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Karma’s best practices for reducing food waste
Karma members have a yearning to enjoy food at the height of its quality. Karma members also feel a deep sense of responsibility for the impact of our food consumption on the environment and society. One aspect of this is to ensure that food is enjoyed as much as possible and not wasted. Canada wastes…
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From the GM—September 2017
Dear Karma Members, I hope you have all enjoyed the summer. Though summer is not technically over, gears start to shift as we all get back to the regular grind at work or school. At the store, we start to see more faces and have more regular committee meetings which drive our vision and mission,…
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What to call an egg: a visit with the Howick Community Farmers
First published in The Chronicle (Spring 2016) What do you want to know about the eggs you buy? This is no idle question. I set out to interview some of the people behind the Howick Community Farmers (HCF or Hoffnung) eggs; but they interviewed me, too. HCF is a three-year-old partnership of farmers in an old-order Mennonite…
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From the GM — August 2017
Dear Karma Members, We hope you are enjoying the summer! As people are enjoying vacations and cottages, things tend to slow down here at the store and we experience our usual summer sales slump. That said, we still have lots of exciting things happening around the store for those of you who are staycationing and…
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Meals on a budget: a day in the life
The challenge: to produce healthy meals on a tight budget, using all-Karma ingredients Breakfast: super morning oats Total cost per serving: $1.38 Prep. time: 12 minutes Ingredients (for one serving): ½ cup bulk organic rolled oats — $0.16 Small handful of bulk organic nuts/seeds (e.g. walnuts, filberts, pumpkin seeds) — $0.57 Small handful of bulk organic…
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Ask Reece: Hosting a dinner party & Keeping herbs fresh
Dear Reece, I am planning to host a dinner party, but even with a short list of friends, I will be accommodating one vegetarian, one vegan, at least one person who has celiac disease (plus some who are wheat/gluten-sensitive), and various allergies. How can I even begin to prepare a menu? I’d like to make…
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Spotlight: Karma’s vegan products
First published in The Chronicle (Spring 2016) Whether you’ve chosen to go vegan as an ethical lifestyle decision or are just trying it out for health reasons, Karma’s got you covered for all of the tough-to-cut favourites and alternatives to items you might be surprised contain animal-derived ingredients. Sunflower Kitchen pesto Pesto is a product…
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Karma’s New e-Newsletter and Blog
We’re joining forces! Over the past several months, members of our co-op’s board and Chronicle Committee have been working on combining our member e-newsletter with the great content from our printed newsletter, The Chronicle. What you’ve received today is the result of this work: a monthly e-newsletter called the “e-Chronicle.” The e-Chronicle merges the monthly…
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Pfenning’s and the business of organic growing
Farming is a strange business these days. Steeped in tradition and rooted in love of the land, vegetable growing now involves layers of regulations, packaging and brand development, processing infrastructure, logistics, accounting, and supply chain relationships. We consumers demand vegetables year-round, while southern Ontario fields yield fresh produce for about half that time. And we…
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What do all the labels mean?
Karma carries food items with a variety of labels. But what do those certifications mean, and who sets the standards? The Food Issues Committee has done the research—so let’s set the record straight on some of these labels. Products that are grown in China and carry an organic logo must meet Canadian Organic Standards (COS).…