Chatham Marketplace Blog

Sunday brunch at the Co-op has become an occasion to which I look forward as much for the energy in the store as for the strata, shrimp and grits, and steak and eggs. Local bands visit Sundays at noon, always delivering a unique flavor to complement the other ingredients folks enjoy at our gathering place.

This Sunday, I began the morning feeling disappointed–my hopes for Spring’s arrival temporarily dashed by a rainy cold front. The local band Rootzie–a fabulous collection of wonderful musicians with a jazzy, bluesy, folksy goodness–was scheduled to play, and with six band members performing, I had hoped they’d be able to play on the porch.

When the group arrived, though, we found a spot in our small store for the band to assemble their two drum sets, mikes, and sound system–right in front of our bulk grains, just to the right of produce. I was nervous about the plan, but at least it left enough room in the cafe for people to dine and listen to the music.
While one of the drummers occasionally had to stop to pull a bag of nuts from one of the bins for our regular shoppers, the band’s set-up was a great success. At one moment, as I worked at the register, I looked out to notice a local clergyman dancing with Elaina–one of my favorite gals in the preschool crowd. At another moment, kids from NCSU took photos of the band and the store for a school project. The cafe was full of folks enjoying their brunch. No one noticed the cold, rainy air wafting in from the outside, and everyone interested in shopping our bulk section was gracious. I had the distinct feeling that I was experiencing a memory as I watched the band perform their beautiful jazz arrangements in front of a wall of flour, nuts and beans. It was reminiscent of a family reunion–the musically talented among us entertaining the rest as we eat, chatter, and enjoy one another’s company. Kids dance and play, giving the adults a moment of respite. Best of all, everyone contributes something to the meal we share. With all the local products the Marketplace has, along with our fifteen hundred or so owners, that’s quite literally true.

Duck, because here comes a bit of pedantry. In the kitchen, folks scatter and hide when I query “do you know what that word actually means?” Usually the poor dear caught in my headlights become frozen as their eyes glaze and they seem to sigh into their fate. Don’t say you haven’t been warned.

The word here is enthusiasm. Kathleen, our newest charge, came up to me yesterday while I was in the store shopping and said with great enthusiasm “Wow–I am sure to gain a bunch of weight. The sandwiches are so good and there is no skimping on the ingredients.” Randy Voller stopped me and said, “We were all wondering why you stay so thin around all of this great food.” My answer to this is that it’s not so much the food as it is the relative liveliness of the subject who ingests. I contend that a spiritually enlivened soul could eat nails and concrete and convert it into health. Not me, of course. I am not claiming such spiritual attunement. It is after all a matter of degree. Children, for example, should be provided living food. Their physical, psychological and spiritual development depends upon it.

Enthusiasm: from en-theos. Simply put en- is within, theos is god, within god. A phrase that rings out from this for me is: where two or more are gathered. The reason why we can be so alive with enthusiasm here is that we know our farmers and succeed daily in turning their food into something for our owners and others in the community.

So, when we decided to make food for the farmers at this season’s producer relations dinner meeting with them I leaped… for joy.

When we were chosen to provide the 30th anniversary dinner for the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, and I was given the rarest breeds of beef and pork, chicken and turkey, chills ran up and down my spine. When, two days after providing the farmers food for our producer relations dinner (the very farmers who provided us with the chicken and pork and greens we served back to them), I was still basking in a cloud of pride as farmers from both events showed up at the store for brunch to eat the eggs, goat cheese and bacon that they provide and the ALBC works so tirelessly to support.

It’s not that we aren’t serving this suspendered and dungareed set all the time here; it’s just that the pressure of the special events highlighted just how beautiful our foodshed comes to completion and how profound a local economic and sustainable retail alternative we have come to be. We are putting our efforts and our money where our mouth is, and we Love to have been charged to do something we so believe in. We turn food into money and money back into food for those who are fellow custodians of life on earth. I am enthused I am.

Marian writes:

I just returned from visiting my sister and her family in Florida. I had the opportunity to visit with my nephew who spent 7 years in Federal prison during the prime of his life. He was 23 when he was incarcerated and was released in January 2006. My sister and I were going through some papers in an effort to simplify her life and I came across a hand written letter from my nephew written just before his release. He is now a picture of health and leads a quiet, yet successful life—he eats strictly organic foods, works out every day, and is a personal trainer for a local upscale gym. Most of his clients are middle aged, fairly affluent men and women who are overweight and depressed.

Here is his unedited letter written 1/03/06:

Mom,

I still remember like yesterday the first day I arrived in Levy County Jail and looking at the wall in my small cell and thinking to myself, “I wonder how long it’s going to be until I get out of here, and when I do get out of here, I will look back and remember this day.” What a scary time of fear and anxiety…fear and anxiety about change and the unknown, that was what I was afraid of. I knew my life was about to take a drastic turn I had no control of, and that you and Dad had no control of either. I decided I would dig down deep into my soul and being, into everything I am and everything my family taught me to be, and take this battle on with everything I had. Once I made that decision, I never looked back, and that decision turned out to be the best decision I ever made. Somewhere a higher power knew this was exactly what I needed to evolve into the best that I can be and to find myself. When I look back at that 23 year old boy that first came to prison, I have trouble really identifying with him. I really didn’t know anything about myself, or what it was that I wanted out of life. I was just going through the motions in a haze, taking too much for granted, and appreciating very little. I needed this experience to force me to evolve into a better, spiritual, more gracious person. I didn’t get in a car accident and lose a limb, or overdose on drugs, or go to war. I was put in an environment that allows me to learn and understand and think. Prison can be a cemetery or a monastery; a nightmare or blessing, every situation is what you make of it. There are plenty of things you can complain about if you choose to, but that is not who I am or who you and Dad raised me to be. I am the person that seizes every opportunity for the good in it, the promise it contains. And here I am now at the end of this journey into the face of the unknown again, but without fear and anxiety. Instead I embrace and welcome the unknown and I thrive on the challenges that it holds. I look back on that day as I promised myself I would (my first day in prison) and I smile at how strange and unexpected life can be…ready for the next chapter of my life and whatever lessons it holds for me.

Thank you so much for all your love and support, Mom. I love you so much.

Juan Carlos Asse, inmate #11-300-017

Marian’s postscript: While in prison, Carly learned 5 languages, he learned to play guitar, and he taught other inmates how to eat healthy diets (even in prison) and how to work out in a small cell using just your own body weight.

In preparation for her trip to New Zealand, Marian continues to discover meaningful connections with her family there.  She writes:

For those of you who do not read the blog regularly, I am going to New Zealand in January, 2008, to visit my cousins who I haven’t seen in 25 years.  My brother, my sister and I are going to take the trip of a lifetime.  My sister, the youngest of the three of us, has Parkinson’s disease and this will probably be her last opportunity to make a trip of this magnitude.  I believe that my sister’s condition was caused by environmental factors and that her symptoms have become much worse with the medications that have been prescribed.  I am constantly making suggestions to her about her diet and lifestyle.  She does listen and I am hopeful that she will some day get well.

My New Zealand cousin just happens to have an organic avocado farm.  The other three cousins are involved in farming and alternative lifestyles.  Here is a quote from an email I received today from Douglas, the organic farmer.

“Time is getting close to when we see you….Jenny and I have been working our tails off since our last decent holiday in Australia in April 2006……So…Jen and I have booked a cruise on the Tahitian Princess out of Papeete for 10 nights….we leave Dec 20th and get back on the 31st of Dec…I have a French friend who has a small Organic Farm on the Island of Huahine and he has asked me to give a talk on Organics to his University students who he teaches Organics to @ the University of Polynesia….I really look forward to this, so it looks like a small portion of our trip is turning out to be business …..

    And !!…14 days after Jen and I get back YOU GUYS are here !!!”

What are the chances of discovering your long lost cousin will be giving a lecture in Polynesia about organic farming?  It makes me pause and give thought to that common thread that we share with “family.”  I discovered in June of 2006 that I have cousins in Iowa on my father’s side who were members of one of the first cooperative community in Iowa (the Amana colony).  Now I am going to visit cousins on my mother’s side who teach organic farming.

I hope that we can all find that common thread that connects us all in the sustainable, organic lifestyle that must happen in order to save our struggling planet.  Let’s look for that common thread in all of the people that we meet each day.  Maybe we can save this planet and regain our hope for the generations to come.

–Marian Wall

It was a blow-out success–our first pig pickin’, held in appreciation of our founders on Sunday, October 7.

In preparation for the event, we secured the local hams and shoulders from Eliza from Cane Creek Farm on Friday. I rubbed the fatty flesh with my secret meat rub on Saturday and slow-cooked it over night. First thing Sunday morning, I fired up the smoker with hickory, got the temp to around 200 degrees and finished the local pastured pork in about six more smoke-filled hours. We had no idea what to expect. I arranged for enough food for 300. Alan and Kelly slow-baked the eighty pounds of beans. Gretchen prepared a small vat of lemon ginger dressing for a vegan slaw, and I created a mayo slaw dressing in similar proportion. Terry cut the cabbage and seventy-five pounds of potatoes, and Dave mixed the dijon potato salad. Emma enlisted two local bands to play for the evening. The grocery crew stocked the shelves and a few coolers with cold drinks, and Mary, Cameron and Andrew set up the Chatham Mills lawn with tables. Lauren and Miki were on hand to assist inside the store, and David had the produce in pristine condition.

We were poised.

Then you all started to arrive. . . in waves.

As the service began excitedly, folks dug in. Comrade David from biofuels got his place early.

And the band began to play.

Our founder Melissa Frey, woman of the hour, came well-equipped and finished off the first plate in short order.

Soon, I was dishing as fast as the throng heaved at our position. The delicious haze coming from the grill on this ninety degree October day had me feeling at times like the Charlie Sheen character in Platoon. The war analogy came up more and more as the people came at us in great pulsing pushes.

Yet the beauty of this day of communal warmth was truly something that you could almost touch.

Meanwhile, inside the store, there was plenty of extra business keeping our always joyful crew hustling–especially after we ran out of food with twenty minutes left. The 300 served turned into fifty more at the sandwich counter. Rachel and Sarah served with their usual grace.

The families–like Jeff and Molly, Ozzie and Mathilda–hanging out on the Chatham Mills lawn gave us a sense of purpose and a mission as we forged on, selling every ounce of our food.

Tired and happy, we completed our mission with a great appreciation for the community we serve. Mary and her friend, the super volunteer Andrew from New York, reflect the feelings of a tired crew.

Marian has returned to us from a weekend retreat brimming with renewed energy and fresh ideas. Below is a reflection from her on the conference, and a wonderful recipe.

Southeast Women’s Herbal Conference

September 28-30, 2007

I went to a three-day conference this week end at Camp Pinnacle just outside Hendersonville, NC. The conference was “sold out” in this, its third year. The keynote speaker was well known, long time herbalist, Rosemary Gladstar. Over the three days that we were there (there were at least seven Chatham Marketplace owners in attendance) we hiked through the beautiful mountainous grounds of the camp, picked edible mushrooms, identified wild edible herbs, and learned to make herbal meade, We were also introduced to a method of cooking taken from a book called Nourishing Traditions (which we have in our store!). This diet was developed by Weston Price in the 1930’s when he traveled the world to observe population groups untouched by civilization, living entirely on local food. Dr. Price found these “primitive tribes” to be in superb health. Their diets contained no refined or denatured foods such as sugar; white flour; canned foods; pasteurized, or low fat milk; or hydrogenated oils. These people were free of chronic disease, dental decay, and mental illness. They were strong, sturdy, and attractive; they produced healthy children with ease, generation and generation. So, it was an amazing experience to have this food prepared for us for three days. I left the conference feeling healthy and vital.

Following is a recipe for my favorite breakfast:

Breakfast Porridge

(Serves 4)

1 cup oats, rolled or cracked

1 cup warm filtered water plus 2 tablespoons whey,

Yogurt, kefir, or buttermilk

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 cup filtered water

1 Tablespoon flax seeds (optional)

Mix oats with warm mater, cover and leave in a warm place for 7-24 hours. Bring an additional 1 cup water to a boil with sea salt. Add soaked oats, reduct hear, cover and

Simmer for several minutes. Meanwhile grind flax seed in a mini grinder (coffee grinders work, too). Remove from hear, stir in flax seeds and let stand. Serve with plenty of butter or cream, and natural sweetener like maple syrup.

Yogurt Whey

Line a large strainer set over a bowl and a clean dishcloth. Pour in 1 or 2 qts of yogurt, cover, and let stand at room temperature for several hours. The whey will run into the bowl and the mild solids will stay in the strainer. Tie up the towel with the milk solids inside, being careful not to squeeze. Tie this little sack to a wooden spoon placed across the top of a container so that more whey can drip out. When the bag stops dripping, the cheese is ready. Store the whey in a jar in the refrigerator. The cheese will keep up to one month.

–Marian

I’m new as a manager here at the Marketplace, and I’ve gotten opportunities of late to tell the story of my new job and of the Marketplace to lots of people in my life–many of whom live elsewhere and don’t know much about our co-op. After helping expand our cafe and move our bulk bins (and by help, I mostly mean sweep), I have the perfect snapshot of my new work home to show people when they ask what I’m doing here.
Now I get to tell folks that last week, we tore down a wall. Two, actually. And in their places, we moved chairs and tables and grains and fruits. We did the work together–with staff members, owners, board members–and we created space for our community to spend time together. Now, with light pouring into the store and with a beautiful display of bulk goods, I realize I have experienced who we are as a local cooperative store in a more profound way. The place has a renewed energy about it, which is partly the fresh space and partly the birth of ideas coming out of the change.

I love that I have this story to relate to people who ask what I’m doing at the Marketplace, because it helps me illustrate that unlike so many places of business, where the air is stale from the inertia of dead systems, we are dynamic. That’s because the people who form this group–owners and staff members alike–are always coming together here. Every day I watch people enter the store, full of passion, ideas, and hunger, and they leave fulfilled in some way. Watching that fills me, and I get it.

–Cameron (your Owner Services/Marketing Director)

Our dear lady Marian wishes to contribute again to our forum. As I see this blog as a cultural aspect of our store’s life, it seems quite appropriate. Our culture is one which revolves around food, green home products and sustainable forms of health and beauty aids. Of course, all of this revolving is an involution that we call our Marketplace–that is, CM is people in relationship sustainably. Ginger recently mentioned that we should call our community center Chatter Market. Every time I come in on my days off I end up in at least two or three conversations with folks I know and am growing to love. There is such a dynamism and purpose to our culture and such blurred lines between owners and employees.

You all have been so patient and involved with this forum I feel a bit remiss. Thank you to so many of you who expressed faith that we would get going full bore here in cyberland. Soon this blog will be as dynamic as the store as I finish up with our house. Also we have hired Cameron a full time marketing director! So look for about three posts, at least, a week beginning in the coming days as Cameron and I bring forth a collabrative effort.

In the mean time no one represents the richness of our day to day life better than Marian:

Wherever you go, there you are.
 
I stole that title from one of my favorite books.  It has to do with mindfulness and living in the moment.  How many of us are really happy in whatever moment we are?  This past April, my younger sister was diagnosed with advanced Parkinson’s disease.  She is a vibrant, creative artist and designer.  Her diagnosis was a tremendous wake up call for me.  When we don’t know what the future will bring, it becomes more and more important to live our dreams.

So, on that note, my brother, my sister, and I have decided to take the trip of a life time to see our cousins who live in New Zealand. We haven’t seen 3 of these cousins in 40 years (we saw the youngest about 15 years ago). The trip is long and costly, but my sister will probably not be able to travel much after next year.

As is turns out, my cousin, Douglas, has an organic, sustainable avocado farm in The Bay of Plenty in New Zealand. What a name, “The Bay of Plenty.” I am sending my cousins unedited email about how he ended up in New Zealand. From time to time, I would like to keep you all informed about the upcoming trip. That is how I plan to live in the moment—the journey (including the months before the journey) are as exciting as reaching our destination.
“ HOW DID WE END UP IN NZ ??….We moved to Hawaii when I was 15 in 1960….over the years Dad built the “Aux Sable” trimaran and sailed to NZ in 1971 and would you believe he sited NZ off North Cape @ dawn on his 50th birthday….(Sept 5th, 1971)…Dad, Mum, Karen (my X) and I came to NZ in 1969 for two weeks and ended up helping Dad and Mum to find their house in Omokoroa (just up the street from where Jenny and I live now !!) and they bought it before we flew home…this way Dad and Mum had a house lookng down on where Dad was to anchor the “Aux Sable” right in front of thier new NZ house…..”Aux Sable” ??….the Aux Sable is the river that runs thru the Illinois farm and it is French I think that means “of the sands”…

After I worked for United airlines for 9 years, and 7 visits to NZ on airline passes to visit Mum and Dad, I finally found this 12 acres on Thompsons Track in March 1975 and by Sept 1975 we were here !!!…I had this dream about how I could plant Avocados and maybe make a living out of it ???….and here we are today….32 years later next month I am living the dream !!”
Marian D. Wall
September 23, 2007

I feel the need to address an issue that has come up on the famous Chatham Chatlist. If you are unfamiliar with our area, the Chatlist has gained some acclaim for facilitating political and cultural discourse.

The issue at hand is the kind of food that we sell via the hot and cold food bar.  Is it sustainable or are we merely trading on an image of sustainability? Having worked for one of the two institutions the writer mentions, he has a point.  There are stores out there trading on an image that has no substantive truth.  They are selling the feel good.  My question is how do you feel after eating the food? That to me is the testament to what’s in it.

I was in the Midwest recently visiting family and as it turns out catering my nephew’s graduation open house.  I ate the food that comes from Kroger and other giant food warehouses.  It was as if I were slipped a drug that besides turning my thought processes to mush had me as bloated as Elvis Presley in the summer of ‘76.  No wonder there are so many Elvis sitings in those parts.  

I am convinced that there is a food conspiracy, by an elite group of social engineers, to make people fat and stupid and, thereby, compliant.  I don’t mean obese in the clinical sense, though stupidity can be taken however you like and conformism is the social ill of our time.  I mean bloated and pasty from eating something that looks similar to food but is undigestible.  I hear the quite valid complaint that folks in the inner cities can’t get decent fresh foods and end up picking up twinkies at the local mini-mart or a super sized whatever at the local fast -”food” funnel.  I am here to tell you Middle America is eating the same dead matter from football field sized convenience stores.  The ingredients on the shelves are not the same as when I was growing up any more than genetically engineered plant matter has the same vitality as food grown with respect for the ecosystem.  

So how do you folks near to us feel after a year and half of eating our food? You feel good don’t you? Why? Well first and foremost local food from farms we have visited are our highest buying priority.  Local food has more vitality. Food miles and nutritive value are a foregone conclusion.  One example comes from the very writer of the Chatlist post.  He and his wife are farmers. We have been buying their chard and beet greens and now black berries and will be buying his beets next.  All of our meat is hormone and antibiotic free and except for the chickens, local.  Barbecue brisket?  Local.  Beef Burgundy? Local.  Country style Ribs?  Local.  Sausage tart?  Local.  Right now we have an avalanche of local vegetables too numerous to mention.  Because David in produce buys so much local produce, we are able to piggyback with his orders.  This increases the volume of purchases making the costs of buying local more affordable.

To sum it up, we buy food with the mission of sustainability.  For a region to sustain the raising of food ”organically,” the economics have to be sustainable as well.  We strive for perfection in a food world imperfectly formed.  I believe that if we keep increasing in intention, intensity and quantity, more sustainably grown food will be more available and will become more the norm.

I guarantee we are more than doing our part.  And doing our part more and more. 

What a year! One year’s time and we are making ends meet. Astonishing
for a bunch of Amateurs. The experts would suggest that it takes two
years to reach this point. I had a nice long conversation in aisle one
with Leif about where Biofuels, our betrothed, is. Sounds like they are
right behind us. Which is fitting since, at an alchemical wedding last
year, commonly nascent,  they began making fuel and we providing a
cultural center to the portal. As Lyle might say “Food and Fuel by and
for the local economy: Got it. Next.” Yet I think a little reflection
could be good before we proceed to replace homeland security with
hometown security. Before we move on to our own flag, national anthem,military and religion, I’d like to trace where it is we have come since opening.
 
 I have had several conversations and some much needed time to reflect
over the last several weeks about the last year. It has been one of the
most exhausting and rewarding experiences of my life. It raced by.
During that time I have built a house around a log structure and have
the finished product about licked. Meanwhile your Kitchen has proudly
received your support and massive encouragement. We have built a
remarkable reputation for food considering that we serve much of it off
a hot and salad bar. I can’t begin to express how our customers’
gratitude has buoyed… no emboldened us to perform at levels none of
us would have thought imaginable. I began this project feeling I was a
decent cook. I was sure that I had some basic technique down and felt
confident that I could help us provide some solid food. At home I had
no such confidence in my ability to build a house. I had never as much
as run a circular saw let alone do framing, hang windows and doors, do
siding, drywall and on and on.  It was a year of survival turned into
thrival at home and at the office. Sometimes not knowing what to expect
can be a boon. I’m not sure that I would have undertaken such a thing
if I would have known what it would take. But then again most of life’s
trials and tribulations are such aren’t they?
 
What I love about this coop and what makes every ounce of energy
expended worth it, is this community. Our owners and customers so
strongly support the economic, social and I would say deeply spiritual
mission of their store that communications have run astonishingly
limpid. This has allowed us to operate with little distance from the
needs of our customers. In a business that exalts service over
everything else, this has made our jobs smooth. It has reinforced a
trust in each other as co-workers. The good is cultivated, the negative
allowed to sluff off without the attention it takes to grow such
disease. I have never seen anything like it. My career has been a
progressively clearer dreaming of such a business form. Here we are
accomplishing in a year the incarnation of an entity that is pretty
strong economically, solid socially and profoundly rewarding for all of
us spiritually. It is the subtle power of the spiritual,  operating
under the radar, that has nurtured the success of the two other bottom
lines. This is the legacy. Some organizations are born with a silver
spoon in their mouths and suffer this syndrome throughout their life.
Others have only financial goals in mind and are social vacuums. Others
are driven by socio-political ideology first and foremost and so
struggle to maintain. They look like the inside of college dorms where scarcity,  hyper ideology and misplaced notions of socialism predominate.
 
Our fortunate mission and legacy is sustainability – an inceptual mission that stretches out beyond liberalism and conservatism, environmentalism and capitalism, materialism and creationism. True sustainability is a marriage of spirit and matter. They evolve out of each other as a soul strung between. Our store has got soul and we serve soul food.