Our co-op on Hertel is closer than ever. A year from now, our famous flourless chocolate cakes will be emerging from ovens on Hertel as well as Elmwood. Tony Weiss strawberries will be ringing in the summer in two co-op produce departments. Sixty new co-op staff will be welcoming new owners who walked to their co-op from their homes on Huntington and Parkside. But before we can take this next step, we need to raise $2 million in Preferred Shares from owners who are NYS residents. Every single owner should take pride in the increasing positive impact we are having in Buffalo and Western New York. A second store will give the community more of what they value: • more local and organic food • create more good co-op jobs • offer a friendly co-op shopping experience to more people • assist more co-op start-ups like Breadhive and Urban Roots • support more community groups who provide access to food like the Food Bank of WNY and MAP’s Mobile Market Even if you don’t expect to shop on Hertel frequently, this growth will benefit our Elmwood store and the local cooperative movement by building our cooperative economic and advocacy strength. A Co-op on Hertel won’t happen without our owners’ investment and support. Over one hundred owners, 20% of our amazing Co-op staff, and every member of the Board of Directors has already invested in our BIG Direction Capital Campaign. This capital campaign is purposefully designed to be a win-win-win. Those able to invest will see financial returns each year through dividends, the Co-op will be able to leverage outside funding to build our second store, and we all will see more cents on the dollar returned to the local economy as we enjoy each stalk of local asparagus in the spring and each crisp Dan Tower local apple in the fall. We want to thank each and every owner who has considered this Preferred Shares campaign, expressed their enthusiastic support of our expansion to Hertel, shops in the store and pushes us to continually do more good in the world by bringing our BIG Direction values to life. The bottom line is that as a cooperative business, what we do, we do together. I invite you to learn more about Preferred Shares in this newsletter and on our website. Let’s bring the Co-op to Hertel together! News from the Lexington Cooperative Market Early Summer 2015 LexTalk Cynthia is invested! Justin is invested! Matt and Katie are invested! Let’s bring a co-op to Hertel together! Jennifer Nalbone, your Board President We need our owners to help finance our next step.
Transcript
Our co-op on Hertel is closer than ever. A year from now, our famous flourless chocolate cakes will be emerging from ovens on Hertel as well as Elmwood. Tony Weiss strawberries will be ringing in the summer in two co-op produce departments. Sixty new co-op staff will be welcoming new owners who walked to their co-op from their homes on Huntington and Parkside. But before we can take this next step, we need to raise $2 million in Preferred Shares from owners who are NYS residents.
Every single owner should take pride in the increasing positive impact we are having in Buffalo and Western New York. A second store will give the community more of what they value:
• more local and organic food
• create more good co-op jobs
• offer a friendly co-op shopping experience to more people
• assist more co-op start-ups like Breadhive and Urban Roots
• support more community groups who provide access to food
like the Food Bank of WNY and MAP’s Mobile Market
Even if you don’t expect to shop on Hertel frequently, this growth will benefit our Elmwood store and the local cooperative movement by building our cooperative economic and advocacy strength.
A Co-op on Hertel won’t happen without our owners’ investment and support. Over one hundred owners, 20% of our amazing Co-op staff, and every member of the Board of Directors has already invested in our BIG Direction Capital Campaign. This capital campaign is purposefully designed to be a win-win-win. Those able to invest will see financial returns each year through dividends, the Co-op will be able to leverage outside funding to build our second store, and we all will see more cents on the dollar returned to the local economy as we enjoy each stalk of local asparagus in the spring and each crisp Dan Tower local apple in the fall.
We want to thank each and every owner who has considered this Preferred Shares campaign, expressed their enthusiastic support of our expansion to Hertel, shops in the store and pushes us to continually do more good in the world by bringing our BIG Direction values to life. The bottom line is that as a cooperative business, what we do, we do together. I invite you to learn more about Preferred Shares in this newsletter and on our website.
Let’s bring the Co-op to Hertel together!
News from the Lexington Cooperative Market Early Summer 2015
LexTalk
Cynthia is invested!Justin is invested!Matt and Katie are invested!
Let’s bring a co-op to Hertel together!
Jennifer Nalbone, your Board President
We need our owners to help finance our next step.
Jamie LawrenceDirector of Marketing
Energy Cooperative of America, Inc.1408 Sweet Home Road, Suite 8
Amherst, New York 14228Tel: (716) 580-3506 • Fax (716) 932-7337
I was on the phone with Co-op owner number two the other day talking with him about our Big Direction Capital Campaign. “I love the co-op,” he told me. “I’ve been coming in since the 1970s and I’ve never had a bad experience. Well, maybe one, but that was a long time ago. It’s going to be tough for me to participate, but I really want to do this. When I walk in, I feel like I own the place. You just don’t feel that everywhere.”
We are having so much fun with this
Capital Campaign. We have talked to many owners who all echo the same sentiment - “I love the co-op!” The pride and joy that emanates from this business is powerful and tangible. It comes from owners and staff alike.
Capital is necessary for any business to grow and thrive. Many business owners tap into their personal savings to capitalize their business
– sometimes at great peril to their personal finances and relationships. Others go public and offer stock on Wall Street, giving up the local control that made them different.
Co-ops are different; we are owned solely by the people who use the service we provide. So when we need
capital to grow our co-op, it is the people who own it - the people who use it - who fund it. It is the third co-operative principal, and it is part of the economic self-determination that is a central value of co-operatives.
Personally, most of my savings are tied up in my retirement plan. Every day this money is used by the stock market to build a world that is exactly the
opposite of the one I’m trying to create in the rest of my life. But
investing in the stock market offers tax advantages, so I keep adding to my 401k.
The Preferred Shares campaign gives me the opportunity to divert some of those monies and invest them locally in my co-op.
In 2013, one of my co-op heroes, Paul Hazen, speaking to the United Nations said “rugged individualism didn’t build America, co-operation did. And it’s needed now more than ever.”
This is a radical idea: that a community could come together and fund the business that serves them. But when we open our second store on Hertel, the entire community will be able to look at it and say “we built that”. How great is that?
Building a Co-op Together
This is a radical idea: that a community could come
together and fund the business that serves them.
Stories from our Capital Campaign
Where are we now?
Track our progress on the carrot-ometer in the store and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!
Are you receiving our email newsletter? Follow the Campaign! To be added to our email list, enter your address at the footer of our website.
Look who’s investing in the Hertel store!
Meet Delaney Coady. She’s a proud co-op owner, and also a baker in Lexi’s Kitchen. Delaney spends her days over a giant mixing bowl and hot ovens to bring you those incredible chocolate chip cookies and local cherry pies. She is invested in the Co-op’s Capital Campaign to build our store on Hertel Ave. Here’s why:
“I am investing because the Co-op ‘invested’ in me almost five years ago when they hired me. It set a chain of personal events that have led me to a wonderful place in my life, and I want to return the favor. The Co-op’s BIG Direction excites me so much, and wholly due to the determination to keep making the community a better place to live. There is never a moment when we say, ‘we’ve done as much as we can do’.
To me, our Co-op represents hard work on individual and collective behalf to leave the world better than when we lived in it. It has been integral in so many people’s lives, and is a source of community amongst people in the neighborhood. It’s amazing!”
$1, 500,000
$500,000
$250,000
$2 MILLION!
Let’s build a store together!
$1 MILLION!
Parmigiano-Reggiano Parmigiano-Reggiano has strict regulations: it’s made in either Parma or Reggio Emilia in Italy, from cow’s milk that’s been heated in copper kettles by certified cheese makers, and aged for at least 12 months! It’s rightfully famous for a nutty, almost spicy flavor. Unregulated Parmesan is far simpler. Almost always made from cow’s milk, its flavor and production processes vary widely between brands.
Asiago Milder and creamier than Parmigiano-Reggiano, Asiago is a terrific cheese in salads, or shaved over crisp springtime vegetables or sweet root vegetables like yams or parsnips.
Pecorino Romano
Similar in many ways to Parmigiano-Reggiano, pecorino is made from sheep’s milk rather than cow’s, and has a somewhat sharper, stronger flavor. It stands up to big, complex flavors — try it for topping your next lasagna, or stirring it into soup.
Manchego This Spanish sheep’s milk cheese has a flavor that is both bright and nutty, which pairs nicely with many kinds of fruit and is terrific alongside sweeter hard ciders.
Ricotta Salata This salty Italian cheese is perfect in salads. The word ‘Ricotta’ means re-cooked and ‘Salata’ means salted. It is made from the whey part of sheep’s milk, which is pressed, salted and aged for at least 90 days for a flavor boost. The color is milky white, with a firm texture and salty taste. The cheese is ideal for slicing, crumbling and grating.
812-7641
destined for
grate-ness
Adapted from PCC Taste, May 2015
Grating cheeses are typically firm, crumbly cheeses that are often the final step to finishing a dish. They are fairly interchangeable, but knowing their differences is useful when deciding your next purchase.
grating cheeses
Ithacawith love
We all know Ithaca, NY is ‘gorges’, with its beautiful natural spaces, impressive architecture and famous farmer’s market. It is also home to fantastic local food producers! There’s lots of Ithaca-made goodness at the co-op.
from
Flower Power
IPA
Hopped and dry-hopped five different times for a big body punch, and a floral and fruity finish of pineapple and grapefruit. Try it with Ancho Rubbed Pork Chops from The Piggery!
www.ithacabeer.com
We love that Crooked Carrot’s hand-packed, live-culture pickles are made with traditional fermentation techniques using ingredients from their organic farm and a strong community of growers - all within
30 miles of their kitchen.
Jesse, Johanna, Silas, and Anna – The Crooked Carrot Crew, started CC as
Ithaca’s first Community Supported Kitchen (CSK). Similar to the CSA model, CSKs allow consumers to buy products directly from food producers, broadening the market for local farmers and food artisans. The CC kitchen is based at Stick and Stone Farm, just 150 miles from the Co-op!
We think their sauerkraut
and kimchi are now SOP -
standard operating pickles
- in most fridges. Try them!
www.crookedcarrotcsk.com
Pastured Pork The Piggery owners/pig farmers Heather Sanford
and Brad Marshall handcraft fresh cuts and charcuterie at their farm-to-table butcher shop in Ithaca, NY. On their small family farm, 450 heritage pigs are free to graze 30 acres of fresh pasture, supplemented with locally-raised GMO-free small grains and plenty of sunshine. After all, part of The Piggery Philosophy is that healthy pigs make healthy people.
Our favorites are their pork chops, bacon,
hot dogs and pate! But don’t stop there....
check out all their delicious offerings.
Watch the Piggery Philosophy Video Series!
Learn how The Piggery farm practices optimize pork quality, support small farms, and provide ecosystem services.
What can you do to help maintain biodiversity and water quality? Brad says, just eat some delicious bacon.
www.thepiggery.net
150 miles from the Co-op!
Ithaca Milk’s cream-top yogurts are smooth, rich and made from creamy Jersey cow’s milk. Ithaca Milk is produced on three small dairy farms that are pasture-fed and free of antibiotics and growth hormones. The milk is non-homogenized which creates
the thick cream at the top of the yogurt.
Try the slightly sweet fruit on the bottom Strawberry flavor, or naturally sweetened Maple!
www.ithacamilk.com
It’s local time!Greens & Lettuces
Draudt Farm in Hamburg, NYBowman-Hill Farm in Kent, NY
Sweet Peas
Weiss Farm in Eden, NY
Strawberries
Weiss Farm in Eden, NYThorpe’s Organic Family Farm in East Aurora, NY
1/2 cup Marcona almonds2 tbsp white wine vinegar2 tsp whole grain mustard1 tsp poppy seeds1 tsp sugar1/4 cup oilKosher salt, ground pepper
1 cup shelled fresh peas or snow/snap pea pods4 cups lettuce2 cups hulled strawberries, halved or quartered if large
Strawberry, Almond & Pea Salad Serves 4, adapted from bonappetit.com
1. Whisk vinegar, mustard, poppy seeds, and sugar in a large bowl. Whisk in oil; season with salt & pepper.
2. Cook peas in a large saucepan of boiling salted water until bright green and tender, about 5 minutes. Drain; transfer to a colander set in a bowl of ice water. Drain.
3. Add lettuce, strawberries, peas, and almonds to vinaigrette; toss to coat.
The ground is warm and we’re beginning to welcome fresh summer vegetables and fruits from local farmers. Here’s who will be growing some of our favorite early crops, and a great recipe to enjoy them! Also expected soon...
Rhubarb Weiss Farm in Eden, NYGarlic Scapes Singer Farm in Appleton, NYBroccoli Draudt Farm in Hamburg, NY
GMOs: Help make labeling mandatory!What’s the issue? The GMO labeling issue has been gaining momentum on a local and national level. There are current bills in both state and federal government relating to labels for GMO ingredients, and consumer support for labeling has never been stronger.
The Co-op’s stance: We strongly support labeling GMOs at an industry level so consumers can make informed decisions about their food choices. We encourage customers to push for legislation that mandates labeling.
FEDERAL
The Geneticially Engineered Food Right-to-Know Act
FEDERAL
The Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act (a.k.a The DARK Act)
STATE
New York State GMO Labeling Bills, Assembly bill A.617 & Senate bill S.485
Lexington supports this bill. Lexington opposes this bill. Lexington supports this bill.
• Requires national mandatory GMO labeling in accordance with international standards.
• Ends “natural” claims on GMO foods.
• Establishes new barriers to a national mandatory GMO labeling system.
• Blocks future state GMO labeling laws, and nullifies existing state laws.
• Mandates labeling of GMO ingredients on foods sold in New York State.
Introduced to the Senate by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) , where it is known as S.511.
As of printing, not yet introduced in the Senate. Introduced by Sen. LaValle, known as bill S.485.
Introduced to the House by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), where it is known as H.R. 913
Introduced to House by Rep. Mike Pompeo(R-KS) and Rep. G.K Butterfield (D-NC),where it is known as H.R. 1599.
Introduced by Sen. Rosenthal, known as Assembly bill A.617.
How YOU Can Help
Calling or emailing your lawmakers is the most important thing you can do to make a difference in the push for GMO labeling. Caitlin from our Merchandising department took the time to make a call. Here’s how it’s done:
I ’m call ing my
representatives!
First time caller? Lawmakers’ staff are there to listen! They are trained to listen to your viewpoint and convey it to your representative—they will not debate or challenge you.
LEARN MORE
Watch ‘GMO-OMG’ on Netflix!
This informative, short film is great to watch with all ages!
“The whole experience was so easy! The staffer made me feel like she wanted to know what I thought, and I would gladly do this again. I’m so happy I called!”
1. Find your reps. “I used govtrack.us - I just entered my address!
2. Jot down a few points. “I wrote a little script so I would be able to reference the bill information and I wouldn’t stumble if I got nervous. Here are my notes from my call to Rep. Higgins’ office:
• ‘Hi, I’m a constituent of Representative Higgins, and I’m calling about H.R. 1599, The Safe and Accurate Food Handling Act.’
• ‘I think labeling of food is important so I have the information I need to choose whether or not to eat GMOs. Companies should have to stand behind their ingredients.‘
• ‘H.R. 1599 conceals GMO ingredients, and rolls back the labeling laws that were democratically voted in by citizens in several states in the country.‘
3. Make the call. “Rep. Higgins’ staffer Theresa asked for my address and listened to my points. We chatted a bit about GMOs, and I asked about where Representative Higgins stands on the issue. Theresa wasn’t sure, but she wanted to find out and get back to me. She took my contact information, thanked me for my call, and said she’d be passing on my comments.”
$18/class$15/owners!www.lexington.coop See full Schedule and regiSter!
807 Elmwood Ave, Buffalo, NY 14222716.886.COOP
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Invest in our BIG Direction Capital Campaign! See inside!
PREPARE TO PRESERVEcanning class series
strawberry rhubarb jam Tuesday, June 16
strawberry jam Wednesday, June 24
dill pickles Monday, July 20
dill relish Tuesday, July 28
blueberry jam Wednesday, July 29
bread & butter pickles Monday, August 10
peaches Thursday, August 13
peaches Wednesday, August 26
+ more in sept & oct
All classes 6-8pm at Artisan Kitchens & Baths (200 Amherst St, Buffalo)
