by JIM HIGHTOWER

We're being told by today's High Priests of Conventional Wisdom that everyone and everything in our economic cosmos necessarily revolves around one dazzling star: the corporation. But wait. The choices for our country's rising forces of economic and political democracy are not limited to corporate or government control. There's another, much better way of organizing America's economic strength: The Cooperative Way.

Cooperatives can (and do) provide a deeply democratic, locally controlled, highly productive, efficient percolate up capitalism.

Co-ops are wholly in step with the values, character, spirit and history of the American people.

While socialism has been cast by the corporatists as a destroyer of our sainted free-enterprise system, the cooperative approach is not an -ism at all, but a democratic structure that literally frees the enterprise of the great majority of Americans — which is why the co-op movement is fast spreading throughout our country. READ MORE...

WEDNESDAY
To Start - Sweet Potato Soup, Thai Coconut, Red Lentil
At 11:00 - Chicken Soup, Chestnut Cream Soup, Zucchini Leek Soup
At 12:00 - Orange Moroccan, Silver Hake
At 3:00 - Chicken Kiev, Flounder

Bean Wraps are always available. Chicken Wings and a Vegetarian Casserole are available every day after 11:00 AM. And, we have a wide selection of hot sandwiches on the soup counter, and cold sandwiches and salads in the deli cooler.

Send a text message to 845-367-3344 (not our regular number) saying what special order sandwiches you would like and when you want to pick them up (give us at least 15 minutes). We’ll send you a reply to let you know we received your order. Your sandwiches will be ready when you come in. It’s as simple as that. If you want to get something you’ve ordered before, just resend the original message. Next time you’re in the store, pick up a few of our text ordering info cards; they have the phone number and a QR code for downloading the Zingle Now iPhone text order app. What R U waiting 4?

Skip, Joel, and Peter sample a regional organic apple.
Joel Salatin, farmer, author, and activist, was in town to lead a workshop on local food systems as part of the Carbon Farming Course being held at the Pfeiffer Center. The next morning he gave an inspiring talk to the high school students at Green Meadow Waldorf School. On his way home to Polyface Farm in Virginia he stopped by to check out the co-op was surprised to see the amount of local, organic, and biodynamic foods we pack into such a small space. He found the variety of organic prepared food offerings from our tiny kitchen particularly impressive. And he was pleased to learn about our ecological landscaping, incorporating native plants, wildlife habitat, and a rain garden to capture runoff from our parking lot. “You guys really did it right,” he said. Then it was time for him to head off to the airport. As he slipped out the door the thought crossed my mind that his brief visit to our community might well prove to be a life changing event for some of the folks, both younger and older, who attended his workshop and talk. Thanks, Joel. -PW

Energy-intensive industrial farming practices that rely on toxic chemicals and genetically engineered crops are not just undermining public health, they're destroying the planet.

Here's how:

#1 Generating Massive Greenhouse Gas Pollution (CO2, Methane, Nitrous Oxide) and Global Warming, While Promoting False Solutions Such as Industrial Biofuels, So-Called Drought-Resistant Crops, and Genetically Engineered Trees

#2 Polluting the Environment and the Soil-Food Web with Pesticides, Chemical Fertilizers, and Persistent Toxins, Including Dioxin

#3 Draining and Polluting Wetlands and Aquifers, Turning Farmland into Desert

#4 Poisoning Wells and Municipal Drinking Water, Lakes, and Rivers

#5 Chopping Down the Rainforests for Monoculture GMO Crops, Biofuels and Cattle Grazing

#6 Increasing the Cost of Food, While Reducing Nutrition and Biodiversity

#7 Spawning Pesticide-Resistant Superbugs and Weeds, and Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

#8 Generating New and More Virulent Plant, Animal and Human Diseases

#9 Utilizing Wasteful Fossil Fuel-Intensive Practices and Encouraging the Expansion of Natural Gas Fracking and Tar Sands Extraction (Which Destroy Forests, Aquifers, and Farmland)

#10 Stealing Money From the 99% to Give Huge Subsidies to the 1% Wealthiest, Most Chemical and Energy-Intensive Farms and Food Producers

READ MORE / TAKE ACTION

Stories.coop is the world’s first global, digital campaign to spread the benefits of cooperation through the tradition of story-telling

Stories.coop delivers the UN’s message “Cooperative enterprises build a better world” to the global public in International Year of Cooperatives 2012.

Click HERE to see stories of co-ops around the world or HERE to share your story.

A new study published in Naturwissenschaften - The Science of Nature by a leading bee expert provides damning evidence that a widely used pesticide, even at low levels, is responsible for the recent catastrophic decline in honey bees. Dr. Jeff Pettis of the USDA's Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, MD led the study.

Colony collapse disorder, as this phenomenon is known, has been getting worse since 2006.

The news has brought renewed calls for these pesticides, which only became widely used in the 1990s, to be banned as honey bees are key to human’s survival – pollinating 70 per cent of the crops which produce most of the world’s food. READ MORE...

A Talk by Mac Mead
Monday, January 30, 7:00pm
Pfeiffer Center Program Director Mac Mead will discuss the relationship of carbon farming, a method of regenerative agriculture, with biodynamics.

Brookside Building, 285 Hungry Hollow Rd., Chestnut Ridge, NY.

Donations will benefit the Farmer Travel Fund for Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association, et al. v. Monsanto.

Information: Call 945-352-5020 x18 or email events@threefold.org.

Sponsored by the Pfeiffer Center

Organic Seed Growers v. Monsanto
A Conversation With Beth Corymb Everett
Sunday, January 29, 7:30pm
Beth Corymb Everett, one of the founders of Turtle Tree Seeds and a litigant in the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association vs Monsanto lawsuit, will be speaking about the experience of managing an organic/biodynamic farm in a heavily industrial agricultural area (Scotts Bluff, NE). She and her husband Nathan Corymb Clark run a small CSA in addition to growing seed for Turtle Tree, High Mowing, Southern Exposure, and Family Farmers Seed Co-op. She urges us to be awake; the threat of transgenic agriculture has implications for the future of mankind.

Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association, et al. v. Monsanto was filed in federal district court on March 29, 2011, on behalf of 60 family farmers, seed businesses and organic agricultural organizations, challenging Monsanto’s patents on genetically modified seed. The case now represents 83 plaintiffs. Click here for current news about this important case.
Location: Brookside Bldg, 285 Hungry Hollow Rd, Chestnut Ridge, NY
Admission: Donations will benefit the Farmer Travel Fund for the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association v. Monsanto Lawsuit.
Information: Call 945-352-5020 x18 or email events@threefold.org.

Co-sponsored by the Hungry Hollow Co-op, Rockland Farm Alliance, Threefold Educational Center, and Gaia Northeast

93% of Americans want the FDA to label genetically engineered foods. Watch the new video from Food, Inc. Filmmaker Robert Kenner to hear why we have the right to know what’s in our food. Will you join these individuals — and over half a million Americans — in contacting the FDA to require the labeling of genetically engineered (GE) foods?
LEARN MORE & TAKE ACTION

Proven in the Jungles of Vietnam as Part of Agent Orange!
Dow Chemical is seeking USDA approval for a genetically engineered (GE) version of corn that is resistant to 2,4-D, an herbicide that was used in the formulation of the highly toxic defoliant Agent Orange. Agent Orange (half 2,4-D by composition) was extensively used in Vietnam by the military to destroy forests and crops.

Dow’s Christmas gift for America was formally announced, by the USDA, in the December 27, 2011 edition of the Federal Register. If the federal government wants to bury something in the news, and burn up part of our window to publicly respond, you can bet they’ll do it around the holidays. The public has 60 days to comment on Dow’s petition for deregulation. LEARN MORE...

TAKE ACTION

As 2011 comes to an end, we are revving up our important campaign to Safeguard Organic Standards: getting genetically engineered ingredients out of certified organic baby food, so...

Since 2006, Martek Biosciences, owned by multinational biotech giant DSM, has been selling its DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and ARA (arachidonic acid), synthesized versions of the essential fatty acids that are naturally found in breast milk, to companies manufacturing organic infant formula, baby food, other food products.

Now the National Organic Program says the 2006 approval was illegal and they're conducting a formal review of the Martek products for the first time. READ MORE...

Tell organic baby food brands to stop using GMOs!

"Eggbeaters whirl, spoons spin round in bowls of butter and sugar, vanilla sweetens the air, ginger spices it; melting, nose-tingling odors saturate the kitchen, suffuse the house, drift out to the world on puffs of chimney smoke." Truman Capote, "A Christmas Memory"

The holidays are a whirlwind of activity and indulgences. Shopping at the co-op becomes a bit more more hectic than usual, but you'll find plenty of warmth and good cheer within our store. If you've forgotten the ginger, or need some more eggs, or a special last minute gift, we'll be here until 4 pm on Christmas Eve. And don't forget Co-op Gift Cards--share your values with the gift of Good Food.

Celebrating the opening (on Dec. 21, 1844) of the co-op store that became the model for the modern co-operative movement.