Choice leftovers for chooks, rabbits and hamsters
While the co-op composts almost all its food waste onsite in our wormfarms, we do have plenty of leafy green offcuts that in the past have found their way onto the dinner plates of members' chooks and rabbits. It's a win-win: the co-op finds a good home for the leftovers and the critters get to nibble away on discarded organics. If you'd like to feed your animals some choice offcuts, just drop by and ask one of the staff. Oh, BYO bucket or bag. (November 2006)

NEW FROM THE NSW NORTH COAST
A naturally sweeter coffee
Treageagle coffee is grown in the rich, red volcanic soils in the hinterland behind Ballina and Byron Bay on the NSW north coast. The soil and the subtropical climate produce a naturally sweeter bean that's lower in caffeine but still rich in flavour. It's pesticide-free and harvested, processed and roasted on the family-run plantation. Treageagle coffee is also highly regarded by international judging panels and casual coffee drinkers alike. It's also different from other locally-available organic coffees, in that it's Australian. Check out their website treageaglecoffee (December 2006)

AH wins local government environment award
On November 30, Alfalfa House took out the Waste category in Marrickville Council's 2006 Environment Awards for our long-standing efforts to reduce packaging and minimise waste going to landfill. (December 2006)

Critters in the Soygurts
We've learned that the Wildberry and Strawberry soygurts contain the colouring agent cochineal (120), which is made from the cochineal insect, a scale insect. The manufacturer informs us that when they didn't add the colouring, the soygurts were brown in colour, which apparently wasn't very attractive. They said if there was enough demand to remove it, they would considering doing so. You can email them with your comments if you like by clicking here. in line with Alfalfa House's objects, we've discontinued these two varieties. The others – natural, vanilla, peach+mango and banana+passionfruit – are unaffected. (November 2006)

Dips dip out
We've reluctantly decided to discontinue the Delicious Dips hummus, babaghanouj, tsatsiki and pesto. The hummus and babaghanouj often went mouldy well before the use-by date. Efforts to remedy the problem so far haven't worked. (December 2006)

Side wall mural gets the nod
Our graffiti-strewn side wall is about to get a most welcome facelift. The building's owner has approved a mural for the wall along Philip Street; Marrickville Council will help fund the project; and we're running a competition to find a design. “We want to capture what the co-op is all about: wholesome organic food, care for ourselves and the planet and the inclusive nature of the place,” says Co-op Manager Sarah Cook. “We also want to include space for a blackboard in the design.” So, if you have some ideas or a sketch, we'd love to see them. Click here to email them. (November 2006)

Oakland bans the plastic bag
On July 17, Oakland's city council in California banned
petroleum-based plastic bags distributed at retail stores doing a million dollars of business or more annually. As well, paper bag standards were enacted: they must be made of 40% post-consumer waste, have no old growth content, and be 100% recyclable. Retailers must also offer compostable plastic bags. The City Council's Public Works Committee, in forging the ban, said, "Globally, 500 billion to one trillion single-use disposable plastic bags are used each year . . . Almost 10 percent of U.S. oil consumption is used to make plastic, including single-use plastic bags, so discouraging their use advances the mission of the Oil Independent Oakland by 2020 taskforce."
Culture Change July 19, 2007

The new gold
When Camille Malfroy came to these shores in search of gold back in the 1850s, he probably didn't think his descendants 150 years later would still be wandering all over NSW in search of gold, albeit a different kind of gold – honey that is. But that's exactly what the modern-day Malfroys are up to. The Malfroys are migratory beekeepers, moving their hives in search of the best honey flow for their bees. They only sell what their bees produce and what they produce is simply extracted, settled and then poured into a drum. The honey is not overheated. You can check out the honey in the co-op right now. There's two from which to choose: Red Stringybark and Yellowbox. (July 2007)

Facelift for the bins and jars
All the bins, jars and dispensers in the shop have been relabelled to include the product's status (organic, biodynamic or standard) and country of origin. (April 2007)

New advice service: Ask Rebecca
Want to know what a particular product might be good for? Well, co-op member and naturopath, Rebecca Goldhurst has kindly offerred to answer member enquiries of a general nature about the foods we stock. Members can contact her by email, by clicking here. If you want to know whether a product is in stock, you'll either need to check the WHAT WE SELL list on Products.
(September 2007)

Passing on the true cost of EFTPOS
Businesses that provide an EFTPOS facility are charged a fee for each transaction. While the co-op has always charged a fee on credit card transactions, we haven't applied it to shoppers using debit cards or EFTPOS transactions. However, transaction fees cost the co-op around $500 a month and we need to recoup that cost. So rather than include this cost in our product markups, as other businesses do, the co-op applies a surcharge on both credit card and debit card (e.g., VisaDebit) transactions and on EFTPOS (savings or cheque) transactions. Applying the charge is fairer than extending the cost to cash shoppers. The change was introduced on July 2, 2007.

Famous graffiti graces our wall
Who knows why renowned British graffiti artist Banksy chose our side wall to stencil a metre-high painting of a man wearing an old-fashioned divinghelmet. It's believed Banksy visited Sydney about five years ago and left a few wallpieces. Tugi Balog, who founded the curated street art gallery in Mays Lane, St Peters, believes "about three or four" examples of Banksy's work still exist in Sydney. The one on our wall is a reverse of one that appeared in a Melbourne laneway at roughly the same time, suggesting thefamously elusive British artist – not even his agent has met him – flipped his paper stencil after soaking one side with paint.

The sale of a Banksy design on a wall in Notting Hill in London for £208,000 ($455,000) mid-January suggests our side wall may be more valuable than the building itself. Unfortunately, we don't own the building. However, if we ever get around to painting a mural on that grey stretch of wall, we'll have to find a way to incorporate Banksy.

Graffiti artists keep the whereabouts of Banksy's other artworks secret because there are fears the rocketing price of his work could see the works removed, walls and all. "He [Banksy] painted with a few people I know and he's kept in touch with them," Balog says. "But within that culture they keep it quiet – they don't want too many to know about it."

P.S. We nearly lost the diver when Marrickville Council's graffiti removers blasted the wall recently. Resilient as he is elusive, Banksy survived, albeit somewhat muted.

Edited from a piece by Richard Jinman Arts Editor
Sydney Morning Herald January 17, 2008

Organic food sales leap despite drought
A new report from Australia's key organic certification body, the Biological Farmers of Australia (BFA), has found that organic produce growers have seen an 80 percent growth in farm-gate sales over the last four years, despite the widespread drought. The organic market is now worth around $230 million a year and there are 2750 certified growers in Australia. Australia now boasts the largest area of organic farmland in the world. The BFA's Andrew Monk says while sales of grains and beef have been slightly affected by factors such as drought, sales of fruit and vegetables are growing.
ABC News July 22, 2008

Huge price reductions We've changed supplier for a number of functional foods (popularly referred to as "superfoods"). And prices have dropped dramatically. Our new supplier, Loving Earth, is a Melbourne-based company that buys organic and wildcrafted functional foodsdirectly from grower associations. The company says it's committed to making these foods available "in a way that honours both the indigenous people that have cultivated them for thousands of years and the earth and ecosystems in which they are grown." We're planning on introducing more new products from Loving Earth. In the meantime, here are six products that are now a lot cheaper, especially cacao butter. All prices are before member discounts. October 2008

PRODUCT LINE WAS (kg) NOW (kg) Cacao butter $105.00 $56.88 Goji berries $44.33 $36.75 Maca powder $75.30 $42.00 Mesquite powder $68.25 $42.00 Cacao beans $94.50 $42.00 Cacao powder $62.80 $33.30

AH voted best fruit and veg shop in theinner west
Alfalfa House has been voted Best Fruit and Vegetable Store in 2007's Inner West Local Business Awards. A big thanks to all those who voted for us.

Peanut butter crisis
The co-op has run out of Australian organic roasted peanuts to feed the peanut butter making machine. We can't get any more until March 2009. We can get standard (i.e., conventionally-grown) roasted peanuts, but want to be guided by our members whether to or not. So, next time you're in the co-op why not pop your suggestion into the wooden Suggestions Box near the breads or email the Groceries Coordinator by clicking here. There's another option: ditch the peanuts in favour of freshly-ground roasted organic cashew butter, which we currently have in the machine or you could try our freshly-ground almond butter instead. Let us know what you think.

Free co-op calendar 2009
Don't forget to pick up your free Alfalfa House calendar or download it here and print your own. Each calendar features a number of coupons, which members can redeem for free samples and gifts.

Bundanoon Australia's first bottled water-free town
The town of Bundanoon, in the NSW Southern Highlands, 150 km south west of Sydney, has banned bottled water. A packed town meeting in early July voted overwhelmingly to require businesses to neither sell nor give away bottled water within the town precinct.
To compensate, Bundanoon is expanding drinking water facilities in the town – businesses will make available for sale reusable drink bottles and chilled filtered tap water, whilst free filtered water stations or 'bubblers' will also be provided for the public and primary school children. Read more

(Not quite) Nigella visits and likes what she sees, especially our vanilla beans
Read all about it

Guerrilla gardener movement takes root in L.A.
This garden brims with lime-hued succulents and a lush collection of agaves, one shooting spiky leaves three metres into the air, and it's a smack in the middle of Long Beach's asphalt jungle. But the gardener who designed this head-turning garden doesn't want you to know his last name, since his handiwork isn't exactly legit. It's on a traffic island he commandeered. "The city wasn't doing anything with it, and I had a bunch of extra plants," says Scott. Scott is a guerrilla gardener, a member of a burgeoning movement of enthusiasts who plant without approval on land that's not theirs. To read the whole story click here.

Our decrepit food factories point to looming breakdown
For years now, critics have been speaking of modern industrial agriculture as “unsustainable”, though what form the “breakdown” might take or when it might happen has never been certain. Would the aquifers run dry? The pesticides stop working? The soil lose its fertility? All these breakdowns have been predicted and they may yet come to pass. But if a system is unsustainable — if its workings offend the rules of nature — the cracks and signs of breakdown may show up in the most unexpected times and places. Two recent stories in the news, stories that on their faces would seem to have nothing to do with each other let alone with agriculture, may point to an imminent breakdown in the way we're growing food today. To read the full story, click here.

Gravity bin makeover done
After a year of fundraising, carpentry, measuring and remeasuring and adjustments and moving stock every whichway, the instal is complete; all the gravity feed bins are now in. A big thank you to all who donated, big and small, and to those who installed the bins; it proves the old adage that many hands do indeed make light work.

Unfortunately stock has moved a bit as a result, so you might want to reacquaint yourself with the shop layout. Here's a map to help. Ask a Shop Coordinator (person on the cash register) if necessary.

The makeover has been funded by cash and in-kind donations from both members and some of our suppliers, including AlterEco Pacific (in-kind chocolates), Australian Pumpkin Seed Co, Honest to Goodness ($400), Olive Green Organics (in-kind for two bins), Organic Trader (in-kind chocolates), Sonoma Baking Company (in-kind maple syrup-flavoured toasted muesli as well as cash), Loving Earth (in-kind chocolate and cocnut sugar), Demeter Farm Mill ($100) and Spiral Foods.
(December 2009)