bulk-food buying – Page 3 – Skookum Food Provisioners' Cooperative

November 2011 letter from President Pete Tebbutt

Hello everyone,

Our days are growing increasingly darker and the weather cycling into cooler temperatures. The world’s systems are straining from our (collective) disregard for the limits of our ecosystem to meet the demands made by our adherence to growth as a model for humanity’s betterment. We all know that the systems we have designed are in need of review at the very least and most likely need to be scrapped entirely. These will have to be replaced with sustainable ones which will keep our planet and communities healthy and happy. These changes are likely to be challenging and disruptive at the very least, however I believe that whatever steps we take now to address these issues and to build resilience will minimize the impacts on our community.

I thank you all for being a part of the solution. Take a look at this, released a few days ago:

UN General Assembly to launch International Year of Co-operatives today

New York, October 31, 2011 — Today is a historic day in the history of the United Nations and the global co-operative movement, as the UN General Assembly officially launches the 2012 International Year of Co-operatives.

In December 2009, the General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming 2012 the International Year of Co-operatives, in recognition of the contribution co-operatives make to the social and economic development of communities around the world. The theme of the International Year is Co-operative Enterprises Build a Better World.

I invite you all, individually and collectively to apply yourselves to discussion at the very least and creation of events that our co-operative can undertake to help lead the way towards a sustainable future. Find ways to share both skills and knowledge which will build resilience within the community and which will help us transition into a sustainable future. We have to do it simply because there is no one else.

The Fall Fair was a success this year. A wonderful turnout where the Skookum cider press was found to be producing fresh cider. It was produced by our volunteers and met all requirements of the health act to boot, while providing the co-op with some income. Thanks to the efforts of those who took time to organize and manage the event.

Progress is being made with The Abundant Pantry bulk buying club. Software is being written as I type which will enable products to be listed to the ordering pages of our site in ways which will enable easy searching and sorting. It’s time consuming, painstaking work and my thanks to Barry Bookout for his voluntary diligence. The wait for this is worthwhile and I’m sure you’ll find the ease of use of the ordering system beneficial. When this work is complete and we’re ready for a trial run I’ll gladly announce the news.

Jacqueline Morales is holding a dehydration workshop watch for the posters). This is one NOT to miss as it is both very affordable and the knowledge she will be sharing is extensive. There will a maximum attendance of twenty people so don’t take too long to decide to go! It will take place in Wildwood on Dec. 10 and Dec. 12 (allowing a day in between for the dehydrators to do their work) and costs $30 for Skookum Co-op members, $45 for non-members. The sign up deadline is Nov. 20.

I have a request for at least one volunteer to help set up a computerized catalogue for our community library located at Kingfisher Books. I am told that the task is to enter book names into an existing database and will not need the expertise of a librarian. Please let me know if you are willing.

The Skookum board has been discussing holding a get-together event in January. Some thoughts have been a potluck supper, a movie night /or a speaker. Perhaps a combination of them. What ideas do you have? Please share your thoughts and comments.

I will be away on an extended trip and will be available via e-mail (peteteb@gmail.com) and the board can be reached at board@skookumfood.ca. Please keep your ideas coming and bring your enthusiasm forward, for the betterment of us all.

Regards,
Pete Tebbutt

REMINDER: Less than one week to go on our Rancho Vignola order!!

Hello again,

Don’t forget that the deadline for ordering nuts, dried fruits, and related products from Rancho Vignola is Monday September 26. If you are interested but have questions or concerns, please contact me soon rather than at the last minute.

Here are the basic facts:

Rancho Vignola makes their product list available only once per year, when the nuts and fruit are at their freshest;
The deadline for our order to go in is September 28;
They will ship to us in November;
We need to make a minimum order of $500;
Shipping is free;
Skookum will be adding 11.11% to each member’s order, so that of each dollar spent, 5¢ goes to the coordinator (that’s me), 2.5¢ to Skookum,another 2.5¢ to the benefit of the community.

What you need to do:

Take a look at Rancho Vignola’s price list.
If you want more information on Rancho Vignola’s products, you can find a downloadable PDF here.
If you have questions, please contact David as soon as possible at skookum@skookumfood.ca.
Otherwise, print out the order form, mark the products you wish to order,calculate the total price. Don’t forget to add 11.11% at the very end.
(If you prefer, you may simply email me with the list of products you want and a final tally. I’ll verify the total amount and get back to you.)
Get the order form and payment (cash or cheque only) to Kingfisher Books at 4468 Marine Ave. in Powell River no later than 12:00 noon on Monday September 26. No money means no order!
If we get enough people interested, we might be able to find a way to manage splits. For example, I would like to order some of their dried tart cherries, but I might not want the whole ten pounds. Maybe someone else would want to split that amount? Let me know if you’re interested in splitting items and we’ll see if we can deal with that. No promises, though, since time is tight.

Any questions? please get in touch with me ASAP at this email address.

Thanks!
David

Bulk ordering nuts, dried fruit, and more

Hello Skookum member!

Last year we tried to put together an order of nuts and dried fruit from Rancho Vignola, but didn’t have enough interest to make the minimum order of $500. We have more members this year, so here’s hoping that we can make this work.

Here are the basic facts:

Rancho Vignola makes their product list available only once per year, when the nuts and fruit are at their freshest;
The deadline for our order to go in is September 28;
They will ship to us in November;
We need to make a minimum order of $500;
Shipping is free;
Skookum will be adding 11.11% to each member’s order, so that of each dollar spent, 5¢ goes to the coordinator (that’s me), 2.5¢ to Skookum, and another 2.5¢ to the benefit of the community.

What you need to do:

Take a look at Rancho Vignola’s price list.
If you want more information on Rancho Vignola’s products, you can find a downloadable PDF here.
If you have questions, please contact David as soon as possible at skookum@skookumfood.ca.
Otherwise, print out the order form, mark the products you wish to order,calculate the total price. Don’t forget to add 11.11% at the very end.
(If you prefer, you may simply email me with the list of products you want and a final tally. I’ll verify the total amount and get back to you.)
Get the order form and payment (cash or cheque only) to Kingfisher Books at 4468 Marine Ave. in Powell River no later than 12:00 noon on Monday September 26. No money means no order!
If we get enough people interested, we might be able to find a way to manage splits. For example, I would like to order some of their dried tart cherries, but I might not want the whole ten pounds. Maybe someone else would want to split that amount? Let me know if you’re interested in splitting items and we’ll see if we can deal with that. No promises, though, since time is tight.

Any questions? please get in touch with me ASAP at this email address.

Thanks!
David

Announcing our new bulk-buying club! We need YOUR input…

(This post brought to you by Wendy Pelton, the coordinator of Skookum’s soon-to-be-launched bulk-food buying project. Please read it carefully and help us out by responding to the online survey. We want your input!)

Great News! Thanks to Skookum, the opportunity to participate in a Bulk-food Buying Club (BBC) is returning to the Upper Sunshine Coast. Or, more accurately, it soon will be with your help.

What’s special about this new BBC? Ours may be a little more high-tech and easier to use than prior clubs, thanks to online ordering. Over time, this club will be able to directly connect its members with local farmers’ products online, making buying and selling locally easier than ever.

Why does Skookum want to organize a BBC? Well, through the availability of bulk food orders, we hope to increase people’s individual and household food security by encouraging and facilitating food storage. We want good food to be more affordable to all. We seek to increase the food independence of our local community by establishing our own systems of procurement and by increasing our involvement with local producers. We anticipate bringing members together as a community, as we work together and celebrate together in the management of the BBC. Lastly, we believe a local BBC will provide economic support to our community through employment, increased local farm production, and contributions to local charities and other valuable community projects.

Why might you want to participate in a BBC? Well, when used regularly, a BBC makes organic and healthy food more affordable, encourages healthier eating, promotes cooking from scratch, and lets us spend our money more wisely. Regular use results in an automatically full pantry year-round, which can prevent a minor panic at dinner time or a major panic during a strike or natural disaster. Vegetarians, vegans, non-dairy & gluten-free folks will thrill to the extensive choices available to them. A full pantry means fewer trips to town, less gasoline consumed, and cleaner air. What’s not to like?!?

We hope to begin ordering by the end of July. However, first, we need solutions to some important questions, which you can help us answer. We want this BBC designed to work best for you, our members, so we need to know:

What do we call it?
What should be our slogan?
What should we use for a logo?
Should we offer only organic items?
Should we offer refrigerated or frozen foods?
Should we offer non-food items?
How often do we want to order?
Whom do we want to use as suppliers?
Who will volunteer to be on our steering committee?
Who would like to be part of our advisory group?

Please help us race toward a launch, by first learning more about these issues on our webpage, then sharing your answers to these questions at our super-simple online survey.

Have ideas that didn’t fit on the survey?Please send them to me at wendy.pelton <at> shaw dot ca.I have a list of what I would like to have seen changed at my old food coop — maybe you have one, too, that could help us now.

Looking forward to re-building my own abundant pantry, alongside you,
Wendy

Opportunities available

Hey there Skookum members (and other interested folks)! We want to let you know about some opportunities to get involved with a few projects that we will be working on this summer. If any one of these projects looks interesting to you, please contact us and we’ll hook you up.

Skookum Gleaners

Once again this year, we’ll be managing the local fruit-tree gleaning project. One of the tasks for this year is to figure out how we can combine gleaning with activities for members of Skookum such as canning, dehydrating, cider-making, and other processing. The basic model is that 1/3 of the gleaned fruit goes to the pickers, 1/3 to the homeowners, and 1/3 to the community; but we might need to look at ways that this project can generate some revenue to pay a coordinator and return some tangible value to Skookum. Interested? Contact us!

Bulk-food buying

As we mentioned at our recent public meeting, we’re planning to start bulk-ordering non-perishables, as a way to increase people’s individual and household food security. Food storage, along with production and preservation, is one of the three pillars of food security, and it’s an activity that works well when people work together. We’re getting this project up and running and looking for someone interested in coordinating this project. There will be some payment in the form of food or money. Interested? Contact us!

Preserving food

Last year we set up a half-day work party to get people in the kitchen together canning tomatoes. This year we plan to do a lot more to help our members set up a well-stocked home pantry full of preserved food of all kinds. We’ll need to plan more work parties to learn and do canning, drying, freezing, pickling, and other preservation techniques. Interested? Contact us!

And of course, if there is a project that you would like to see happening — especially if you’re interested in leading that project — contact us. We want our members to step up and start running things!