Organic & All Natural Yogurt from Conscientious and Humane Dairies

My husband, Nate, loves the Stoneyfield low fat organic yogurt, especially the fruit-on-the-bottom peach or the chocolate underground.

My personal favorite flavor of yogurt is coffee, which can be hard to find. So I was super excited when I sat that the co-op was stocking Coffee Yogurt from Brown Cow. The coffee flavor only comes in their “Cream On Top” variety. I might be the only one on earth, but I actually prefer my yogurt to be not-so-rich and creamy. It’s probably sacrilege, but I just scoop off that top layer of cream which leaves me with a leaner yogurt that is perfect for a light breakfast.

Local Farmer in the House: Kate from Cane Creek Farm

As I turned the corner to the dairy section, I ran into this lovely lady picking out some chocolate milk.

Kate, shown here with a sleeping piglet out at Cane Creek Farm.

That’s right, another local farmer at the co-op. For the last year, Kate has lived and worked at Cane Creek Farm, located in Snow Camp about 15 miles from Company Shops Market. Cane Creek, owned by her cousin Eliza,  is best known for their heirloom breed pigs that has been featured on the pages of foodie magazines such as Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Gourmet Magazine and the New York Times. Kate was shopping for more ingredients to make frozen smoothies, something that keeps her cool though the unseasonably hot days we’ve had of late. She recommends trying the Talenti Sorbetto, either on its own or blending it up with fresh fruit for a cool smoothie treat.

P.S. Don’t tell anyone but in addition to being yummy, most of Talenti’s sorbettos are vegetarian (some vegan), dairy free, hfcs free, gluten free and fat free. The great taste you want without the stuff you don’t.

Cleaner Drinking Water Without the Guilt

Before checking out, I filed up a couple of gallon containers I brought with me with filtered water. The machine is located in the endcap between the dairy section and the produce section and offers your choice of reverse osmosis filtered water or deionized water. I think this is a nice compromise between bottled water and tap water. Most of the time I drink tap water. But some days the tap water has a funky smell and a slight taste to it that makes me not want to drink it. That’s when I turn to filtered water. Because you can bring your own container and reuse your gallon water jugs, you reduce the plastic waste that is created when you buy bottled water and then throw out (or even recycle) the containers when our done. You also reduce the embodied energy and cost associated with transportation of bottled water because this water that is filtered right here at the store without transportation in bottles from another location.

Sarah Cook
Communications & Brand Management
Company Shops Market

A Message from Company Shops Market Board Member David William with an update on Company Shops Market Co-op and a challenge to make a difference in your community.

Video by Steve & Peyton of Exum Photo

Why Local Food? : Several Elon University professors weigh in on why they choose to buy food grown and raised by area farmers. This video is part of the Telling The Story of Company Shops Market documentary series.

Dr Janet MacFall – Elon University Environmental Science Department
“Locally grown food is usually fresher. It’s usually harvested when its closer to ripeness… I know the people who grow my eggs. I know people who grow the meat that I eat.”

Dr Tony Crider – Elon University Physics Department
“I’m amazed at how much people will spend in the clothes they put on their body and the electronics they put in their pocket, and get the best brand names they can afford. But then they’ll put the absolute cheapest and most disgusting food in their body and think nothing of it. If instead you say that you want treat the people fairly, treat the animals humanly and eat a product that you know what went into the animal… then you want to buy from someone you know. And to do that, you almost always have to do it locally. Ultimately, you have to pay the price. If you don’t pay now, you’ll pay later. Either with your health or with your impact on the environment. I’d prefer to pay now.”

Dr Megan Squire – Elon University Computer Science Department
“Buy food grown by people locally that you know. You can can drive out to their farm if you want to see how its grown. That community feel spills out into the store itself. They’re generally fun and happy places to shop. ”

This video was created by Taylor Shain and Elon University Fall 2010 documentary class with Doug Kass for creating this video.

Thank you for creating this documentary that helps show what the local food community is all about. It’s about enjoying food that is super fresh, tastes great, and is full of nutrients. It’s about making healthy food choice that leave you feeling vibrant and alive. It’s about creating relationships with the people who grow your food, having the opportunity to visit the family farms and see knowledge and care and pride that goes into the foods they produce. Its about connecting with the people in your community and building friendships around a shared passion for good food. ~ Sarah C.

In May of 2008…

We had a Gourmet Local Dinner to Benefit Company Shops Market at Braeburn Farm in Snow Camp, NC. Volunteers, local business sponsors and community members came together to enjoy a locally grown meal together in support of the fledgeling movement towards opening a Co-op grocery that featured farm fresh foods grown by neighboring farms.  We were a small but dedicated community of people who wanted to bring better access to local and healthy food options for our community.

In June of 2009…

We were having an ice cream social on a beautiful sunny day. We had seen tremendous growth in our ownership and were still celebrating the recent purchase of a building located in the heart of old town Burlington. Smittys, a local institution known for their unusual ice cream flavors, brought out there ice cream cart and we all made sundays in the parking lot of our new building.

Speaking of Smitty’s, if all this talk about homemade ice cream has your mouth watering, today’s deal on Living Social is 50% off Smitty’s Ice Cream. Yes please! ~ Sarah

In May of 2010…

We were meeting together for an evening of community building and camaraderie over Italian food. We enjoyed great conversations and meeting new people, including the lovely Ms B Holt who is missed. The chef of Maria’s Italian Restaurant spoke to us about the love and dedication that goes into the food they make and how they try to incorporate fresh, local and health ingredients into their dishes when they they can. We had recently secured a commitment from Fidelity Bank for over a million dollars in loan financing…. Which meant building renovation and construction could begin as soon as we raised just $300,000 more dollars in community investments through the efforts and contributions of our owners and other community leaders.

We were also meeting in the parking lot of the future home of Company Shops Market for a community cook-out (complete with grass-fed beef burgers and all natural locally made hot dogs) and potluck extravaganza before the Friday’s On Front Concert, a free summer concert series held in historic downtown Burlington NC.

Just days later, we found out that we were recipients of a large grant through the NC Main Street Solutions Fund Grant program. We now had enough funding to move forward and start renovating the building, sourcing equipment and looking for a great General Manager who understood the community’s vision. All of the pieces were falling into place. All the hard work and contributions of hundreds and now thousands of CSM owners and supporters was coming together.

Coming June 2011: Grand Opening!

So here we are now. In two short months we will be shopping in the store that we built, we started and we own. You, me, and all of our 1900+ owners.

Company Shops Market is the product of the vision…the tenacity… (and some might say audacity)… of a group of ordinary citizens who banded together to bring something extraordinary to their community. Thank you!

Sarah Cook
Communications & Brand Management
Company Shops Market

The citizens of NC are clamoring for higher quality, fresher, tastier, and healthier food options. They want delicious food grown with a conscience that come from right here in the piedmont, as evidenced by the rise and growth of Co-op groceries in our area. Company Shops Market plans to open this spring (Go us!). Durham Central Market is in the fund-raising stage where over 880 people have already signed up and put their money into the pot to say that they want a co-op grocery in their town. Chatham Marketplace opened in 2006 to serve the Pittsboro and surrounding community. Weaver Street Market has expanded to multiple locations including Hillsboro and a mini store in Southern Village.

I see this as a great sign of a movement towards more health, happiness and wealth in 2011 and beyond!

Sarah Cook

The co-ops mission is “Connecting our community and enriching our local economy through our owners, or service and our products.” Beyond offering locally produced food items, one of the basic tenets of the co-op is to provide convenient and affordable access to wholesome food options and to benefit the community as a whole.

Chris feels that one of the very best ways we can do this is by offering a large and diverse bulk food selection. Bulk foods are a great idea on many levels.

1) Save Money

Bulk food typically cost less, often substantially less, than packaged foods. I have heard a number of people suggest that buying wholesome natural food at Company Shops Market will be ‘expensive’. Bulk foods is an area where I think you will be pleasantly surprised and find that these healthy food options will usually be cheaper than the packaged version in your conventional grocery store. Need a lot of organic flour for for your holiday baking? Need to make rice for a small army of relatives? Buying in the bulk aisle instead of purchasing multiple packages can save you a surprising amount off your grocery bill.

2) Buy as much, or as little, as you need (and Save Money)

This is one of my personal favorite parts about bulk food buying. The ability to buy in whatever quantity you need, big or small. Not sure if you will like quinoa (high protein, high fiber grain)? Need just a 1/4 cup of nuts? Then scoop out a small quantity and pay for the amount you need for a recipe instead of buying a more expensive bag or box and having ingredients left over.

3) Save resources (and Save Money)

Bulk foods use substantially less packaging. This greatly limits the amount of packaging trash created by your food purchases. Fewer tress are cut down and fewer unrecyclable plastics end up in our local landfill. This is good for the environment, good for your pocketbook, and reduces the need for additional landfills.

Company Shops Market will not only be a convenient place to buy farm fresh vegetables and meats from Alamance County farms, but also a place to stock up on kitchen staples for less. And a great place to save money on recipe ingredients by purchasing the exact quantities you need.

Sarah Cook
Mgr. Comm. & Brand Management, Company Shops Market

Megan wrote: “I finally put two and two together while listening to the speeches at the Company Shops Market Groundbreaking – Chris said the Hanover food co-op was started in 1936 (doh! In the middle of the Great Depression). I looked it up, and the first modern food co-op was started in England 100 years before that by – wait for it – textile workers (!) who had been displaced by certain economic realities. These things really do help local economies. Just about every 100 years, people have to shake things up and take their local economies back to “human scale”. So glad we’re waking up and rubbing our eyes here in Alamance county.” (Megan is a CSM owner, frequent volunteer & an Elon U. Professor)

According to Wikipedia:

“The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers was a group of 28 weavers and other artisans in Rochdale, England, that was formed in 1844. As the mechanization of the Industrial Revolution was forcing more and more skilled workers into poverty, these tradesmen decided to band together to open their own store selling food items they could not otherwise afford…. On 21 December 1844, they opened their store with a very meager selection of butter, sugar, flour, oatmeal and a few candles. Within three months, they expanded their selection to include tea and tobacco, and they were soon known for providing high quality, unadulterated goods. Ten years later, the British co-operative movement had grown to nearly 1,000 co-operatives.”

While many people here in the US may not be familiar with the term “co-op” or with the “cooperative movement”, it has a long history. In fact, you might say that humans are natural co-operative creators. Co-ops are defined as “a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit.” The driving principals of co-ops sound a lot like the family values that your grandma taught you, or what you learned in civics class: “self-help, self-responsibility, democracy and equality, equity and solidarity”.

By choosing to join Company Shops Market, you are banding with us to say “Yes, I want fresh wholesome food that was grown by my local farmer. Yes, I care about the safety and quality of the food I put in my body. Yes I want to support my farm neighbors by purchasing products from them instead of products that come from South America or even California. Yes, I want my money to go to a local business instead to sending profits to a corporation in another state. Yes, I believe small town America, like historic Downtown Burlington, is worth saving and revitalizing.

We may all have a different combination of reasons for supporting (and soon shopping at) Company Shops Market but it all comes back to good old-fashioned American values: “self-help, self-responsibility, democracy and equality, equity and solidarity”.

Sarah Cook
Mgr. Comm. & Brand Management, Company Shops Market

*This is a guest post by Lester Pace. He is a Company Shops Market Owner and CSM Community Investor.

Dear Friends,

I am Lester Pace – an owner and investor in Company Shops Market.

I hope to see you all at the Company Shops Market Groundbreaking. I will have an information table set up at the event where I invite you to stop by, bring a canned good or two to donate to our local food banks, and learn what you can do to help support agricultural investments for the sustainability of farmers.

When Congress meets on November 17th, they’re considering budget cuts that may include agriculture. These funding resolutions could affect our local farmers, organic farming, and sustainable and environmentally friendly practices, which in turn, could affect our community. I believe funding agricultural programs is one of the smartest investments our government can make.

WHAT: ONE Can/ONE Call Table @ Groundbreaking Celebratory Potluck
WHERE: Company Shops Market
WHEN:   November 14, 2010 @   2:00 – 5:00 p.m.

I will have an information table at the Potluck, and am happy to answer any questions you may have. Be sure to visit my table to learn more about the issues and how you can ask Congress to support agricultural programs. If you are not able to attend, please feel free to contact me with any questions. My contact information is included below.

lesterp@hollaender.com  or 336-260-7142
Thanks so much for your support. I hope to see you there!

Lester Pace

Company Shops Market owner and volunteer, Tony Crider, speaks about what we as owners need to do to get the market open this year.

1) Recruit new owners

2) Make a Loan to the Co-op: become an investor

3) Volunteer

Friends and fellow citizens of Burlington and Alamance County—

I’ve made my commitment to invest in Company Shops Market…

The co-op market now has approximately 1600 members–it’s had steady growth since the effort was begun about 2 yrs ago.

What we need now is investment by the owners…the purchase and upfit of the old A&P store in Downtown Burlington is about a $ 2 million project.

With the majority of money coming from owners, we can obtain favorable terms and conditions from the banks to finance the balance.

You all know how dear I hold the idea of continuing restoration and improvement of downtown Burlington.  I have a vision of our downtown being a destination sought by city/county residents, Elon University Staff and Students as well as LabCorp, ARMC, Government employees, and tourists who will spend time here.  {Imagine all the folks that participate in softball tournaments at City Part heading downtown instead of out to Huffman Mill Road–IT’S ONLY A MILE FROM CITY PARK TO THE COMPANY SHOPS MARKET location.}

The Market makes a huge step in the direction of bringing New Life to Downtown.  We will have many more retail stores, entertainment, restaurants, coffee shops, and yes, even New Housing in downtown.

Please go the the web site www.companyshopsmarket.coop –it’s a beautiful site and discusses all aspects of this FUTURISTIC endeavor.
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For all the current owners, and those interested in becoming both an owner and Investor this link explains the COMMUNITY INVESTMENT NOTES–

http://www.companyshopsmarket.coop/become_an_investor.html

Hope to see you soon, and have a great week !

John Brooks