| Summer Solstice 2009 | A mirador is "A turret, window or balcony that commands an extensive view" |
| Especially for Summer Excalibur Update New Items Arghand Soap from Afghanistan Coyuchi Organic Cotton Employee News Tip of the Month – Cooking Pizza on a Pizza Stone Why Organic Cotton? Mural Update – Exciting News! Division-Clinton Street Fair Raw Benefit Dinner Gift Registry No, you haven't missed any newsletters. We just haven't put one out since last winter! July 22, 2009 is a very special day for Mirador Community Store - we celebrate our 10th anniversary in business. We reflect on this in the way most of us mark an anniversary, especially of some years. "That 10 years went so fast!" Just like a 10 year old child - "We can't believe how grown up you are, Mirador!" By all measures, we have to call it a success and the recipe has been: Lots of hard work, patience, luck (being at the right place at the right time), listening to our intuition and not wanting the whole cake but a slice that would sustain us. And the last part, a huge part without which it would have never worked is you, our customer. We feel so fortunate to live in & work in Portland where so many people make the connection between their local businesses and a sustainable economy. In these challenging times, we routinely hear from our customers that they want us to keep going and they help make that happen by shopping at Mirador when they need something we carry. So a heartfelt thank you to our Portland customers and everyone beyond for your help in making this possible. On to year 11..... Lynn & Steve Especially for Summer! There are some products at Mirador that are geared particularly to summer and here are just a few. Outdoor clothes lines - we have a variety of options for air drying your wash. What a great way to save energy, get outdoors a bit and impart to your cloth goods that great fresh air smell. It is hard to believe but true, in some areas of the country, outdoor drying is illegal! In Oregon, we just passed a law prohibiting homeowners associations from banning outdoor clothes drying. In this day of increased energy consciousness, it just makes sense to use the gift of free solar energy to dry your clothes whenever possible! Wind Chimes, garden gloves and hats, bird feeders, and Zen Garden Gnomes by Steve Herrington. In the kitchen department, all the great tools for food preservation. If you've been wanting to make some jam and preserve it, this could be the summer you do it. Investing in just a few items sets you up for years of "putting food by". Save money with our canning kit special (see below). However you spend your time for the next few months, enjoy it to the hilt! Canning Kit Special This year we are offering a "canning kit" special. Get a water bath canner with rack, or a steam canner, plus jar lifter, stainless steel canning funnel, and jar lifter for $69. These are all the tools you need to get started canning high-acid foods (fruit and tomatoes). Other Food Preserving Items In addition to canning products, we also carry Excalibur Food Dehydrators and regular ceramic crocks, Harsch fermenting crocks and Perfect Picklers for fermenting vegetables (sauerkraut, pickles, kimchee, etc.). We also have a number of books on canning and other food preserving methods such as drying, fermentation and alternative storage methods. Excalibur Dehydrator Update Excalibur is dropping what they now call the "Economy" models of their food dryers. These are the ones we've always carried (and until recently were not able to buy any other models). The new models will have upgraded electrical components, heavy duty motor, new plastic and a 10-year warranty. They will also include Preserve It Naturally, a great book on food drying (which we carry separately); a $24.95 value. New Items
Arghand Soap Arghand soap is a new product for us and we think a unique opportunity to connect with the country of Afghanistan. Since 2005, a woman named Sarah Chayes has been running the Arghand cooperative, giving farmers in Southern Afghanistan an alternative to the opium crop as well as the chance to work collectively and be self-suffficient. Ms. Chayes originally came to Afghanistan in 2001 as a reporter for NRP and left her journalistic career to help this war torn country. She has a book out about her work: The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban. We are carrying the Arghand soap in two sizes ($8 & $3) and it already has many fans. It's lovely to look at and use; the soap is made from the local fruits, nuts and botanicals and enriched with precious Pomegranate Seed Oil. Each of the large soaps has a bit of turban around it and comes with a tag that tells it's story. A purchase of Arghand soap brings multi layers of benefit to the Afghans and a way for us to help while enjoying their elegant, handmade soap. Coyuchi Organic Cotton Bedding and Towels We have carried Coyuchi products for over 5 years now; the company itself started in 1991 and to their credit, they were an early participant in organic goods manufacturing. We stock a good part of their sheet selections and towels and order in Duvet covers & a few other specialty items upon request. We order from their US office in Point Reyes, CA and the goods are manufactured in India. Working with Coyuchi has been a pleasure for many reasons. They offer a quality product and stand behind it; the staff is very helpful and they get our orders out accurately and quickly. The real beauty of the operation is the product and the fact that every item is manufactured in organic cotton and Fair Trade. While Coyuchi has always manufactured organic & Fair Trade, as of 2008 the company moved to an exclusive growing relationship with an organization called The Chetna Project. This organization was started in Indian in 2004 with 400 farmers and today is 3000 farmers strong. The Chetna Project empowers the lives of peasant farmers who cultivate cotton on a small scale. Growing organic cotton, Fair Trade certified brings the farmers certain benefits such as:
Click here for more information on the reasons to choose organic cotton, "Why Organic Cotton?" Employee News Rhea left us June 10 to take some time off before starting a Master's program in Peace Studies at PSU in the fall. She will be living on campus and immersing herself in her studies for the next couple of years. We will miss her as an employee (she has been doing most of our accounting work) as well as a friend but wish her luck in her studies and her future. We have hired Adam Brockman to replace Rhea. Adam is the first person we have hired who already has experience using Quickbooks in the various aspects of our business, as well as knowing how to run a store like ours. He contacted us through email after visiting Portland with his fiancée last year. After seeing his resumé and talking to him, he seemed perfect for the job. He was working at a store in Evanston, Illinois, Healthy Green Goods, similar to Mirador in many ways. His experience should let us transition easier from Rhea's departure. We can already tell, after just a few days on the job, that he will be a great asset to us! Tip of the Month – Cooking Pizza on a Pizza Stone When I began using a pizza stone to cook pizza on, I had a lot of trouble getting it from counter to stone without it either sticking to the counter or sticking to the peel (paddle) and making a mess on the stone. Then I discovered that if I build the pizza on parchment paper and then transfer the pizza along with the paper to the stone, it was easy. The paper is porous so you get the benefit of the stone on the crust, but it allows the pizza to slide easily off the peel. No more mess! Why Organic Cotton? (This article was written by Honna Veerkamp over a year and a half ago for us to put in a newsletter. It finally made it. Honna is now living outside Arcata on some land her brother and fiancée bought in a very cute little house.) Cotton has long been prized as a natural fiber. Durable enough for industrial applications and soft enough for the most intimate products, cotton accounts for about half of the world’s textile sales. But conventional cotton is far from benign. Standard cotton production starts with genetically modified seeds that are treated with insecticides and fungicides (about 70 percent of conventional cotton seeds grown in the US are GMO). Toxic chemicals are utilized throughout the crop’s life-cycle and conversion to fiber. Cotton production accounts for more than 10 percent of pesticides used world-wide, including one quarter of the world’s insecticides. Approximately one third of a pound of chemicals are required to grow a pound of cotton fiber—about enough to make one T-shirt. Conventional monoculture cotton farming depletes soil of nutrients, which is compensated for with synthetic fertilizers. These chemicals, in turn, require intensive irrigation. In contrast, organic cotton production usually incorporates crop rotation. This variation builds healthy soil that retains more water and requires less irrigation. By conventional standards, herbicides are mixed into the soil and applied topically to cotton plants. Organic farmers use the old-fashioned methods of weeding and hoeing. Pesticides used on conventional cotton are some of the most hazardous on the market. Some of these are broad-spectrum organophosphates which were originally developed as nerve gasses during World War II. One crop may be sprayed up to 30 or 40 times, and aerial spraying is common. Drift puts workers, neighboring communities and wildlife at risk. Conversely, organic growing practices utilize beneficial insects and trap plants to lure insects away from cotton. For conventional cotton, chemical use continues through harvest, when growers employ synthetic defoliating agents. Organic cotton production usually relies on freezes or may use water to stimulate defoliation. Chemicals don’t stop in the cotton fields. Numerous toxins, including ammonia, formaldehyde, bleaches, heavy metals and petroleum are used to process the conventionally grown fibers. Although residues in conventional cotton products have not been proven to cause problems, why take chances? Conventional cotton production is detrimental to workers, animals and the environment in the US and abroad. Mirador carries organic cotton bedding and towels by Coyuchi (see above), and US-grown & manufactured organic cotton blankets by Organic Weavers LLC. We also carry organic cotton dish towels and a variety of organic and recycled cotton bags. For more information about the effects of cotton pesticides on people, animals and this environment, follow this link to an article on the Pesticide Action Network of North America’s website: http://www.panna.org/documents/conventionalCotton.dv.html Additional sources for this article include: http://www.aboutorganiccotton.org/ http://www.ecochoices.com/1/cotton.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton Mirador
mural with it's artist, Gwyllm Llwydd
Mural Update(photo by Terry Carnahan)  Many of you know that Mirador has for years been caught up in the controversy over wall murals in the city of Portland. There is very good news on this front. On Wednesday, July 1, City Council voted to approve a new mural program for Portland, which will actually make a third option available to building owners and artists. Importantly for us, it should allow the boards covering 2/3 of the Mirador mural to come down after we go through a permitting process. The boards went up in 2005, the mural was painted in 2002. If you don't know the mural story or just want a refresh, the following time line will give you the basics of how this all came to be; how a city as vibrant as Portland held murals at bay for years! We want to thank Portland Mural Defense, artist Joe Cotter and mural activist Joanne Oleksiak, the many mural artists in Portland, the City of Portland and mural supporters in our fair city for the patience and willingness to slog through this for years to make this new program happen. Life is short, Art is long! Click here to see the complete timeline on our mural. Please
mark your calendars to join us on Saturday July 25th for the
Division/Clinton Street Fair. This year's theme is "Commerce &
Community".
The event runs from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with a parade getting things rolling at 10:45. The parade starts at 50th & Division, goes west to 20th, turns left and goes to Clinton and then east on Clinton to 28th. The Last Regiment of Syncopated Drummers will be leading the parade and you'll see fun floats, cars, local dignitaries and maybe your neighbor or yourself! Dress up your dog, the red wagon, your four year old and be at 50th & Division around 9:30 a.m. to get in the parade line. There is no need to apply; you can just show up but if you like to fill out forms go to: www.tsgpdx.com. Division & Clinton will be lined with craft & community booths, there will be sidewalk sales, fun & educational children's events and live music.  Don't miss the amazing Joe Mishkin in the Mirador parking lot from 12 - 2 p.m. Joe can delight anyone with his upbeat banter and he'll be making some very amazing wearable balloon art. "His energy, commitment and sheer human radiance are unequaled." - Mike McMenamin We've heard that there will be a street dance at 26th & Clinton; we'll update you as we get closer to the date. Every year the parade organizers (Division/Clinton Business Association) pick a neighborhood organization to benefit from some of the proceeds from the street fair. This year, Family Services at the OHSU Richmond Clinic has been chosen. Clothing, canned food and cash donations will be accepted, with the money donated to assist people with special needs to prepare for and be successful on the job. See you on July 25th! Raw Benefit Dinner Come join us at Mirador Community Store, 2106 SE Divison St, from 7 – 9pm on Friday, July 31st for an Organic Raw Vegan meal prepared by The Circle A Kitchen Collective. The event is a benefit for a scholarship the Circle A Kitchen Collective is offering to one lucky individual to attend the Raw and Living Spirit Retreat in Mollala, Oregon from August 27th – 30th. If you would like to attend the dinner please reserve your seat by emailing Circleakitchen@yahoo.com by July 27th. If you are interested in applying for the scholarship you should also email as well. We are asking a $10 – $20 suggested donation for dinner. Click here for menu and other details. 
If you would like to register
at Mirador for an event, here are some instructions
on how to do it. This is a great way to get what you want and support a
local business that shares your values.We are closing out our Nepalese Paper wedding invitations at 25% off either $50 or $60 per box of 25, depending on Bodhi leaf color. If you are looking for sustainable tableware for a special event, check out: Earth-Centric, 6017 NE Sandy Blvd, http://www.Earth-Centric.com. Plates, cups, flatware, garbage bags: they have it all. Nepalese
Wedding Invitation
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