Handmade pouches work great for bulk dry goods

At the Ashland Food Co-op, my handmade pouches work great for purchasing bulk dry goods. I got the idea from unbleached muslin sacks that are sold at the co-op.

I repurposed these sacks from bandannas and crocheted drawstrings from newspaper-bundling twine. Each pouch has the tare weight embroidered on it.

Combine these handmade dry-goods pouches with handmade grocery sacks and our shopping trips at the co-op are occasions for living the value of sustainability.

Wonderful breads at Ashland Food Co-op

Check out the wonderful variety of this shelf-ful of artisan breads at the Ashland Food Co-op. I love breads, especially those that are unique to a community.

Cooking class idea: Tactile-challenges work around

AFC Education Coordinator Mary Shaw
taught a Pantry Basics class on March 20

One highlight of a week spent in Ashland, Ore. in order to secure an apartment, was the Pantry Basics class taught by Mary Shaw, March 20 at the Ashland Food Co-op (AFC) Community Classroom.

Blueprint for a Co-op Decade

Interior of the Ashland Food Co-op. Image from Return To Tradition

As the International Year of Cooperatives neared its conclusion, the International Co-Operative Alliance (ICA) released its Blueprint for a Co-op Decade. As stated by ICA Director-General Charles Gould, “We want to see co-operatives rise to the top of global business as the fastest growing business model by 2012.”

Lake County Community Co-op to offer owner shares

Lake County Community Co-op booth at 2009 Earth Day celebration in Middletown

The Lake County Community Co-op will begin offering owner shares, “a distinctive feature of cooperative enterprises,” according to publicist JoAnn Saccato.

Ashland co-op should emphasize auto alternatives

As related by Vickie Aldous on June 4 on the Medford Mail Tribune and Ashland Daily Tidings websites, the Ashland Food Co-op proposes that Ashland change a law limiting drive-through windows in its historic downtown:

“The co-op, which is in the historic downtown area, doesn’t want a drive-thru window for itself.

“But the busy grocery store — which often has a jam-packed parking lot — is interested in purchasing the property next door that houses Umpqua Bank. The co-op could then expand its parking area, according to city planning documents.

“A deal between the co-op and bank is unlikely unless Umpqua can get city approval for a drive-thru window within the historic downtown area.

“The co-op has proposed a change in the law to allow relocating the four grandfathered drive-thru windows in the historic downtown. To minimize visual impacts, the drive-thru facility would have to be located mainly underground or be screened from view from public streets.”

 As a member/owner of the Ashland Food Co-op, I would like to see the co-op put as much effort into promoting a ride share among its members and Rogue Valley Transportation District use as it does toward trying to secure the use of more parking spots.

Allowing Umpqua Bank to transfer the location of its drive-through window seems reasonable and fair, but is only a short-term fix.

As the co-op continues to grow in operation, it will continue to perpetuate an ever-increasing need for more parking space.

Just as it responded to the values of its membership when it ceased single-serving bottled water sales, I believe that the Ashland Food Co-op should lead the way toward reduced dependence upon cars.

Update: a version of this entry was posted June 7 as a letter to the editor by the Ashland Daily Tidings.

Invest co-op funding to assist community cats

In its May/June 2012 newsletter, the Ashland Food Co-op asks that members consider donating their patronage dividends to its Community Fund:

“Sponsored by the Twin Pines Cooperative Foundation, Coop Community Funds around the country serve as a way for co-op owners to make donations to an endowment that helps fund local non-profit organizations.”

As a member/owner of the Ashland Food Co-op, this is the use to which I want my investment put: to address cat welfare in Jackson County, Ore. According to the Animal Control Advisory Committee’s Cat Issue Task Force:

“Cat overpopulation and the lack of control of cats in Jackson County have resulted in a five-year average of 3,500 cats entering the Jackson County Shelter alone. Thousands of others were taken in by other local shelters, were casualties of the environment, or were left to roam free. The Shelter’s available resources to handle this number of cats, in addition to humane concerns for holding wild and unmanageable cats, required short holding periods. Recent public awareness of current practice has resulted in requests for changes.

“A Taskforce was formed by the Animal Control Advisory Committee in early January to develop recommendations for short-term and long-term solutions that address the problems of too many stray, feral, and abandoned cats in Jackson County, the inability of the existing animal shelters in Jackson County to handle all of those cats, and spay/neuter solutions.”

The task force includes representation by an agency that provides trap, neuter and return of feral cats: Spay Neuter Your Pet (SNYP), www.spayneuter.org. The task force also includes representation by animal adoption agencies.

Contributing toward the cost of spaying and neutering feral cats would, in my opinion, qualify under the categories of Environmental or Sustainability Education and Environmental Stewardship for the Ashland Food Co-Op Community Grants.


According to SNYP:

“A pair of breeding cats, which can have two or more litters per year, can exponentially produce 420,000 offspring over a seven-year period, and the overpopulation problem carries a hefty price tag. On average, it costs $100 for animal control to catch, house, feed and eventually euthanize one animal. With the large population of cats, this number quickly escalates.

“Trap-neuter-release programs are a promising alternative to solving the overpopulation problem.

“Studies have proven that trap-neuter-release is the single most successful method of stabilizing and maintaining healthy feral cat colonies with the least possible cost to local governments and residents, while providing the best life for the animals themselves.”

Read about cat overpopulation in Jackson County, Ore. at http://www.co.jackson.or.us/Page.asp?NavID=3787. Task force recommendations dated May 14, 2012, can be read at http://www.co.jackson.or.us/SIB/files/animal-control/Tentative%20Recommendations%20Final.pdf.

‘Food Stamp’ program: Lake co-op should participate

During the year that my family has been a member of the Lake County Community Co-op, we have seen the economy worsen steadily. More and more people will need government assistance to meet the basic need for food.

Community co-op launches buying club

The Lake County Community Co-Op issued word this week that it is launching its buying club. The first order will likely have been placed by the time you read this column.

Plastic bags can be reused

As our local food co-op continues its development, I watch with interest knowing that it will likely deal with some of the same issues other cooperatives have addressed.