If you answered yes to any of those questions, the Marketing Committee needs you. We [more...]]]> Want to help spread the word about your Co-op? Do you have experience in advertising, writing, public speaking, or marketing—or are you looking to get some? Most important, are you enthusiastic about the Co-op’s mission and ready to help us grow?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, the Marketing Committee needs you. We will be meeting in the next two weeks to start planning for the coming season, and we need motivated volunteers to help boost membership, increase store visits, and raise awareness in Cornwall and beyond. Email Wynn Gold at WynnGold@hvc.rr.com for your meeting invitation, and spread the word!

I cooked more in those two weeks than I did in the four months before, and we’ve continued [more...]]]> My report on our two-week experiment to shop only at the co-op and eat from our freezer and cabinets is overdue.  But, of course, time has blurred the details.  Let me put it this way: we proved it.

I cooked more in those two weeks than I did in the four months before, and we’ve continued the experiment as best we’ve been able.

Organizing the freezer was perhaps the biggest step.  We had various meats from the co-op that seemed like a good idea at the time: a ham steak, sausages, a couple of steaks.  (PS: we almost never eat steak.)  They all ended up on one shelf, and the frozen vegetables, processed foods, and grains ended up on shelves of their own.

“Grains!?” you say.  Yes, grains.  We keep ‘em in the fridge.  Pantry moths, dontcha know.

Anyway, during those two weeks I pulled out the second-hand slow cooker and threw things into it, sautéed lots of onions and garlic, let flavors blend.  We husbanded the beer and the wine; managed to stick to the agreement.  There were a couple-three restaurant meals, or food served to us by friends.  One thing it taught me?  Well-off people with lots of friends have endless access to food; more than we need.  I became more conscious of the excess of food that greets us every day during this really short, non-sacrificial period of co-op shopping.

At the same time, I got ahold of Michael Pollan’s new book, Food Rules.  Yes, I know how stereotypical that is, and I don’t mind.  I fit several stereotypes and am not particularly embarrassed about any of them.  In any case, the book and the co-op shopping experiment aligned.  I became more conscious of how food derives from sunlight, how it comes to our table, how it converts into energy and body mass.  How food is us.

This isn’t the kind of sensibility that just goes away.  Once you know something, you can’t un-know it.  Cooking with fresh, local food is like that.  So we’ve kept it up.  Tonight, for instance, weeks later, we had chicken-sage-garlic sausage stewed with a red onion, a pear, apples, and carrots, atop these adorable little cabbages, braised in red wine and chicken stock.  Those last two ingredients were not from the co-op.  Everything else was.

Is it normal that I sometimes want to actually eat the soil that disgorges these things?

Tell a friend about the Cornwall Community Co-Op today.  Lifetime membership is $150, with a $25 renewal fee the following year and thereafter. Members get a 10% discount, which means you pay off your membership fee in the first year, assuming you do a regular percentage of your shopping at the Co-Op.

The successful candidate will be responsible for managing daily operations of the [more...]]]> Harvest Market in Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY, announces an exciting opportunity to oversee the operations of a start-up cooperative market in the beautiful Hudson Valley. We value sustainable agriculture, supporting regional farms, and fostering the health and well-being of the greater community.

The successful candidate will be responsible for managing daily operations of the Market, financial oversight, coordinating committee activities, developing and managing vendor relationships, communications with members and the public, management and supervision of working members, and development. His or her qualifications will include excellent communication and inter-personal skills, familiarity with regional agricultural systems, competence in MS Word and Excel, and a sincere alignment with the values of our cooperative. A minimum of one year business or retail experience is required.

Harvest Market is the storefront business of the Cornwall Community Co-op, a unique start-up venture that has been in operation for a year. We are member-owned and staffed largely by volunteers.

Please send a letter of interest, resume, and salary requirements to: info@cornwallfoodcoop.com. Applications must be received by 1/25/10.

Harvest Market in Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY, announces an exciting opportunity to oversee the operations of a start-up cooperative market in the beautiful Hudson Valley. We value sustainable agriculture, supporting regional farms, and fostering the health and well-being of the greater community.

The successful candidate will be responsible for managing daily operations of the Market, financial oversight, coordinating committee activities, developing and managing vendor relationships, communications with members and the public, management and supervision of working members, and development. His or her qualifications will include excellent communication and inter-personal skills, familiarity with regional agricultural systems, competence in MS Word and Excel, and a sincere alignment with the values of our cooperative. A minimum of one year business or retail experience is required.

Harvest Market is the storefront business of the Cornwall Community Co-op, a unique start-up venture that has been in operation for a year. We are member-owned and staffed largely by volunteers.

Please send a letter of interest, resume, and salary requirements to: info@cornwallfoodcoop.com. Applications must be received by 12/15/09.

This Sunday, co-op members were invited to a cocktail hour to celebrate the holidays, kindly hosted by Donna Hammond and Anne Pavek, owners of the Hudson Street Café. The co-op’s board and other members laid [more...]]]> Joining the co-op isn’t all work shifts, kale, and rutabagas. There are, in fact, perks. This Sunday was a prime example.

This Sunday, co-op members were invited to a cocktail hour to celebrate the holidays, kindly hosted by Donna Hammond and Anne Pavek, owners of the Hudson Street Café. The co-op’s board and other members laid out a stunning array of snacks. Sweet potatoes wrapped in prosciutto and fresh herbs. Weensy potatoes stuffed with kale (there it is!), garlic and sun-dried tomatoes. Little boats of endive loaded with nuts and cheese and vinaigrette. The kind of sweet potato and onion pie that they eat in books about great food. Incredible beet ravioli—believe it. Steamed. Brussels. Sprouts.

Guess where the ingredients came from? Okay, not the prosciutto, nor the shrimp. Did I mention the shrimp?  Because there was shrimp. The garlic, on the shrimp?  Co-op.

Norman Rockwell himself couldn’t have done this any better: during the festivities, the town gathered at the bandstand across the street to hear choral music and watch the lighting of the Christmas tree. Back inside, the board raffled off a co-op gift basket and a considerably smaller, but fresh-cut and sustainably harvested, tree of its own. Elvis sang “Blue Christmas.”

A couple of speeches and many thank-yous later, there was a pause. Everyone patted their stomachs.

And then it was time for dinner. Unlike the free cocktail hour, this was a benefit. Members who ponied up a donation got a cozy spot at one of several long tables and chowed down on another round of exquisite offerings from Donna’s storied kitchen: curried carrots and string beans, fresh roast ham and cracklings, roast turkey, a savory apple compote, a gratin of potatoes and sweet potato topped with Talitha’s goat cheese, freshly baked foccacia, hummus, black-eyed peas and all that (if you could still move) was finished off with poached pears in maple syrup, apple crisp and whipped creammpfffthm.

While that was all passing around the tables and everyone was clapping for the chef —Donna was joined by the café’s staff plus the co-op board and members to stage the extravaganza—and toasting the farmers, and each other, and their ancestors, and the season (did I mention there was wine?—there was wine), conversations were passing around, too.  The place operated at an excited, buzzing roar.  It helped that kids were leaping around (some miscreant broke a railing, and has been admonished—ahem).  People were making new acquaintances, solidifying old ones, and branching off with new ideas born of the mix of ingredients on offer.  How do you sustain the local economy?  How do you eat better, healthier food?  How do you keep farms working and keep your countryside green?  How do you cut down on pollution by carrying food shorter distances to market?

Most important: at one point, turning from one conversation to join another, a tablemate nudged me to point out two little girls who’d been seated together (full disclosure: one was mine).  They’d never met before.  But there was something in the room that made it clear that we were all in it—whatever it is—together.

The girls got it.  That’s why they sat there, not looking at one another, chomping on couscous and apple compote, and holding hands like best friends.