News & Blog

Natural DIY Toothpaste Recipe

Many of the health-conscious member-owners at Urban Greens care about what personal products they use. You might read the ingredients very carefully before buying a product. I’m one of you too. Although I try to pick better products as much as possible, there are still things in ingredient lists on many products that I don’t know . That’s why I started making my own personal care products. I posted an “environmentally friendly pesticide” recipe in an earlier post that I strongly encourage you to try. Today, I would like to introduce you to a toothpaste recipe that my husband and I use and love.

Base Ingredients:

1 unit Calcium powder

1 unit Baking soda

about 1 - 1.5 units Coconut oil

Food grade essential oil of your choice (I like a mint and orange combo)

Optional ingredients:

1 unit Xylitol (if you want to add sweetness to the base recipe)

How to make it:

Mix the powder ingredients in a bowl and add the coconut oil until it gets to the desired consistency, then add essential oils.

From the Urbangreens board meeting (6/21/17)

This week I had the privilege to be at the Urbangreens board meeting that is held every Wednesday night. I think I'm among the few who has been to a board meeting without being a board member, so I would like to write about it today. I believe many of us non-board members want to know what they are up to, especially in this time before the opening of the new market. Let me remind you that board meetings are open to everyone. You can see the schedule at urbangreens.com/events.

At the meeting, I learned that our co-op now has almost 800 members, who are not only in Providence, but also from throughout the state! This number even before the opening of the market is encouraging. I can see the expectations are high! I will list some of the things they discussed below.

• Finance

• How to approach the groundbreaking of the store (hint: it will involve food)

• Deep discussion on the new logo and branding

• GM governance policies

• and so on!

Even though they still can't say for sure when the exact date will be for the opening of the market (because so much permitting, construction and logistics are involved), the board members are definitely moving things forward. We’ll be hearing about the groundbreaking of the market in no time!

Environmentally Friendly Pesticide for Your Garden

Safer and cheaper DYI alternative to commercial pesticides

The weather is finally good and it’s time for home gardener’s to get to work! I see every hardware store featuring pesticides for home gardeners, but I believe that I’m not the only one who is concerned about the long-term environmental effect of using commercial pesticides (Glyphosate). I did a lot of research on DYI alternatives for Glyphosate-based pesticides and found a few variations of a vinegar based DYI product. After trying a few different kinds (and even trying Glyphosate-based pesticide against my will for research purposes!), I’m convinced that the environmentally friendly and all-natural solution works not only as good but even better. Here is the recipe I would like to share.

Ingredients:

1/2 gallon White Distilled Vinegar

UG Member Meeting Vote Details

Vote Details

Council Member Elections

The council is nominating 5 current council members whose terms are up for re-election to the cooperative council, as well as nominating 1 new member to serve on the council:

Antonieta Falconi (current council Secretary)

Project Update - 2/15/17

Urban Greens Food Co-op rendering

*Rendering courtesy of Truth Box Architects

Happy (belated) New Year!

We've been so busy, we can't believe it's already February! I'm sure some of you have gone by the future site of Urban Greens and noticed it's been pretty quiet over there. While it may seem still, we've been working overtime on all the details required to break ground this spring.

Over the last year, a lot has happened for Urban Greens: In partnership with Truth Box Architects and D+P Realty, the overall development was awarded a Rebuild RI tax credit, helping make sure the project moves forward. And since May, Urban Greens has raised nearly $400,000 towards store opening costs! Due to some planning changes to the overall project (to both the housing aspect and our store) we were not able to break ground before winter, but we are ready to go this spring!

Project Changes & Timeline

As you can see from the updated rendering above, the project has undergone a significant change. After reviewing several options, our partners in the development, Truth Box Architects and D+P Realty, felt it made more sense to keep Urban Greens as a standalone building, moving housing from above the store to next door. This standalone store will have even more visibility, and give us more flexibility in our store design. While changes like this mean some extra planning time, we’re very excited about the new design!

It’s important to note that this will push the store’s opening by a few months. Urban Greens had a goal of opening by the end of 2017, and because of the schedule change upfront, we now plan to open in early 2018. We understand this has been a long project, but we’re committed to seeing this through—and we want members and supporters to know how committed we are to this project.

We’ll be planning a groundbreaking event for this spring, as well as our annual member meeting, and we’ll be sending out emails soon with even more specifics.