SPRING GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING ✁Clip out this coupon May 23rd • BBQ, Meet and Greet at 4 p.m., Meeting at 6 p.m. May Special at Ogontz Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting, 100 East Mermaid Lane 2129 72nd Avenue Agenda: Opening and Welcome • Candidate recognition • Approve minutes from Fall 2009 GMM President’s Report • 6 p.m. Last call for election ballots • General Manager’s report • Financial update $1 off if you spend $10, $2 off if you spend $20 New store update • WWCP update • Farm/CSA update Working members also get their 5% discount. Expires May 31st…. Speaker: Yael Lehman, Executive Director of the Food Trust • Q&A • Announce election results May 2010 Vol. 39 No. 5 The Shuttle A Community Owned Grocer Serving the Northwest Community Since 1973 Local Food on Chestnut Hill Store to Open in May New Member Menu & Agenda by Jonathan McGoran, Shuttle Editor Cards Coming by Jonathan McGoran, by Josh Giblin, Merchandising Shuttle Editor Coordinator Weavers Way’s Spring General Mem- bership Meeting on Sunday, May 23 will Brace yourself, members. I’ve got an- also serve as a celebration of the open- other big change to unveil! Many of you ing of our much-anticipated Chestnut have been asking about how we will know Hill store. Both members and the public your member number at our Ogontz and are invited. The event will kick off with Chestnut Hill locations without relying on a barbecue and meet-and-greet at 4 p.m. the index card file located in Mt. Airy. It’s You are encouraged to bring dishes and true that the card file system poses prob- utensils, if you like (there will be facilities lems for a three-store operation. We have to wash them), but you should definitely known that there would come a time when bring your appetite! At 6 p.m., after the members would carry their cards with last call for ballots for the board elections them, and we are happy to announce that (see pages 24-25), the meeting will get the time has arrived. started. In addition to the regular reports photo by Lawrence Goldfarb Because few of you carry wallets big and updates on all the exciting things hap- enough to accommodate the current half- The final pieces of Weavers Way Chestnut Hill store are coming together and our doors pening at Weavers Way, we will also hear page member cards, we have designed a will soon be open. It has been a long journey, and we are very excited that the destina- guest speaker Yael Lehman, Executive sleek “credit card” sized card with accom- tion is in sight. By the time you are reading this, the construction will be completed, and Director of the Food Trust. See you there! panying keychain fob for those who prefer Weavers Way staffers will be hard at work assembling the shelving and fixtures, and then to travel even lighter. I know there is a lot stocking them with products for our opening. Don’t Forget to Vote! of nostalgia wrapped up in our card sys- Candidate Statements and Board Ballots We’re looking to open our doors for business in the middle of May, but we will tem, but it is time to salute the old cards open them for a sneak preview during the Chestnut Hill Home and Garden Festival, on pages 24 - 25 and recycle them for their next journey. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, May 2. So stop by and say hi, and see what we’ve been up to. (continued on page 10) Up and Coming at Ogontz As Store Opens, Member Loan by Jason Price, Ogontz Store Manager Campaign Enters Crucial Phase has your recycling bin gone missing? Have you been in need of another? Look by Stuart Katz, Member Loan Committee Chair no further than Weavers Way Ogontz store. Last year, the Weavers Way envi- The exciTemenT is building as we ronment committee gave away over 200 near the opening of the new Weav- bins at that location and on Saturday, May ers Way store in Chestnut Hill. As 22 they will be at it again. Bins will be I write this, the stucco on the front given out, one per person, first come-first of the store is going up, to be fol- served, until they are gone. lowed soon by the new storefront. All the equipment and shelving According to RecyclingFacts.org, the will soon be installed. A “soft” amount of waste recycled in 2007 saved opening is expected in mid May, the energy equivalent of 10.7 billion gal- file photo with an official Grand Opening photo by John Barone lons of gasoline and prevented the release soon to follow. It’s been an interest- Member Lenders gather for a tour of the new store. of an amount of carbon dioxide that would State Rep. Dwight Evans (r) receiving a ing and often stressful process that have been produced by 35 million cars. In recycling bin from Stevik Kretzmann at one of demanded a pretty steep learning project managers, and builders who are the age of a warming planet and a cool- last year’s Recycling Bin Giveaway events. curve on our part. This project turned out members of Weavers Way, this isn’t a sur- ing economy, our communities need to be to be more expensive and time-consuming (continued on page 8) (continued on page 4) than we first thought. To all the architects, Weavers Way Cooperative Association Presorted Standard Ins Ide... 559 Carpenter Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19119 U.S. Co-op News Community News www.weaversway.coop POSTAGE PAID CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED Philadelphia, PA Spring at the Farms 2 Interfaith Green Fair 15 Permit No. 2658 Marketplace Update 2 Enrichment Center Events 16 Product News 3 Artjam is Back 17 Managers Corner 4 Garden Conservancy Open Day 19 New Toys at the Co-op 5 Eco-Alley at CH GardenFest 20 What the Board is Thinking 6 Local Literary News 23 Co-op Wins Community Partner Award 14 Gateway to the Northwest 26 2 The ShuTTle May 2010 Editor’s Springtime Hits the Farm Note by David Zelov, Weavers Way Farm Manager by Jonathan McGoran soon, memBers of Weavers Way Co-op will finally be able to say, “I am a card carrying Co-op member.” We are replac- ing our old member cards with fancy new wallet cards and key fobs. Our system of jagged metal drawers holding thousands of paper ledger cards has long been a quaint and idiosyncratic (and sometimes painful) part of membership at Weavers Way, but we think our members will em- brace the new system. There are many benefits to the new cards, even apart from their utility in den- tal hygiene and keyless home re-entry. Ditching the drawers gives us some much- photo by Heather Hill photo by Rachel Milenbach needed display space, and in keeping Weavers Way Farmer David Siller (r) gives Co-op staffer Stephanie Johnson (l) a lesson on the Rototiller, while kids and volunteers assmble beds with our dense product display scheme, at the new farm at C. W. Henry School, across from Weavers Way in Mt. Airy. we plan to fill the space where the cards were with a “Home Electronics/Automo- anoTher BeauTiful spring has arrived bi, chives, and sorrel all turning up at the tively pest-free and, unlike the larger ki- tive/Garden Furniture Department.” And on the farms of Weavers Way. The birds store(s) very shortly. And yes, we will be wifruit, are quite hardy. maybe a juice bar. are singing, the groundhogs are rustling having farm produce in the soon-to-open We are planting both American and about, and the rototiller is being shuttled Weavers Way location in Chestnut Hill! In light of the space we will be gain- Asian persimmon trees. The American ing, we’re actually looking at transition- between all locations. It’s an exciting time Three newcomers are joining the persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) is a ing other parts of our operation into “car- of year! The Headhouse Market is starting plant community at the Awbury farm this slow-growing, medium-sized tree, native ry with you” mode. Think of the space this first week of May and the Chestnut year. We are very excited to be planting to the Eastern United States. Its fruit is we could save if each member brought Hill farmers’ market and the new Mt. Airy hardy kiwis, persimmons, and clove cur- their own cash register every time they slightly smaller than its cousin Diospyros farmers’ market (Tuesdays on German- rants. Phil Forsyth from the Philadelphia shopped (Do you think iPhone has an app kaki, the Asian persimmon, whose fruit is town Avenue across from Valley Green for that?). Orchard Project has lent us his expertise more commonly seen in grocery stores. Bank) will soon follow, along with the in permaculture and helped design some Both trees can be grown in our area, but Hopefully, with the new store in pick-up of the first share in the Henry Got plantings to improve aesthetics, attract Chestnut Hill, our Mt. Airy store will be as the Asian persimmon is hardy to only Crops CSA at Saul High School. All the beneficial insects, provide educational ex- less crowded, but it will be nice to know zone seven, it might need a more pro- warm-weather crops are about to go in the that if you still have to scooch out of the periences, and provide us with some fruit tected area, at least in Northwest Philadel- ground.