Starting this week, we’ll be having 2 lists of veggies that are good for 2 weeks: one list for Abada and another for the other 3 pick-up points; the following week, they switch. The reason for this is to maximize the kinds of veggies purchased each week and to afford lower volume purchases (i.e. sometimes we can’t deliver a particular veggie because we don’t have enough to give everyone an equal share each week). We’ll also prepare meal plans for the veggie list and post them at goodfoodcommunitykitchen.blogspot.com.

Have a happy, healthy 2012!

New Year’s Dreams
In the third season, we’ve been able to sit down and talk to each other about how this endeavor has been and what our collective dreams are. Ate Veronika’s dream is to have good health, Ate Susan’s is to give her children education, Ate Rosemary wants to build her own house with three bedrooms, Ate Robita wants a big house to accommodate her children and grandchildren, Ate Jolina wants her house to be repaired, Kuya Sonny wants to have a debt-free business, Kuya Abel wants to be able to lend money to others, and Kuya Val wants to expand his farm. What is your dream? Share your thoughts at goodfoodcommunity@gmail.com.

How Do We Grow Community?
We’re planning our community activities for 2012 and we’d love to hear from you! What kind of events would you like to see in the world? What would you like to learn? What fun can we have at our pick-up points? Again, write to us at goodfoodcommunity@gmail.com or join our Facebook group (facebook.com/groups/GFCstakeholders). We love hearing from you!

Announcements:

Holiday break. Veggie pick-ups will only be until December 17, 2011 as we anticipate most of us will be busy with Christmas festivities. The farmers hope to route their veggies to a local market planned from networking with other farmers during the recent National Organic Agriculture Conference. We’ll resume deliveries on January 7.

Christmas Party & Thanksgiving. We will have a simple lunch with the farmers on the 21^st of December, a Wednesday. Do join us, stakeholders and friends! We’ll all just pitch in for the food and transportation, community-style. We assemble 9.30 am in San Juan and we’ll be back by 5pm. Contact Char if you’d like to join.

Gourmet Keso. Support the dairy farmers in Bulacan by ordering fresh carabao milk, kesong puti and goat cheeses! Working with a Gawad Kalinga community of the Enchanted Farm, Xilca Alvarez crafts delectable dairy products through her social enterprise, Gourmet Keso (get it?). You may now order every week by filling up the form here. Char confirms with you by text if you are to expect a delivery that weekend.

Seedling Care:

We hope you like the gifts we prepared! Both plants need a lot of sun. Water them only about twice a week (depending on the heat) lest you drain away the nutrients before they can enjoy them or you flood their roots (heavens, no!). When it’s time to transplant them, choose well-drained soil or sandy loam.

Basil- It’s the one on the right! You can use it for pasta, pizza, soups, bruschetta and/or admire it, talk to it for therapy, etc. We are all about wellness you know. To coax it to leaf more, trim the terminal buds.

Marigold/ Cosmos- It’s the other one! It’s a pest-repellant and attractant of beneficial insects. If you think it’s a cosmos, you can contemplate the universe in its harmonic unfolding. If you diagnose it to be marigold, you can eat the petals but you have to be very sure!

What about the bag of veggies?

When we arrived at Mangarita farm on the 16th December, the farmers had brought more vegetables to gift the stakeholders! They took everyone’s contribution and packed them themselves

Presented by British Council Philippines
A film by Moshe Ladanga

Good Food Co. is a social enterprise that aims to uplift the lives of small farmers by bringing them into community with socially responsible consumers. Our Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) program invites customers to become real stakeholders in the food system by committing to purchase a share of the vegetable harvest regularly for a fixed period. In this way, farmers are assured of a more stable demand and regular income. Beyond a more humane economics, Good Food Co. aims to cultivate community between and among the stakeholders. Systems are made up of real people with real stories. It’s time we met the faces behind our food.

This new way of doing things challenges the mindset (and lifestyles) of many, including ourselves as social entrepreneurs. But now, more than ever, we believe there are many like-minded people out there who are willing to support fresh and creative partnerships in sustainable living. In this respect, the challenge of a marketing and sales manager would be to find and nurture such relationships with individuals, communities and institutions. We want CSA to be as accessible and as life-giving as possible and we need a creative, resourceful and determined partner to make this happen.

1. Organizes all marketing efforts into a comprehensive marketing plan with costing and analysis
2. Carries out marketing surveys and customer feedback mechanisms
3. Develops and delivers marketing message and materials
4. Coordinates and implements marketing activities and promotional events
5. Opens and manages institutional and private sales accounts
6. Coordinates with the Good Food Co team and reports to Char
7. Handles other responsibilities as the need arises

Our primary commitment is to the farmers’ wellbeing. Revenue generation must primarily benefit them and us secondarily. In line with this, a basic monthly living allowance is allocated for this position while bonuses shall be accorded in line with increased revenue streams or sales targets. This way, we protect your capacity to do your work well while sharing the fruits of our collective success. We reevaluate the partnership after 6 months.

Please send your application (a letter expressing the nature of your interest plus a copy of your resume) to goodfoodcommunity@gmail.com not later than Friday, 18 November 2011. Thanks

gfc newsletter 3

Click on the images to enlarge or click on the link to download the pdf file.

“My favorite thing about Good Food Co.’s program is their commitment to the farming community that produces our vegetables. My second favorite thing about their program is the vegetable-box system. Every week you don’t know what kind of vegetables you’re going to get. I worried at first that this was going to be a problem if I found myself stuck with a lot of vegetables I was unfamiliar with. But on the contrary, it’s made me explore new recipes for vegetables, and try vegetables I didn’t know I liked! The vegetables are also very fresh and last longer than the usual grocery-bought vegetables.” —Rowie of PinoyBaby.com

“(1) The goodies always come with a list and a recipe.  Together with the accompanying recipe flier, Good Food has a recipe bank where one can get ideas for the menu… (2)  The contents of the upcoming week’s bag is posted on their site early in the week.  I can already plan next week’s menu early on.  (3) They have a newsletter.  Makes you feel more belong to a community.“ —Mommy Mama RAT

Click on the image to enlarge.

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