RSVP for the first farm tour of the season, June sales, member coupons & more!
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GBCFC Farm Tour season is upon us and we are kicking off the season with a visit to three of our most beloved producers:  Lattin Farms, Mewaldt Organics & Pioneer Farms...all in Fallon, NV.  Be sure to RSVP to reserve your seat, details below.
 
8:00 AM    Depart GBCFC    
9:00 AM    Lattin Farm    
11:30 AM  Mewaldt Organics
2:00 PM    Pioneer Farms

RSVP:  andrew@greatbasinfood.coop
The election of members of the Board Of Directors of the Great Basin Community Food Cooperative (GBCFC) is upon us.  

As members of the Co-Op, you have the opportunity to apply for a seat with the Board Of Directors. The Board Of Directors is a democratically elected body that represents the member owners.  All member-owners of the GBCFC are eligible to serve on the Board Of Directors. 

The primary responsibility of the Board Of Directors is to monitor and maintain the GBCFC's financial health and ensure the general oversight and governance in accordance with with cooperative principles. 

If you are interested in becoming a member of the Board, please visit the 2016 board elections link on our website.  There you will find the 2016 application packet and more information about the process.  You can also email the current GBCFC board (board@greatbasinfood.coop).

Earstin Whitten, GBCFC President
DROPP Locally Sourced Highlights!  
Our local food hub & a department of GBCFC
www.dropp.coop

Certified Organic Strawberries directly sourced from California. Sweet, aromatic and delicious! (half units available)  BUY HERE.

Rhubarb from Miss Me Not Farm! Add strawberries...you know what to do :)  BUY HERE.
This week we toured the local Davidson's Organic Tea packaging facility in Sparks, NV.  Kunall and Promilla, the owners, come from 3 generations of Organic Indian tea farmers.  Their company purchases from over 3,000 organic Indian farmers to help supply their United States customers! They work hard to preserve the integrity of what organic means coming from overseas and they batch test all new products in a lab to ensure that the leaves meet all California organic standards for  heavy metal content, residual pesticides, microbe activity, and more. On the top is a picture that Kunall took himself of one of the farms he purchases from in India and on the bottom is the inside of the Davidson's Organic Teas Nevada based facility. Very cool and inspiring insight into the practices of this local business.  You can find a variety of their teas in the bulk and boxed section at the co-op.
"Why do organic foods typically cost more than their conventional counterparts?"  

Reason #2 from Albert’s Organic Food College www.organicproducecollege.com

"Perhaps the biggest reason that organic food costs more than conventional food is farm subsidies. For example, in 2009 U.S. farm subsidies topped 15.4 billion with only $15 million going to programs for organic and local foods. The gap is enormous.  If you are doing some quick math in your head, that's over one thousand times more money to conventional farming than to organic programs. Farm subsidies have cost taxpayers more than $245.2 billion since 1995, according to the Environmental Working Group. Over three quarters of the subsidies go to corn, wheat, cotton and rice. The corn subsidies create an unnaturally low price for farm animals (very cheap feed), which makes the price of raising conventional meat much lower than with organic. This regular practice of enormous subsidies to conventional farming has created an artificially low cost for much of our food that would surely go up significantly in price (much closer to where organic food is) if the subsidies were not available."
Repurposed donated kitchen equipment from Briar Patch Food Coop in Grass Valley, CA! We can't thank them enough as they are such an immense help to our co-op.  Cooperation amongst cooperatives is the 7th cooperative principle and these guys go above and beyond. <3
In light of recent “Bathroom Bill” legislation in North Carolina and in a show of solidarity with the LGBTQ members of our community, we’ve taken down our old restroom signage in favor of new signage with gender-neutral language and images. We feel that HB2 opposes our values of social justice, human rights, and safe and welcoming communities. This is a bill that endangers the lives of trans, genderqueer, and all people whose gender identity doesn't precisely match the expectations of what is on their birth certificate. That is something that we want to protest loudly and with all of our might.

Read the official letter sent from the National Cooperative Grocers (NCG), Chief Executive Officer, Robynn Shrader.
Excited to see this great community project gain steam in Reno!

The Reno Rot Riders is a food scraps collection service serving both restaurants and residences.  Their mission is to transform how Reno does waste by offering a green alternative that diverts valuable organic waste from the landfill and turns it into nourishing compost. This compost supports healthy soils which grow great local food, hold and filter water, and sequester CO2.  And, true to their climate conscious goals, they do all their collection by bike and trailer.  
Check out their website to learn more and to sign up for collection.
The RRR is run by the Be the Change Project, a 501c3 nonprofit.  


Links& Website:
www.renorotriders.org

This is from back in October with the RNR:
https://www.newsreview.com/reno/compost-conveyors/content?oid=18885061


A couple weeks back with the RNR about SculptureFest:
https://www.newsreview.com/reno/dirty-workone-man-39-s-trash-is/content?oid=20806797


This is from Edible RT:
http://www.ediblerenotahoe.com/editorial/108-spring-2016/1156-sp16-ednotables-pedal-produce

Sign up for Urban Roots Teen Farm Camps this summer!
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OPEN EVERY DAY 8am - 9pm
Juice & Smoothie Bar open every day 9am - 5pm

240 Court St. Reno, NV 89501
(775) 324-6133

www.greatbasinfood.coop

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