the summer it’s the time for freshsliced tomatoes with a little basil and oliveoil drizzled over them, or a big bowl ofsliced cucumbers with vinegar and freshpicked dill. Wow, that is superb eating!

For those without backyards full ofhomegrown greens, you can drop by theCo-op and splurge on a variety of colors,shapes, and tastes. And of course, exceptfor the greens from the Co-op farm, mostof this is available year round, thanks toplaces like Yuma, Arizona (“winter lettucecapital of the world”), or Florida and Cali-fornia. Rarely is there a time when youcannot pick up romaine, iceberg, mesclunand spinach. And there are also organicversions of the same.

I have learned over the years to limitthe unusual greens when salading with mykids. They will pick out the arrugula, sor-rel, baby kale, and anything with a richstrong flavor. Not even Italian parsleymakes it. “Dad, what’s this doing in here?”they screech if I forget.

It is strange, but I think that salad hasbeen the one constant food for most ofmy life. When I was a kid, our family al-ways ate it last, after the meal. Friends whowould come for dinner thought we were alittle weird. “It’s the European way,” Iwould assure them. And then my fatherwould explain, “it helps pack down thefood.” That satisfied most of our guests,and thankfully no one bothered to askwhy our food needed to be packed down.Of course, I have passed this valuablemantra onto my children.

The Greeks believed that lettucecooled the body and therefore munchedsalads after the meal to offset the winedrinking that continued onto the evening.In England and Europe today salad isserved last as a palate-clearing prelude todessert. In the U.S., our salads are general-

ly eaten first as a way to stimulate the ap-petite. In restaurants, it is easy to bring outthe salad early to give the chef time tocook the entrée. Some say that the Ro-mans knew that lettuce contained a verymild opium, and because of its subtlesedative qualities people would nod offjust in time for bed, after eating their saladlast.

The word salad comes from the Latinword for salt, sal — apparently the Ro-mans liked to eat greens dipped in salt.Salata meant “having been salted.” TheFrench turned that into salade and in Eng-lish it became salad.

Clearly salads have been served for along time; some describe pictures of let-tuce in Egyptian carvings, and there ismention of salad by Pliny in 22 AD. Theearliest English salad recipe comes fromthe 1390s, as a mixture of herbs, greens,onions, and leeks. “Pick them, pluck themsmall with thine hand and mingle themwell with raw oil. Lay on vinegar and saltand serve it forth.” In 1699, the book Ac-etaria: A Discourse of Sallets was writtenby John Evelyn, a vegetarian. It was a revo-lutionary book of the time that encour-aged the British to eat more salads andgive up meat.

We all know that the word salad is notstrictly reserved for a pile of cold rawgreen leaves. German potato salad isserved warm, and the list of items that cancomprise a salad is huge and often hasnothing to do with lettuce or things thatcome from the garden. Consider saladssuch as ham, shrimp, egg, or pasta.

If you have not yet investigated theprepared foods cooler in the Co-op, I sug-gest that you take a look, and I guaranteethat you will be impressed with the selec-tion. On a recent day I found salads suchas forbidden rice and snap pea; greenbean, mozzarella, and tomato; vegan Thaicabbage and tofu; pasta with white beans,spinach and wild mushrooms; Mediter-ranean tuna salad; Mom’s tuna salad; Wal-dorf chicken salad; soba seaweed salad;Dale’s barley salad; fresh beet and redonion salad; deviled ham salad; spinachfeta pasta salad; white bean, arugula,

roasted pepper, and smoked mozzarellasalad; egg salad; and cole slaw. Besidesthese items, which are assembled at theCo-op, there are offerings from Moshesuch as Szechuan noodles; spinach salad;beet salad; eggless tofu salad; quinoa olivesalad; tofu edamame salad; chunky vege-tarian chicken salad; and Israeli salad.

For those of you who want to makethe traditional green salad, look at the ac-companying chart for the list of differentkinds of lettuce and other greens. Some ofyou may still be in the dark about mesclun— “What the heck is that?” you ask.Mesclun is a French term that implies acolorful mixture of “baby” salad greens.Mesclun usually comprises of several vari-eties of lettuce and chicory, along withmore unusual greens like mizuna, arugula,radicchio, chervil, endive, and cress. Sucha blend provides a visually pleasing mix-ture of color and textures, and sometimeseven includes edible flowers (see thechart).

Don’t forget all of the other greatfoods that can be mixed into your saladbowl; what my children call “toppings.”Besides the traditional celery, carrots andcukes, consider: bacon, beets, chicken,

grilled salmon, croutons, walnuts, sprouts,avocado, hard-boiled eggs, beans, aspara-gus, artichoke hearts, ham, feta, goatcheese, and olives — the list is probablyendless. If you are strict about purchasingthings grown locally, this past July the Co-op garden had baby carrots, cukes, lemoncukes, fennel, lettuce mix, baby leeks,radishes, purple and white scallions, sor-rel, and small slicing tomatoes.

Many of you are probably still hookedon the crunchiness of iceberg, but keep inmind that the darker the green, the morevitamins and minerals they contain (beta-carotene, calcium, and iron, etc.) Greenslike romaine are an excellent source of vi-tamin C (and have more than five timesthat of iceberg lettuce). According toPliny, the Emperor Augustus Caesar is saidto have put up a statue to honor lettuce’shealing abilities after being cured of a seri-ous illness on a diet of salads.

Whether you want to pack down yourmeal or perk up your appetite, choose toeat a big bowl of greens or feast on one ofthe delicious prepared salads from the Co-op, make sure that every day is a salad day.

Salad Dazeby Peter Samuel

There are five different groups of lettuce

Butterhead – also known as Bibb or Boston

Crisphead – mostly known as Iceberg

Looseleaf – this includes Oak Leaf, Black-seeded Simpson, Lollo Rosso

Romaine – also known as Cos (thought to come from the island of Cos off of

Greece and is the oldest continuously cultivated lettuce - in production for

at least 5,000 years)

Summer Crisp – also known as Batavian (somewhere between Iceberg and

Looseleaf)

In the “other greens” category there is:

Chicory, which includes:Endive – Among the bitter greens, endive is one of the most popular choices.

Escarole – has a bitter flavor with a slightly sweet edge.The pale, inner leaves

of the heart should be used.

Radicchio – Leaves ranging from bright red to maroon.The head can be any

where from a softball to a golf ball in size, and has a strong bitter flavor.

And then there are things like: Corn Salad (Mache),Arugula, Mizuna (a type of

mustard), Purlsane (this mostly grows as a weed), Dandelion, Garden Cress,Water

Cress, Miner’s Lettuce, Chinese Spinach (Leaf Amaranth), Malabar Spinach (Orach).

Many plants that you normally use from your garden for their leaves or other

things have tasty flowers.The advantage to these is they add color and flavor at the

same time.Try the flowers of: hyssop, chives, arrugula, basil, borage, chervil, cilantro,

dill, sorrel, oregano, radish, sage, and thyme. And don’t forget Johnny Jump-ups, Nas-

turtiums and Calendula.


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Hydrangeas. Have you noticedhow beautiful the early summer hy-drangea flowers were this year? Thetraditional “snowball” varieties,whether white, blue, purple, or pinkhave had full, vibrant flowers. Thewhite oak leaf varieties and the“PG” (paniculata 'Grandiflora'), ortree forms, have opened up withlarger than usual blooms.

But the prize has been the lacecap varieties, with their flatter, moredelicate blooms that usually mixsome combination of pink, purple, blue,and white.

Why such a bumper crop of gorgeoushues? Think back to spring time. Remem-ber how you complained that April wastoo chilly, and you couldn’t wait forwarmer days? The cool, wet weather mayhave been unpleasant for you, but it wasgreat for hydrangeas. The cooler wetterweather, similar to the climate in areassuch as Seattle and England, which areknown for their lush blooms, allowed thehydrangeas to develop more slowly andyield more abundantly.

So the next time we have a cool, wetApril, and you’re still shivering from along, cold winter, think of the spectacularhydrangea display this year, and it willwarm you up as you wait for spring.

Fall Plants. If you’ve dismissed “win-ter” pansies (planted in fall) as too com-monplace and too yellow and violet, re-consider planting pansies this fall. Thereare many advantages to planting pansies.

First, you will have a colorful displaywhen almost everything else in the gardenis dying. Second, pansy colors run thespectrum from white to near-black withjust about every variation in between. Notonly are there pastel oranges, blues, andpinks, but also darker shades of burgundyand purple. Don’t forget the multicolored

splashes, including the famous varietiesthat appear to have faces painted on them.

Third, they are called winter pansiesbecause they usually survive the winterand re-emerge in the spring, giving ourgardens a head start into the new growingseason. Pansies fade in the heat, but thisyear the cool weather kept them vibrantinto mid-June.

As you walk through the garden cen-ters this fall, take a longer look at the pan-sies to see how they can embellish yourgarden for two seasons.

Plants for a Religious-themed Garden:star-of-Bethlehem, St. John’s wort, bap-tisia, Jacob’s ladder, Maltese cross, burningbush, rose of Sharon, Jerusalem artichoke.Of course, you will irrigate these plantswith holy water and pull out the bishop’sweed.

September Garden Notesby Mark Goodman

Our roads are littered not only withtrash, but with too many animals thathave been hit by cars. I assume that thesedeaths were accidental, but I know thatmany could have been avoided with a littleinsight into animal behavior. Spring andearly summer are prime times for animalsto have collisions with cars because turtlesare crossing roads looking for ideal spotsto lay eggs and so many young are cross-ing roads following their mothers. Younganimals do not see cars as dangerousthreats. Autumn is a time when deer arebounding into roads because of the chaseinvolved with mating, and the fear of gun-shots during hunting season causes manydeer to wildly flee an area.

Be alert when you drive, and scan theedges of the road for wildlife that is aboutto cross, especially areas with open fieldsor wooded edges. This scanning habit willnot only help you avoid harming or killingwildlife, but it is a good practice to devel-op so that you will be able to break in timefor bicyclists, children at play, and slow-moving vehicles.

When I anticipate that an animal iscontemplating crossing the road as my carapproaches, I blow the horn to scare itback from the roadside. I also blow my carhorn when a deer jumps in front of my carbecause there are usually more deer fol-lowing the first, and the noise usuallystops the rest of the herd from racing on-ward until my car has passed.

Be especially watchful for wildlife atdawn, at dusk and in the first few hoursafter darkness falls. Many species ofwildlife are most active at these times. Carheadlights can blind an animal and makeit stop in the road; lower your headlightsand blow your horn so that the animal canrelocate.

Never throw litter of any kind fromyour car, even if it is degradable and youthink that an animal can eat it. Every ap-

ple core and French fry attracts animals tothe side of the road—which can have fatalresults. One evening I was driving on adark deserted road when I came upon anopossum eating a bucket of fried chickenthat someone had tossed from their car.The young opossum was so hungry thathe wouldn’t move. I had to get out of mycar and swish him and his dinner off theroad in order to safely pass.

Most importantly, slow down afterdark. Many animals become needless vic-tims simply because people are drivingtoo fast to avoid hitting them.

If you do encounter an injured animalon the road, be sure to use your hazardlights to warn traffic that you are stopped.An injured animal, especially a wild one, islikely to bite, so be sure to use gloves and atowel if you attempt to move the animalinto a box. Keep the animal dark and quietand call a wildlife rehabber. The Pennsyl-vania Association of Wildlife Rehabilita-tors (www. Pawr.com) has a list of everylicensed rehabber throughout the state.Locally, The Schuylkill Wildlife RehabCenter is located at 304 Port Royal Avenue(215-482-8217). Care is free to all native,orphaned, or sick wildlife, and volunteersare always welcomed.

Be prepared to sometimes discoverthat an animal that is motionless is notdead. Always be prepared with yourgloves, towel, and box. Look around thebody; often you will see young standingnearby (in which case, they need to get toa rehabber), and sometimes, as in the caseof oppossums, our only native marsupial,a dead mom may have a pouch full ofyoung, who also need to get to a rehabber.

If you do accidentally kill an animalon the road, try to move it to the side ifyou can do so safely. This will preventscavengers from being attracted onto theroad, and it is a respectful last act of kind-ness to an animal that died a violentdeath.

Give Wildlife a Brake!by Brenda Malinics


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Small-scale farmers, retailers, andconsumers are renewing their call to theUSDA to reassess the plan to “pasteurize”all California almonds with a toxic fumi-gant or high-temperature sterilizationprocess. All domestic almonds will bemandated to have the treatments by earlynext year. The plan was quietly developedby the USDA in response to outbreaks ofsalmonella in 2001 and 2004 that weretraced to raw almonds.

“The almond ‘pasteurization’ plan willhave many harmful impacts on con-sumers and the agricultural community,”said Will Fantle, research director for TheCornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-basedfarm policy research group. “Only 18public comments from the entire U.S. —and all from almond industry insiders —were received on the proposal. The logicbehind both the necessity and safety ofthe treatments processes has not beenfully or adequately analyzed, nor have theeconomic costs to small-scale growersand the loss of consumer choices.”

In early August, the CaliforniaAlmond Board suddenly requested thatthe USDA delay the treatment mandateuntil March 2008—it had been scheduledto take effect on September 1. “We sup-port this request for a delay,” said Fantle,“but a delay, due to the industry beingunprepared, isn’t enough. The USDAmust also re-open the rule for publicreview and comment so that those whohave been shut out of the decision-mak-ing process can have input into anyalmond treatment plan.”

Although food-borne illnesses havegarnered headlines in recent years,including contamination of California-grown spinach and lettuce, raw produceand nuts are not inherently risky foods.Contamination occurs when livestockmanure or other fecal matter is inadver-tently transferred to food through con-taminated water, soil, or transportationand handling equipment. Raw foods canalso be infected by poor employeehygiene and sanitation practices either onthe farm or in processing facilities.

“All fresh foods carry some chance ofrisk,” notes Bruce Lampinen, a scientist atUniversity of California, Davis, who stud-ies almonds, “but there is no more risknow than there was 30 years ago.”

And the fear in the farming commu-nity is that this will competitively injuresmaller sustainable and organic growers.“This will put American farmers at a dis-tinct disadvantage in the U.S. andabroad,” says organic almond farmerMark McAfee. Fumigated almonds arebanned in the EU and many other coun-tries. McAfee worries about the impact ofthe rule on his business. Seventy percentof California’s crop is exported.

Several domestic companies that useCalifornia almonds are already investigat-ing foreign sources for their needs. Afterbuying almonds from local producers forover 25 years, Living Tree CommunityFoods, a Berkeley, CA-based natural foodssupplier, will soon begin buying almondsfrom Italy and Spain. Dr. Jesse Schwartz,the president of the specialty retailer,believes the rule, if implemented, will be atravesty for American agriculture.“California almonds are the heritage ofthe American people,” he says. “They aresuperior in every way.”

Jason Mahon owns Premier Organics,a company that produces raw almondbutter in Oakland, CA. Mahon is alsolooking to foreign suppliers and believesthe rule is an unnecessary “fear-baseddecision of the Almond Board, that isclearly trying to protect itself from badpress and lawsuits.”

The equipment to meet the new USDAmandate is very expensive, ranging from$500,000 to $2,500,000. Farms can out-source the pasteurization process, butHendrik Feenstra, a small-scale Californiahandler of organic almonds, believes thatto do so will still be prohibitively expensivefor modest-sized growers and handlers.“Because pasteurization companies oftencharge a flat rate no matter the quantity ofalmonds, it could be four or five timesmore expensive for small-scale almondproducers to pasteurize almonds than itwill be for industrial-scale producers,”Feenstra says. And modest-size marketers

are concerned that increased transporta-tion costs will also add to their burden

Organic farmers also question the sci-ence behind the rule. They believe thatthe sustainable farming methods they use,such as mowing and mulching, ratherthan controlling weeds by chemical herbi-cide applications, naturally prevent thespread of harmful bacteria more effective-ly than treatment after the fact. Accordingto almond grower Glenn Anderson, “Anorganic farming system fosters biodiversi-ty and creates an environment whereSalmonella cannot survive. This ruleignores the root causes of food contami-nation—the unnatural, dangerous, andunsustainable farming practices on indus-trial farms.”

An important segment of the agricul-tural community feels that requiringsmall-scale and organic farms to complywith this rule is unwarranted and prema-ture, as Salmonella outbreaks have onlybeen traced to a very large industrialfarm, and there is currently no publishedresearch pinpointing the causes of theharmful bacteria. “With the costsinvolved, and the implications on trade,they are recklessly experimenting with thelivelihood of farmers,” Fantle added.

Furthermore, there is a lack of evi-dence supporting the use of the chemicalfumigant, propylene oxide (PPO), andsteam as the only effective treatments toreduce risk of salmonella. The most com-mon method of sterilizing almonds is byPPO treatment, a genotoxic chemical rec-ognized as a possible carcinogen that isbanned in the European Union, Canada,Mexico, and most other countries. Manychemical-free and heat-free alternativesare being researched. “The Almond Boardhas not released any of the scientificresearch justifying their treatment choic-es,” asserts Eli Penberthy, a policy analystat Cornucopia. “This rule should not beimplemented until alternative technolo-gies are thoroughly explored.”

The Cornucopia Institute also con-tends labeling treated almonds as “raw” ismisleading and deceptive to consumers.“People choose to buy raw almonds for avariety of personal reasons, including

health, nutrition, and even religiousbeliefs,” Cornucopia’s Fantle said. “Thisrule denies them the right to control theirfood choices by making informed deci-sions in the marketplace.”

In fact, some strict vegetarians whoconsume only raw foods rely on almondsto provide as much as 30% of theircaloric intake, believing that they are anutritionally superior alternative to meatin the diet. “Raw almonds are increasinglypopular for their health benefits,” saidGoldie Caughlan, the NutritionEducation Manager at PCC NaturalMarkets in Seattle, who estimates that theco-op sells 28,000 pounds of raw almondsevery year. She said customers are alreadyconfused and angered by the implicationsof the rule, and worries how it will affectsales. Diets based on raw foods are inte-gral to some religious denominations,such as Seventh-Day Adventism, so therule poses a threat not only to consumerchoice, but to religious freedom as well.

Fantle charges that the rule could verywell establish a precedent for more govern-mental control of fresh foods. Says Fantle,“If almonds require pasteurization, whatfoods will be next on the list of mandatorysterilization, heat treatment, and irradia-tion? Truly raw, untreated nuts, fruits, andvegetables might no longer be legally avail-able in the marketplace.”

Public concern about the almondtreatment plan has been growing. Over1,000 comments opposing almond pas-teurization have been submitted to theUSDA since the plan was approved onMarch 31, and an online petition to stopthe implementation of the rule has gar-nered over 15,000 signatures. (To learnmore about the issue, go to www.cornu-copia.org and click on the almond navi-gation button.)

The only exemption to the almondtreatment regulations will be anallowance for growers to sell truly rawalmonds directly to the public from farm-stead stands. Unfortunately, this will giveonly a limited number of consumers inspecific areas of California, the only statein the nation that produces almonds,access to untreated nuts.

USDA Plan to “Pasteurize” Almonds Has Consumers Going NutsPlan Would Require Use ofChemical Fumigant or HeatTreatment on “Raw” Almondsfrom the Cornucopia Institute

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The Internet has made some prettyamazing things possible, and CouchSurf-ing.com is one of them. I learned aboutCouchSurfing a few months ago. The con-cept is quite simply a registry of people of-fering and seeking free hospitality in over218 countries. It is set up like a social-net-working site such as Facebook or MySpaceso you can read up on someone you’d liketo request a stay with, or check out some-one whose hospitality request you areconsidering. The participants love it, sinceit means not only a free place to stay whentraveling, but a local social connection.Home-cooked meals are optional. Pre-sumably people who sign up for this areoutgoing and interested in meeting peoplefrom around the world; the CouchSurfermotto is “Changing the World One Couchat a Time.” (Perhaps borrowed fromFreecycle, which “changes the world onegift at a time”?)

My reaction is enthusiastic — since Ilove building community and social capi-

tal, and frugal ideas always are near to myheart, CouchSurfing puts this all together.I also am contrite about how much wastewe have in the Western world, and this is away to redeem surplus space. My brothertold me, when he visited my 6-bedroomhouse for the first time, “Come de Revolu-tion, 50 people are going to move in withyou!” and that has stuck with me.

On the other hand, opening my houseto random people from all over the worldmakes me incredibly uncomfortable.Some of my anxieties are:

1) not being able to get rid of them, ifthey overstay their welcome,

2) not being able to communicate withthem, since I only speak English, and

3) feeling the need to entertain them.This is not expected, it’s just that I

wouldn’t be able to help myself. In reverse,the idea of crashing on a stranger’s sofa is... well... eww! And then of course there arethe safety worries. This community nodoubt has addressed all of these concernsperfectly well; this is just the resistancethat comes up within me.

The irony is that I open my home allthe time to strangers, through my syna-gogue community. Traditional Jews don’tdrive on shabbat (sabbath) so must stay inwalking distance of the synagogue if theyare attending a life cycle event like a Bar orBat Mitzvah. Since we just live a mile fromthe local synagogue, we frequently hostcommunity members’ friends and family,and it has been uniformly pleasant. Sincewe have a guest room (empty most of thetime — a waste, really), it is not especiallyintrusive. People are incredibly apprecia-tive, interesting, and respectful of ourboundaries. Some of them bring unbeliev-ably nice gifts. Sometimes it’s a little hec-tic, and people need a bit of conciergeservice, but overall it’s been a wonderfulchance to meet lovely people.

Back in the tragic 2004 presidentialcampaign when Pennsylvania was a desti-nation for out-of-state campaign volun-teers, some local organizations requestedhome hospitality for them. This was a lit-tle more distant a screening process than

local synagogue friends, but we figuredhow creepy could League of ConservationVoters volunteers be? So we did offer ourhome. We were assigned the head of theNatural Resources Council for the State ofMaine, practically aristocracy. I felt quitehonored to host him. As you can see, myidea that hosting strangers would be un-pleasant does not match at all with my ac-tual experience, which has been quite pos-itive. Is this discomfort a result of socialconditioning, perhaps, in our privatisticsociety? Or perhaps my gut resistance isreflective of a generation gap, sinceCouchSurfers are my kids’ age, and I canafford a nice hotel? Fortunately there are263,000+ active CouchSurfers, so my non-participation isn’t affecting their success.

Would you like to CouchSurf, as hostor visitor? If so, check out their site atwww.couchsurfing.com.

Betsy blogs about socially responsibleinvesting and consuming and about coolthings like couchsurfing: www.money-changesthings.blogspot.com.

The Simplicity DividendCouchSurfingby Betsy Teutsch

THE SHUTTLE PAGE 21AUGUST 2007

September 16

6

1015

Do you want to create your life?Do you find yourself living in the past or future,

wishing you could embrace the present?

Cindy Shapiro MSW, LCSWOver 15 years experience and training in traditional and wholistic

therapies assisting others in creating lasting change

(215) 886-8616 (V/TTY)

With the cooler weather coming mythoughts turn to one of my favorite cook-ing methods: braising. From the Frenchbraiser, braising is cooking with moistheat, in a covered pot with variableamounts of liquid. Though braising ismore often associated with tougher cuts ofmeat, chicken is alsoexcellent braised, as ittakes less time.

I encourage people to braise vegetablesas well. Stick with hardier vegetables suchas squash, potatoes, leeks, and parsnips,or, as in this recipe, kohlrabi. While meatsrequire long cooking times, vegetables canbe done in a much shorter time.

However, if you have the time to cooksomething for a few hours, there is noth-ing better on a fall or winter day than thearoma of a long-cooked, one-pot meal.The lovely thing about braising is howeasy it is. Though you can braise on thestove top, I much prefer to braise in a slow250° oven. The all over heat gives the disha much deeper flavor. Once you’vebrowned the meat or vegetables, you sim-ply add your liquid and seasonings (andvegetables, if you are braising meat) andlet the oven do the rest of the work foryou.

Another important factor in braising

is your cooking vessel. My favorite kitchenpieces are made by a French company, LeCreuset(Luh-Crew-Say).Their Dutch ovenis best for braising. Le Creuset has beenaround forever and if you’re lucky you’llfind a piece in your mother’s or grand-mother’s kitchen, tucked away in the backof a cabinet, replaced by more modern-day cooking vessels. If you do happenupon such a windfall, be sure to abscondwith it. (As a collector of this stuff, I my-self would take it off your hands if itproves too burdensome for you. Hint,hint). No doubt, this stuff is heavy, and Imay encourage folks with back problemsto stay away from it, but it works betterthan anything else I’ve experimented with.There are other enamel-coated cast ironDutch ovens available, but the key is tostick with the high quality stuff. Don’t betempted to buy celebrity chef productknock-offs. You’ll often end up with an in-ferior quality product with an ill-fitted lid(a real no-no for braising, as a tight seal isnecessary to keep the steam locked in). Soif you fall in love with this cookingmethod, as I have, invest the money in agood Dutch oven.

In the meantime, braise away. Cometell me about what you made. Better yetbring me a taste!

Omnia De Arbore Vitae(215) 848-7260

With Autumn Comes... Braisingby Bonnie Shuman

Braised KohlrabiNeed another idea of what to do with allthat great Kohlrabi from the Co-op farm?Braise it!

1 tsp. butter1 tbs. chopped Garlic1 ½ lbs. kohlrabi, peeled and julienned1 ½ cups chicken broth1 tbs. chopped fresh thyme1 medium onion finely dicedfresh ground black pepper & kosher salt to taste

Heat butter in a medium nonstick skilletover medium heat. Add garlic, onions, andkohlrabi and sauté five minutes. Add broth,bring to boil, cover, and lower heat. Cookfor 15–20 minutes, until kohlrabi is tender.Remove cover for last five minutes andallow liquid to absorb. Add thyme and saltand pepper to taste. Serves four.Adapted from a recipe by Chef Jim Coleman.

Tues., Sept. 11 (note the change in day)

Iraq for Sale:The WarProfiteers

A documentary on civilian contractor

agencies in Iraq. Particularly appropriate

during a period of policy discussions

regarding the U.S. presence in Iraq.

Wed., Oct.10Knee Deep: Center in the Park

Senior Environment CorpsProduced and directed by Ann Tegnell

and WW member Sharon Mulally. How

a group of volunteers has worked to

test Philadelphia’s water, eventually

spawning a community group to work

to clean up what goes into our drink-

ing water. Come and see your neigh-

borhood and your neighbors in action

— it will make you wonder what is

going on under Washington Lane!

Followed by panel discussion

and audience discussion.

Wed., Nov. 14China Blue

How do manufacturers make their

blue jeans product? Sweat shops in

China and more — a fascinating and

horrifying look at manufacturing prac-

tices.The film also deals with the

large-scale issue of the demographic

changes involved in rural girls and

young women moving from the

countryside to the cities.

WW Film SeriesReturns

The Weavers Way film series will re-open for the fall on Tuesday, September 11.After September, we will return to our usualmonthly schedule of the second Wednesday ofthe month. Films are shown monthly at theLittle Theatre at Video Library (GermantownAve. near Durham St.) on a theater-sized

screen with theater style seating, air conditioning (when appropriate), and popcorn.Each film is followed by a discussion. Films

start at 7 p.m. Admission is free.


versity, Bloomingfoods Co-op had operated for manyyears in very tight conditions. There is really no placeto turn around in the original store (sounds familiar).They even have product marketed on the staircase.The annual sales figure for their small store is only$900,000 per year, but it is really small.

A few years ago they expanded about threemiles away on the other side of town. This secondlocation is in a modern shopping center in front of aKmart store. The second store is about 7,000 squarefeet of retail space and grosses about $8.5 million ayear. The store has a large prepared food section andplenty of local products. The staff seemed just asfriendly as the downtown store and as connectedwith the people in the smaller store. I thought thatWW member owners/shoppers would love thisstore.

Recently, Bloomingfoods Co-op opened a thirdstore in a former restaurant. They kept the restau-rant and added a store. It is too soon to tell, butGeorge, the General Manager, said there was no rea-son it should not be successful.

George wanted to make sure that we were doingdue diligence on our expansion and asked if I wasworking with consultants: financial, marketing, andplanning. I told him that I had hired one person toassist with our financial projections, another whocompleted a market study of our area last January,and a third to negotiate leases or purchases for me.He reassured me that I was taking the correct ac-tions in planning for a third site and that I was not“shooting from the hip” as they had done on theirsecond store. He said it took them awhile to readjusttheir projections and wished they had hired outsideconsultants on their first expansion. For their sec-ond expansion, they used outside consulting sup-port.

George told me that if you are doing over

$1,000/sq ft in business (and we are doing about$2,200/sq ft) you must begin thinking about expan-sion or a second store. We did that and expanded nextdoor to 557 Carpenter Lane years ago. Now the ques-tion is what to do next?

I say let’s follow in the footsteps of Blooming-foods (also Hanover Co-op, Townson, and others)and expand to at least two other stores in our region.Let us expand our economic model to other commu-nities and let us open opportunities for people inthese communities to work for a member-ownedbusiness that provides benefits and a good workingspace.

Expanding at our current location will not easethe problems with parking or deliveries, nor will itimprove working facilities for our staff or reduce thenumber of times they must handle product.

Our market research report tells me that weshould open a medium-sized store in the ChestnutHill area, followed by a remodeling of the currentstore and then open a third store in the German-town/East Falls region. This sounded like a solid planto me, and one that I have been seriously looking toget off the ground. We anticipate $15–19 million insales after all three stores are in operation.

There are many questions to be answered, butone important one is whether the new areas areready for us and whether they will support us withinvestment funds. I have no doubt that our currentand future staff members will keep the premise ofthe Co-op alive when we expand and will help tomake a second store successful.

Financial investment is perhaps the most criticalquestion. Co-ops must have strong financial back-ing, just like any business. There is nothing specialabout the co-op business model except that we askfor ownership by the community both in the formof investments with a fair percentage in return, andwe ask for general ownership (equity) in the busi-ness.

CO-OP MEMBER LOUISE BARTEAU CHODOFF IS MAKING

TREES OUT OF PAPER FOR HER NEW TWO-PART INSTALLA-TION, GROVE. PART 1, "IN AN INSTANT, EVERYTHING

CHANGES," WILL BE SHOWN DURING THE PHILADELPHIA LIVE

ARTS AND FRINGE FESTIVAL AT THE MEDIA BUREAU, 725N. 4TH. ST. PART 2, "IT'S ALWAYS HARD TO SAY GOOD-BYE," WILL BRING THE HOLLOW PAPER TREES TO

CARPENTER'S WOODS, WHERE THEY WILL BE REPLACED

WITH REAL TREES IN THE SPRING.

Man a g e r ’s C o r n e rcontinued (from page 1)

PHO

TOCO

URTESYO

FLOUISE

BARTEAU


Co-op MeetingsBoard: 1st Tues., 7:00 p.m. • Education: 3rd Wed., 7:30 p.m.

Environment: 1st Wed., 7:30 p.m. • Finance: 3rd Thurs., 7:30 p.mDiversity:3rd Tues., 7:15 p.m.

Operations, Membership, Merchandising,and Leadership Committees meet as need-ed. All meeting schedules are subject to change. Meetings are held at 610 and 559

Carpenter Lane and at members’ homes. For more information about committee meet-ings, e-mail [email protected] or call the store.

Board of Directors

PresidentStu Katz (06–08) [email protected] PresidentNancy Weinman (06–08) [email protected] DirectorDavid Woo (07–09) [email protected] At-large DirectorSylvia Carter (07–09)At-large DirectorGarvey Lundy (07–09) [email protected] DirectorJim Peightel (06–08) [email protected] DirectorChris Hill (06–08) [email protected] DirectorRick Sauer (06–08) [email protected] DirectorAfshin Kaighobady (07–09) [email protected] DirectorLou Dobkin (06-08) [email protected] DirectorJosh Giblin (07–09) [email protected]

Committee ChairsDiversity & Outreach Laura HolbertEducation Larry SchoferEnvironment: Sandra FolzerFinance Susan BeetleFarm Norma BrooksLeadership Bob NobleMembership Sylvia CarterMerchandising Support: openOperations Support David Baskin

Board members and committee chairs have mailboxes onthe second floor of 559 Carpenter Lane

C O - O P I N F O R M A T I O N

Shuttle Staff

Editor & Advertising Manager: Jonathan McGoran

Advertising Billing:Susan Beetle

Advertising Assistant:Angela Allen

Proofreaders/Editors: Milena Davidova, Emily Law,

Karen McGoran

Contributors:Michael Bamberger, Glenn Bergman,

Kirsten Bernal, Susan Crane,

Deborah Curtiss, Margie Felton,

Martha Fuller, Josh Giblin,

Aron Goldschneider,

Mark Goodman, Patrick Hauck,

Steve Hebden, Chris Kaiser,

Stu Katz, Dale Kinley,

Jean Mackenzie, Brenda Malinics

Amy Masterman, Chris Owens,

Peter Samuel, Larry Schofer,

Bonnie Shuman, Chris Switky,

Betsy Teutsch, Ronda Throne-

Murray, Norman Weiss,

Jay Winston, David Zelov

Photographers:Christine Bamberger, Josh Giblin,

Eli Goldblatt, Aron Goldschneider,

Steve Hebden, Robin Hiteshew,

Sol Levy, Jonathan McGoran,

Ronda Throne-Murray, David Zelov

STORE HOURSMonday-Friday 9-8

Saturday-Sunday 9-6

Weavers WayRecycling

New Courtland Elder Service6959 Germantown Ave.

(Enter from Carpenter Lane)

9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m., 3rd Sat./month.

Managers/Department Heads

General ManagerGlenn Bergman, ext. 123 [email protected] ManagerNorman Weiss, ext. 103 [email protected] ManagerRick Spalek, ext. 101 [email protected] ManagerLou Dobkin, ext. 110 [email protected] Foods ManagerDale Kinley, ext. 104 [email protected] Foods ManagerBonnie Shuman, ext. 102 [email protected] Floor ManagerMartha Fuller, ext. 114 [email protected] Resources ManagerDave Tukey, 215-843-6552, [email protected] ManagerMargie Felton, ext. 112 [email protected] Dept. ManagerSusan McLaughlin, ext. 311 just call herCommunications DirectorJonathan McGoran, ext. 111 [email protected] Nina DaSilva, ext. 317 [email protected] ManagerRobin Cannicle, ext. 303 [email protected] CoordinatorKarly Whitaker [email protected] Grocery ManagerChris Switky, ext. 113 [email protected] ManagerJean Mackenzie, ext. 107 [email protected] Rotenberg, ext. 105 [email protected] ManagerDavid Zelov [email protected] & Maintenance/EnvironmentSteve Hebden, ext. 304 [email protected]

Ditch the Lactaid 70% Lactose Reducedfor 100% if you are going to keep the Lac-taid. Thanks.”

r: (Chris) Good point. Look for ½ gal-lon Organic Valley by late July.

s: “Bring back the Ling Ling frozen po-stickers! (I wasn’t the only shopper look-ing for them.)”

r: (Chris) This item was a rather slowseller, which we deleted so that we couldmove tortillas to the freezer and thereforecreate more refrigerated space for freshproduce. They are available as a pre-order,case of nine for $37.49. You might want toask Joe, a Co-op staffer, if he wants to splita case, or put a note on the bulletin board.

s: “Stock T-shirts that say on the back“I’m burning carbohydrates not hydrocar-bons.” First seen as a sign hanging from abicycle seat @ Cal Tech 30+ years ago.”

r: (Martha) Cool saying! Perhaps oneof the local T-shirt design vendors mightlike to use it. Any takers?

s: “Whipped cream cheese.”r: (Margie) This is our first request for

this and we don’t really have the space. Ifwe get more requests, I’ll try it in the spe-cialty area.

s: “Part skim ricotta, could you alter-

nate between whole milk and skim if thereis a space problem? Thanks.”

r: (Chris) We would add this to ourdairy case line if we had space, but I don’tthink we do. Alternating products wouldcreate confusion, so I’d rather not.

s: “Isn’t it a little weird to have a petstore with no pets?”

r: (Norman) One of Steve’s mainte-nance projects for this year is to build apen in the basement of the pet store wherewe will expand our entertainment offer-ings with rabbit fighting. We were going tohave dog fighting, but turns out that isboth illegal and would decrease dog foodsales since every fight results in one lessdog. Rabbits are much quieter, so thefights won’t bother the neighbors, al-though it is hard to get rabbits to fight tothe death. But at least you end up withmaterial for fur coats, which we will do-nate to our local rabbit fur coat makingcooperative.

I’ve eaten bread in France, Germany, and Italy and in my view the best bread of all isLe Bus multigrain baguettes. Crunchy, sweet, perfect! Weavers Way carried it when Ifirst joined seven years ago, then it vanished, now it’s back. Please, friends, buy lots ofit so WW will always stock it and Le Bus will always bake it.

~ Eve Segal

Advertise in

tthhee SShhuuttttllee!! What, you think you’re the only

one who reads it?Call 215-843-2350, ext. 111or e-mail [email protected]

or visit www.weaversway.coop and click “advertise”

S u g g e s t i o n s(continued from page 24)

LL •• EE •• TT •• TT •• EE •• RRMt. Airy-based Gas & Electric

Arts “invites you to the hat mak-ing capital of the world,” wherenothing is at is should be.

Co-op members Lisa JoEpstein and David J. Brown arequite busy these days, running thenationally recognized Gas &Electric Arts out of their homebase on Carpenter Lane. Foundedin 2005, the company creates per-formances, educational programsand community events thatrespond to the currents of ourtime. “We support storytelling atits best: visually engaging, intel-lectually nourishing, and whichshed light on our humanity” says Lisa Jo“We are called Gas & Electric Artsbecause we believe that theatre should bean essential part of a community’s life, anaccessible, vital utility that ignites intro-spection even as it generates dynamic dia-logue around who we are and what wedesire.”

For the 2007 Fringe Festival, Gas &Electric Arts jumps into the seriously sur-real world of Kesselring-award winningplaywright Kira Obolensky, and her facto-ry town fable Quick Silver. Wildly enter-taining, yet thought provoking, QuickSilver theatricalizes the legacy ofAmerica’s hazardous industrial practicesand its imprint on the environment andsociety by drawing us into a story ofcriss-crossing family lines around the lifeof a river and a hat-making factory.

In the hat-making capital of theworld, nothing is as it should be. Timeevaporates like a splash of silver mercury.A swirl of actors and puppets animatethis Alice-in-Wonderland-like adventurewhere everyone breaks into song at the

drop of a hat.Directed by Lisa Jo, Quick Silver fea-

tures actors Vivian Appler, Seth Reichgottand Joseph Ritsch, with puppets andmusic by Co-op member Tim Harbesonand costumes by Millie Hiible, also a Co-op member.

As community-building is integral toGas & Electric Arts’ mission, many of theperformances will feature lively post-show talks addressing the urban issuesinherent in Quick Silver. Discussions willfeature Clean Water Action, Clean AirCouncil, the Sustainable BusinessNetwork, and Environmental ScientistJohan C. (Joop) Varekamp on differentnights of the show.

Quick Silver will be performed August29 thru September 15 at the Adrienne,2030 Sansom Street in Philadelphia. Formore information, call 215-407-0556 orvisit www.gasandelectricarts.org.

Following the run of Quick Silver, Gas& Electric Arts will continue its urbanstorytelling series, Generating at the TinAngel on September 24.

Members’ Theater Wins Acclaim

GAS & ELECTRIC THEATER’S DAVID BROWN AND LISA

JO EPSTEIN WITH DAUGHTER ZIVIA BEA BROWN

PHO

TOCO

URTESYO

FDAVID

BRO

WN


Welcome to Weavers Way Cooperative AssociationDear Neighbor,If you are not already a member of Weavers Way Co-op, you are invited tojoin. Weavers Way is a member-owned, not-for-profit cooperative. Our bylawsrequire that in becoming a member, someone from your household attend anorientation meeting, where details of membership will be explained. Meetingsare held at the Germantown Jewish Center (GJC), Lincoln Drive and ElletStreet, and at Church of the Annunciation (CA), Carpenter Lane and LincolnDrive. Upcoming Orientation Meetings are on the following dates:

Meetings start promptly and last about 1¼ hours. Latecomers cannot beadmitted. Written reservations are required, so please fill out the tear-offsheet below and return it to the store. At the close of the orientation meeting,you will be expected to pay your initial $30 annual investment (check orcash). We look forward to seeing you and welcoming you into the Co-op.

Robin Cannicle, Membership Manager+

PLEASE RETURN THIS PORTION TO WEAVERS WAY

Someone from my household will attend the orientation meeting on

Name (please print)

Phone Number

Address (including zip code)

by Norman Weiss

DAY DATE TIME LOCATION

Saturday Sept. 8, 2007 10:30 a.m. CAWednesday Oct. 10, 2007 6:45 p.m. GJCWednesday Nov. 7, 2007 6:45 p.m. GJC

Greetings and thanks for writing. Asusual, suggestions and/or responses mayhave been edited for clarity, brevity,and/or comedy.

A couple months ago I wrote aboutthe depravity of buying and selling bot-tled water, and a member emailed withinformation about a local spring whereanyone can fill up their own bottles.Here’s a reprint:

“Pure spring water is available for al-most nothing...Andorra Spring waterused to have its bottling plant here onBarren Hill Rd ( 2 miles past AndorraShopping Center, across from MasonicVillage). When they moved, they put upwater dispensers for spring water. BYOB,one gallon of pure spring water for aquarter. You can choose 1, 2, 3 or 5 gal.spigots. Go down Barren Hill (slowly,please!) about a mile, on the right is anAndorra Spring Water sign.”

This past July I attended a nationalco-op conference located in Minneapolis.During one of the sessions a few of uswere discussing product selection criteriaat our co-ops, and things of that nature.One woman said her co-op wouldn’t sellany Garden of Eatin brand items due topackaging concerns. I assumed the con-cern was environmental, some objection-able material or something. Turns out thereason is graphic: designs on the packag-ing, specifically petroglyphs, were deemedexploitative. The woman told me it iscalled “cultural appropriation”; in thiscase it’s the adoption of the iconographyof another culture to aid in selling a com-pany’s corn chip. First I thought, man, thepeople at this co-op are sensitive!(Olympia Food Co-op, WA) But then Ithought about it, and realized that thisphilosophy could benefit Weavers Way. Ifwe incorporate this thinking into ourown product selection criteria, it has twoimmediate benefits: 1) It gives us some-thing new to have a divisive boycott dis-cussion about, which in turn leads to awell-attended membership meeting withgood food, and 2) It gives us a reason todelete some products, thus making thestore less crowded. My ultimate goal hereis to settle our “how to expand” decisionby defining more and more exclusiveproduct selection criteria such that we ex-clude enough products so that crowdingis no longer a problem and we can juststay put.

suggestions and responses:

s: “How about Bear Naked Granola,it’s low in sugar, tastes good. I like vanillaalmond. Thanks.”

r: (Chris) No room to add these toour cereal section at this time... It is avail-

able as a full-case pre-order, a case of six12-oz packages for $26.09.

s: “Please reinstate the deli remindertags — they were so helpful and now theyare gone. I just had to come in today be-cause I forgot to pick up my deli order.”

r: (Margie) The reminder slips areback in the Deli!

s: “Do we carry black bean veggieburgers?”

r: No, but we do have three types ofveggie burgers in our freezer: Amy’s veg-gie burger, Garden Burger, and GardenVegan Burger. Also, in the deli case,Lightlife “gimme-lean” beef style makesexcellent burgers.

s: “What happened to the Journey so-das? They are just what I need after a hardday at school in the Fall.”

r: (Norman) Most of the flavors thatwe used to carry were discontinued byour vendor. Emails to Journey don’t gothrough, so we suspect Journey folded.

s: “How about: using an old laptop forSuggestion Book and posting online sowe can look up our suggestions by sortingby number then date? I can never find myprevious comments and replies. PerhapsNorman could talk less, be less flip andinclude more suggestions and responses.Quantity vs. entertainment. He couldstart a humorous column instead.”

r: (Norman) Thanks for the sugges-tion, we are looking at making the Sug-gestion Book part of our web site, whichwould make it searchable. Then we couldhave a laptop for in-store use. (We actual-ly tried it on our website when the sitefirst went up, but that section quicklyfilled up with spam.) Meanwhile, Sugges-tion Book pages do vanish for awhile,usually about a week, while being re-sponded to. Then I put them back in dateorder, so keep checking. By the way, if Italked less it wouldn’t have much effecton the Suggestion Book article size, sincemost of the space is taken up with writ-ing. OK, I just tried to be less flip, butfailed.

s: “Please stock Gaga’s Sherbetter, anall natural frozen dessert in lemon, or-ange, raspberry, chocolate pints. Nowavailable in the Philadelphia area. Terrifictaste, small company. Better than sorbetcurrently in your freezer section.”

r: (Chris) We’ve had several requeststo add this item, tight space in the freezeris “the issue.” I’ll try to open up space forGaga’s... (wish me luck).

s: “First, thanks for sandwiches fornon-meat and dairy eaters in the WWbuffet of homemade food. Second, anychance we can supply quart-sized con-tainers of Silk Soy yogurt? (Silk is the onlybrand I know that packages plain soy yo-gurt in quart sized containers.)”

r: (Bonnie) Your welcome regardingthe sandwiches, we’ll pass your thanksalong to our two sandwich makers, Karenand Nina. (Chris) Quart-sized soy yogurtwas a very slow seller when we did carry ita couple years ago. I doubt we’ll be addingit back to the yogurt line. You could ordera case of 6 for $16.32.

s: “Sorry for repetition, but update onlactose-reduced Dairy? Organic ValleyLactose-Reduced milk is the only organiclactose-reduced milk I have seen on themarket. Why is it only available in quarts?

Why don’t

we carry...

Suggestions

Equal Exchange

September Coffees of the Month

$6.99/lb.

smooth, soft and soulful with mellow body,

light acidity and a dark chocolate finish

Organic Mind,

Body & Soul Reg. $8.75/lb.

$7.75/lb.Dark roast, rich and intense, with a

chocolate aroma and a long, graceful

aftertaste.

Organic Café Nica

Reg. $8.75/lb.


Seemingly in line with Murphy’s Law,the popularity of Sumatran Arabica Cof-fee has skyrocketed in the past few years,while that country has suffered a series ofpolitical and environmental setbacks. Dueto natural disasters and domestic turmoil,the supply of fine Sumatran coffee hasbeen severely limited. Fair Trade Premi-ums are more important than ever in re-building infrastructure and expanding ca-pacity. Equal Exchange’s Sumatran FullCity Roast will be discontinued for a shorttime, while we eagerly await the next ship-ment of this prized offering.

The cooperative and the communityaround St. Elena, Costa Rica, has beensuccessful in developing an ecotourismeconomy that also sells roasted coffee in-country to visitors, which has absorbedthe volume of green coffee we have histor-ically purchased. This is a good exampleof development resulting in the producersdiversifying income-generation and mov-ing up the value chain to include roastingand retailing, thus no longer being pri-mary product producers only.

With guidance and suggestions from

Nick at Equal Exchange, we have broughtin two coffee beans in place of the CostaRican and Sumatran: Organic DecafEspresso (a Fair Trade coffee, of course)and Organic Cafe Mexico (also FairTrade). The decaf drinkers among us haveclamored for another decaf that leans to-ward the darker roasts. This one is a Vien-na roast. You can sip to your heart’s con-tent with the coffee from this new beanwithout worrying about a caffeine over-load. Equal Exchange describes the DecafEspresso like this: “Notes of vanilla andcardamom with more exotic accents oflemon zest and crystallized ginger. Fromsmall farmer co-ops in Latin America.”

Organic Cafe Mexico is also a Viennaroast and this is how Equal Exchange de-scribes this coffee: “Fragrant aroma,smooth flavor and a distinguished finish.”So far, the feedback from shoppers hasbeen positive and the Cafe Mexico hasgarnered excellent comments.

Both are, like the other Equal Ex-change coffees, tasty, a good money valueand have frequent turnovers, thus ensur-ing freshness.

Good News & Bad Affects Coffee Supplyby Martha Fuller

Documents

September 2007 Vol.36,No.9 phone:215-843-2350 · fax:215 ... · shameless self promotion in the frontpage “interview”about my new book, Blood Poison (Sept. 4, 2007, Penguin Books)