Skookum Food Provisioners’ Cooperative is holding our Annual General Meeting on Thursday May 2, starting at 7:00 PM, in Trinity Hall at the Powell River United Church, located at 6932 Crofton St., Powell River, BC (at the corner of Michigan Ave. and Duncan St.). The meeting will be followed by a social time with refreshments.
At this meeting, the board of directors will report on progress since the 2012 Annual General Meeting, including presentation of the year-end financial statement. Members will elect directors.
You can download the notice of meeting and agenda here. Our balance sheet as of our year-end (March 31, 2013) is here, and the statement of income and expenses is here. Members will be receiving these documents by regular mail along with the newly-issued redesigned share certificates.
We hope that you will be able to attend our 2013 Annual General Meeting. We allow proxy voting for any member who cannot attend and would otherwise have to travel by air or water to attend this meeting. If you need to fill out a proxy form, please download one from here or pick up a hard copy at our registered address (see above).
Only members may vote at this meeting, but we welcome newcomers and people interested in becoming members.
Save the Date! Our Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held on Thursday, May 2 at 7:00 PM at the United Church’s Trinity Hall (kitty-corner to City Hall at 6932 Crofton Street).
Feel free to bring along some snacks and desserts, but we will lay on a nice spread of snacks and beverages, so no worries.
You will be all be getting a notice in the mail (along with your newly revamped share certificates) soon, but here is a rough look at what our AGM will look like:
A progress report for the past year, including a report on how we did financially.
Elections for four directors (interested in joining the seven-member volunteer board? We’re looking for a few ‘passionate-about-food’ members with talents and time to put toward this amazing project we call Skookum). Contact us if you are interested or want more info.
Fabulous Door Prizes! (Do you also want to donate a local food or related item? Let us know.)
An update on how Powell River Dollars can benefit the co-op, and an opportunity to buy some PR$.
After the formalities, we’ll enjoy our delicious refreshments and a fun ‘Meet-and-Greet’ event to get to know your wonderful fellow members.Please also bring some treats too if you can– finger food and desserts, especially vegan and gluten free options welcome); we know we have some of the best bakers in Powell River amongst our membership and we want to help you showcase your skills!
Remember the blog post we put out on cover crops? Well, they arrived a bit too late for Seedy Saturday, but we will have cover-crop seed samplers (1/2-pound packets of an Organic Pea & Oat mix for $3.00 each). These are crops that add nutrients, loosen your soil, and suppress weeds in your garden beds.
It looks as though we will have some Cafe Justicia Fair Trade “Plus” Coffee on sale too!
Find out more about our Bulk Buying Club, The Abundant Pantry, too in time for the May 12 springtime shopping deadline! What amazing products for the lowest possible prices. Find out more here: http://skookumfood.ca/bulk-buying/members/faq.php).
Well, there will surely be even more going on at the Skookum AGM, too.
See you there on Thursday, May 2!
More about Tattler lids
This time we’re selling Tattler lids at even lower prices! They’re about half the price you’d pay via Amazon.ca (and 15% of the cost goes to support Skookum). We ask members to limit purchases to 100 lids ea. at this point, to allow more members to take advantage. After the AGM, we will offer the lids on a per-order basis.
We will have:
24-packs of regular lids + rubber rings .60 ea ($14.50); 50-packs ($30);
Hey there members, it’s time to freshen up the Skookum cider press with some maintenance and repairs (anyone willing and able to help with this, please contact skookum@skookumfood.ca) AND we really need to set up a proper kit of materials that can accompany the cider press as it is loaned out to members, or used for public demonstrations/ pressings such as at the Fall Fair. So far, we have borrowed materials each time we need to do a group pressing, which is great. Problem is, it takes an immense amount of time and coordination to reconstruct the kit from scratch every time. So, if you have any of this equipment to donate to Skookum, then please consider it sooner rather than later. Used is fine, if functional.
Email us at skookum@skookumfood.ca to find out where and when you can drop off the materials. We will post what we have received (and what is left on the shopping list below), and send out reminders periodically.
If you cannot donate the materials or equipment, then please consider a monetary donation to the “Creating a Skookum Cider Press Kit” via PayPal, Debit or Credit card or by cheque (c/o SFPC and mail or drop off at Kingfisher Books 4486 Marine Ave. Powell River, BC V8A 2K2 CANADA). We’ll go on a shopping spree in late summer and try to complete the list.
We accept PR$
Of course, we accept Powell River Dollars (PR$) too; just drop off your donation at Kingfisher Books. And thanks! Please remember that your membership dollars ($20 for a lifetime membership and redeemable at any time) represent individual shares in Skookum; you own the cooperative as much as any other member. The funds raised through memberships are kept for the most part in reserve, and are not used to cover expenses.
Equipment needed (prices approx.)
(Click on the big “Grow Our Co-op” button at right to make a donation toward any piece of equipment)
Basic set up:
2 awnings (aka event tents or canopies or gazebos) c. $450
2 tarps: 1 to put underneath the cider press and 1 to cover it up overnight (as for Fall fair) c. $50
3 smaller tables (hand washing station; prep table; pasteurization/double boiler set up table) c. $175
1 large table (usually supplied by the Fall Fair) for front service counter. c. $100
2 water hoses (to bring the water closer to you b/c pressing requires a lot of water) c. $65
2 hose splitters (so you won’t be accused of hogging the communal hose and you won’t have to keep running to the tap to turn the hose on) c. $50
2 garbage cans per day for apple crud (or more if you’ll be doing lots of apples) ; with wheels! c. $65
Metal Ramp (to allow the press to be rolled or pushed up into a flatbed truck or vehicle) c. $250
Sanitation:
Large hands-free water container with “tap” for hand washing station c. $23
Plastic buckets for waste water (1or 2) c. $18
Bleach, pump soap, paper towels (1 each) c. $12
Stout spray bottle for bleach sanitizing solution c. $10
Cloth rags $5
Processing apples:
2 Large food grade, clean plastic tubs (like primary fermenters) for washing apples pre-pressing. 10 gallons ea. c. $80
Some large buckets or Rubbermaid to hold the washed apples (4) $40
2 buckets to catch the cider as it flows from the press $20
2 large cutting boards (wood or hard plastic) $20
Various knives including a few paring knives (minimum 4) $60
3 or 4 large stainless bowls to put the prepared apples into $40
Funnel and strainer $20
Keeping cider cold:
Ice packs (several) c.$35
(8-12 large bags of ice– one-time purchase on days of event)
2 very large coolers c.$70
Biodegradable paper cups (about 250) available from Aaron Vending: some small for “tasters” and large for selling cold cider. Napkins. c.$35
Keeping cider hot:
Matches or lighter $2
Propane gas burners (2) $150
Hot plate $25
Extension cords (3) $30
Large canner for boiling water bath $35
Large pot to fit inside canner to keep cider hot w/lid $30
Ladles (2)
Pot holders (6) $40
Stem thermometer $25
Cider spice sachets (6) $12
Mugs for selling cups of hot cider (must be washed and reused, not possible at all locations) $20
Other:
Some attractive one-colour tablecloths to enhance booth “eye appeal” 4X: $60
Blackboard for noting wares and prices $30
tracking sheet
Tally sheets on clipboards to keep track of sales
Pens
Bug spray and sting relief (for bees/wasps; antihistamine) $20
Paper bags and ties as wasp deterrents (in a bad wasp year, use lots!) $3
Optional (if for Fall Fair or other demo)
Info sheets on upcoming or happening projects
Waterproof Displays of whatever relevant kind to enhance booth eye appeal and advertise the coop and its mission, pens, sign up sheets for Skookum and press info.
If you missed Leocadio Juracan’s visit with us last year in May you might be interested in attending our next Skookum mid-day Social on Sunday, March 24, coffee-themed potluck 11AM, presentation noon to 1 PM at the Powell River Community Resource Center(4752 Joyce Ave.)
Click for large poster
11AM is the starting time for those able to participate in the coffee-themed potluck luncheon or we’ll see you at 12 noon if you’re coming just to hear Leocadio and Francisco’s talk. Feel free to bring a guest or two as we can accommodate up to 60 at this location. Don’t forget to bring cash if you want to buy coffee (we are trying to get unroasted beans too, for you DIYers). Please let us know if you can attend. There will be a small fee of $2 to offset the cost of renting the CRC.
Click here for some ideas on cooking/baking with coffee.
Leocadio is the driving force behind a Mayan indigenous NGO called the CCDA based out of Guatemala whose concerns are social justice and agrarian reform. The Comite Campesino Del Altiplano or CCDA now owns 3 beneficios and are exporting organic beyond fair trade coffee exclusively to Canada. Cafe Justicia is a high elevation, shade grown, organic coffee produced in the Highlands of Guatemala by indigenous campesinos. Individual local cooperatives operate through the CCDA to process and market their coffee, thus avoiding many of the middlemen keeping the people in poverty. The CCDA is also very active in restoring civil rights and educating communities, providing medical care facilities, some micro financing, schools and libraries, educational scholarships, and the redistribution of lands for agriculture and homes for the landless poor. For more on the CCDA and their work see: http://www.justuscoffee.com/producers/our-growers/ccda-guatemala
The coffee, Cafe Justicia is marketed from Vancouver by BC CASA (more about them at: http://cafejusticia.ca/ ) and we are getting very close to being able to distribute their outstanding product through The Abundant Pantry our own bulk buying club.
Leocadio will be in Powell River on Sunday, March 24 and we’d like to invite you to come hear him speak, share a potluck themed around coffee and taste some of their fabulous brew (you’ll also be able to buy some if you can’t wait for the next TAP order. The event, spoken through Steve Stewart as interpreter is most interesting. Steve established BC CASA in the 1980s to support positive social change in the Americas. From the outset they had a strong connection to the CCDA and helped introduce the coffee to Canada in early 2000. He has been a good friend to Leocadio for many years and the translation flows accordingly. This year Leocadio is bringing Francisco Coz as an added guest, an elder of the organization; Francisco was born in 1947 and he began organizing peons on the coffee plantations in the 1970s, like Leocadio he is a Kakchiquel Maya and lives in the village of Nueva Vida in Solola province.
