by Henry Patterson, SLF Board Member

As a member of the SLF Board of Directors, I have recently taken on the Business Owners Membership Chair. My instinct to grow membership is to create an exciting new SLF program that would entice non-members to join. I have been asking myself, and others around me: “What the hell are we here for, anyway?”

Neighborhood Networking Chapters in SLFs Future?

SLF is about staying local. Perhaps, when thinking about what a new program would look like we should get even MORE local? There are nineteen identified neighborhoods in Somerville. 19! I believe the businesses in those neighborhoods could reap some serious benefits from networking with their immediate business neighbors.

We could foster “chapters” of SLF which are neighborhood based. Since I am rooted in the restaurant business (for the last 35 years anyway) my idea is to recruit the restaurants to become the chapter clubhouses. I envision the restaurants in a neighborhood each hosting 1-2 monthly meetings per year.

The business owners would convene at 11:00am on, say, the first Wednesday of the month, with a simple agenda of each attendee taking one minute to inform the group about his or her business mission and goals – in other words, practice the proverbial “elevator speech” – and then have a simple soup and sandwich lunch.

These meetings would be open only to SLF members in that neighborhood, so interested qualifying non-members would have to join SLF to participate. (That’s my simple membership growth strategy.)

I expect it wouldn’t be long before the chapter members cook up plans for a neighborhood logo, neighborhood events, cross promotions or other ways to help each other realize their goals.

And since I am rooted in Union Square (the same 35 years) my obvious next step is to try to prove this concept in Union Square. Anyone who like to would like to help create the Union Square SLF Chapter, please email me.

Henry Patterson is an SLF Board Member and, as a Union Square landlord, only works with local independent businesses. He has founded and operated and consulted with successful restaurants for over 30 years. Currently he is focused on the financial management and growth of several restaurants, including, in Somerville, Ronnarong Thai Tapas Bar. He lives in Concord with his wife Claudine.

(Editors Note: Recently the USDA approved a plan to allow Monsanto to introduce Genetically Modified crops engineered to work better with their Round Up Product.  The Natural Foods and Organic communities have been buzzing ever since.  Cambridge Local First Executive Committee Member and Co-Founder of Cambridge Naturals, Michael Kanter, wrote in an email to me and some others:

“Our health and welfare and that of our future generations depends on conscientious people who care deeply for what it means to be “natural.”  And how “natural” is genetic modification of seeds with toxic chemicals? To that regard we support the work of the Organic Consumers Association and their challenge to businesses that seek to control the future of our agricultural production and ultimately our health and well being.”

Our post today is from a SLF member, mother and locavore Renee Thomas Scott, who is trying to organize community support for a change of plans.  If you run a business or would like to get involved, her contact info is below ~jG)

By Renee Thomas Scott

Originally posted on Cooking the Seasons, a Somerville food blog. Renée is looking for local stores that are willing to have a petition up. If you are interested, please email her at [email protected]

We began this blog two and a half years ago with the idea that we wanted to make our small impact on the world, or rather, NOT make an impact on the world, by supporting local agriculture, growing some our own food, and making a concerted effort to be more aware of what we ate, where it came from, how it was produced, how it lived.

Now we are faced with a crisis that is forcing us to fully acknowledge all aspects of our food: Monsanto is successfully attempting to introduce a Round-up resistant alfalfa seed; has already introduced “suicide seeds” whose plants are unable to produce viable seeds of their own, preventing seed collection, which has allowed the human species to survive for thousands of years; farmers are being strong-armed into buying from Monsanto; those that attempt to go it alone will have their fields compromised by genetically engineered seeds, eliminating organic and heirloom and all other non-Monsanto crops from remaining pure; and to top it all off, we have no labeling legislation to inform the public when they are buying food that does contain genetically modified ingredients.

Just in the past week, Whole Foods, Organic Valley, and Stonyfield Farms pulled their dogs from the fight to prevent genetically engineered crops, saying, in effect, that it was hopeless, yet, ironically, remaining hopeful that if the USDA has some regulation, it’s better than nothing, so we should celebrate! You can read here what they actually said, but I think I’m summarizing it fairly accurately, though admittedly snidely.

The New York Times had an article, which you can read here, saying that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack caved into pressure from Monsanto.

There is a very interesting organization I have just learned about this week, called The Organic Consumers Association, and they are a wealth of information about this topic. Whole Foods feels wronged by them, and they have an interesting comeback on their blog.

This article explains the whole story in better detail than I do.

I could go on, siting interesting reading, but the point is, we need to do something. This is one of those times that if we choose to ignore the problem, it will not go away, now, nor ever.

My overall impression is that first and foremost, we need to do all we can to get labeling legislation passed and try to prevent Monsanto from being given carte blanche to grow GE seeds wherever they like. At first I felt very angry at Whole Foods, Organic Valley, and Stonyfield Farms from caving, but I’m backing off my original intent to boycott them. They are not sticking their noses out farther than they need to, but they are also not the problem. Lack of regulation is the problem.

So, I have volunteered to be a distributor and collector of the Organic Consumer’s Association petition to get labeling laws for our congressional district (8th district, Massachusetts). I ask you to please sign this petition if you see it. If you, too, want to help distribute it, please do. Ask your friends in other parts of the country to do so, as well. Here is a link for more information. I also am asking any local stores, especially food oriented, though any store would be great, to allow me to put petitions up on your premises. This affects us all.

This is probably near-impossible to succeed, but if we don’t try, it definitely won’t, so please take a few minutes to read some of these articles and do anything you can to help.

(This is reposted from Cooking the Seasons, a Somerville food blog. Renée is looking for local stores that are willing to have a petition up. If you are interested, please email her at [email protected].  The views and opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of Somerville Local First, its board or staff)

We are really excited to announce the distribution of our 2nd annual coupon book!  This year’s project was done in collaboration with our sister  network Cambridge Local First, and we think you’re going to love it.  For just $10, you can save at some SERIOUS money at some of of your favorite local businesses.

The best part about this project:  Everybody wins!

• You win by saving money pretty much right off the bat.  Almost every offer is worth at least $5 and % discounts START at 15%.
• Local Businesses win by meeting you.  By exploring new local businesses with our coupon book, local businesses get the opportunity to make you a  loyal customer.
• SLF & CLF win by raising much needed capital with your purchase, to support our work in the community.  To see what SLF did in 2010, check out our Annual Report

To purchase your book, head  over to some of these local faves:

• Blue Cloud Gallery
• Dave’s Fresh Pasta
• Davis Squared
• GRAND / poor little rich girl
• Sherman Market

And finally…

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank Wendy Friedman, our Publication Designer and de facto Creative Director for her amazing contributions to our work….and stay tuned for our fav Wendy design yet in this year’s Local’s Guide to Somerville!

by Wenzday Jane, CEO - Metro Pedal Power

Sometimes, especially in the coldest months of January and February, I ask myself WHY.

Sometimes I wonder if I am a moron or just completely insane. Sometimes it is difficult to maintain confidence that what we are trying to do is worthwhile or that this business can be profitable or compete in the current market. I honestly don’t know. Just as I don’t understand the universe or humans place in it, so I do not know, except by a leap of faith, that I am ever doing the right thing.
This morning, I hopped on the trike and did our Recycling pickups around Cambridge. As I pedaled out of the Casella recycling facility, above the soft, slow, steady sound of my crank and chain turning, all I could hear was the sound of oil burning. Motors burning oil. Motors burning oil. Motors burning oil. If I listened more deeply, I could also make out the underlying “black-noise” of rubber on bituminous ground. As pedaled along Cambridge St, under the I-93 overpass, I thought of how much easier our lives are now in the oil age. Where we just flip a switch and push a gas pedal and can “effortlessly” move thousands of pounds in an instant. Wow, that’s nice. So easy and convenient. Anyone can do it. It levels the playing field, in a way. You do not need strength or guts or determination or even good health.
Anyone can drive a truck.

My next thoughts were of the wars that have been fought for this privilege. The wars that have been fought for oil. And I suppose this is where I would start sounding like a hippie. But it made me realise anew why i do what I do. Why I do not take the easy way out and just get a car or a truck to do my work. Because I would rather push myself to my limit every day and struggle against the odds than support the oil industry and the industrial-military complex that backs it. I just do not want to be a part of that cycle of war and the corporations that are killing people for access to their oil.

Even if I am wasting my time, even if nothing matters, even if we fail, at least I will die knowing that I did my best to live in accordance with some morality that values community over commodification and one that puts people above profits.

That’s my sermon from the saddle this morning. I leave you with this picture of Chris on our new blue recycling truck. He is a star.

(Ed. Note - The views expressed in this piece are held by its author, and are not necessarily the views of Somerville Local First or its staff)

When Somerville Local First put out the call for volunteers to work on their first ever annual report, I responded for a simple reason — I liked what I knew of the organization and wanted to help them out while also learning a bit about how they work. I attended several SLF events over the past year and I had seen their influence grow in local businesses and the community as a whole. SLF’s work has made me love the community here in Somerville even more than I did before, and has made me feel like a part of something important and growing.

Working on this report over the last month or so, I came to realize how many amazing strides SLF and its members and partners have made towards a more sustainable economy focused around local independent businesses. Local businesses are thriving and supporting one another in their successes. People are shifting their buying habits to small neighborhood businesses, and are feeling more connected to their communities as a result. Check out the annual report and see for yourself how SLF’s campaigns have helped shift buying behavior, how their events have rallied the local community, and how their publications have given people the resources they need to be informed local consumers!

To view the report in your browser, click here.  Feel free to right click and save as to read on your device.

(Ed. Note - We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again:  we are incredibly blessed to have so much support in the community.  Doing this project with no budget and not much time invested on our side, an engaged community member helped create something that tells our story for our members (existing and prospective), our community partners and potential supporters/funders of SLF.  Thank you Somerville, we <3 you too!!!)