Want all of the benefits of organic, local produce, meat, and dairy with the convenience of a grocery store? A food co-op might be what you're looking for. They're pretty easy to find and in many cases, you can walk out with bags full of groceries for a fraction of what you'd pay at a traditional supermarket. Here's how to find and get involved with one near you.

A Food Co-Op? What's That?

If you're not familiar with the concept, food co-ops operate like grocery stores, but are owned by members of the cooperative—in other words, they're owned and managed by the people who shop and work there. Because of this they have greater flexibility in the products they carry and how much they sell those products for. Most co-ops specialize in natural, organic, and locally grown foods, and develop relationships with nearby farms to supply their dairy, meat, and produce. Photo by glenngould.

Even better, because members pay in to the cooperative to keep it alive, those products are often sold at a discount. Co-ops are also known for offering cooking classes, gardening lessons, monthly grocery baskets, and other community perks to their members. Some co-ops require you to become a contributing member before you can shop there, but if you shop frequently, you'll get it back quickly in bargains on the stuff you take home.

How Can I Find One Near Me?

The Coop Directory Service has a comprehensive list of co-ops and buying clubs across the US and Canada. LocalHarvest, who you might remember from our article on Community Supported Agriculture, also has a directory of food co-ops around the US. If you're still having trouble finding one, Cooperative Grocer's directory may be able to help as well.

You'll have better luck finding a co-op near you if you live in a city or suburb, but the demand for high quality, local food is high enough that more open in rural areas every year. In some cases, the closest co-op near you may focus on a specific type of food, like gourmet cheeses dairy or all-organic produce. Don't be afraid to shop around or keep looking until you find one that's more grocery store than niche market.

What's The Catch?

As we mentioned, many co-ops expect their shoppers to support the cooperative by becoming members. That means yearly dues, and like the big-box buying clubs, you can come in and look around for free, but you won't be able to check out without proof of membership. You can sign up on the spot of course, but make sure you check out the membership fees before you sign on the dotted line. Photo by Jason Riedy.

On the bright side, many cooperatives let you pay in volunteer hours instead of dollars, so if you have a few spare hours on the weekend and want to get out of the house, you can lend a hand stocking shelves, or indulge your secret passion for box-stacking. If you're interested in learning a new skill, you might even be able to work with the local butcher or nearby farmer to pick up what they know while you work. You never know, it could be a rewarding experience.

What do you think? Are you a member of a co-op in your area? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Photo by DrStarbuck.

Cutting the cable and switching to streaming video doesn't mean you have to miss out on the wealth of free, local, over-the-air HD TV channels in your area. All you need is an antenna—but if you're like me and live in an area where reception is spotty, you need an antenna that can bring in those local channels as clear as day without putting an ugly, boxy antenna on or behind your TV. The Mohu Leaf is the perfect antenna for the job.

The folks at Mohu were kind enough to send me a Leaf and a Leaf Plus to try out, and considering I cut the cable months ago in favor of streaming video from Netflix and my favorite IPTV channels, I was happy to give it a shot. Our own Adam Pash already owns a Leaf, and both of us agree—it works as advertised, if not better. The Mohu is as paper thin as its specs imply: It's about as thick as a laminated sheet of paper, 9 inches x 11.5 inches rectangular, omnidirectional, and can be mounted anywhere. It's widest at the base where the connector cable attaches to the body of the antenna.

The Leaf is white on one side and black on the other (purely cosmetic) so you can choose which color you want facing out in your room. Mohu claims the Leaf can receive channels from up to 30 miles from broadcasting towers (you can check what you're in range of here), which makes it ideal for cable-cutters or anyone looking for free HD programming in urban or suburban areas. It also supports full 1080p HD video if your local broadcasters are sending it. When I set it up I was surprised at the number of channels I was able to get and how clear they came in, even though I live in an urban area. Just putting the Leaf on the wall directly behind my TV yielded a surprising number of local and public channels and great video quality.

The Leaf ships with adhesive hooks you can use to mount and reposition it if necessary, but once you dial in your local channels, you'll want to leave it where it is. The best part of having a paper-thin antenna on the wall though is that once you have it where you want it and you're watching TV, you can completely ignore the fact that it's there and you don't have to deal with an ugly box or other indoor antenna sitting on your entertainment center or next to your window taking up space.

There are plenty of other omnidirectional HD antennae out there, but the Leaf can be mounted anywhere, works remarkably well, and boasts some great reviews at Amazon. It comes in two flavors, the original Leaf and the Leaf Plus, an amplified version that also supports external power, even over USB if you choose. The original Leaf retails for $44.99 direct (currently on sale for $35.99 direct and $39.19 at Amazon) and the Leaf Plus retails for $74.99 direct, both with free shipping. Both models are available now.

Mohu Leaf Indoor HDTV Antenna

Most travelers want to experience the authentic culture of the places they visit—especially the foods and drinks that the natives eat. Fresh out of beta, Eat Your World aims to be a global guide to local grub.

The site currently offers native or traditional food recommendations for several destinations around the world, most of them in North America, but a few in Europe and elsewhere. Clicking on Colombia on the interactive map, for example, you'll learn about almojabana, pan de bono, and pan de yuca—Colombia's savory baked breads and where to buy them. Visit the Czech Republic virtually to read about koleno or roast pork knee and which trams to take to Klášterní šenk to order it.

Travel-food writer Laura Siciliano-Rosen and photographer Scott Rosen run the site, but Eat Your World also takes user-submitted photos, stories and tips, which makes it a great, budding site for travelers to help other travelers find authentic eats.

Eat Your World | via the New York Times

A report by Food Safety News earlier this week claims that the majority of the honey available in most grocery and department stores in the United States doesn't legally meet the definition of "honey." It's been "ultra-filtered," in order to produce a super-clear product that won't crystallize. In the process, the honey loses any and all pollen, which is required to trace the honey to its origins in case of contamination and may have health benefits. Here's how to find the good stuff.

This week's report by Food Safety News sampled honey at grocery stores around the country, and found most of it has been filtered to the point where it has no pollen at all. The World Health Organization (WHO), the European Commission, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) all state that in order for a product to be called honey, there has to be some pollen content. The industry group that represents honey manufacturers and importers, the National Honey Board, says this is misleading, and says they're just doing what their customers want. Food Safety Watch disagrees, and says removing all of the pollen from honey removes any way to test for its geographic origins, doesn't improve shelf-life, negates the possible health benefits of pollen, and is actually being used to cover up the import of unregulated and often contaminated honey from China through another country like India and finally into the US. In fact, in the EU, pollen must be listed as an ingredient on bottles of honey so consumers know what they're getting. The FDA, on the other hand, hasn't responded to the allegations, and doesn't currently inspect honey for pollen content.

The best way to deal with the controversy is to avoid it altogether. Real honey, sometimes marketed as "raw honey," is closer than you think. Natural food stores and farmers markets are far more likely to stock honey where the pollen has not been filtered out. They also tend to carry local honey, harvested by apiaries in your community that could use the support. Local Harvest, who we've mentioned can help you find a CSA, also can help you find an apiary or beekeeper in your area that sells their own honey. The closer to home you buy your honey, the better off you'll be until the honey-laundering matter is settled.

What do you think? Do you already buy local honey, or know good ways to find it? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Photo by Robert Neff.

Tests Show Most Store Honey Isn't Honey | Food Safety News