One day only supplement sale.
20% all vitamins, herbs, minerals, probiotics, and more.
All day at both stores.
RSVP on our Facebook event to get a sale reminder! Don't miss this once a year event.
Wellness Day at the Co-op
The Co-op wishes you a happy and healthy New Year, and to give you a head start on your best health we invite you to join us for Wellness Day at the Co-op.
In both stores—
• 20% off all supplements (all day, while supplies last)!
• Demos and samples from local vendors and tasty treats (like smoothies) from various Co-op departments.
• Enter to win wellness products.
In the Downtown store—
• Live music by Hawthorn Creek. Smoky, sultry, swamp music with amazing male-female vocal harmonies and dirty slide guitar.
• Chair massage by Dora Keating, ND/LMT, from The Shanti Center.
• Whatcom Alliance for Health Advancement (WAHA) answers questions regarding health care, open enrollment, and general health education.
Co-op Talks in the Co-op Connections classroom (across the street from the Downtown store)—
Co-op Wellness Talks feature knowledgeable local health practitioners. Attend one session, or join us for the entire series!
(approximately 15 minutes each)
• 1 pm Brain Health with Jim Ehmke, clinical nutritionist. Learn proactive ways to enhance memory and prevent Alzheimer’s.
• 1:20 pm What Your Face and Tongue Say About Your Health with Katrina Svoboda Johnson, certified ayurvedic practitioner, owner of Ayurvedic Health Center & Wellness Shop. Like a reflexology map, the health of the body can be read in both the face and tongue.
• 1:40 pm DIY Health with Mystique Grobe, naturopathic doctor. Discover ways to help yourself medicinally and preventively in a world where real health has to be our priority.
• 2 pm Joyful Self-care & Resilient Well-being with Deborah Zucker, naturopathic doctor and author of The Vitality Map: A Guide to Deep Health, Joyful Self-Care, and Resilient Well-Being. Free yourself from the trap of being too serious about health and self-care. Learn to be flexible, curious, and playful on your health journey to sustain it for the long run.
• 2:20 pm Carbohydrates: How Low Can You Go? with Selva Wohlgemuth, registered dietitian nutritionist. Join in the discussion on carbohydrates and their role in health and disease. Be prepared for some solid evidence-based nutrition information.
• 2:40 pm Tai Chi and Qigong with Kelly Hong-Williams, certified tai chi and qigong instructor, owner of Powered by Qi. Improve energy flow and balance. Learn some quick techniques to melt stress, improve posture, and clear the mind.
• 3 pm Tips for a Deliciously Balanced Plant-Based Diet with Michelle Smith, registered dietitian nutritionist and nutrition coach. Learn simple ways to adopt a more plant-based way of eating with simple and practical steps.
• 3:20 pm Rapid Relaxation with Hypnosis with Erika Flint, board certified hypnotist and accredited certified professional hypnotherapy instructor. Utilize the power of your mind to achieve near instantaneous relaxation with hypnosis. Feel lighter, reduce stress, sleep better, and enjoy your life more than ever before.
• 3:40 pm Ten Ways to Nourish Yourself Today with Kate MacKenzie, health coach. Start the New Year with simple and nourishing ideas for your body and mind.
Local Vendor Profile: Moon Valley Organics
by Sarah Schermer, former Cordata Wellness Manager
Aaron (left) and Kim Otto pose on their Whatcom County farm while welcoming Co-op staff for a tour.
Honeybees drone in a field of chamomile. Nearby, calendula is blossoming in tidy rows—glowing with a bright orange of fresh tangerines.
Nestled near the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest and the Nooksack River, just off the Valley Highway in Deming, Moon Valley Organics is a handmade haven of quiet and quality, carefully cultivated by Kim and Aaron Otto.
From seed to salve, their mission is to create high-quality, organic personal care products that promote a healthy way of caring for our bodies and the world.
No small task, but they’ve been doing it with grace and style since 1999.
The farm’s old silo is ringed by fields of herbal ingredients, busy workshops, and a cozy
micro-village of trailers and tents for itinerant WWOOFers. (WWOOFers volunteer on organic farms around the world in exchange for a hands-on learning experience, plus room and board.)
If the relaxed, smiling faces of Moon Valley staff don’t tip you off, we are assured through their certified B Corp status that both seasonal and long-term workers enjoy the Moon Valley ethic and environment.
Calendula is the farm’s signature herb and Kim’s personal favorite. This year’s harvest was so abundant that space in the drying racks in the barn loft was at a premium, so blossoms were pre-drying in the hot, sunny field. Calendula, long-valued for its soothing properties, is used in almost all of the lotions and lip balms made by hand on the Moon Valley Organics farm.
Lovingly and expertly crafted from ingredients mostly grown on their own sustainable permaculture farm, their soaps, lip balms, lotion bars, and salves need no preservatives because of the high-quality beeswax and infused oils. (Don’t try it at home, but Kim says you can practically eat the stuff!)
Like all of their products, every herbal lip balm is formulated and packaged by hand right on the farm.
If the silky feel doesn’t make you want to buy one for every pocket and bag, just know that 10 percent of net lip balm profit is donated to organizations dedicated to protecting pollinators. And, Moon Valley created a 4-acre pollinator sanctuary on their own farm, ensuring the health of our flying friends for generations to come.
Listening to Kim and Aaron talk about bees and dirt makes me proud to carry their products.
Their commitment to sustainability even extends to packaging, which is not only beautiful but also BPA-free, 100 percent recyclable, and made from the highest percentage of post-consumer recycled materials available. For those striving for a zero waste lifestyle, the Co-op is happy to offer bulk options for their bar and liquid soaps. And a relatively new addition is plastic-free Moon Valley Herbal Shampoo bars packaged in recyclable paperboard
We are proud to call ourselves partners, and together will continue using beautiful body care and cooperative business as a vehicle for social change.
Taking a break in the calendula field are current and former Cordata wellness staff (taken in 2017: above, from left) Ticker Ba-Aye, Jesi Van Leeuwen, Sarah Schermer, Christy King, and, seated, Christy’s son, Odin.
LEARN MORE
Learn more at moonvalleyorganics.com. You can even take a video tour of the farm.
September Staff Pick and New Items
Gaia SleepThru
"I love Gaia SleepThru. It helps me not wake in the middle of the night with a racing brain. 100% high-quality herbs with no grogginess, just a good night's sleep!"
—Sarah Schermer, Cordata Wellness
Good Culture Cottage Cheese Cups
$2.25 each (5.3 ounces)
Creamy organic cottage cheese with live, active cultures. Zesty flavors and made with the milk of happy grass-fed cows.
classic, pineapple, blueberry açaí chia, strawberry chia, kalamata olive
Yellowbird Hot Sauces
$5.99 each (9.8 ounces)
Spicy condiments with spunky character. Made with real ingredients deep in the ♥ of Texas.
sriracha, jalapeño, habanero, serrano
Bonafide Drinkable Veggies Bone Broth
$6.49 each (12 fluid ounces)
Organic farm-fresh vegetables plus handcrafted organic bone broth makes drinking veggies tasty and nourishing.
revitalize, glow, thrive
Harmless Harvest Coconut Probiotics
$5.75 each (32 fluid ounces)
Uses the whole edible coconut (not just the coconut water) for delicious organic on-the-go nourishment.
original, strawberry, blueberry & açaí, mango & acerola
So Good, We Put Our Name on It: Co-op Supplements
by Laura Steiger, Outreach Team
Co-op brand supplements offer Co-op shoppers a great deal on high-quality products, manufactured to current Good Manufacturing Practices, by a company that is committed to environmental sustainability and social responsibility—just like the Co-op!
Walk down the aisles of the Co-op’s wellness departments and you’ll notice something new. Well, not exactly new but a newly redesigned label for our in-house supplements.
a newly redesigned label for our in-house supplements
Co-op brand supplements offer Co-op shoppers a great deal on high-quality products, manufactured to current Good Manufacturing Practices, by a company that is committed to environmental sustainability and social responsibility—just like the Co-op!
Before we put our line of supplements on our store shelves, we searched for suppliers that could meet our high standards. Our supplement manufacturer has been owned and operated by the same family since 1924. Their 85-plus years of manufacturing experience results in consistent and safe products.
What's more, their facility is certified organic by Quality Assurance International, a leader in organic certification, as well as third-party certified by the Natural Product Association. All manufacturing procedures and standards for cleanliness are periodically audited by the FDA. They are also a member of the Organic Trade Association.
our confidence in our supplements is reflected in the clarity and completeness of our labeling
Full disclosure labels list the details of each product’s contents. Labels disclose information about artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives in addition to gluten and common allergens.
our manufacturer is dedicated to supporting green initiatives
In line with the Co-op’s commitment to environmental sustainability and social responsibility, our manufacturer is dedicated to supporting green initiatives. Supplements are shipped in boxes that use partially-recycled materials and recyclable crushed paper as packing material. The fully recyclable amber glass bottles are made from 35 percent recycled material, and the white plastic caps are also fully recyclable. All promotional materials also utilize post-consumer fibers.
The manufacturing facility makes use of natural skylights to save energy and provide a pleasant work environment, and all unusable computer hardware and equipment is recycled.
Each year since 2006, our manufacturer participates in donating 11 million children’s multivitamins to Vitamin Angels—the only nonprofit organization solely dedicated to providing vital nutrition to those in need internationally and domestically. Through its “Operation 20/20” campaign, they plan to eradicate childhood blindness caused by vitamin A deficiency worldwide by the year 2020. Over 30 percent of the world’s population suffers from micronutrient deficiencies. The Co-op, along with Vitamin Angels and our manufacturer, believes every person has a right to basic nutrition.
Co-op brand supplements do not include extra costs for marketing and advertising, and we pass those savings directly to our shoppers.
Co-op member-owners can save an extra 25 percent when they place an advance order for three or more of any wellness item
When searching for natural, premium supplements to promote overall wellness and global sustainability—look no further than the Co-op’s own brand.
Essentially Great Essential Oils
by Laura Steiger, Outreach Team
Essential oils by Veriditas are 100% pure Ecocert certified and organic.
Ever passed by those rows of tiny bottles in the wellness department and wondered, what’s up with that? Well, what’s up is that those tiny bottles are filled with aromatic essential oils, and one of our favorite suppliers of essentials oils is Veriditas Botanicals.
Veriditas makes 100 percent pure Ecocert certified organic essential oils.
One thing Veriditas Botanicals is currently changing is its name: to Veriditas by Pranarom. What won’t change is the quality of its products and its sustainable practices.
Veriditas is committed to organic.
Organic plants provide the highest potency essential oils with strong anti-microbial properties lacking in chemically treated plants.
It takes a mind-boggling volume of 5.5 million freshly picked roses to produce one liter of organic rose essential oil. By sourcing organic plants for its products, Veriditas helps to preserve organic farmland and supports small, family farms that take great pride in their organic farming and distillation.
Veriditas is an intentionally small, Minnesota-based company that works exclusively with co-ops and independent retailers. The company does not work with essential oil brokers, but has direct relationships with farmers and distilleries to provide the freshest, highest-grade essential oils available in the U.S.
Veriditas is an exceptional company that is doing exceptional work.
Now, you may be wondering about the uses of essential oils.
The uses are many: aromatherapy, perfumes, topical treatments, cleaning products, and—since Veriditas sells only 100 percent pure organic essential oils—its essential oils can also be used in cooking, teas, tinctures, or other internal applications. If you Google “uses for essential oils,” you’ll find plenty of links with titles like “150 Ways to Use Essential Oils.”
Of course, we highly recommend you start gathering information from the experts. You’ll find ample information about how to use essential oils on “Melissa’s Educational Blog” at the Veriditas website. Melissa Farris, Veriditas founder, first leapt into the world of essential oils in 1996 when she started a very successful business called Simplers—selling the first line of certified organic essential oils in the United States—and has been immersed in the work and study of essential oils ever since. You’ll find a wealth of information on her blog and on the Veriditas website. Additionally, you can also chat with the Co-op’s wellness experts about how best to use essential oils.
when using essentials oils in any application, start with just a single drop
If nothing else, keep in mind Melissa’s recommendation that when using essentials oils in any application, start with just a single drop: smell, taste, and otherwise test before adding more. No point in squandering even one drop of these wonderful, aromatic oils that are carefully distilled from nature’s purest plants and flowers.
Free your inner chemist and find your favorite way to use essentials oils.
