Rochdale Farms - Demystified!

"At the core of the Rochdale Farms dream is the building of a cooperatively owned food supply chain that supports the environment, quality farms and strong communities."

Rochdale Farms is such an innovative cooperative company it can be difficult to understand exactly who they are and what they are striving to do (besides make AWESOME yogurt and cheese). Bentley Lein at The Mix provides an excellent overview of Rochdale Farms' goal of building a Principle Six food chain...

Read the entire article here...

 

 

P6 Homepage

P6 Producers

Pachamama Coffee - A Fair Trade Revolution!

Pachamama Coffee Co-op is the newest addition to Eastside's coffee selection and boy are we excited! This Principle Six (P6) company is changing the way we buy coffee! Pachamama Cooperative is a Davis, CA based roastery - owned by the coffee farmers! Pachamama represents more than 100,000 families in five countries: Peru, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Mexico, and Ethiopia. 

Pachamama Coffee can be found in aisle 3, just left of the bulk coffee containers!

Learn more about Pachamama Coffee Co-op here.

 

 

"For a Better World" Highlights Principle Six (P6)

This issue of For a Better World, the quarterly magazine produced by Fair World Project has a wonderful article featuring Principle Six (P6) - Cooperative Trade Movement by Phyllis Robinson of Equal Exchange.  Her essay includes some fascinating history about the Fair Trade Supply Chain and the importance of food co-op members in advancing and protecting ideal driven initiatives designed to build a more equitable food system for all.

"Two years ago, Equal Exchange and six consumer co-ops in the U.S. launched a pilot project, Principle Six, in the United States to highlight the co-ops’  highest value products:  those grown or produced locally or internationally by small farmers and co-operatives.  Food co-ops, always in the forefront of the food justice movements, have too-often seen their values compromised and “taken” by large corporations with extensive marketing dollars. Principle Six allows co-ops to reclaim co-operative values and take their place again at the forefront of a new era."

... Read the complete article

 

More P6 News

Eichten's Cheese - A Delicious P6 Holiday Treat!

It's nearly December, and you know what that means: family gatherings, staff parties, neighborhood potlucks and more. For those days when you just can't fathom what to offer to the feast, remember Eichten's Hidden Acres. An easy cheese plate featuring soft, creamy Wild Rice Gouda, Bison Gouda, Aged Cheddars, and soft Tomato Basil Gouda Spread can be tossed together in 15 minutes and for less than $20.00 (including crackers - yum)!

Eichten's Hidden Acres is one of our favorite P6 companies. Based in Center City, MN, Eichtens is family run since 1976.  Sister and brother, Eileen and Ed Eichten, are warm and personal business owners and Eastside staff love our weekly visits from Ed, who personally delivers their tasty cheeses and bison products to us each week.

To learn a lot about Eichten's Hidden Acres check out this article written by EFC's James Mossak. Then surprise your friends and family with delicious, affordable cheese and great stories about the folks who made it! 

Mary, Ed, and Eileen Eichten

P6 Launch Party Photos & Fun!

 

 

Tons of Fun from the P6 Launch Party! We had lot of members claim their free pie pumpkins, get their photos taken at an authentic farm scene, meet and greet with visiting P6 Producers, sample delicious P6 recipes and more! 

If you missed out on the fun, here's a chance to catch up:

Check out our P6 Recipes page!

And learn about Cedar Summit Farm, Wisconsin Growers, the Mikeology Store, Alemar Cheese Co., and all of our P6 producers on our P6 Producer page!

 

See more photos here!

Aligning Allies to Create a Cooperative Trade Movement

From the August 2012 Eastside Food Co-op News:

A few weeks back, the national P6 steering committee, made up of Seward Co-op, Viroqua Food Co-op, Equal Exchange, and your very own Eastside Food Co-op, was  in the throes of hiring a national P6 Coordinator. For two weeks we met at Seward Co-op to interview the candidates. Interviewing applicants has a reputation as an exhausting endeavor: endless hours of questioning individuals and trying to gauge from their responses and behaviors whether they are the person that will be most successful in the position. 
 
Rather than draining, however, hiring a P6 Coordinator was invigorating. Despite varying work, life, and educational experiences, all of the candidates had in common a lively commitment to revolutionizing the food system. Each conversation was filled with passion and excitement about how Principle Six can serve as a platform for revolutionizing the food system. Some viewed it as a pathway for bringing consumers together into a buying revolution. Others were excited about developing a marketplace that empowers small producers. Some saw P6 as a way to highlight the cooperative business model as a distinct, viable, and sustainable way to operate a company. What was so exciting about these conversations was that each of their interpretations of P6 were true! All day, over and over I would think, “Yes! That is P6! What a great point!”
 

Local P6 Farmers Create Nourishing Food Chain

From the June 2012 edition of Eastside Food Co-op News: 

 

One of the best parts of an early spring is early local produce! Our shelves are already filling with local lettuces, kales, carrots, and radishes, not to mention the springtime regulars: asparagus and morel mushrooms. This sudden influx stopped me in my tracks last week while I was researching more companies for P6. I’d completely overlooked some of our best (and most obvious!) P6 businesses: the local farmers that epitomize a simply local food chain.
 
... Read more about Pyramid Sprouters, Gardens of Eagan,  and Keewaydin Farms / Just Local

Vote With Your Dollar by Purchasing P6 Products!

From the April 2012 Eastside Food Co-op News:

Are you ready to Spring into 2012 – The International Year of the Co-op? So are we! Our P6 launch went off quietly and without too many hitches on February 21st. For those who’ve noticed the P6 tags around the store and wondered what we’re up to, here’s a brief recap:
 
Eastside Food Co-op, your very own grocery store, has joined Principle Six, a trade movement started by and for co-ops. Eastside staff will research the brands on our shelves, highlighting those that meet our highest food values: Small,  Local, and Cooperative or Nonprofit. P6 companies meet two of the three values (small and local; local and cooperative, and so on) and are striving to build a more equitable food system by sourcing from small, local and cooperative producers! In short, P6 is an initiative that makes it easier for all of us to build the food system of our dreamsore. We should ask ourselves “who is benefiting from my purchases? Is this a vote that I can be proud of today, tomorrow, a generation from now?”

 

 

Keeping Warm with Thoughts of Farm Tours

With winter setting in, I found myself wondering what, during times in need of warm thoughts, to ruminate on ... How about Farm Tours!  

Have a gander at this article by Eastside's very own James Mossak reflecting on the 2011 Farm Tour to Riverbend Farm... for warm times' sake.

Riverbend Farm is one of our fabulous P6 Produce producers and they also run a great CSA. Learn more about Riverbend Farm on our P6 Producers page.

Drought at Featherstone Farm


Featherstone Farm, a P6 producer at Eastside, is one of the victims of the intense drought ravaging much of the United States. They are working hard to continueproduction while raising awareness about the precious value of water in our food production!

Learn more here. 

 

Photo of dry corn fields at Featherstone Farm

Revolutionize the Food System with P6!

 

 

From the February 2012 edition of Eastside Food Co-op News.

Cooperatives have long led the way in developing a fairer, more just food economy. For generations, conscious citizens have banded together through consumer co-ops like Eastside to build an economy that supports sustainable, environmentally sound food production, fair prices and safe work conditions for growers, and the ingenuity of independent producers form. Through co-ops, we've made much progress in the last fifty years by bringing to the front of the food dialogue the importance of organics, the value of buying local, and the impact of a fair trade economy.

Yet with these successes has come the awareness of how much we have yet to accomplish. Government policies favor agribusiness and large multinationals who then borrow, steal and water down co-op initiatives, turning "organic," "local," "fair trade," and recently "co-op" into marketing ruses that leave good intentioned consumers feeling deceived and disenfranchised, not knowing what initiatives, labels and brands they should trust.

 ... Read More

New York Times "Has Organic Been Over-sized?"

The New York Times continues the conversation about the core and direction of the organic food movement in its July 7, 2012 article "Has Organic Been Oversized?". Stephanie Strom follows Eden Foods CEO, Michael J. Potter to the National Organic Standards Board meeting in Alburquerque, NM, where he intends to speak against adding carrageenan to the list of ingredients allowed in organic foods. Growing markets, profits, merging companies, and Big Food buyouts all get at least a brief glance in this examination of the Organic food industry. Where have we been? Where are we going? And what does that mean for the future of organic food?