SPUDS Newz - January 19th, 2010

Happy New Year Spudsters!

In the previous post on this blog please find the minutes from our end of the year membership meeting (November 28th, 2010)  for a long overdue update. The following communique was sent to members with those minutes attached.

Please take note that this coming Saturday, January 22nd, we have a chance to raise a little cash for our Co-operative!

I was asked to provide food for the lunch that is part of the Transition Denman initiative at their official launch this weekend, and have decided to donate all proceeds after expenses to SPUDS, in support of our desire to improve water access for the field by way of a rain catchment system for our cistern. 

The request  received was for bioregional fare, so of course my choice to include potatoes was a natural one. Hopefully you are already planning to attend the launch, but whether or not you can make it, please spread the word: our SPUDS fundraiser 'lunch for the launch' will be available between noon and 12:45 pm…then pause for a brief presentation in the Front Hall by visiting Green Party leader Elizabeth May.  I'm told food service can resume by 1:30 pm and continue to  4:00 pm (or until we run out of goodies) 

I have rounded up lots of great Denman veggies, so every item on the menu contains homegrown ingredients- beautiful beet borscht, potato and sweet pea samosas with local fruit chutney, crunchy kale chips, creamy squash soup, savoury potato and sunflower seed pate with basil pesto and roasted tomato puree on rye, pumpkin pie, apple spice muffins, hazelnut spelt squares made with blackberry/plum preserves, local apple juice, etc.

ANY VOLUNTEERS? I am hoping that a couple of other SPUDS members may be interested in lending a hand on Saturday for any length of time at all…the food will be readymade, but Mike and I will be serving out of both the front and back windows of the kitchen, so it will be a bit of a juggling act with just the two of us. It may or may not be busy, but I'm not sure how we'll be able to retrieve used bowls that don't come straight back to the kitchen, for example... if you are interested in helping out the cause, please get in touch asap! -Fireweed

OTHER SPUDS UPDATES

And now for news directly related to the field...

1) Today we received word on our potato seed order pricing for 2011's spring planting. The farmer who organizes a bulk purchase for Vancouver Island had to secure a 40 box order (2,000 pounds) before receiving a cost break, and has just announced that she was successful. Good thing, because the price for organic seed has gone up! Our order will cost $100 for a 50 pound box (up from $75 a case last year) plus $10 for shipping.

It was proposed at our last meeting of the membership on November 28th,  that we reduce our seed planting this coming spring, commensurate with membership labor availability, and our very limited water supply. Please refer to the  minutes (previous post!) from this meeting for conversation highlights, budget report, etc.

2) SPUDS welcomes new 2011 members Stephen Cooke, Dave Graff and partner Tanya Quinn (Dave joined last fall and is now a very welcome addition to SPUDS Field Management sub-committee), and Yvon Raoul. Yvon lives part time on Denman, so will be a supportive member 'at large', joining us in the field whenever he can. 

3) One other highlight to note that won't be in the minutes…SPUDS' request for a refundables bin at the Bottle Depot has been accepted. We now have the opportunity to raise at least $100 a year (the minimum amount required to maintain the privilege of having a bin) towards the cooperative's operating expenses, simply  by remembering to donate our recyclables …we must 'use it, or loose it', as the saying goes!