And remember, we’ll be closed New Years Day.

- Charlotte Bacon, 2/22/06
- Daniel Barden, 9/25/05
- Rachel Davino, 7/17/83
- Olivia Engel, 7/18/06
- Josephine Gay, 12/11/05
- Ana M. Marquez-Greene, 04/04/06
- Dylan Hockley, 3/8/06
- Dawn Hocksprung, 06/28/65
- Madeleine F. Hsu, 7/10/06
- Catherine V. Hubbard, 6/08/06
- Chase Kowalski, 10/31/05
- Jesse Lewis, 6/30/06
- James Mattioli , 3/22/06
- Grace McDonnell, 12/04/05
- Anne Marie Murphy, 07/25/60
- Emilie Parker, 5/12/06
- Jack Pinto, 5/06/06
- Noah Pozner, 11/20/06
- Caroline Previdi, 9/07/06
- Jessica Rekos, 5/10/06
- Avielle Richman, 10/17/06
- Lauren Russeau, 6/1982
- Mary Sherlach, 2/11/56
- Victoria Soto, 11/04/85
- Benjamin Wheeler, 9/12/06
- Allison N. Wyatt, 7/03/06

Over 90% of Americans support FDA mandated labeling of genetically engineered foods. Check out this video to see to stars like, Michael J Fox, Ziggy Marley and 25 others celebrities join the millions to voice their support for GE labeling! LEARN MORE...

We are happy to report that the Co-op did not sustain any physical damage during Sandy’s tour through our neighborhood. Hundreds of trees were downed in the area and many roads were blocked. Two of our staff had trees fall on their houses, but fortunately there were no injuries. Our power went out around 7 pm on Monday and the utility company’s outage map is showing an estimated repair date of Nov. 11. We’re hoping they are setting low expectations so we can all be pleasantly surprised when the electricity comes on sooner. In the meantime, we regret that we are not able to serve your needs and we look forward to being up and running again.

This is the scene about 100 yards down Chestnut Ridge Rd. from the Co-op. The fact that no utility crews have been sighted there (the trees were cleared from the road by the State DOT) suggests that there are bigger problems elsewhere - which kind of puts things in perspective.

Thanks to you and 630 other backers, Raise the Barn has been successfully funded.

“[At the Pfeiffer Center] we believe each plot of earth is distinct and special. We call it the farm individuality, and we're teaching the next generation of farmers - and everyone who eats - how to respect and nourish their land, whether it's an urban window box, a suburban backyard, or a working farm.

We teach children and adults the biodynamic methods that bring chemical-free fertility to our soil. You've heard of organic farming and permaculture principles, well, they can both trace their roots back to biodynamics.

Biodynamics works. It's more than being sustainable. It's about healing and thriving.” LEARN MORE...

By MARK BITTMAN
IT’S becoming clear that we can grow all the food we need, and profitably, with far fewer chemicals. And I’m not talking about imposing some utopian vision of small organic farms on the world. Conventional agriculture can shed much of its chemical use — if it wants to.

This was hammered home once again in what may be the most important agricultural study this year, although it has been largely ignored by the media, two of the leading science journals and even one of the study’s sponsors, the often hapless Department of Agriculture. READ MORE...

Eli Gonzalez and Natt McFee have created another wonderful video celebrating the Hungry Hollow Co-op and the values that inspire us and millions of others to keep trying to change the world. Click here to watch Stop Waiting. And if you like it, please vote for it to win the My Co-op Rocks Video Contest. You can vote once a day every day until Nov. 30th. Thanks for your support.

Click here to make a donation to

Organic farming is the "only way to produce food" without harming the planet and people's health
by Vandana Shiva
Reports trying to create doubts about organic agriculture are suddenly flooding the media. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, people are fed up of the corporate assault of toxics and GMOs. Secondly, people are turning to organic agriculture and organic food as a way to end the toxic war against the earth and our bodies.

At a time when industry has set its eyes on the super profits to be harvested from seed monopolies through patented seeds and seeds engineered with toxic genes and genes for making crops resistant to herbicides, people are seeking food freedom through organic, non-industrial food.

The food revolution is the biggest revolution of our times, and the industry is panicking. So it spins propaganda, hoping that in the footsteps of Goebbels, a lie told a hundred times will become the truth. But food is different. READ MORE...

by Frances Moore Lappé

I first heard about a new Stanford "study" downplaying the value of organics when this blog headline cried out from my inbox: "Expensive organic food isn't healthier and no safer than produce grown with pesticides, finds biggest study of its kind."

What?

Does the actual study say this?

No, but authors of the study -- "Are Organic Foods Safer or Healthier Than Conventional Alternatives? A Systematic Review" -- surely are responsible for its misinterpretation and more. Their study actually reports that ¨Consumption of organic foods may reduce exposure to pesticide residues and antibiotic-resistant bacteria."

The authors' tentative wording -- "may reduce" -- belies their own data: The report's opening statement says the tested organic produce carried a 30 percent lower risk of exposure to pesticide residues. And, the report itself also says that "detectable pesticide residues were found in 7% of organic produce samples...and 38% of conventional produce samples." Isn't that's a greater than 80% exposure reduction?

In any case, the Stanford report's unorthodox measure "makes little practical or clinical sense," notes Charles Benbrook -- formerly Executive Director, Board on Agriculture of the National Academy of Sciences: What people "should be concerned about [is]... not just the number of [pesticide] residues they are exposed to" but the "health risk they face." Benbrook notes "a 94% reduction in health risk" from pesticides when eating organic foods.

READ MORE...

by Mark Kastel

I have enjoyed a virtually exclusive organic diet for the past 30 years. But I was deeply unsettled by a September 4 New York Times article and a similar Associated Press story casting doubt on the value of an organic diet.

...Unfortunately, the analysis done by Stanford University physicians profiled in the articles noted above did not look "outside the box," as many organic farming and food advocates do.

They discounted many of the studies, including by the USDA, that show our conventional food supply's nutritional content has dropped precipitously over the last 50 years. This has been attributed to the declining health of our farms’ soil, and healthy soil leads to healthy food. Organic farming’s core value is building soil fertility.

Furthermore, there are many externalities that impart risk on us as individuals and as a society, which the physicians failed to look at. For example, eating organic food protects us all from exposure to agrichemicals contaminating our water and air.

Additionally, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have become ubiquitous in processed food with an estimated 80%-90% contaminated with patented genes by Monsanto and other biotechnology corporations. The use of GMOs is prohibited in organics.

Interestingly, there have been virtually no long-term studies on human health impacts of ingesting GMOs, although many laboratory animal and livestock studies have led to disturbing conclusions. The best way to operate using the "precautionary principle," as European regulators mandate, is to eat a certified organic diet.

Current research now indicates that some of Monsanto's genes are passing through the placenta into human fetuses and into the bloodstreams of adults and children. Organics is a way to prevent your children from becoming human lab rats testing genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (rBGH) or a myriad of other novel life forms. READ MORE...

by Vandana Shiva
Hunger and malnutrition are man-made. They are hardwired in the design of the industrial, chemical model of agriculture. But just as hunger is created by design, healthy and nutritious food for all can also be designed, through food democracy.

We are repeatedly told that we will starve without chemical fertilisers. However, chemical fertilisers, which are essentially poison, undermine food security by destroying the fertility of soil by killing the biodiversity of soil organisms, friendly insects that control pests and pollinators like bees and butterflies necessary for plant reproduction and food production.

Industrial production has led to a severe ecological and social crisis. To ensure the supply of healthy food, we must move towards agro-ecological and sustainable systems of food production that work with nature and not against her. READ MORE...

By Ronnie Cummins, OCA Director
Organic Consumers Association, August 23, 2012

In recent weeks, several public interest groups, including the Organic Consumers Association, Cornucopia Institute, Mercola.com, and Natural News, have pointed out the gross hypocrisy and greed of large food and beverage corporations which profit from the sale of billions of dollars of their proprietary organic and "natural" food brands while at the same time funneling large sums of money to the Monsanto-led campaign to defeat the November 6th GMO labeling ballot initiative (Proposition 37) in California.

California's Prop 37 will not only require labels on genetically engineered foods, but will also ban the fraudulent (and highly profitable) industry practice of marketing GMO-tainted foods as "natural." Big Biotech and Big Food corporations already have dumped $25 million dollars into defeating Prop 37. The "Yes on 37" campaign has raised only $3 million so far, in part because most of the wealthy organic elite (Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe's, Stonyfield, etc.) are still sitting on the sidelines. READ MORE & TAKE ACTION

Many in the local food movement venerate Alice Waters, but before Alice, there was Julia. Julia Child cultivated the American consciousness and planted the seed for the Food Movement we have today. Mastering the Art of French Cooking, her first book, came out in 1961. The French Chef cooking show debuted in 1963. It was Julia’s spirited unstuffy approach to the culinary arts that inspired legions of chefs and home cooks alike. During the decades that brought us Tang, Space Food Sticks, Hamburger Helper and other weird food “products,” Julia was embracing butter, cream and eggs. She taught us to master cooking techniques and to learn the basics, so as not to be enslaved by recipes, but rather to be empowered by them. Learn from your mistakes, she said—be fearless and above all have fun. Happy 100th Birthday Julia—Bon appétit!

Julia’s Basic Vinaigrette
½ Tbsp minced shallot or scallion
½ Tbsp Dijon mustard
¼ tsp salt
½ Tbsp fresh lemon juice
½ Tbsp wine vinegar
1/3 to ½ cup olive oil
Freshly ground pepper

Combine shallots, mustard & salt. Whisk in lemon juice & vinegar. Add oil by droplets while whisking to form smooth emulsion. Beat in pepper. Taste and correct seasoning with salt, pepper, or drops of lemon juice. (Or just shake all ingredients together in a screw-top jar.) Variations: add lemon zest, garlic, herbs, hoison sauce, chutney, blue cheese, chopped bacon. Experiment with different oils or acids. Make it your own! -kp

Stolor Organics is a small, family owned and operated company specializing in cold pressed, unrefined, non-GMO, certified organic oil. Located in beautiful Cazenovia, New York, Stolor Organics, LLC does not strive to be the biggest organic food and skin care business in the world, they strive to be the best.

We’re happy to add Stolor sunflower oil to our ever growing selection of fine organic foods produced right here in New York state. Just in time for the NOFA-NY Locavore Challenge…

Charles Atterbury celebrating 50 years of independence for Jamaica, his native country. At the Co-op, Charles divides his time between the Produce Department and Finance. We celebrate along with him, though none of us has a shirt that is worthy of the occasion.

Crust:
¾ tsp sea salt
½ cup a/p flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
¼ cup butter (1 stick), chilled
2 Tbsp grated parmesan
2 Tbsp ice water
Filling:
6 oz mozzarella, shredded
3 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped
6 small heirloom tomatoes, sliced and patted dry
Salt & pepper
Chopped basil for garnish

Prepare crust by combining dry ingredients and parmesan; cut in butter and process (by machine or with pastry cutter) until texture resembles meal. Blend in ice water. You should now have a ball of dough. Put it in a 9” tart pan and press into bottom and sides. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350. Cover the tart shell with foil or parchment and blind bake, using pie weights, for 15 minutes. Remove foil and weights. Cover crust with mozzarella and sprinkle with basil. Layer tomato slices over cheese, overlapping. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper. Bake 10-15 minutes longer, until cheese bubbles. Before serving, garnish with remaining basil. Serve warm or room temperature. -kp

One way to use the bounty of herbs in your garden is in compound butter, which is basically butter with other ingredients added. For each stick of (softened) butter, you'll need about 2 Tbsp.chopped fresh herbs. Blend together and shape into a log. (about 1 1/2" thick). Wrap tightly in wax paper and plastic wrap, and chill. You can use thyme, parsley, chives, sage, whatever you like. Try combining herbs, or adding lemon zest, minced garlic, or grated Parmesan. Compound butter will keep frozen for months if well-wrapped. You can just slice some off as you need it. Compound butter made from your back-yard herbs at your Thanksgiving dinner--how special would that be?

Congratulations to Kristen Palazzo, winner of the Weber grill, a bag of Woodstock hardwood charcoal, and a package of hot dogs. The winning entry was drawn by Rebecca of Environment New York who was here to inform our members and customers about the potential dangers of the method of natural gas extraction known as hydrofracking.

Many athletes are choosing water and real food instead of sports drinks and processed bars and gels.
As the world's greatest athletes gear up for the 2012 Olympic Games in London this month, viewers like us are likely to see a spike in televised ads for sports drinks, nutritional bars, and energy gel — that goop that so many runners and cyclists suck from foil pouches. But sports nutritionists and pro athletes don't all think so. David Katz, physician and nutrition expert at the Yale University School of Medicine, says sports drinks generally aren't much better than sodas. "[Sports drink companies'] marketing is based on the gimmick that somehow this extra load of sugar and calories will turn you into an athlete," he says. READ MORE...

A perfect foil to a hot July day!

Chilled Tarragon-Tomato Soup
1/2 cup olive oil, divided
7 Tbsp finely chopped tarragon, divided
8 baguette slices (about 1/2" thick)
4 1/4 cups coarsely chopped plum tomatoes, divided.
1 cup chopped shallots
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 Tbs tomato paste

Whisk together 1/4 cup oil with 4 Tbs tarragon, salt & pepper. Brush over both sides of bread slices. Toast bread in large heavy skillet until crisp, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer to plate.

Heat 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add tomatoes, garlic, shallots and pepper flakes and tarragon. Saute about 6 minutes until vegetables soften. Add paste and cover; reduce heat and cook about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and strain into large bowl, pressing to extract as much juice as possible. Discard solids. Season with salt & pepper and chill soup. Serve cold, garnished with the croutons and remaining chopped tomatoes.

The winner will be chosen at random from all the entries submitted. The drawing will be held on National Hot Dog Day, July 23rd. In addition to the grill, the winner will receive a bag of Woodstock Hardwood Charcoal and a package of organic hot dogs. Entry forms are available at the Co-op. No purchase necessary.

Just so you know - this is how it’s supposed to look now - it just seemed like it was time for the “gold” to go. Hope you agree. (If you’re not seeing the new version you may need to manually refresh the page.)

Sage Scented Shortbread
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp thinly sliced fresh sage leaves
1 tsp kosher salt
2 sticks unsalted butter (room temperature, cut into pieces)

Combine first four ingredients. Add butter, using pastry cutter to combine until dough resembles coarse crumbs (or use processor and pulse until dough comes together). Divide in half. Shape each piece of dough into a log about 1 1/2" in diameter. Chill about an hour. Preheat oven to 350 and line two baking sheets with parchment. Slice dough into 1/2" thick rounds and place on sheets. Bake 15 minutes, until golden. Cool on racks.

Tarragon Limeade

Make a simple syrup by combining 2 cups of water with 1 1/2 cups of sugar in a saucepan. Add 10 sprigs of tarragon and bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to stand for at least 10 minutes before removing tarragon. (Syrup can be stored refrigerated for up to 2 months) In a large pitcher combine 1 1/2 cups lime juice (about 15 limes) with 2 cups of cold water and 1 1/2 cups tarragon syrup. Fill pitcher with ice, and serve with lime wedges and tarragon sprigs.

In 2007, Senator Obama, campaigning for the presidency in the Democratic primary, promised to label genetically engineered food. Now, if you write the Obama for America campaign about GMO labels, you get this response:

"Genetically modified crops hold out the promise of benefits like increased production and reduced reliance on pesticides. At the same time, some Americans want more information to help them choose their food. President Obama understands these concerns and is considering additional steps in this area."

What? How can he flip his position like that? What makes him believe Monsanto's lies? Why isn't he listening to the 9 out of 10 voters who want GMOs labeled? Is there anything we can do to get him back on our side before November?

Dani Martinez, innovation director at Orbea bicycles, part of Mondragon Co-operative Corporation, in Mallabia, 2011. Photograph: Vincent West
Why are we told a broken system that creates vast inequality is the only choice? Spain's amazing co-op is living proof otherwise.
There is no alternative to capitalism?
Really? We are to believe, with Margaret Thatcher, that an economic system with endlessly repeated cycles, costly bailouts for financiers and now austerity for most people is the best human beings can do? Capitalism's recurring tendencies toward extreme and deepening inequalities of income, wealth, and political and cultural power require resignation and acceptance – because there is no alternative?
Of course, alternatives exist; they always do. Every society chooses – consciously or not, democratically or not – among alternative ways to organize the production and distribution of the goods and services that make individual and social life possible. READ MORE...

Ricotta Orzo
½ lb orzo
1 tsp olive oil
1 ¼ cups chopped leeks (rinsed well)
½ cup peas
Salt & pepper
1 cup ricotta
4 strips bacon, cooked & crumbled
½ cup whole milk, warmed
1/3 cup grated parmesan
1 Tbsp chopped dill

Bring a large pot of water to boil Salt the water and add pasta; cook until done, drain and rinse well. Set aside.

Heat oil in large skillet and add leeks, cooking until tender, about 3 minutes. Add peas, ½ tsp salt and about ¼ tsp freshly ground pepper. Cook for 1 minute. Add orzo, ricotta and bacon. Toss well over medium heat, until warmed through. Add milk, cheese, and dill and cook for about 1 minute more. Serves four.

Ok, we are way ahead of local peaches, but there's enough sun in the forecast this week-end to call for a celebration. Make the sangria in the morning, and enjoy it as you watch the sunset (or the thunderstorm).

White Sangria
Combine 750 ml sauvignon blanc
¼ cup elderflower concentrate
3 Tbs sugar
12 large sage leaves
Add two ripe peaches (sliced) and ½ cup raspberries. Chill at least two hours before serving. Serve over ice.

Just a few short years ago, BPA—at the time, a chemical relatively unknown to the general public—was used in a plethora of consumer products: from baby bottles, to receipt paper, to food can linings and more. As we’ve worked to educate the public about the health concerns related to BPA (breast and prostate cancer, diabetes, obesity and reproductive harm, to name a few) the call to phase this harmful chemical out of everyday products has grown to a roar.

We’re proud of that success. Thanks to consumer pressure, several state laws have been enacted to ban BPA from baby bottles and sippy cups and many companies have taken action of their own accord. Some canned food manufacturers, like Campbell’s, are transitioning away from using BPA in can linings. Unfortunately, phasing out this one problem chemical isn’t enough, since the laws that are meant to regulate toxics in the United States are woefully inadequate. This is especially true for the chemicals in our food packaging. Because the FDA’s system for evaluating and approving chemicals in food packaging is so out of date, toxic chemicals like formaldehyde and phthalates are perfectly legal to use in food. READ MORE...

Mint Syrup
2 small bunches of mint
1 cup of sugar

Combine sugar with 2 cups of water in saucepan. Chop the mint once or twice and add to pan. Bring to boil and continue to cook about one minuce, until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and let stand about 1/2 before straining and discarding mint. Store refrigerated for up to two months. Use for iced tea or lemonade, or in fruit salad.

We'll be posting easy recipes that make use of fresh summer herbs, so check in often as we celebrate Summer! -kp

Sauce Verte
1/3 cup packed basil leaves
1 green onion, chopped
2 Tbsp packed flat parsley
2 Tbsp capers
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 clove of garlic
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

In food processor, blend first 7 ingredients until finely chopped. Gradually add oil with machine running and process until it becomes a coarse puree. Season with salt & pepper. Pour over sautéed vegetables, serve with grilled chicken or fish, or stir into rice, couscous or quinoa.

Any man’s death could end the story:
his mourners having accompanied him
to the grave through all he knew,
turn back, leaving him complete.

But this is not the story of life.
It is the story of lives, knit together,
overlapping in succession, rising
again from grave after grave.

For those who depart from it, bearing it
in their minds, the grave is a beginning.
It has weighted the earth with sudden
new gravity, the enrichment of pain.

There is a grave, too, in each
survivor. By it, the dead one lives.
He enters us, a broken blade,
sharp, clear as a lens or mirror.

And he comes into us helpless, tender
as the newborn enter the world. Great
is the burden of our care. We must be true
to ourselves. How else will he know us?

Like a wound, grief receives him.
Like graves, we heal over, and yet keep
as part of ourselves the severe gift.
By grief, more inward than darkness,

the dead become the intelligences of life.
Where the tree falls, the forest rises
There is nowhere to stand but in absence,
no life but in the fateful light.

From The Collected Poems of Wendell Berry, 1957-1982

Paula Williams and Kathey Piedl
Hungry Hollow Co-op is a sponsor of a kick-ass mountain bike racing team, CCI Racing, started by co-op members Ben and Paula Williams. After much cajoling, I mean encouragement, I decided to join the team for a few races this summer. I’ll share some thoughts and tips along the way.

First, how not to prepare for a race. (Especially if you haven’t raced at all, or it’s been a couple years, as in my case.) Do not stay up too late the night before. As luck would have it, I received a last-minute dinner invitation that I simply couldn’t turn down. I kept my wine consumption to a minimum (more or less), but stayed up past my bedtime. Many racers have a special breakfast food they like to eat on the morning of a race; it may be eggs, hot cereal, granola, whatever. Anything is better than what I had--black coffee. One who stays up too late tends to oversleep--make sure you have time to eat a good breakfast. Have all your snacks, energy gels, leg cramp pills, etc, gathered the night before. Or you won’t remember your leg cramp pills in the morning. Trust me, you‘ll forget something. And make sure you bring enough water. Do not count on someone else to provide it. By sipping conservatively, I managed to make my water last, but perhaps that explains the excruciating leg cramps. That, and I forgot my Hyland’s leg cramp pills. So the end result was Worst Time Ever ( but at least I finished). I also had to hear about the fact that I work at the Co-op, but didn’t fuel up on the good organic food. I was even called “Tyler”, after our former employee and CCI team member who, for years, was notorious for not eating/drinking enough on race days. He has since learned his lesson, as have I. -KP

Whatever the size, make sure your garden includes some herbs. Come summer, you'll be glad you did! Fresh herbs are a great complement to many summer foods. We're putting together a collection of recipes that feature summer herbs, and we'll be posting them after Memorial Day. So while you're picking up your tomato plants , grab some rosemary, basil, or mint, and add a little more local flavor to your summer meals.

A new index ranks states using government agricultural and population data. Community-supported agriculture projects, farmers markets, and other 'local food' systems are on the rise nationwide, according to a first of its kind index based on US government data. And supporting this 'locavore' movement is a growing army of consumers who recognize the connection between their food choices and the impact they have on communities, the environment, and their own health. READ MORE…

Activists from the Attac group in Lower Saxony offer lurid cocktails to highlight the potential environmental risks of the fracking process.

Berlin is opposed to plans to use the controversial fracking process to extract natural gas in Germany, SPIEGEL has learned. Government ministers are "very skeptical" about the technology, which environmentalists claim can pollute groundwater. READ MORE...

I’m posting this message on our blog because it addresses a number of issues that we as Co-op members and citizens will need to confront if we want to see a future in which organically and biodynamically grown foods are available and affordable to everyone who values them. -PW

Why are we striking? Or to put it another way – what’s wrong with the world?

Of course, most of us know what’s wrong with the world. We know about the poverty, war, violence and disease. We’re conscious of the injustice, but not fully conscious of it, because frankly, we have enough to worry about in our own lives. As such, we’ve come to accept these injustices as simple facts of life – prepackaged side effects of the human condition, as natural and intertwined with our existence as water to a stream, beyond our capacity to effect in any significant way. This collective sense of powerlessness and default apathy is why we’re striking.

Our growing sense of isolation and disconnection, whether from ourselves, from those next door to us, or from those producing our food and products halfway across the globe, is why we’re striking. Our forced support of perpetual war waged for and by the 1% - whether explicitly with speech, or implicitly with inaction and tax dollars - without ever paying mind to the true causes and motives behind it, is why we’re striking. Our failure uptil now to connect the dots and realize that the benefits of a cheap iPod, lovely as it may be, would be far outweighed by the benefits of a truly just world free of exploitation, is why we’re striking.

We’re striking because another notion we don’t buy into is the presumption that the profit motive can have no outcome other than the best possible one. We understand that the success of McDonald’s has nothing to do with having the best burger, and everything to do with having the most cutthroat business plan. We understand that building prisons, waging wars, polluting the environment, and paying employees inadequate wages are actually quite profitable. Sustainability, economic justice and true equality? Not so much. We understand that being ruthless and unscrupulous is an economic advantage, and being truthful and virtuous is an economic disadvantage. We understand that money is treated as more natural and inviolable as nature itself, and that too often our place and perceived value in society is determined solely by how much of it we make, or how much of it we make for someone else. We understand that, whether or not you believe in climate change, our ability to adequately address it or any other pressing issue is greatly compromised when our shortsighted need for profit skews our vision of the whole. We’re striking to suggest new motives and new values going forward.
READ MORE…

SUPPORT LOCALLY ADAPTED SEEDS IN THE FARM BILL
"Support Gillibrand Amendment (#4)
to Provide Farmers with Locally Adapted Seeds"

Farmer access to locally adapted seeds is paramount to fostering the competitiveness of agriculture in all regions of the country. Farmers need access to seeds that are bred specifically for their regions and cropping systems, allowing them to grow crops well suited to their local soil, climate and pest conditions. But agricultural research trends have shifted toward the national production of seeds for a few major crops, greatly limiting farmers' seed choice and narrowing the diversity of our agricultural system.

To address this problem, the 2008 Farm Bill required USDA to make conventional plant and animal breeding a priority for funding within the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI). But in the AFRI grant-making process, USDA has imposed hurdles that have prevented the agency from meeting this Congressional mandate.

The Gillibrand amendment would reinforce and build on the mandate from the 2008 Farm Bill by requiring that 5 percent of annual funding for the AFRI program be used for making sure that farmers have access to locally adapted seeds and breeds, by focusing on public cultivar and bred development, and removing the hurdles that have hindered USDA's progress toward this goal.

Please call Sen. Gillibrand -- 202-224-4451
Thank her and encourage her to keep fighting!

by Darcey Rakestraw

On Monday, Nestlé announced it had purchased Pfizer’s infant nutrition unit, which will strengthen their ability to sell infant formula in emerging markets, particularly in Asia. The move is not surprising, since 85 percent of Pfizer’s infant nutrition revenues came from developing countries, where Nestlé is also looking to expand its sales of bottled water.

Food & Water Watch executive director, Wenonah Hauter, released this statement in response to Nestlé’s purchase of Pfizer’s infant nutrition unit:
This renewed focus on growing the market for its infant formula products is troubling given the corporation’s track record of using dubious practices to market infant formula in developing countries, where it is often prepared in unhygienic conditions with unsafe water….Surely, it is no coincidence that many mothers will prepare the formula with bottled water—which will no doubt benefit Nestlé’s emerging market strategy.

Selling bottled water to poor people, and pushing infant formula on poor but otherwise healthy mothers who may not have access to safe drinking water is doing what Nestlé does best: undermining public health in the name of profit. MORE…

On Earth Day, we usually celebrate the enormous contribution that organic and sustainable farmers make to protecting and preserving our Earth’s natural heritage. The fact that they grow such tasty, abundant and healthy fresh food in our communities is worth celebrating. But this year, our celebration is tempered by a looming threat to organic: the approval of a genetically engineered (GE) corn resistant to the toxic pesticide 2,4-D. 2,4-D was a major component of Agent Orange, the chemical defoliant used by the U.S. in Vietnam, and it caused lasting ecological damage as well as many serious medical conditions in both Vietnam veterans and the Vietnamese.

USDA approval of Dow’s GE corn would trigger a major increase in 2,4-D use. Yet, USDA has failed to assess the resulting impacts on public health, the environment, or to neighboring organic and conventional farms. Instead, USDA has once again caved into the pesticide industry demands, by giving preliminary approval to this pesticide-promoting crop that threatens the health of families, communities, farmers, and the environment.

Even though USDA claims to be adhering to a scientific process, we know that the Agency is blatantly ignoring the science on 2,4-D. Exposure to 2,4-D has been linked to cancer (especially non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma), lowered sperm counts, liver disease, and Parkinson’s disease. A growing body of evidence from laboratory studies also shows that 2,4-D causes endocrine (hormone) disruption, reproductive problems, neurotoxicity and immunosuppression.

Tell USDA To Do Its Job And Reject 2,4-D Resistant GE Corn

Large-scale industrial agriculture depends on engineering the land to ensure the absence of natural diversity. But as the recent emergence of herbicide-tolerant weeds on U.S. farms has shown, nature ultimately finds a way to subvert uniformity and assert itself. - Verlyn Klinkenborg

In its short, shameless history, big agriculture has had only one big idea: uniformity. The obvious example is corn. The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts that American farmers — big farmers — will plant 94 million acres of corn this year. That’s the equivalent of planting corn on every inch of Montana. To do that you’d have to make sure that every inch of Montana fell within corn-growing parameters. That would mean leveling the high spots, irrigating the dry spots, draining the wet spots, fertilizing the infertile spots, and so on. Corn is usually grown where the terrain is less rigorous than it is in Montana. But even in Iowa that has meant leveling, irrigating, draining, fertilizing, and, of course, spraying.

You can argue whether uniformity is the result of efficiency or vice versa. But let’s suppose that efficiency is merely the economic expression of uniformity. The point is this: When you see a Midwestern cornfield, you know you’re looking at nature with one idea superimposed upon it. This is far less confusing, less tangled in variation than the nature you find even in the roadside ditches beside a cornfield or in a last scrap of native prairie growing in a graveyard or along an abandoned railroad right-of-way. Nature is puzzling. Corn is stupefying.

Rather than change the earth to suit a crop, a reasonable agriculture would diversify crops to suit the earth. READ MORE...

We hear of the sweatshops behind our computers, sneakers and other attire--yet the exploitation of farmworkers has become normalized. Cesar Chavez, the champion of farmworkers' rights who gets his annual day of state recognition this Saturday, must be rolling in his grave. It's been 37 years since Governor Jerry Brown, in an earlier life, signed the landmark agricultural labor relations act--and soon California legislators will debate whether to enforce rules to provide water and shade to the 400,000 farmworkers who harvest our food. MORE...

A chicken in every yard: Marcia Rulfs, Body Care Department Manager at the Hungry Hollow Co-op, and John Brennan keep three chickens, which give them eggs on a daily basis, at their home in Chestnut Ridge.



Video by Xavier Mascarenas, The Journal News

"Some say that agriculture in our region is dead and New York farmers have no economic choice but to lease their land to the gas companies. It's true that the economics of the conventional corporate food system have forced many farmers off the land, but a growing number of others have adapted to the demand for fresh local food and they are making a living producing the food and beverages that millions of us want right now.....New York agriculture is not dead, but fracking can drive a stake in its heart, destroy livelihoods and permanently damage the landscape that we love...our physical and spiritual sustenance."

Hilary Baum, founder of Chefs for the Marcellus, speaking at the anti-fracking rally at the Cathedral of St John the Divine, Feb. 25th.

“…. I have always felt that the preparation of food is one of the most joyful and inwardly satisfying of all activities that we as human beings are peculiarly privileged to indulge in daily. Other creatures receive food simply as fodder. But when we take the raw materials of the earth and work with them--touch them, manipulate them, taste them, revel in their heady smells and glorious colors, and then through a bit of alchemy transform them into delicious creations--we do honor the source from whence they sprang. Cooking demands attention, patience, and, above all, a respect for the gifts of the earth. It is a form of worship, a way of giving thanks.”

Judith B. Jones, Senior editor and Vice President, Alfred A. Knopf, cookbook writer and author of The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food

”Yet another sacrifice made at the altar of the extractive economy is the vitality of our local communities. Whether rural or urban, prior to World War II, our communities and their economies were, in many ways, inseparable. Our neighbors were not simply the people who lived next door. They were our partners in commerce, our local service providers, our local educators… With the American community compelled to always look outside of itself for its basic needs, it becomes merely a shared address on a map.”

-From Radical Homemakers by Shannon Hayes, upstate NY farmer, mother and author.

“I grew up among people who worked together, traded seed, borrowed setting hens if their own were late setting. Early hatched chickens were like a prize. Neighbors would compete to see who would serve the first spring chicken pan-sautéed. The first spring greens, lettuce, scallions in a vinegar dressing with salt, pepper, and sugar--no oil. They shared flavors of all kinds, joined in when it came to planting or harvesting a crop, wheat threshing, hog butchering, and cutting ice on the ponds to store for the summer in the community icehouse.” -EDNA LEWIS known as "the South's answer to Julia Child,” was the cook at Cafe Nicholson in New York City during the 1950s.

She is known for her dedication to the purity of ingredients, authenticity, and importance of eating locally and seasonally, well ahead of today's Food Movement. It was just part of her uncompromising approach to cooking. -KP

The month of March is Women's History Month, and we'd like to share some thoughts from women on the topics of food and farming. The first passage is from Joan Gussow, writer, educator, gardener and activist. We are lucky to live in the same community with this amazing woman, and also to count her as a friend of Hungry Hollow Co-op.

"We know so little about what really produces change in our world, especially when Nature in involved. We know that human interventions can produce solutions as well as problems. To assume the worst will happen is almost as wicked as plunging ahead trying not to notice what is happening under our noses...Everything is possible. Living with possibilities allows me, most of the time, to face deeply disturbing truths about the state of the planet." -From Growing, Older

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?

Tracie McMillan's The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee's, Farm Fields and the Dinner Table takes us on a vivid and poignant tour of a place we don't really want to go: the mostly hidden, sometimes horrible world of the workers who form the backbone of our cheap, industrialized food chain. READ MORE...

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...

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...

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