Excitement is in the air. It must be…the Film Festival! This is a wonderful event for our area, started by Michael Moore, a man whose middle name could be “community.” With all the volunteers that sign up to run the festival to the great freebies of the fest including free movies outdoors at Open Space and free live music in Lay Park, it truly is a community event to be envied.

The line up of films is stellar, as expected, and Oryana is sponsoring one of them. It’s a film called “Collapse” and it’s playing Sunday at 3 at Milliken Auditorium. As of this posting, there are still tickets left to this movie. It’s about Michael Ruppert’s view of the coming political and environmental apocalypse. Not the most upbeat topic but it may spur discussion about important issues that tend to get swept under the rug. You can read more about it and get tickets HERE.

We expect plenty of extra business in the cafe this week as movie-goers rush to grab a bite to eat between movies. But we’ll be ready so be sure to stop by for a yummy sandwich and cuppa joe or smoothie.

See you at the movies!

The Wineries of Old Mission Peninsula and Porterhouse Productions are teaming up to offer a great culinary event in downtown Traverse City and Oryana is making a significant donation to this event.

Paella in the Park happens Friday, August 6 from 5-10 p.m. on the former Clinch Park Zoo grounds in Traverse City. The event will feature a live band Blues, Traveler. The festival will pair the seven wineries of Old Mission Peninsula with seven regional chefs who will prepare Spanish paellas over open fire on-site. Each winery will host a station featuring three 36″ pans in which chefs will cook paella using featured wines from that vintner and fresh, local, and global ingredients.

The fresh, local ingredients will be provided by ORYANA! Yes, we are donating all the fresh produce to be used in the paella, which means that it will be some of the best damn paella west of Spain.

Paella is a rice-based dish with countless variations using different ingredients and is one of Spain’s most popular dishes. Festival attendees will have the opportunity to converse with local chefs about the art of making paella, as well as enjoy food and wine samples at each station. Sam Porter, creator/producer of the event says “Paella is exciting to cook and the energy of fire, food, dancing, fun music and working chefs will keep the experience for attending wine- and food-lovers in great spirits.”

Tickets are $36 and include (5) 2 oz. wine pours, 3 helpings of paella, live music and entertainment and access to all festival activities. Proceeds will benefit local non-profits, Wineries of Old Mission Peninsula, and Bay Front Parks.

It’s hard to believe that summer is already half way over so before you let another weekend pass on by, why not plan a summer picnic?! Oryana is the best place in town to stock up on goodies for an outdoor meal at the beach, park, or wherever you like to escape outdoors. I prefer to be near any body of water, be it one of the bays, The Big Lake, or the Boardman River.

I have fond memories of picnics when I was a child and my family went to Cass Lake, down in the Detroit area, several Sundays every summer. We would stay all day so my mother packed some wonderful food to keep us fed and happy while we played in and around the water for hours. She always had fried chicken, potato salad, cut up watermelon, cookies, orange pop for the kids and coffee for the adults. We had the same picnic basket that’s in the photo above. I don’t remember how she kept the food cool, or even if she did, but I don’t recall ever getting sick. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t pack a picnic nowadays without keeping the food chilled until I’m ready to eat it.

If you don’t feel like making a bunch of food for your picnic, our deli coolers are full of handy containers of salads, dips, finger foods like grape leaves, sandwiches, and yummy desserts. Summer fruits are coming into season now so don’t forget those, as well as our cookies (I recommend my favorite, chocolate chip!) and lots of different drinks in the cooler by the cash registers.

Preparing food for a picnic is half the fun for me so here are some of my favorites:

deviled eggs
cold meatloaf
Dagwood sandwiches with the works
potato salad (with a vinaigrette dressing instead of mayo)
grilled veggies
grilled chicken breast strips
fresh fruit in season
celery sticks
cherry tomatoes
whole cornish hens
a specialty cheese of some kind like drunken goat cheese
tamari almonds or spicy cashews from bulk
chocolate chip cookies! or brownies! or chocolate truffles!
smoked whitefish dip

Here is an awesome article from the New York Times with suggestions/recipes for 101 picnic dishes to make. If you don’t have many, many of those blue frozen ice packs, I highly recommend them for keeping food chilled. I also like to take real cloth napkins for a touch of class. Happy picnicking!

SEEDS is a nonprofit organization established to foster local solutions to global issues and bringing a holistic perspective to make connections between ecology and social justice.

SEEDS, in partnership with the Michigan Public Service Commission, Grand Traverse County, and Traverse City is developing a climate action plan for our region based on your priorities.

In 2008, SEEDS completed a greenhouse gas emission baseline analysis for Grand Traverse County and Traverse City municipalities, as well as the Grand Traverse County-wide community. This was the first step toward accomplishing the US Conference of Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement – which Traverse City signed onto in 2007 with much community support – to advance the goal of the Kyoto Protocol: reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of cities by seven percent from 1990 levels by 2012. This baseline analysis provides a benchmark from which we can measure future progress. SEEDS is using this survey to launch the next phase of this process, creating a Climate Action Plan.

You can help by taking just a few minutes to fill out their survey. and help make a difference in our region. If we all work together we can accomplish a lot to reduce emissions.

Most everyone loves a compliment and we are no exception! It was gratifying to learn that, for the most part, we seem to be doing what most people want us to do, which is offer high quality, good selection, locally-made/grown products, great customer service, a pleasant atmosphere, and commitment to the safest products available. We appreciate knowing that many of you are happy with our store and all that we strive to do as a coop. As one person stated succinctly : “I love the people that work there, the shopping environment, and most importantly the products! Oryana is wonderful place to go and feel at home while you do some grocery shopping.”

It appears, though, that not everyone endorses our performance as enthusiastically as the above person. Naturally, it is impossible to satisfy everyone, although we do our very best according to our mission statement. Pricing appears to be an issue for some folks, and to a certain extent, our strict policies regarding organic and non-GMO products.

Pricing is something we consider extremely carefully. We are conscious of our competition at places like Meijer’s (and Whole Foods/online shopping). Most people are likely aware that economies of scale are at work here. People need to also remember that our pricing reflects the TRUE cost of food. In other words, we purchase fair trade products (so that the growers/producers earn a fair wage) and products from companies that are NOT subsidized by the government as so many conventional foods are, allowing them to be priced unnaturally cheaply. But the bottom line for many is that they want to stretch their food dollars as much as they can. We certainly understand this and encourage folks to take advantage of what we have to offer.

For example, our Everyday Value program is a great way to save money. Here’s how it works: on approximately 50 items throughout the store, we have pledged to keep these items at the lowest possible prices we can. On many basic, staple items like bananas, flour, cereal, milk and peanut butter you’ll see the shelf tag reflect a lower price. On these items, the Co-op is willing to make less than our basic profit margin and pass those savings on to you.

We also have weekly produce specials, something many cost-conscious fresh produce shoppers can take advantage of. Our monthly specials flyer is full of great deals and our health and wellness department also has great monthly specials. The bulk department runs 15% – 25% off specials every month as well. And members can order cases at a discount.

Our Member Appreciation Days have become extremely popular of late where members can receive 10% off their bill. Some other perks include Senior shopping day on Wednesday (5% off) and arrive at Oryana via alternative transportation discount (5%).

One other consideration that is not a direct cost savings but that benefits our community as a whole is all that Oryana does to give back. Take our Community Grant Program. This year we awarded Bay Area Recycling For Charities a $5000 grant, and every month we make donations to local non-profit organizations, both monetary and foodstuffs. Shopping at the coop is one way to support our charitable efforts and participate in strengthening our community rather than giving your dollars to a huge corporation that probably doesn’t have the model workplace we do and that does little to support the local community.

As for the suggestion by some to offer non-organic but sustainable produce and some GMO products side-by-side with the organic/nonGMO products and to let customers decide…this is something that must be considered long and hard. We pride ourselves on being the best place in town to find the healthiest possible foods/products and in supporting our local, organic farmers. Yet we do want to be sensitive to the needs of customers too. Stay tuned for updates on this issue.

Finally, here is one more quote from a respondent: “Oryana is a unique store that holds a competitive advantage in the Traverse City area. There is no other store in the area that is anything at all like or even similar to Oryana. Oryana is built on pride. The pride rings through in the people who work in the store and the products that are offered to its customers.”

We had purchased some “convenience” shopping carts, the kind with a small basket on top and on the bottom and this helped to ease the scarcity a bit. Thanks again for your patience with shopping carts and with waiting in line. We were requesting to see membership cards so this also may have slowed things a bit, but kudos to our fantastic cashiers who kept up the frenetic pace all day long!

Our turkey hotdog/brat cookout was a success in spite of cool temps and gray skies. If you didn’t make it for the cookout, you missed some wonderful music by Sister Wilene! We were tapping our toes and swinging our hips as we doled out dogs and rootbeer and chips, the music was that infectious. Check out the band website here.

Hotdog/brat cookout on the patio

Sister Wilene bringing the house down

We had lots of fun with Dick Evans, cartoonist extraordinaire, who gave cartooning lessons outside from 1 – 4. Kids were mesmerized by Evans’ talent and had fun trying their hand at a few drawings.

See you at our next MAD in September!

This past Tuesday was Oryana’s opportunity to offer a free breakfast to anyone who showed up on foot, by bicycle, carpool, public transportation, donkey, skateboard, or dog sled. Yes, some one did, in fact, arrive via dog sled! And they were rewarded with Traverse City’s best Smart Commute Week breakfast.

Our mostly organic morning feast consisted of granola, yogurt, bananas, Papa Doc Bagels with cream cheese, blueberry muffins, coffee, and orange juice. There was plenty of food to fuel everyone up on their way to work. Total number of breakfasts served: 253!

A big, hearty “YOU’RE WELCOME!” to all the rave reviews and thank-you’s. We love offering up our goodies for great community events such as this, not to mention supporting the goal of encouraging smart commuting, a great thing for our community, our state, our planet. Way to go everyone who participated!

If you were thinking of starting a garden this year but didn’t get around to it, take heart. You can still buy transplants at Oryana, (although they will run out soon) and probably at other stores as well. And if it seems like you don’t have the time or inclination to take shovel in hand and start the backbreaking job of tilling the land, take heart again. Why not give a different kind of gardening a try, growing vegetables upside down!

As a recent New York Times article stated, “Growing crops that dangle upside down from homemade or commercially available planters is growing more popular, and its adherents swear they’ll never come back down to earth.” All you do is fill a container, such as a five gallon bucket, with soil, cut a hole in the bottom (maybe cut the hole first!) and plant your seed or transplant through the hole. Then find a sunny spot where you can hang the pot and have easy access to water, and voila…instant garden that isn’t susceptible to the same pests as plants grown on the ground.

The NYT article further states that “The advantages of upside-down gardening are many: it saves space; there is no need for stakes or cages; it foils pests and fungus; there are fewer, if any, weeds; there is efficient delivery of water and nutrients thanks to gravity; and it allows for greater air circulation and sunlight exposure.” One downside is you may have to water more frequently, and you can only plant certain veggies upside down. But what an intriguing idea! This would be a great way to grow cherry or roma tomatoes, bell and hot peppers. Maybe zucchini? Only if you harvested them when they are small though. I’d love to hear about your experiences with this. Feel free to leave a comment about your upside down garden.

A well-balanced, whole foods diet is essential to good health at all stages of life, and the elderly years are no exception. Many basic food rules apply whether you are a toddler, busy college student, or active senior, such as to limit your intake of refined sugar products, eat a wide variety of foods, and opt for good old fashioned cooking at home. But as you age, your nutritional requirements change somewhat and other factors influence the changing role of food for seniors.

You need fewer calories, for one thing, the older you get, but this also depends on how active you are. But eating more nutrient-rich foods to make up for the caloric decrease becomes especially important.

Elderly people may also exhibit vitamin deficiencies, B6, D, calcium, and zinc to name a few. Chronic disease or dental problems may contribute to malnutrition. And quite simply, food just doesn’t taste as good as it used to. By age 75, people have only half as many taste buds as they did at age 30. Financial restrictions, depression, drug side effects, forgetfulness, lack of transportation, and loneliness can also affect an elderly person’s eating habits.

With all these factors to consider, here are some guidelines for helping special seniors in your life to eat more nutritious and healthy meals and help them avoid diet-related problems.

• Choose organic foods over non-organic. A large percentage of pesticides and herbicides are considered carcinogenic, so why burden a senior’s already more fragile health with potentially poisonous chemicals?
• As a general rule, portion sizes should be smaller for seniors. They don’t need as much food as they did in their 30s.
• Include plenty of foods rich in fiber to help seniors stay regular, as constipation often afflicts the elderly. Leafy green veggies, whole grains, and sprouted grain products are especially good.
• Serve cultured and fermented foods that will aid in digestion and promote a healthy gut. The digestive processes slow with age and a healthy digestive tract is important for optimal assimilation of nutrients. Cultured foods, such as kim chee , raw sauerkraut, kombucha, and kefir are some examples of foods that enhance the digestion process.
• Cook dishes full of flavor and aroma. Appealing foods may help stimulate appetite and you can intensify flavors with herbs, marinades, dressings and sauces. Serving a wide variety of foods throughout the week can also keep an elderly person interested in eating. Try combining textures, such as yogurt with granola, to make foods seem more appetizing.
• Be especially careful when handling raw chicken and meat to avoid cross-contamination, as elderly people are more susceptible to food-borne illness. Wear gloves and sanitize cutting boards, knives, and countertops with a mild bleach solution.
• Soaking grains before cooking them is a time-tested way to make them more digestible and the nutrients more readily available. For example, when oatmeal is planned for breakfast, soak the oatmeal in water overnight.
• Encourage healthy snacking by having easy to grab snacks ready in the refrigerator: Pre-cut raw vegetables such as carrot and celery sticks, pea pods, broccoli, cauliflower, bell pepper strips, etc. Raw nuts, dried fruits, yogurt, cottage cheese, pitted olives, leftover cooked meats, and cheese chunks are good. Some nutritious unrefrigerated snacks include whole grain crackers, bananas, and nut butters.

Following these practical tips for cooking for your elderly loved ones should go a long way toward helping them stay healthy and active in their golden years.

Sandi McArthur, Education Outreach Coordinator

Nine members of the Munson Medical Center Relationship-Based Care (RBC), Caring and Healing Subcommittee visited Oryana Natural Foods Market recently.

Relationship-Based Care (RBC) is an initiative Munson is undertaking to improve care and healing by improving relationships. RBC is a culture of caring and a way of being that focuses on three relationships; with self, with colleagues and with patients and families.

The focus of the meeting was “Care of Self,” which the Subcommittee agrees is essential to taking good care of others. They learned that our strict purchasing standards and educational outreach are just two ways that Oryana helps individuals build a strong foundation of knowledge about food and its connection to good health. As Northern Michigan’s only certified organic retailer with shelves full of carefully labeled products for people with food allergies or special dietary needs, the committee concluded that Oryana is an important resource in our community.

Sandi McArthur, Education and Outreach Coordinator at Oryana and an RN by training, gave the Subcommittee a brief history of Oryana and explained the cooperative purchasing model that makes members owners of the store. Our member-owners have shaped Oryana’s purpose over the years, guided by the philosophy that the store exists to improve the health of the community.

The group was surprised and pleased to learn about all of the tools available here at the store, like recipes and cooking classes, note cards with tips for boosting nutrition or buying organics on a budget, that help make the shopping experience and learning how to buy and prepare whole foods less mysterious and more user-friendly.

We always welcome and encourage groups or businesses with an interest in health-supportive diets to arrange for a tour of the store and informational presentation.