Groceries and Governance
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The Chronicle The Members’ Newsletter of Karma Food Co-op | April May 2005 IN THIS ISSUE: Groceries and Governance Copyright 2005 © Katherine Dolgy Ludwig The Seasonal Gourmet Membership Survey Results The People’s Food Co-op in Kalamazoo, Michigan Product Spotlight Karma Board Initiatives and Updates Members’ Questions and Concerns And more… Contents Report From the General Manager By Graeme Hussey .....................................................................................3 Product Spotlight By Suzanne Molina...................................................................................................................4 The Seasonal (and Regional) Gourmet By Todd Parsons....................................................................................6 Recipes!...................................................................................................................................................................9 Co-op Profi le: The People’s Food Co-op, Kalamazoo, Michigan By Ember Swift..........................................10 Karma’s President Becomes General Manager By Terry Fowler and Suzanne Molina...................................13 Letter to the Editor..............................................................................................................................................15 Report From the Board of Directors: Hello From the New President By Jason Diceman ............................17 Structure Change at Karma: Committees to Working Groups by Michael Boulger .....................................18 The Food Issues Committee Is Now the Food Issues Working Group By Anil Kanji.....................................20 Business Planning Committee Hopes to Facilitate Big Decisions This Year By Nina Bregman.....................21 Report on Important Changes to Annual Reconciliation Process By Brendan Heath....................................22 Report on the 2003 and 2004 Karma Membership Surveys By Lachlan Story...............................................24 The Chronicle The Members Newsletter of Karma Food Co-op | April May 2005 The Chronicle April/May 2005 The Chronicle is published by members of Karma Co-op 739 Palmerston Avenue Toronto, ON M6G 2R3 416-534-1470 416-534-3697 fax Chronicle Staff for April/May www.karmacoop.org Editor: Linda Brown Designer: Dave Howard The Chronicle is a link between members of this and other cooperative com- Copy editor: Suzanne Molina munities; the only viewpoints herein endorsed by Karma Co-op Inc. are those Proofreaders: Veronica Rossos, Michael Boulger published as reports of the board of directors and its committees. Chronicle Committee This newsletter is printed on New Life stock, which is certifi ed 80 per cent Michael Boulger, Linda Brown, Katherine Dolgy Ludwig, Terry Fowler, Ian post-consumer recycled. This paper stock is oxygen-whitened and certifi ed Galloway, Dave Howard, Jennifer Hunt, Pam McBurney, Suzanne Molina, chlorine- and old-growth-free by the Chlorine Free Products Association. It Veronica Rossos, David Sharp, Ember Swift is union made in Canada by Cascades Fine Papers. For more information on sustainable paper stock, go to www.rfu.org, the Web site for Reach for Board Liaison to the Chronicle Committee Unbleached, a Canadian registered charity working for a sustainable pulp and Melissa McDonald paper industry. Cover Illustration Submissions Katherine Dolgy Ludwig Submissions may be sent by e-mail, to [email protected]. Send your submission within the main body of the message. Please do not send Photos attachments. Submissions are also collected from the red box in the store. All Ember Swift page 10, 11, 12 envelopes, articles, and disks must be clearly marked with the author’s name. Dave Howard page 6, 7, 8 Upcoming editorial deadlines are posted on the bulletin board and the box. The Chronicle will publish any Karma-related material, subject to editorial Contributors policy guidelines. Letters to the editor must contain the writer’s full name and Michael Boulger, Nina Bregman, Jason Diceman, Terry Fowler, Brendan telephone number, although names will be withheld at time of publication upon Heath, Graeme Hussey, Anil Kanji, Suzanne Molina, Todd Parsons, Lachlan request. All published articles are eligible for work credits (letters to the editor Story, Ember Swift and announcements are not). 2 www.karmacoop.orgThe Chronicle | April May 2005 The Chronicle | April May 2005 3 Report From the General Manager By Graeme Hussey t has been two months since I started as general There is more space, a fresh coat of paint, more manager, and things are busy and exciting. comfortable seating, a fold-down table for meetings, I In my reports to The Chronicle, I would like and a computer for Karma members that has Inter- to present relevant information to members about net access. If you would like to use the members’ the Karma community, fi nances, member labour, computer, just ask the staff. member services, and operations. Getting involved: Fiscal update Do you have experience and enthusiasm that Karma’s fi scal year end is May 31, and we are pro- could be used to benefi t Karma? We are looking for jecting a small net income this year. Karma’s fi nanc- members with experience in architecture, business es have improved gradually since the 2003 blackout, and strategic planning, carpentry, communications, and this improvement will allow us to invest in electrical, graphic design, marketing, plumbing, capital, maintenance, and operational improvements real estate, and restoration and civil engineering. If over the coming year, such as new stand-up freezers you have experience and enthusiasm in any of these and fridges, and a$ new grocery shelf. please contactC me. Dotmocracy Member services promotions Dotmocracy is in the store, and I encourage you Finally, Karma would like to identify and promote to participate. Dotmocracy is a tool that Karma is member businesses and services. Do you own a using to engage members in decision making. It’s business or provide lessons or services that Karma also a form of soliciting feedback and support from members would be interested in? Please let me the membership. You can participate by suggest- know. ing proposals for dotmocracy and by voting on the Please feel free to contact me about any of the posted proposals. The business planning committee above, by e-mail ([email protected]), by will soon be using dotmocracy to solicit feedback phone, or in person at the store. on issues relevant to the business plan. Members’ room reno . The members’ room has been transformed, and I hope it will now be more useful to the members. 2 The Chronicle | April May 2005 The Chronicle | April May 2005 3 Product Spotlight By Suzanne Molina Green Beaver Après Ski Winter Lip Green Beaver was started by partners Karen Clark Balm and Alain Menard after the birth of their son, Josh- The Spotlight test kitchen has been on a lifelong ua. The couple wanted all-natural products to use quest for the perfect lip balm: something that isn’t on Joshua’s delicate skin and new-human immune waxy, definitely not flavoured, has no lanolin (the system. As a result, Green Beaver products do not test kitchen doesn’t require vegan products, but contain artificial colours, flavours, fragrances, pre- turns its nose up at smear- servatives, petrochemicals, ing sheepskin oil all over or parabens (which are carci- its lips), and actually nogenic). Most products are works, in both a preven- vegan, and none are tested tive as well as a restor- on animals. ative sense. The Green Beaver product Hallelujah! The Spot- line includes facial care light’s quest has now end- products (green tea moistur- ed. Green Beaver Après izer, grapefruit cleanser, and Ski Winter Lip Balm, a grapefruit exfoliant); three new product made by the flavours of fluoride-free Green Beaver company toothpaste (green apple, in Hawkesbury, Ontario, is a wonderful mixture zesty orange, and frosty mint); three types of non- of castor oil, sunflower oil, shea butter, olive oil, aluminum deodorant (lavender, citrus, and tea tree sweet almond oil, rosemary oil, beeswax, vitamin spice); and French vanilla moisturizing lip balm in E, and vanilla extract. It’s smooth, it spreads well, a pot. All the packaging is recyclable. it’s long-lasting, and using it doesn’t make you feel If the Après Ski Winter Lip Balm is anything to like you’re coating your lips with industrial-strength judge by, Green Beaver may be the first manufac- floor wax. Best of all, there’s no taste! This prod- turer whose product line — in terms of formulation uct also has a fantastic applicator tube with a flat and efficacy — rivals the Florida-based Aubrey spreader edge, so you can spread the stuff around on Organics. You can find Green Beaver Après Ski your lips without (a) applying too much and (b) hav- Winter Lip Balm next to the cash. ing to smack your lips together like a maniac. For more information, go to www.greenbeaver.com. 4 The Chronicle | April May 2005 The Chronicle | April May 2005 5 Tinkyáda Pasta Joy Ready Known fact #374 of the health-food universe: rice pasta is mushy and it tastes really bad. Right? Wrong. Prepare to adjust your assump- tions, because Tinkyáda Pasta Joy Ready is here! And it is delicious. Tinkyáda pasta is made with only the purest of ingredients: stone-ground brown rice, rice bran, and spring water. There is no added sodium. Sounds suspiciously earnest, eh? But colour the Spotlight surprised: the test kitchen can’t tell the difference between nuts, or peanuts. No