Wheatsville Co-op Austin, TX

[Dan Gillotte <gm AT wheatsville.coop>]

Hi Folks!

I hope you all are swell and enjoying the cooler weather! We can all hope for more rain, though!

We've got some deals in grocery this month of note:
Odwalla bars are 99 cents each, or $11.49 for a box of 12.  We're going to raffle off a bicycle from the folks at Odwalla  to one of our shoppers at the end of the month.  Entry forms and the entry box (and the bicycle!) are located at the front endcap.

Local companies make it big on the Co-op Advantage Program this month.  Sweet leaf teas are 99 cents and  Dr. Kracker flatbreads are also on sale through CAP (Klassic 3-Seed $2.69, Pumpkin Cheese $3.29, Seeded Spelt $2.99, and Spelt Sunflower Cheese $3.49). Our friends at the other co-ops in the country are going to be carrying these items this month on special, too!

Produce
Cut Fruit
Organic red black and green grapes
Organic Strawberries and Raspberries and Blackberries
Organic Fresh Black Mission Figs
Organic Fennel
Organic Napa Cabbage

Cheese
Pure Luck Dairy has a great story about them in today’s Statesman about their prize winning cheese! 
Here is a little sample of their story (but read the whole thing!)

All of Pure Luck's cheeses are made with the farm's own goat milk — from the popular chèvre to feta, even a blue. And Pure Luck is a very small goat dairy that makes only about 65 pounds of cheese a day from its 72 milking Alpine and Nubian goats. Still, at the end of the awards ceremony, Sweethardt was holding four ribbons:

• First place in blue-mold cheeses for Pure Luck's Hopelessly Bleu.

• Second place for feta made from goat's milk.

• Third place in American-made cheeses/international style for Sainte Maure.

• Third-place tie in soft-ripened goat cheeses for the Del Cielo.
We carry a lot of Pure Luck farmstead cheeses including the Del Cielo, Sainte Maure and Blue Cheeses that one prizes as well as their delcious spreads: basil pesto, chipotle, chevre, parsley and garlic.

Prepared foods ready for eatin’ from the Deli!
Our friends at the St. Peter Food Co-op in St. Peter, Minnesota developed two recipes that we are using for our Co-op Share this month!
We are featuring Green Bean Pomodoro, a light and tasty Italian green bean dish and Israeli salad, a vegetable salad with the flavors of mint, olive oil and lemon juice. 

Salsa of the Month- from our salsa laboratorio comes Salsa de Otono, a mild salsa with ancho peppers, tomatoes, roasted red peppers and a splash of apple and lime juice!

A bottle of Wine? 
Our pals at Block Wine Distributing helped us reset our wine department last week to make it easier to shop. Look for a new organic section and we are now organizing wines from lightest to darkest. So, chardonnay is on the left and we go  all the way to merlots and chianti on the right. Hopefully, this will make your wine selection a whole lot  simpler! I also recently learned 

Frozen fresh…
We have been carrying fresh product from the nice folks at Ecofish for a while now and I am pleased to announce their new chef created specialties in our freezer. 
Look for:
Wild Alaskan Salmon with asian ginger marinade
South Mmerican Mahi Mahi with caribbean marinade
Wild Alaskan Halibut with chermoula marinade
All of their fish is sustainably harvested. You can learn more at
http://www.ecofish.com

It’s really great that more and more companies are jumping on the fair trade bandwagon, but I think it is worth noting that our long time co-op compadres Equal Exchange are the true pioneers in this field and deserve our support! This month we have their Organic Fair Trade French Roast on sale for a terrific $7.99 lb… try and find a better deal in town for organic fair trade coffee! I dare ya!

Here is a little bit more about Equal Exchange from their web-site: Equal Exchange, founded in 1986, is the oldest and largest for-profit Fair Trade company in the US. We offer organic, gourmet coffee, tea, sugar, cocoa, and chocolate bars produced by democratically run farmer co-ops in Latin America, Africa and Asia. 

Equal Exchange's mission is to build long-term trade partnerships that are economically just and environmentally sound, to foster mutually beneficial relationships between farmers and consumers and to demonstrate, through our success, the contribution of worker co-operatives and Fair Trade to a more equitable, democratic and sustainable world.

Go Equal Exchange!!!


Spotlight on Bluebonnet Nutrition:
For many years, the Vitamins Department has been proud to offer  high quality supplements from Bluebonnet Nutrition. Based in Sugarland Texas, Bluebonnet is in its 15th year of providing high quality, low cost supplements to the natural foods market. Bluebonnet products are easily recognizable by the amber recycled glass bottles and bright purple lids. If you aren't already familiar with them, take a look at these outstanding formulas:

Liquid Calcium/Magnesium Citrate plus Vitamin D (Orange, Strawberry or Blueberry). The good taste and high absorption rate of this calcium formula have made it a very popular calcium supplement at Wheatsville.

B-Complex 100 Vcaps
Complete spectrum of high potency B vitamins. Available in easy-to-swallow vegetable capsules for maximum assimilation and absorption.

GLUCOSAMINE CHONDROITIN PLUS MSM Vcaps
Specially formulated with a combination of pure glucosamine sulfate, chondroitin sulfate, OptiMSM™ and pure vitamin C from ascorbic acid in  easy-to-swallow vegetable capsules.

MILK-FREE ACIDOPHILUS PLUS FOS Vcaps 
Milk-free lactobacillus acidophilus, lactobacillus bulgaricus, bifidobacterium (bifidum & longum) in a special base of FOS (fructooligosaccharides). Available in easy-to-swallow vegetable capsules. (Located in the Dairy aisle)

That’s all for now! Hope you have a great week!

Dan
Wheatsville GM and e-mail guy!