07-11/08 p.1-9 11/7/07 11:14 PM Page 1 OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE PARK SLOPE FOOD COOP Established 1973 Volume BB, Number 23 November 8, 2007 To Save a Farm The Wedge: Our Spiritual Twin By Katie Benner t seems that the Park Slope Food Coop has a spiritual twin in Minneapolis, Minnesota. IThe Wedge is a 13,000-member store whose mission is to provide high quality food at fair prices while supporting local producers, and it is now the owner of a nearby 97-acre organic farm that has been a business partner for 34 years. The co-op purchased Gar- tin and Atina Diffley have dens of Eagan, located in been farming since 1973 and nearby Farmington, Minneso- they are incredibly knowl- ta, for $1.5 million and the edgeable about organic and transition of ownership will sustainable farming. We did- begin this upcoming January. n’t want to lose that.” More than a business trans- Since it produced its first action, the deal preserves a crops, Gardens of Eagan has valuable source of locally become one of the area’s grown foods that has also best-known names in organic become a powerful political produce, in large part ILLUSTRATION BY DIANE MILLER ILLUSTRATION Coop Members Celebrate Thanksgiving and educational force on because of its unique loca- By Diane Aronson behalf of small organic farms. tion only 30 miles outside of “Our mission is not to own Minneapolis. Moreover, the a farm, but to save a farm,” Diffleys are among the state’s t’s November, and the Park Slope Food Coop is filling up with the says Lindy Bannister, general most vocal proponents of the makings of enticing Thanksgiving-meals-to-be. With this bounty in manager of The Wedge. “Mar- rights of small farms and an mind, I asked several Coop members about their give-thanks holiday CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 Ifood traditions. Next General Meeting on November 27 T-Day Traditions … with a Twist Liz and Stephen work with Thanksgiving The General Meeting of the Park Slope Food Coop is held on the About food and Thanksgiving, Liz Gessner recipes they have refined over the years, but last Tuesday of each month.* The next General Meeting will be observed, “it’s the whole thing.” She and will also try new dishes. Last year, they experi- Tuesday, November 27 at 7:00 p.m. at the Congregation Beth Stephen Silverman host a traditional meal; a mented with Mandel bread, a biscotti-like Elohim Temple House (Garfield Temple), 274 Garfield Place. highlight is serving what Liz describes as a cookie. The agenda is in this Gazette and available as a flyer in the “serious, serious turkey.” Other Coop members Stephen’s sister is vegetarian, so they’ll entryway of the Coop. For more information about the GM and are serious about turkey, too. PSFC stats show shop together for vegetarian-friendly meal about Coop governance, please see the center of this issue. the Coop sold more than eight tons of turkey ingredients, including kale and potatoes for * Exceptions for November and December will be posted. during the 2006 Thanksgiving season! CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 IN THIS ISSUE Sat, Nov 10 •Game Night: 7:00 p.m. GM Agenda . 3 Fri, Nov 16 •The Good Coffeehouse: Poetry & Music 8:00 p.m. Cold Comfort Farm: Local Brooklyn Farming . 3 Sat, Nov 17 •Children’s Clothing Swap 10:30 a.m.–2:00 p.m. Traditional Music in New York . 5 Coop Sat, Dec 1 •Pocketbook, Purse, Bag and Shoe Exchange Puzzle . 5 10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m. Concert Committee Report . 7 Event Thur, Dec 6 •Food Class: Tis the Season 7:30 p.m. Coop Hours, Coffeehouse . 8 Fri, Dec 7 •Film Night: Ruthie & Gussie’s and Faces of the Farm Coop Calendar, Workslot Needs Highlights 7:00 p.m. Governance Information, Mission Statement. 9 Coop Discussion: Plastic Bag Dilemma . 11 Look for additional information about these and other events in this issue. Letters to the Editor . 12 Classified Ads . 15 07-11/08 p.1-9 11/7/07 11:14 PM Page 2 2 November 8, 2007 Park Slope Food Coop, Brooklyn, NY water until very soft and then Ben also serves up soup, smashed, with just a bit of with white bean a particular butter or ghee and perhaps a favorite. To boost his soup little salt added at the end. stock, Ben starts with dried Nathan is okay with cranber- shiitake mushrooms and ries out of the can; Ellen likes kombu seaweed. He also to make the cranberry sauce, uses kombu to create stacked with orange peel added for layers in his nishime dishes. flavor and not much else. Ben updates his grandmoth- er’s cranberry recipe by Benjamin Yost cooks a adding brown rice syrup to macrobiotic Thanksgiving sweeten in place of sugar. meal. A steamed vegetable For dessert, Ben was con- sidering kanten, a Japanese- Japanese dish called style gelatin fruit salad, and nishime, with an one that makes a healthful elastic ingredients list, and light dessert. To make his figures prominently. kanten, Ben dissolves agar- agar flakes, available at the Coop, in heated apple cider; For a potato side, Ellen adds fruit—blueberries or will pan roast potatoes, sea- strawberries are options— soning them with oregano. She’ll prepare cauliflower with a little lemon juice added to the water for flavor. This year, she plans to serve pickled veggies, including beets. An artist, Ellen will add some orange to the table, serving carrots to ILLUSTRATIONS BY DIANE MILLER ILLUSTRATIONS round out the traditional fla- vors and complete the whole, without anything in it; Frances’s garden. Thanksgiving colors. Thanksgiving they don’t like it when I put Valerie Trucchia grew up In her plans to serve cran- CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 too much ginger in it.” She overseas, and her introduc- berries, beets and carrots, also makes a cranberry relish tion to Thanksgiving was Ellen will be joined by many smashed garlic potatoes. His from raw cranberries. hosting a dinner for vegetari- other Coopers, if last year’s sister also brings produce For dessert, Joyce serves an guests. She continues to figures are a forecast for T- and then refrigerates the mix- from a farmer’s market in pumpkin pie with whipped cook vegetarian for the holi- Day 2007: 2006 Thanksgiving ture. If you decide to make Rhode Island, where she cream. When I asked if she day, working in grains or rice sales saw 2,380 bags com- kanten and opt to add apples lives. shopped at the Coop for to give the meal a little heft, bined of non- and organic instead, you may be the one Andrea Mueller is original- Thanksgiving meal ingredi- and invites friends who don’t cranberries; 2.7 tons of car- who boosts the Coop’s sale of ly from Germany, and, ents, she replied, “I absolute- have families close by. She rots; and 1,200 pounds of organic or minimally treated although she is living in the ly do.” also prepares turkey, which loose organic beets. apples past the PSFC 2006 states for a limited number of Frances Johnson saves she buys at the Coop, along stat of more than three tons weeks this visit, she will host much of her holiday meal- with most other Thanksgiving T-Day, the sold during the two-week a Thanksgiving dinner, invit- making for Christmas, but ingredients. As she shops, Macrobiotic Way span ending the Sunday after ing friends and serving tradi- there are dishes she enjoys Valerie often improvises, Benjamin Yost cooks a Thanksgiving! tional Swabian dishes, with for Thanksgiving. She used to based on what she sees, macrobiotic Thanksgiving roots in southwestern Ger- make vegan turkeys, but she commenting, “It’s the eyes meal. A steamed vegetable T-Day Your Way. with a many, including spaetzle, a became bored with those, that decide the menu.” Japanese dish called nishime, Little Help. dish of homemade noodles. and now a Thanksgiving veg- with an elastic ingredients Chances are you’re read- Since some who gather at the etarian main entrée will fea- If you’re stumped list, figures prominently. Ben ing this while in the Coop— ture sweet potatoes, yams for ideas, ask the member likes to steam round vegeta- perhaps shopping for your and other traditional fall veg- on your left or right: own Thanksgiving dish or gies. Since eggs are not part meal makings. If you’re of her diet, Frances tends to chances are they stumped for ideas, ask the skip the stuffing. have a dish or a tip member on your left or right: She has a favorite eggless, or two to share. chances are they have a dish pumpkin pie recipe, which or a tip or two to share. If not, she observed she was “think- For better flavor, Valerie the Coop has a wonderfully ing about going home and cooks two smaller birds, stocked cookbook section, making—now.” She likes a rather than one large one. right by the dairy cases. spicy filling: cinnamon, nut- She keeps her side dishes tra- Several of the members I meg and allspice figure ditional, although mashed spoke with had favorite prominently as flavors. Con- celery stands in for mashed recipe sources. Ellen Kruger densed milk helps give the potatoes. A favorite side is Allman mentioned Quick Pick- filling body; pumpkin from a cranberries, which Valerie les as a recent cookbook PHOTOS BY JUDY JANDA BY JUDY PHOTOS can is fine. For a crust, praised as “a flavor base that muse.