The Latest News from Wheatsville

Get Involved – Serve on a BOARD Committee

Are you a Wheatsville member? Do you welcome opportunities to grow as a more inclusive and innovative leader? Are you 100% about that Popcorn Tofu life? Well, Board committee membership just might be for you.

Owners may attend Monthly Board Meetings:

• Tuesday 7/23 at Guadalupe, 6pm 
• Tuesday 8/27 at South Lamar, 6:30pm 
• Tuesday 9/24 at Guadalupe, 6pm 
• Tuesday 10/22 at South Lamar, 6:30pm 
• Tuesday 11/26 at South Lamar, 6:30pm

Join a Board Committee

This list of volunteer opportunities is not exhaustive, but offers a few ways you can get involved with the Board.

Audit and Review Committee

We encourage owners from all professional backgrounds (a financial background is not required) and having a mix of professional experiences is invaluable to support the board’s oversight role. The board commissions and works with an outside auditing firm and conducts a review of the co-op’s bookkeeping systems, as required by State statute.

Owner Engagement (OEG) Committee

In addition to fostering community through events and connecting owners and shoppers to local food makers & local independent businesses, the Owner Engagement Committee helps organize our BIG CO-OP FAIR in October. This annual event gives context to the year, presents Board candidates to owners, and is an opportunity to have fun and eat good food.

Get involved with The Austin Cooperative Business Association (ACBA)

The ACBA is dedicated to growing and strengthening the Austin-area cooperative community through increased consumer knowledge, inter-cooperative support and advocacy to make it easier to start and expand cooperatives. More info regarding ACBA visit: https://acba.coop/
  
Send us an email at boardemail@wheatsville.coop if considering any of these opportunities and we look forward to connecting with you at the friendliest grocery store in Austin. — Jason Bourgeois, Board Member

Local Farm of the Month: Richardson Farms

Owned by Jim and Kay Richardson, Richardson Farms was founded in 2000, and is located in Rockdale Texas. The Richardsons are conservation-minded and care deeply about the health and well-being of their animals. Jim has a unique perspective concerning animal care and welfare gained through 35+ years of veterinary practice. He has continued to farm and have bountiful gardens throughout his professional working years. He and Kay share their love of farming with others through their CSA, and Ag-Education farm tours. Kay is a retired Registered Nurse and they have three children: Mike, Kari, and Lance. The farm is now managed by their son, Mike, a firefighter/paramedic who grew up with a passion for the farm.

The hogs are pastured and fed with a grain supplement that they produce on their farm. There are no growth hormones or antibiotics used. All of their livestock are in large open areas or pastures and are free to interact with each other.

Keeping the pigs happy!

Richardson Farms likes to keep the pigs happy! They often “water down” the pigs to keep them cool in the summer! It also makes a big wallow for the pigs to play in!
These mud wallows serve several purposes:
     1) the mud helps to keep them cool,
     2) helps protect them from sunburn,
     3) helps keep down external parasites, and
     4) pigs just love it!

The Richardsons grind their own pig feed from grain raised on the farm. The corn is raised using conservation tillage techniques, also called “no till” farming. They do not plow the fields after the crops have been harvested, allowing the residue of the past crop to lay on top of the soil to decay naturally. This helps control weeds and allows earthworms to do the “plowing.” It also saves on diesel and reduces compacting of the soil by the tractor. This conserves topsoil, by allowing the root system to hold the soil during the rain, allowing water to run off clear. The topsoil is also enhanced by nutrients from the previous crop.

Their windmill is fully-functional. The well was hand-dug over 50 year ago and still works. They use the wind to pump natural, good quality, potable water into large, above-ground storage tanks. The water is then pumped in underground pipes to the fields providing excellent natural water for the animals.

An old Vanburen grain drill is still used on the farm. This grain drill was Jim’s grandfather’s that he farmed with many, many years ago. It may look old, but it works as good as a new one. It even has handwriting from Jim’s grandfather under the lids to indicate what settings to put the drill in for certain crops. There have now been 4 generations that have used this grain drill.

Nothing is more important to Richardson Farms than happy and healthy animals!!

A Message from the Board’s Owner Engagement Committee

Be sure to take advantage of the fun events and opportunities throughout the year to meet with board members. We want to hear from owners like YOU!

The board is elected to represent owners and we want to know what is on your mind. Feel free to share your vision for Wheatsville’s future, or your questions or concerns about the state of our Co-op. We love co-op stories and enjoy sharing what we know about Wheatsville and the co-op economy. Sharing and growing together makes shopping at Wheatsville that more satisfying!

Stop by at $5 Dinner, when Board members are in store shopping, or when we are out hosting events. Sign up for Wheatsville’s weekly email, social feeds, or see in-store signs for all the latest news. — MeriJayd O’Connor, Board Member

Local Farmers of the Month: Prickly Pair

Founded in 2011, Prickly Pair Farm is located in Burnet County, Texas. Situated on approximately 30 acres, with 5 acres under cultivation, a majority of the land is dedicated to conservation activities. They grow more than 125 seasonal vegetables and fresh cut flower varieties intended for farmers’ markets, friends, and family. Animals are an integral part of their farming practices and they specifically raise rabbits and chickens for their beneficial farming output in addition to more traditional reasons.

Founders Mike and Matt work and manage all aspects of land usage, cultivation, resource conservation and business activities. They both come from professional careers far afield of agriculture, but are single-minded in their approach to farming. Only the highest quality flowers, fruits and vegetables will be offered to customers. Their commitment is to utilize only natural or naturally derived inputs for all products and to improve the land for future generations.

Prickly Pair is entirely powered by renewable energy!

Keep it GREEN

Wheatsville has always been a green business leader - it's just one of the ways we, as a co-op, live up to Principle #7: Concern for Community.

GREEN ENERGY
Your co-op is part of Austin Energy’s Green Choice program which means the money we pay for utilities is used build wind farms and help Austin reach its goal of  55% renewable energy use by 2025!

20 TONS / MONTH
According to Break it Down, our recycling partner, we divert over 20 tons of cardboard, glass, plastic, metal, and food scraps between both stores each month!

100% RECOVERED FIBER
Our paper bags are made with 100% recovered fiber, 85% post consumer content.

$20 REBATE
Staff that bike to work 4x per month (8+ miles) earn a $20 monthly bike expense rebate.

KEEP IT SUNNY
If you look up at the ceiling at S.Lamar, you’ll notice about 57 bubbly looking lenses. These are called SolaTubes. They use highly reflective fiber optic tubes to direct sunlight into our store so that we don’t have to use as much electricity. During construction, these SolaTubes were very useful to help keep the job sight lit!

TO-GO
All of our deli-to go ware - boxes, plates, and napkins - are COMPOSTABLE - including utensils and straws!

SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD
All of our seafood is rated 'Best Choice' or  'Best Alternative' by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch List, and has been fished or farmed in ways that make less impact on the environment.

GREEN PARTNERS
We raised and donated $14,453 for Austin Parks Foundation in March of 2019, which helps keep our shared green spaces healthy and happy! We also host one of THE BEST breakfast stations in Austin on Bike to Work Day! JOIN US FRIDAY, MAY 17th!

BULK IT UP
Wheatsville offers bulk refills of wellness products like Dr.Bronner’s soaps, lotions and laundry detergent! Bonus points (and a high five) if you bring your own jars, containers and bags!

ODOR-FREE
Throughout the S.Lamar construction process, we chose noVOC or lowVOC building materials and paint in order to have an odor-free store.

WATERLESS
In the men’s room at S.Lamar we’ve installed a waterless urinal. This saves 1.5 gallons of water per flush! That’s means if we save 12 flushes per day, we save 6,552 gallons of water per year!

BOX IT UP
Way before Austin’s bag ban, we were offering recycled boxes and paper bags to customers. Our bags are made with 100% recovered fiber with a minimum of 85% post consumer content. They are printed with water-based inks, are Forest Stewardship Council for responsible use of forest resources.

YOU RECYCLE
We offer front-facing recycling and composting to customers, and our recycling partners at Break it Down say we’ve got the cities best sorters! They rarely see mistakes which in-turn helps them be more efficient.

RAINWATER
We also do things like rainwater capture to help us irrigate our planter boxes, use LED lights, installed low flow toilets and have added showers to S.Lamar in order to keep our bike riders pedaling

Local Farm Spotlight: Leaf Safari

When it comes to enjoying the season’s best flavors, there’s no better backdrop than fresh salad greens. Leaf Safari is based out of Manor and Waxahachie, Texas and grows all of their greens hydroponically without using any pesticides.  At any time there are almost a quarter million nonGMO plants growing in their climate controlled hothouses which take up less than an acre of land.

Fresh salad greens are picked by (gloved) hands with roots intact, and shipped out same-day which helps them last that much longer in your fridge. Leaf Safari prides themselves on strict safety protocol and run regular safety audits to ensure the highest quality greens.

Leaf Safari’s hydroponic farms use 90% less water than traditional and organic farming due to being able to recycle much of the water that is used. With a predictable growing cycle, integrated pest management, and climate controlled working conditions, each locally grown salad can be delivered to your table fresh and delicious all year round.

You can’t go wrong with any of Leaf Safari’s salad mixes – from Spring Mix to Superfoods, Butter Lettuce, to Petite Greens – these salads are perfect all on their own with a drizzle of La Riojana olive oil and a squeeze of lemon or topped with your farmer’s market favorites. Enjoy!

top photo by Jennifer Parks

Local Vendor Spotlight: El Milagro

When it comes to making tacos and scooping queso, the tortilla makes all the difference. Founder Raul Lopez learned how to make tortillas in Mexico from his uncle who owned a tortilleria. After coming to the US in the 1940s working for Santa Fe railroad, he soon started his own business in Chicago selling tortillas to restaurants. El Milagro, “the miracle”, quickly became a growing family business.

Production began in Austin after El Lago, the former tortilleria factory on 6th St., decided to sell. The Lopez family loved their visits to Austin and decided it would be a good base for production. While the storefront moved from it’s 6th St. location a few blocks over to 7th St. in 2017 and production moved to San Marcos, Manuel Lopez says the Austin market is still their biggest.

For scooping chunky guacamole and smooth ribbons of queso El Milagro’s thick salted tortilla chips are by far the most popular choice. Just try and get those chips to cave under a pile of nachos – won’t happen. For migas and spicy salsa thin chips reign supreme.

Of course, as any good Texan know, the secret behind a great chip is an outstanding tortilla and El Milagro serves up a great one. Made with just high-quality nonGMO corn, water, and lime – sometimes simple is just better.

CUSTOMER SURVEY RESULTS 2018