As a co-op, we are only as good as the involvement of our owner/members and our community, so I invite you to become more involved. You could run for the board during our election or join a committee. Our monthly board meetings are open to owner/members and your feedback and questions are welcome. Together we can keep creating a community and co-op that looks to support one another and be a place of equality.
Bloomington Community Orchard Teaches Others To Grow
Bloomington Community Orchard was our Positive Change recipient in August. It is with much thanks to our customers who rounded up last month that we are able to present them with $11,616.69!
Bloomington Community Orchard is an organization devoted to growing fruit for the community and growing their orcharding skills through educational opportunities. The publicly owned orchard is maintained by volunteers, and the harvest is available to everyone in the community.
BCO has big plans to use some of the donated money to expand their educational materials and help others grow.
We received the following note from Bloomington Community Orchard Board Chair, Josh David:
“We are currently refocusing our efforts to invest more in the development of the Orchard flagship site (e.g., with the rainwater-harvesting system we installed this year), while compiling more on-demand educational resources to put on our new website to help individuals and communities with their growing efforts. We’ve also seen a spike in other communities around the country asking us how they can create something like the BCO in their own regions, so we’ve started advising others on how to cultivate their own community or campus orchards, and are in the process of writing a “How to Start a Community Orchard” handbook that we can hopefully get published and distributed to libraries around the country, to help others learn from our experiences, and turn the BCO into a sustainable model for other communities around the country (and world) to replicate.
From all of us at the Orchard, thank you again for nurturing the local food movement and always finding more ways to give back to the community!”
Visit their website to learn more about BCO, ways you can become involved, and how your continued donations can support this organization and our community.
Watermelon Fun Facts
Did you know that watermelons are actually vegetables and that there are over 200 varieties to choose from? Even though they are sweet and refreshing, they belong to the Cucurbitaceae family, along with squash and cantaloupe.
Watermelons are about 90% water and can range in weight from a few pounds to a few hundred pounds. According to Guinness World Records, the largest watermelon was grown in a backyard garden in Tennessee and weighed a whopping 350 pounds!
A simple wedge of watermelon is a classic summertime treat, but watermelon is also very versatile. It can be add it to cold soups, fruit platters, salsa, and salads.
Try adding watermelon cubes into a bowl of cottage cheese, or slide them onto a skewer and freeze for several hours for a nutritious snack. You can also use cookie cutters to cut slices of watermelon into fun shapes for the kids (of any age).
Juicy watermelon also makes a delightful drink. Simply put cubes in the blender then strain to make watermelon water that is sweet, hydrating, and oh, so satisfying on a hot summer day! It is also a great base for summer cocktails. And when you’re making a smoothie, toss in a few chunks of watermelon to sweeten it up, too.
And did you know that watermelon is a no-waste food that you can eat every part of it? You can roast the seeds for snacking, and use the hollowed-out rind as a punch bowl, or even cut it up and pickle, marinate, or candy it.
Fruits like strawberries, peaches, apricots, pears and blueberries pair well with watermelon, as do cucumbers, red onion and jalapeño peppers. For compatible cheeses, think Brie, feta, bleu, Fontina, and mozzarella. Serve watermelon with chicken or pork, shrimp, salmon, crab and lobster. Sprinkle it with sesame seeds, and season it with black pepper, salt, ginger, mint and tarragon.
Choose watermelon with a deep color and no white streaks. The fruit should be heavy for its size and have a hard rind that's smooth and free of cuts or bruises or dents. Don't worry if the watermelon you're eyeing has a yellowish spot on one side. That's actually a good sign; it's where the melon was resting on the ground and shows that it wasn't harvested prematurely.
Watermelons don't continue to ripen after they're harvested, so you'll want to bring home one that's ready to eat. Explain to other shoppers who are looking at you suspiciously that a ripe watermelon will yield a resonating "thump" when slapped with your open palm.
You can store the melon uncut, in a cool place, for up to two weeks. Once cut, wrap in plastic wrap—or place chunks in a covered container—and refrigerate it, cut side up, for up to a week. And don’t forget that you should always wash melons before cutting. If it’s dirty on the outside, the knife can carry that to the inside.
If you’d like to try a savory recipe, this Mojito Watermelon Salad is a delicious complement to any summer dinner or as an afternoon snack. Enjoy the rest of your summer and enjoy that watermelon every way possible!
In Memory of Caroline Beebe
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Caroline Beebe on August 1st. A devoted Bloomingfoods supporter since the early days of the co-op, Caroline received the Bill Krejci Award in 2018 after her recent tenure on the Board of Directors. She was an inspirational leader and teacher and fondly remembered by many.
Where Did All The Groceries Go?
DEAR BLOOMINGFOODS OWNER-MEMBERS & SHOPPERS,
Although concerns about the overall health of the US food supply chain have mostly subsided, we are still experiencing longer-term out-of-stocks with some of your favorite brands. In an effort to keep you updated with the latest information, we’d like to share some of the primary factors that are creating these out-of-stocks. Additionally, we’d like to share a few of the brands and types of items with which we’re experiencing longer-term stocking challenges.
The primary factors that have affected the availability of some of your favorite grocery items are:
The initial stockpiling and panic buying led to “pipeline” shortages
Transportation & distribution disruptions and delays
Production and facility capacity is greatly reduced (production hours have changed, physical reconfiguration of some facilities for safer work experiences has slowed production and employee health concerns have altered shift work)
At home cooking and eating while restaurants operate at reduced capacity results in increased consumer demand for in-store groceries
Travel restrictions and agricultural distribution disruptions have curtailed the supplies of imported products (i.e. canned tomatoes)
Shortage of raw materials (i.e. rice is harvested once annually and with the spike in demand, some reserves have been depleted until the next harvest in the fall.)
Weather: the regional apple crop that we expected later this summer has been destroyed by late spring frosts
The surplus of produce (fruits and vegetables) that would normally be sold to shuttered schools and restaurants is causing quality issues in warehouses across the country
The whole agricultural sector is being affected by a shortage of seasonal workers
State regulations regarding Hot Bar/Salad Bar/Buffet style services have dictated what we can and cannot offer (our Kitchen and Deli staff have implemented some creative solutions!)
These are a few of your favorite brands that are experiencing availability challenges:
Amy’s Frozen foods
Amy’s Canned soups
Field Day (all categories)
Seventh Generation cleaning supplies and paper goods
Many varieties of tofu
Bob’s Red Mill
Lundberg Family Farms rice
Bubbies pickles (some varieties) and horseradish
Applegate Farms frozen sausages
Follow Your Heart Vegenaise
We are frequently communicating with representatives from our distributor, United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) and will continue to monitor product availability and do our best to provide reasonable alternatives for long-term out-of-stocks. In spite of the difficulties of this pandemic, our mission still remains the same. We will continue to do everything we can to provide healthy, high quality, sustainable, and environmentally-sound products at a fair price to our community.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Sincerely,
The Bloomingfoods Team
Thank You From Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County
Dear all our friends at Bloomingfoods,
Thank you for helping build Positive Change in our community. It is hard to put into words the emotions we are all experiencing as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to upend our work and our daily lives. As we face the challenges ahead, we are so grateful for the impact made by Bloomingfoods’ patrons through your Positive Change program. As we restart our construction program, we will put this gift right to work helping families seeking safe and affordable shelter in Monroe County. We feel doubly blessed for the anonymous matching gift in our benefit during the first week of June - we are so happy to be part of such a kind and caring community! Habitat for Humanity has always been a community-based organization, and we will continue to offer our hand to the hardworking families in Monroe County who need it most. With your partnership, we stand ready to accelerate efforts to build strength and stability with renewed energy and commitment. Thank you to everyone at Bloomingfoods for helping Habitat families to move forward in the face of challenging times.
In partnership,
Colleen McKenna Development
Director, Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County
Our Co-op Thrives when Our Owner-Members and Community are Involved
As a co-op, we are only as good as the involvement of our owner/members and our community, so I invite you to become more involved. You could run for the board during our election or join a committee. Our monthly board meetings are open to owner/members and your feedback and questions are welcome. Together we can keep creating a community and co-op that looks to support one another and be a place of equality.
Return of Reusable Bags
During this pandemic we have focused on continuing to provide our community with local, fair, and healthy products as safely as possible. As restrictions ease and new information arises, we will continue to modify our own safe shopping measures in response. Today we would like to provide you with an update on a changing measure -- the use of reusable shopping bags.
Effective immediately, you can bring reusable shopping bags back into the co-op. We had been restricting their use. However, recent information released by the CDC suggests that surface to person contact is not thought to be the main way COVID-19 is spreading. This new information, combined with the negative environmental impact of using more paper bags, has prompted this change.
If you do elect to bring in reusable bags, we ask that you please plan to bag your own groceries.
We will continue to remain diligent in cleaning and sanitizing surfaces in our stores, and still highly encourage our customers to frequently wash and sanitize their hands. We also recommend wiping down your reusable bags after each use.
Thank you again for your support and understanding.
Response to Social Injustices: Starting the Dialogue
BLACK LIVES MATTER.
As a co-op, Bloomingfoods has a commitment to the cooperative values of equality, equity, and solidarity. We also believe in our 7 Cooperative Principles, which includes ‘Concern for Community’. Along with so many others, we want to share our collective voice and support for the Black community. Social injustice and racism continue to fester in towns across the country, including our own. This has gone on for far too long. We stand by our commitment to our values and principles. We stand with our community. We recognize that we’re not perfect individually or collectively, but we must continue to do more towards the fulfillment of our values and principles. We also recognize that we don’t have all the answers. We have started and will continue to reach out to various Black leaders, partners, and organizations within our community with the aim of listening, learning, and identifying ways we can provide support. We are also committed to providing diversity and inclusion training for our staff. We will share more details about additional ways we intend to provide support as they become solidified. We’re also open to suggestions from our community.
This post will serve as a resource for our community to become further educated on racism and social injustice. This is a live page that will continue to be modified over time.
What Can YOU Do to be Allies of the Black Community?
Educate yourself. Read books and articles, watch movies and documentaries, and listen to Black and Brown people to hear their stories to better understand what racism is, it’s effects, and how you can help dismantle it. Check out the resources below for steps you can take to improve racial justice and equality in the Black community.
When you hear or see injustice or racism occurring, ask your friends of color how they’re doing? Just that question goes further than you know.
Donate or volunteer for an organization led by people of color that is committed to advancing social change in Black and Brown communities. Some examples below.
RESOURCES:
Books:
Coretta Scott King Book Award Winners: books for children and young adults
31 Children's books to support conversations on race, racism and resistance
Articles:
PBS’s Teaching Your Child About Black History Month
Food and Land Justice for Black Americans
Local Links:
Minority & Women Owned Business in Bloomington
Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center
Where to donate:
Black Lives Matter - Bloomington
American Civil Liberties Union
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
And so many more! Please reach out if you would like to share more resources for us to post to this list.
info@bloomingfoods.coop
A Note from our Owner-Member Connection Committee
The Owner-Member Connection Committee’s purpose is to ensure that the board of directors remains connected to the values, goals, and interests of the Bloomington Cooperative Services owner-members. This committee is open to any Owner-Member in good standing. For questions or more information on the OMCC please contact Corbin Baird at corbin@bloomingfoods.coop.
Missing Bloomingfoods
by Maggie Sullivan
I think March 13 - April 12 was the longest stretch of time in the last five years that I did not go to Bloomingfoods. Given all the disruption and weirdness of living through a global pandemic, it is a minor detail and yet staying away from the co-op was one of the biggest changes I made. No lunchtime hot bar trips? No meetings in the cafe? No "quick" stops for an onion and a carton of eggs that somehow took an hour because I had to catch up with four different friends? No embarrassing struggles to keep my five-year-old out of the bulk bins?
I missed it. And when I finally ventured in, I was both comforted and saddened. So much is the same and yet so much is different. I am grateful that both staff and customers are wearing masks to protect all of us, and yet it is a change that is hard to embrace. At least I can still see the eye crinkles when people smile. There may not be hugging in the aisles these days but I still heard laughter and saw gestures of love and community.
Several articles have come out recently about the importance of casual encounters and weak connections. The barista who greets you by name. The co-worker who compliments your shoes. The neighbor who smiles and waves to your children. We tend to overlook these moments and take them for granted. Now many of them have disappeared from our lives.
For me, Bloomingfoods is a place where for many years I have refilled my tank with friendly smiles and nods but also a place where I have experienced deep connections. Running into an old friend and laughing about the "good old days." Getting a hug that I didn't know I needed. Venting about the stress and chaos that is life. Listening to a story of struggle and despair that reminded me of all the blessings in my life. Yes, these conversations can happen anywhere but for me they happen frequently at the co-op.
While I can still count on having my spirits lifted when I visit Bloomingfoods, I don't pop in as often as I used to. To make up for the missed opportunities for connections, I'm trying to make community connections in other ways. A fun new game is to contact people beyond my circle of close friends just to say "Hey, I'm thinking of you. Hope you are well." Often I reach out via e-mail or on Facebook. I am also rediscovering the joys of phone calls, chatting with my neighbors (from a distance), and old-fashioned letters.
These days I find it hard to think about the future. I can not wish for a return to a "normal" life when it has become clear that our old "normal" was a disaster of inequity and precariousness. I can not quite muster up the energy to envision a new and improved future when so much of my attention is focused on survival. So I do what I can to stay sane and play my very small part in helping others do the same.
I hope that some day I can return to sharing a meal from the hot bar with a group of friends, old and new. Until then, I invite you to join me in rebuilding community however feels safe to you. If you'd like a letter or postcard of encouragement, please let me know. Seriously.