EA Co-op

Some of you know that I’ve gotten involved with the East Aurora Cooperative Market, which is still in the forming stages here.  They have a board and are working on growing their member base before moving onto the next step, such as working on selecting an actual space for the store and raising money.

Yikes!  Totally did not notice the woman in the tie-dyed spandex shorts when I was taking the photo…

Anyway, with my writing/PR/photography background and interests, I’ve joined the “media/communications” team of volunteers, mostly in a photographing and blogging capacity.  The first thing I’ve gotten involved with is the mural project.

Alix Martin, above left and center, is a local artist who owns a gallery and has also gotten involved with the co-op.  She volunteered to paint a mural on the outside brick wall of the co-op building.  She’s been recruiting youngsters, some her own and some from other members of the co-op, to help with the project.

What I’ve done is document the mural on the EA co-op’s blog.  I’ve really enjoyed meeting new people through the co-op and delving more into photography and blogging, although I STILL have yet to really teach myself how to use Andrew’s camera.  With school now, I’m not sure I see that happening any time soon…

But, thankfully my new friends at the co-op don’t think my lack of photography skills is a show-stopper, so I’ll keep on clicking away, both at the camera and the keyboard.  In fact, I have another project to start working on: being their FOOD BLOGGER!

I cannot tell you how excited I am to do this.  The more I think about it, the more perfect it seems to me.  I love blogging about food, but thefrozenpineapple isn’t just about food; it’s about everything that makes me, well, ME.  I’ve struggled a lot with how to “define” this blog (not that it’s necessary to do so, by any means) and I’ve never felt like an ‘exclusive’ food blogger, because there is just so much more to this than food.

Which is why being the food blogger for the co-op will be a fantastic complement to what I’m doing now!

I’ll write a weekly “food column” of sorts that will focus on seasonal, local produce with information and recipes.  I’m going to try to come up with as many recipes on my own as I can for this “column,” which I’m looking forward to and see as a bit of a challenge.  I’m highly recipe-driven, not because I’m not creative, but because I enjoy actually USING the cookbooks I’ve bought and really, these cookbook authors know what they’re doing.  Anyway, I’ll try to come up with recipes on my own, but depending on lots of factors (my school work and time, ingredients, creativity), I may have to resort to promoting some of my favorite chef’s recipes as well.

I’m starting with a promo for the “Locavore Challenge,” which is run by the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York, and is something the co-op is helping to promote.  It’s a month-long campaign to both educate and encourage consumers to buy/grow/eat local, organic food.  In just perusing the list of ways to be involved, I realized I already do a bunch of them already, shopping at a farmer’s market, growing a backyard garden, buying local honey and composting kitchen scraps.  One of the things to do for the challenge is to either host or attend a potluck in the month of September that features local, organic food.  The co-op wants to get the word out and give members ideas on what to make for their potluck, which is where I come in!

My post on that should be out this weekend, so I’ll let you all know when that goes live.  So exciting!

If you’d like to follow me and my “food column,” (I’m trying to come up with a short, catchy “name” for it to differentiate it from other posts I do for the co-op, like the mural project or other “newsy” items) stay tuned to the EA co-op’s blog to see what they’re up to and what I come up with for them.  I’ve linked to their blog on my blogroll, which is in the lower right of your computer screen.