All over the world today, people are walking out of work and school in a general strike against the exploitation of our economic system and in celebration of workers and the earth. Local Sprouts Cooperative is a worker-owned cooperative that cooks local and organic food and is creating a world where workers and the earth are respected and honored. We believe that the dominant economic system needs to change and that cooperatives are demonstrating a living example of a community-based restorative economy.

May Day is both International Workers Day and a Pagan holiday celebrating the Earth and fertility. This year, the Occupy Movement has called for a General Strike in which people are walking out of work and school and coming together in protest and community. Local Sprouts Cooperative workers are participating in demonstrations in Portland and New York City and we are providing local organic soup to the protest in Portland. We have decided to keep our doors open at our Cafe and offer our space for people to celebrate workers and the earth. We are striking against corporate control and industrial agriculture by creating a a democratic workplace that supports local farms.

At Local Sprouts Cooperative from 3-5pm today, we are offering a workshop on creating a worker-owned cooperative for any workers that want to either start a new cooperative or turn their existing workplace into a cooperative. We will have an art area for people to create signs and artwork in solidarity with workers, the earth and the general strike. We are offering local organic soup for a sliding scale from $0-20 so that everyone can afford delicious healthy food. Local Sprouts Cooperative is organizing everyday in solidarity with fellow workers to create a community and a world of respect and mutual support.

Local Sprouts Cooperative and Cafe
649 Congress St. Portland, ME 04101
207-899-3529, food@localsprouts.coop

As interest in the local-food movement expands in Portland, lack of coordination can lead to duplicate or missed volunteering efforts and resources. A series of monthly public conversations began about a year ago as an attempt to solve that problem, and is now leading to a bigger community-wide event with the same goal.

Hosted by Local Sprouts cooperative co-owner Jonah Fertig and Jeremy Bloom, a local web producer and “Internet farmer,” the Local Foods Breakfast lets people interested in the local food movement to discuss trends and events including food economy and bartering systems, emergency food systems, farming and ocean activities, school and community gardens, composting and recycling. The discussions are on the third Tuesday of each month, and run roughly from 8 to 9:30 am.

It’s held at an iconic venue of Portland’s local-food movement, Local Sprouts Café, at 649 Congress Street. The café, as the hub of an organization created in 2007 and incorporated as a worker-owned cooperative in July 2008, serves food with local and organic ingredients to build connections within the community, to grow sustainability, to support Maine farmers, to protect the environment, and to expand the local economy.

The breakfasts are an extension of those efforts. “There are so many great people in the area who have ideas for projects, but there can be a disconnect,” Fertig says. “This is about making connections and getting people together. It is a way to see where there are overlaps in what people are doing, where there are holes and where collaborations can be made.”

He said it is important to increase the conversation, communication, and collaboration of what people are working on in the area’s food systems.

Attendees, whether they are farmers, business owners, lawyers, accountants, schools, emergency-food service organizations, or people with technical, marketing, or writing skills, can meet and discuss ways to share resources and collaborate.

The gatherings led to a desire for a larger food discussion, presently called the Portland Community Food Forum: Creating a Healthy and Resilient Food System. It’s tentatively scheduled to be held on Thursday, April 19, at the Woodfords Congregational Church in Portland, Fertig says.

The forum will be similar to the breakfasts, but much larger. Fertig expects the forum to include presentations on specific topics, but the bulk of the time will be for people to meet one another, and to gather in large-group and small-table discussions.

“The breakfasts have been successful in connecting people, and the forum would bring that information to a larger group,” Fertig says. “Just like the concept of Local Sprouts, these meetings are about how with a supportive environment, ideas and collaborations can grow.”

Lisa Fernandes is the coordinator of the Eat Local Foods Coalition and founder and organizer of the Resilience Hub–Portland Maine Permaculture group. ELFC is a state-wide group that meets monthly and works toward a locally-based food system. But while ELFC brings together organizations, agencies, businesses, and individuals who are involved in strengthening the local food system for a monthly meeting, Fernandes says there is no equivalent platform for people just in the greater Portland area. “This forum we are putting together is experimental in a way,” she says. “It hasn’t been done in Portland, but we are creating one space where everyone involved in the local food system can come together.”

if and it – www.ifandit.com

Glass Fingers – www.glassfingers.net
(voted best local album of the year by USM The Free Press)

Christopher Pulsoni – www.christopherpulsoni.com/

Local food and drink specials and Champagne Toast at Midnight!

“Meet Your Farmer”

no charge – donations to MFT gratefully accepted

* Breaking down a whole pig into primal cuts

* Processing primal cuts into various retail cuts of pork using only hand tools

* How-to on using some less-common parts of the pig (head, skin, lungs, spleen, etc.)

* Basic intro to making bacon, hams, & salami via brining, dry-curing, fermenting and drying

* Opinionated commentary about:

* Happy Animals

* Food Sovereignty & Security

* Rare & Unusual Gastronomic Delights

* Rural Economies

* Marauding Geese

* Etc.

December 4th, 5-7pm $35.  Limit 10 participants!

To reserve your slot contact Meara Smith @ 207 899 3529 or
meara@localsproutscooperative.com

Look for future workshops covering the creation of cured pork products in more detail!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nate Brimmer raises 100% organic fed & pasture raised pork, chicken, eggs and goose at the Giant’s Belly Farm/JED Collective, in Greene Maine.

Goose, Pork and Eggs are currently available for purchase.  Your support is appreciated!

For more information about our products and farm practices, or to place an order, please call 207.415.4458 or email meat@riseup.net

All they want is to re-start the silent machines. But this simple act – The Take – has the power to turn the globalization debate on its head.

In the wake of Argentina’s dramatic economic collapse in 2001, Latin America’s most prosperous middle class finds itself in a ghost town of abandoned factories and mass unemployment. The Forja auto plant lies dormant until its former employees take action. They’re part of a daring new movement of workers who are occupying bankrupt businesses and creating jobs in the ruins of the failed system.

Join us during the First Friday Art Walk for live dance & music featuring an all-female step team, spoken word and live hip-hop.