If the promise of local and sustainable food, community building, and meeting your neighbors wasn't already enough to get you to join the Co-op and become one of our first 400 members, then we're sweetening the pot for the rest of the week. All member-owners who have joined before June 15, 2012 (new and old alike) will automatically be entered to win two tickets to see Dave Matthews Band at the Susquehanna Bank Center on June 26th or 27th (your pick). Join now!

Not a DMB fan? Well you'll still have taken the most concrete step you can to bring a community owned grocery store to South Philly. And don't worry, we can help you find someone to take those tickets off your hands.

We passed along some info a few days ago from our friends at the Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance (PACA). PACA also passed along information about some city policy that they are lobbying for. Though the South Philly Food Co-op isn't taking any official position on the legislation referenced below, we pass along this info from PACA for your information.

PACA Public Policy - Call to Action! Historic Land Bank Legislation Needs Your Support PACA has joined the Take Back Vacant Land Coalition to support passage of Philaelphia City Council legislation that will transfer ownership of the 40,000+ city-owned vacant properties to a land bank. The land bank will oversee the sale and distribution of these properties, and PACA along with the Take Back Vacant Land Coalition wants to ensure that community members have a say in this process. We want to ensure that some of the 40,000 properties benefit our communities, so that green spaces, cooperative businesses, affordable housing, and community centers can receive land too. Take a second to write a letter to the Legislation's sponsor, Councilwoman Sanchez. Feel free to use the template below, and personalize it as you see fit. Contact [email protected] if you have any questions. María Quiñones Sánchez 7th District Councilwoman Room 592, City Hall Philadelphia, PA 19107 Dear Councilwoman Sánchez: I am happy you have sponsored Bill #120052 to create a Philadelphia “Landbank”. I am pleased that Take Back Vacant Land’s priorities around (a) community representation on the board of directors, (b) public reporting on land sales and transfers and (c) consolidation of vacant land currently held by different city agencies are included. I am also pleased that our coalition is working with you and your staff to make sure that land is used for things most important to me: cooperative businesses that create good-paying jobs and provide essential services to the community, affordable, accessible housing, farming and gardening as well as open space, and that groups accountable to communities and our vision have priority for receiving land.

Let's call today Advocacy Friday because we have a couple of issues that we want to share with you. The first is below and has to do with a piece of federal legislation. We'll post the second - about an issue before Philadelphia City Council - later today. We are often made aware of legislation pending before Congress that would either help or hurt various parts of the cooperative movement. Recently, we received a communication about The Small Business Lending Enhancement Act which would raise an arbitrary cap on the amount that credit unions (which are kind of like but not exactly like cooperatively owned banks) can lend to small businesses. We pass this along without much comment since we're not experts on banking - just yet - but eventually we'll be looking for financing for this Co-op and a credit union may just be one of our options. So let's help 'em out!

Credit Union Lending Cap Increase Needs Your Support The National Cooperative Business Association is asking members and all friends of cooperatives to demonstrate their support of S. 2231, which will enable credit unions to support economic growth through increased small business lending. The bill is in the US Senate, and critical action on this bill could come in the next few weeks. It’s important that members of the Senate hear from the cooperative community about the importance of voting in favor of this legislation. What does S. 2231 do? S. 2231 would raise the credit union member business lending cap from 12.25 percent of assets to 27.5 percent for eligible credit unions and task the National Credit Union Administration with writing safety and soundness regulations to implement the added authority. To be eligible, a credit union would have to be at or near its current cap, have at least five years’ experience in member business lending and be in a strong capital position. In addition, the credit union would not be allowed to grow its MBL portfolio more than 30 percent a year. Why it’s important. Credit unions have been subject to an arbitrary cap on lending since the passage of the Credit Union Membership Access Act of 1998. The Small Business Lending Enhancement Act would significantly increase the amount of money credit unions are allowed to invest in small businesses. The Credit Union National Association estimates that passing this legislation could provide up to $13 billion to small businesses in the first year alone and create over 140,000 new jobs at no cost to taxpayers. NCBA asks its members to call and email their senators in support of S. 2231. You may send an email to your senators by using this action alert tool, created by CUNA: http://capwiz.com/cuna/issues/alert/?alertid=60924641&PROCESS=Take+Action To call your senators’ offices, dial the US Capital switchboard at 202-224-3121. When speaking with your senator, please relate the following message: "I am contacting you to ask for your support on S.2231, The Small Business Lending Enhancement Act. America’s small businesses are the driving force of employment and economic improvement. In a recent survey, 90 percent of small businesses reported the availability of credit for small businesses is a problem. In fact, 61 percent of these same small businesses said it’s harder to get loans today than it was a few years ago. One of the easiest ways to help these small businesses gain access to the credit they need and start hiring is to lift the credit union member business lending cap." By allowing credit unions to make more business loans, we’ll be putting more Americans to work and improving our economy. In fact, it’s estimated that 140,000 jobs would be created by lifting the cap. Please help America’s small business owners and American workers by supporting S. 2231, the credit union small business jobs bill. Thank you for your support of cooperatives. Sincerely, Liz Bailey Interim President and Chief Executive Officer

(The following message went out in our June newsletter yesterday, which if you don't get you should sign up for by clicking here.) Before I say anything else, I first want to thank everyone who came out and voted for the Board of Directors at our general membership meeting on May 22nd. It’s truly inspiring to see so many members put the time aside to fully participate in the governance of the Co-op. I speak for the rest of the board and committee members when I say that it’s a real privilege to be “in” this with all of you. And thank you for being "in" it with us. Phew. 259. So we’re done, right? Not quite. While it was great to celebrate the accomplishment of passing our first goal at the membership meeting, we quickly turned to our next goal of 400 member-owners. Two-fifty got us to the point where we can form a real estate committee (anyone interested?) to start looking for potential locations. At 400, we “take it to the bank” by which I literally mean walk into a lending institution and start talking to them about getting some of the financing to open our doors. So if you are one of our member-owners already, your job is to get just one more household to join in the next six months. That’s it. You do that and we’re there. I also urge you to check out the volunteer opportunities below or ask me about joining one of our committees. I recently had an email forwarded to me that was written by a new member of our Marketing and Communications committee. When changing his plans so that he could attend the monthly meeting on May 24 he wrote: “I have decided this is more important to me than my other commitment.” (True story… I’ll forward it to you if you ask!) That’s what it’s going to take to get this done, folks! And – yes – we can do it. Sincerely, Alison L. Fritz President, Board of Directors South Philly Food Co-op

Presented by Farm to City, East Passyunk Avenue Business Improvement District and Passyunk Avenue Revitalization Corporation. Fountain Farmers' Market Day: Every Wednesday Hours: 3 pm to 7 pm Location: East Passyunk Ave, at 11th and Tasker Streets FARMS/VENDORS: BERRY PATCH Baked Goods, Beets, Berries, Broccoli, Carrots, Cauliflower, Chard, Eggs, Kale, Herbs, Lettuce, Peas, Radish, Rhubarb, Spinach, Spring Onions, Strawberries, Tomatoes, Zucchini FRUITWOOD ORCHARD Asparagus, Beets, Chard, Cherries, Collards, Honey, Kale, Fruit butter, Lettuce, Turnips, Strawberries, Sugar Snaps GREEN AISLE GROCERY Breads from Wild Flour Bakery, Breads and English muffins from Ric's Breads, Cheese - Goat/cow milk from local dairies, Coffee - locally roasted ReAnimator, Cold drinks - Boylon Sodas!, Meats - local and sustainable, Pasta - fresh from Severino, Pesto and preserves - house made blends NEIL'S SHARPENING SERVICE Sharpens knives, house tools, garden tools, etc. on the spot! PHILLY COW SHARE A Philadelphia CowShare is a way for individual customers to buy high quality, local, grass-fed beef in bulk by splitting the purchase of a cow with other people...Choose from 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, or full CowShares.

Special thanks to Co-op Marketing and Communications Committee member Mary Rizzo (who also puts together that awesome newsletter with the ever growing member-owner number on it) for passing along this clip from recent episode of Jane Velez-Mitchell's HLN show in which the apparently very enthusiastic Velez-Mitchell visited a food co-op in California and caught on pretty quickly to what this is all about. (If you don't see the clip, try refreshing the page.) The big question is... did she become a member?

My basil plant is thriving, which is a shock, because last year I killed a handful of them. Looking for new uses for the abundance of sweet leaves, I thought back to crackers. There's a cracker we've liked that's crispy and wheaty with sundried tomato and basil. I can do that.

I started with the flavor. Dried tomato from Margerum's, via Winter Harvest and still fresh in my fridge, basil from the backyard and a bit of parmesan. You can totally leave out the parmesan, just add a bit more olive oil and salt. The crackers don't taste cheesy. For cheese crackers, try something like the Mac and Cheesy Crackers I made last year. These crackers are based on the recipe for the Thyme and Onion Crackers I wrote about more than a year ago (!) but they're tangier and almost spicy.

I took a half cup of basil leaves, four sundried tomatoes and two tablespoons of grated parmesan and threw all of that in my little chopper. By all means, feel free to do this by hand, but mince everything tiny. I just pretended I was making pesto.

Then I gathered my dry ingredients. A cup of bread flour, one and three-quarters cups of whole wheat flour, a quarter cup of wheat germ, a teaspoon of sea salt and about half a tablespoon of black pepper.

I forked that all together.

 

Then added the wet. A third of a cup of olive oil...

The basil/tomato/cheese blend I had made, and a cup of warm water with a teaspoon of honey disolved in it.

I mixed that with a fork until a fork no longer made sense.

Then I got in there with my hands until it turned into what looked like the start of a fairly unappealing veggie burger mix.

It's not bad, doing it by hand. Look how sticky it isn't.

At this point I broke out the pasta machine. The last time I wrote about crackers like this, I did it with a rolling pin. Rolling pins are fine. With a rolling pin, I wasn't able to get the crackers all the same thickness, but it was *much* quicker than using the pasta machine, so make your own call.

I divided the dough into eight pieces and ran it through the machine on the thickest setting. Like pasta, if it tore or looked rough, I floured it, folded it, and ran it back through.

I used a pizza cutter to try to cut out reasonable rectangles, but they definitely came out "rustic." The shape doesn't matter, but the more consistently sized they are, the easier it'll be to time them in the oven.

I cut off the roughest scraps and ran those back through the machine.

Once I had my little rectangles, I docked each one with a fork and sprinkled on more sea salt.

They need about 15-20 minutes in the oven at 375, at this thickness. If you roll them out with a rolling pin and they're a bit thicker, they'll need longer, and you need to keep a good eye on them either way. I set my timer for 10 minutes, turned them, and then just stared at them. My first batch took 18 minutes. This recipe made three baking-sheets-worth.

They're done when they're firm and the edges are getting golden. Check the bottoms to be sure they're not burning. Let them cool completely before storing them. Try not to eat all the hot crackers.

And really, don't walk away while they're in the oven. Golden brown is great, golden black is less so.

This made about 130 crackers, which sounds like a lot, but was just enough to fit in this jar.

They keep about a week, and if they aren't crisp enough you can recrisp them in a low (200 degree) oven.

This recipe is cross-posted at Saturday’s Mouse, where I’m working on making food out of food.

 Sundried Tomato and Basil Crackers

Ingredients

• 1 Cup Bread Flour


• 1 3/4 Cups Whole Wheat Flour


• 1/4 Cup Wheat Germ


• 3 Tablespoons Sea Salt, Divided


• 1 Teaspoon Honey


• 1 Cup Warm Water


• 1/2 Tablespoon Black Pepper


• 1/2 Cup Fresh Basil


• 1/4 Cup Sundried Tomatoes


• 2 Tablespoons Parmesan Cheese (optional)

Instructions

Run the tomato, basil and cheese through a food processor or chopper to mince (or mince by hand). Ok to skip the cheese, but add a bit more salt and olive oil later.

Mix the dry ingredients - flours, flax seed, pepper and one tablespoon of salt, then incorporate the wet - basil/tomato mix, olive oil, and warm water and honey. I find it easier to dissolve the honey in the water first.

Mix well, with a fork and then by hand, and then roll out the dough using either a rolling pin or a pasta machine. Aim for about the thickness of a quarter.

Cut into cracker shapes (a pizza cutter helps) and re-roll any scraps. Dock with a fork and top with sea salt.

Bake at 375 for 10 minutes, then turn and check frequently. They are done when they're firm all over and golden at the edges. Maybe 15 or 18 minutes total?

Details

• Prep time: 25 mins


• Cook time: 20 mins


• Total time: 45 mins


• Yield: 130 Crackers

From our friends at the Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliances (PACA) come these reminders of a couple of events happening later this month: The first is the a one-day conference called Exploring Cooperatives: Economic Democracy and Community Development in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin that is actually "sold out" (in that all the free tickets have been reserved). Why am I telling you about it then? As PACA notes:

Since the conference is free, we expect a larger percentage of “no shows”. So, for the time being, latecomers can still register by contacting Center for Public Policy Program Manager Charlotte Jackson, [email protected].

Below are some of the details (the rest you can get by clicking here): A one-day conference that explores what the urban areas of Philadelphia and Madison, and rural areas in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, can learn from one another about building cooperatives and cooperative networks, and what cooperatives contribute to cities, regions, and states. Wednesday, June 13, 2012 Drexel University, School of Medicine New College Building 245 N. 15th Street (SE corner of 15th and Vine) Philadelphia, PA SPEAKERS Gar Alperovitz, Lionel R. Bauman Professor of Political Economy, University of Maryland, Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-PA), author of the National Cooperative Development Act of 2011 (H.R. 3677), Paul Soglin, Mayor, City of Madison, Wisconsin, Michael Nutter, Mayor, City of Philadelphia,  (invited) Michael Swack, Professor of Economics and Management, Carsey Institute, University of New Hampshire, Jessica Gordon Nembhard, Associate Professor of Community Justice and Social Economic Development, John Jay College Department of African American Studies, Steve Dubb, Research Director, The Democracy Collaborative. The conference will include breakout sessions and workshops that examine specific cooperatives in detail, comparing those in Pennsylvania (mostly from Philadelphia... including our own South Philly Food Co-op) and those in Wisconsin (mostly from Madison). Research will be published by the University of Wisconsin Extension.

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The second event this month is a big conference that's drawing in co-ops from all over the country (and Philly is fortunate enough to be the host this year). Consider going to the party below and showing those out-of-towners how to party Philly Co-op style! June 14th through 16th is the annual CCMA conference*, and the closing party on Saturday night is open to the public! Even if you're not attending the conference during the day, join us for the live music of Sharon Katz and the Peace Train, the Give & Take Jugglers, plus delicious food from a variety of Reading Terminal Market Vendors. Weavers Way is hosting the party and offering a special invitation to local co-op folks to attend at a reduced price of $35 (down from $65 at the door) if you register before June 1st. Click here to register. *The Consumer Cooperative Management Association (CCMA) conference is a 3-day gathering of hundreds food co-op managers, directors, educators, and consultants, plus their national allies. CCMA is a program of the National Cooperative Business Association. Volunteer opportunities exist for CCMA, which may include discounted admission. If interested, email [email protected].

We’ve been on a roll with member recruitment.  To keep this momentum going, we have planned a number of upcoming events to help us toward our next goal of 400 member-owners.  What we need from you is volunteer help to make these events a success.  Below is a list of volunteer opportunities for June which range from helping at the Gold Star Park Music event to community fairs.  Check your calendar, see what events strike your fancy, and email us at [email protected] if you can help out with any of these events or activities. Fleisher ARTspiration  When: Saturday, June 9th, 10am - 4pm Where: Fleisher Art Memorial (719 Catharine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147) The Co-op will be tabling at this community arts festival with a food related activity. Volunteers will manage a food related arts and craft activity as well as distribute information about the Co-op, answer questions, distribute membership applications, and accept equity payments. Volunteers will be paired with an experienced committee member.  Need one more volunteer for the 10am - 1pm shift and two volunteers for the 1pm - 4pm shift. Gold Star Park Music Fisher & Maher (www.fishermaher.com) When: Thursday, June 14th,  7pm - 9pm Where: Gold Star Park (Wharton and Sheridan) Volunteers will manage a seedling workshop activity as well as distribute information about the Co-op, answer questions, distribute membership applications, and accept equity payments. Volunteers will be paired with an experienced committee member. West Passyunk Summer Festival When: Saturday, June 16th, 12pm - 4pm Where: Girard Elementary (18th & Snyder) Volunteers will manage a seedling workshop activity as well as distribute information about the Co-op, answer questions, distribute membership applications, and accept equity payments. Volunteers will be paired with an experienced committee member. Festival Passyunk Square Fountain Farmer's Market When: Wednesday, June 27th, 4pm - 7pm Where: The Fountain (Tasker & Passyunk) We need one volunteer to table with a committee member--passing out materials, answering questions, and taking member applications.    

We received word from a Game Show Network producer that they are looking for teams to compete in a new show called Beat The Chefs. Here are the details:

CALLING ALL HOME COOKS! It's time to fire up your burners and break out your favorite recipes! GSN (Game Show Network) and the producers of THE GREAT FOOD TRUCK RACE, are thrilled to bring you BEAT THE CHEFS, an exciting new cooking game show that celebrates REAL people who make great food! BEAT THE CHEFS gives talented home cooks the chance to go up against some of the best chefs in the business, battle it out in the kitchen, and win a BIG CASH PRIZE! We are scouring the nation for passionate home cooks from all walks of life. Are you a great cook despite never having been formally trained? Whether you are a chili cook-off champion, the queen of the bake sale, or just a whiz in the kitchen, now is your chance to see if your signature dish has what it takes to compete with our professional chefs! Gather up two of your family members or best friends as your sous chefs and pick the dish that you know will leave the judges begging for more! We are looking for fun, outgoing teams of all ages. If you love to cook, have a competitive spirit, and think you have a winning dish, email us at [email protected]. Please include your name, age, contact info, photo, two proposed teammates (and their photos), a description of your culinary background and your signature dish! Put the CITY/STATE where you live in the subject line for priority!

So whaddya say South Philly Food Co-op folks? Who's up for the challenge. Remember... if you win you have to plug the Co-op. We'll take all the publicity we can get!