Your co-op community, March 2012

This article was originally published in March 2012

Meet our coffee vendors

coffee cup

All events 9 a.m. to Noon

  • Saturday, March 3, Issaquah PCC
  • Saturday, March 10, Edmonds PCC
  • Sunday, March 11, West Seattle PCC
  • Sunday, March 18, Redmond PCC

All coffee at PCC is organic, fairly traded, shade-grown and Northwest-roasted. Come meet our vendors, ask questions, and sample a variety of single-origin coffees and blends in the classroom.

Enjoy a small cup of drip coffee for just 50¢ all month at PCC coffee bars.


Kindiependent kids rock series

Kindiependent

Join us for this fun series running through April. PCC will be there to help kids make cool, take-home treats. Kindiependent is “Seattle’s independent kids and family music scene” and features some of the best, local children’s entertainment groups. Learn more about this organization and see all concert dates at kindiependent.com.

Mount Baker Community Club
2811 Mount Rainier Dr., Seattle

  • Board of education
    Saturday, March 10, 10 a.m.
    proceeds support 826 Seattle (826seattle.org).
  • Recess Monkey
    Saturday, March 24, 10 a.m.
    proceeds support Seattle Humane Society (seattlehumane.org).

Food and farming class

Enroll now in “Life on the Land: Food, Farms, and Stories of Place,” a 10-credit evening course at North Seattle Community College beginning April 3. Credits in English and Environmental Science. Includes a field trip to a farm in Carnation. For more information, email mboyer@sccd.ctc.edu.


Vegfest 2012

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Saturday, March 24 and Sunday, March 25
10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Seattle Center Exhibition Hall
305 Harrison St., Seattle

Once again, PCC will sponsor the cooking demo stage at Vegfest. Eight of our wonderful PCC Cooks instructors will share vegetarian recipes. Visit pccnaturalmarkets.com/events for a schedule of instructor demos and the dishes they’ll demonstrate. Sample more than 500 other foods and enjoy an array of speakers. Tickets are $8 at the door, and children 12 and under are free. For more information, visit vegfest2012.org.


Kosher Passover sale

Sunday, April 1, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Seward Park PCC

In cooperation with the Va’ad HaRabanim of Greater Seattle, PCC is offering a special sale of certified Kosher bulk foods for Passover at our Seward Park store. Baking and cooking essentials — including nuts and nut butter, honey, maple syrup, cooking oils, spices, tea, coffee and grains — will be available in our bulk department.

Additionally, View Ridge PCC along with Seward Park PCC will offer prepackaged bulk items — packaged under the supervision of Va’ad HaRabanim of Greater Seattle — beginning March 28 and continuing through Passover.


PCC egg scramble

Saturday, March 31, 9 a.m. sharp
Edmonds PCC and Issaquah PCC

Bring your own basket and camera to hunt for prize-filled eggs and snap a photo with the Easter Bunny. After the egg hunt, receive a treat from PCC and enter to win a surprise! Free for children 8 and under.


PCC easter fun

Saturday, March 31, 8 a.m. to Noon
Redmond PCC and West Seattle PCC

Spend the morning getting crafty with your kids. Guess the number of jelly beans and take a photo with the Easter Bunny. Receive a treat from PCC and enter to win a surprise! Free for children 8 and under.


New partner food bank

PCC is pleased to welcome Rainier Valley Food Bank (RVFB) as the 10th food bank in our PCC Food Bank Program. RVFB serves nearly 11,000 people each month, providing food assistance to low-income residents in southeast Seattle, with a focus on seniors, families, individuals with disabilities and the homeless. PCC brings nutritious foods to neighbors in need through bulk food donations. Packaging parties will be on the third Tuesday every other month: March 20, May 15, July 17, September 18, and November 20. To learn more or donate, visit pccnaturalmarkets. com/foodbank.


In loving memory

Jody Aliesan

Jody Aliesan, poet and co-founder of PCC Farmland Trust, passed away on January 14, 2012, of ovarian cancer. She died in Vancouver, Canada, where she received citizenship last July.

Jody lived a life dedicated to telling the truth and speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves. “My community, my culture, is our common humanity. I aspire to speak for that.”

Author of 11 books, “True North/Nord Vrai” was her last, published in 2007. Her writing is featured in international periodicals and anthologies, and she earned many awards. Her collected papers are at the University of Washington library.

Born on the Midwestern prairie in 1943, Jody earned a B.A. from Occidental College and her M.A. from Brandeis University. She was teaching in Alabama the year Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered and afterward worked as media representative with the Vietnam Moratorium Committee in Washington, D.C. and Chicago.

She moved to Seattle in 1970, where she worked for many years for our PCC co-op and co-founded PCC Farmland Trust. Deeply involved in the second wave of feminism, she worked against war and for social and environmental justice all her life.

Her many dear friends will keep in their hearts memories of her wonderful spirit and powerful voice. Sign Jody’s online guest book at Legacy.com. Remembrances may be made to Greenpeace or PCC Farmland Trust.


PCC Cooks

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March brings a breath of spring, with longings for lighter menus and more variety in our diets. Freshen your meals by learning an array of vegetarian recipes in these hands-on classes: “The Accidental Vegan,” “Great Grains,” and “Vegan Patisserie.”

Spring is a good time to bake your own bread, with tips from expert instructor Ronit Gourarie in her popular “Yeasted Whole-grain Breads.” You’ll learn about basic whole-wheat bread, with variations for Apricot Sesame Bread, Raisin Bread, and Applesauce Walnut Bread.

Kids ages 12 to 14 will have fun in classes, too, making Salsa-baked Cheese, Tamale Pie, Jicama Salad, and Tropical Fruit Salad in “Mexican Fiesta.”

Details on all classes are in the winter catalog, available in PCC stores or at PccCooks. com. Register online or call 206-545-7112.

Watch for our spring/summer catalog of classes coming at the end of the month, with registration starting on March 28. To receive alerts on upcoming catalog releases by enewsletter, sign up at PccCooks.com.


“Hungry Planet” exhibit

Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture
University of Washington
Now through June 10
17th Ave. N.E. and N.E. 45th St., Seattle

PCC is partnering with the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture to present “Hungry Planet: What the World Eats,” with cooking demos, nutrition talks and PCC Healthy Kids events with PCC staff. See the article on page 8 and learn more at pccmarkets.com/events.

Also in this issue

Soil & Sea: reports from our producers

Learn what's happening with California Navel oranges, a virus infecting cherry trees, shrimping in Lousiana, and more.

PCC Board of Trustees report, March 2012

Notice of annual membership meeting, 2012 PCC election — April 24 through May 17, Board meeting report, and more

Biosolids hit the fan

PCC advocates buying organic and not just because of pesticides, antibiotics and hormones. Unlike conventional farmers, organic farmers can't use sewage sludge as fertilizer. It was one of the most hotly contested battles in developing national organic standards. Here's why.