Auburn Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

I’ll bet you are thinking, “Oh, stop!  You’re giving me indigestion.  Can’t I just enjoy my lunch in peace?”  Well, of course you can and you already are.  If you buy blueberries from Claire in the summer, you are supporting WeHelp’s efforts building homes for Habitat.  If you buy Equal Exchange products after services you’re ensuring farmers a fair price and if you bake or buy CookieWalk cookies, well, there you go, helping Habitat again.  Many of us are already making JUST food choices.  The goal of the JUST FOOD project is to lift this good work up and add some “fresh food” projects to our work at the AUUF.  So, please peruse the “menu” and find something that sounds appealing and join us.

New projects:

November: 

Sustainable Farm Field Trip:

On November 12th, we have a field trip to Pecan Point Farm planned.  This farm is located just about 25 miles south of Auburn in Hurtsboro.  It has a wonderful older pecan orchard that George and Becky Rogers are bringing back into production using sustainable practices.  They have planted clover under the trees to restore nitrogen to the soil, they uswe cattle to mow the clover, chickens to spread the manure and bees to pollinate the pecans and make honey.  They also have a commercial kitchen where they make granola and process their pecans.  This is a great chance for folks of all ages to see a working orchard and see how all the parts can work together! 

October:  This month we are initiating seasonal Circle Dinners.  We’ve had Circle Dinners in the past and we’re hoping to revive this wonderful social tradition with a twist-we’ll celebrate local foods of the season with these dinners.  These dinners are a great way to meet fellow AUUF’ers that you don’t know very well, share stories and enjoy a tasty meal.  Jack Walker is coordinating.  He’s looking for a volunteer host and 4-8 guests for our October Seasonal Circle Dinner.  Don’t delay!  You won’t want to be left out.

If you just can’t wait, here’s a couple of interesting reads on different aspects of seasonal foods and community meals.

From the NY Times, here’s an article about the Slow Food movement which celebrates the value of whole foods, cooking and sharing our meals.  If you’d like to know more about the Slow Food movement in the United States check out their website.

And if you enjoy Barbara Kingsolver’s writing, there’s a delightful essay she wrote on the why’s and wherefore’s of seasonal vegetables.  The essay links the seasonality of different vegetables to plant biology.  Even if you aren’t interested in biology at all, there’s just something so engaging about her writing.  There’s a fun interactive website about seasonal vegetables based on her essay called The Vegetannual.  The essay can be accessed if you click on Resources. 

Upcoming Events:

In the coming months, we’ll continue add new activities to the Just Food project, including exploring solar ovens, a local farm tour and discussion courses from the Northwest Earth Institute.  If you have an idea you’d like to explore, please contact Sharon Roberts.

What we’re already doing:

Blueberry Sales:  Claire Crutchley manages AUUF blueberry sales for the WeHelp Habitat for Humanity each summer.  These sales provide us with local organic blueberries from Blueberry Havens through much of the summer.  They also provide money towards the building of Habitat homes.  In fact, we have just started a home this fall.  Last summer blueberry sales raised $9,483 towards for WeHelp.

Equal Exchange sales:  The various Equal Exchange products that we sell at the Fellowship do a lot of good while tasting good.  Equal Exchange works with individual farmers and farmer cooperatives to ensure them a fair price for their products.  Equal Exchange itself is a worker owned cooperative that has been in business for 20 years.  Starting with coffee from Nicaraguan farmers they have expanded and now work with farmers from all over the world and sell cocoa, tea and almonds (from the United States).  For many years they have supported the UUSC by contributing to it when any UU congregation buys their products.  As a faith community we buy their products at wholesale prices and they contribute to UUSC.  In addition, we sell our products to the congregation at prices that provide an approximately 10% profit that goes towards the AUUF operating budget.