by Kenna S. Eaton

Each month, I report to the board on how we are progressing on our long-term goals, which we call our Ends. These Ends reflect our aspirations—what we want to accomplish—and they are what makes us different from a regular grocery store. We publish these reports as a blog to keep our member-owners up to date on what we are doing.

The reports are organized by our five Ends, although not all are discussed in every report. Our refreshed Ends say that, as a result of all we do—

-    Our community is well-served by a strong cooperative grocery store, integral to the lives of our customers, our farmers, and our producers.

-    Our community has a resilient local and regional food economy, supported by our Co-op and our community partners.

-    Our staff and board have the knowledge, skills, and passion to make our cooperative thrive.

-    Our members and customers are proud to shop at a local cooperative grocery that is working to reduce its impact on the environment.

-    Our community is informed, engaged, and empowered to join us in making a difference.

Market Relevance

We were super excited to see that we sold 293 cases of tomatoes (10 for $10) during a recent 2-week promotion – that’s 19 more than we sold in the previous six months combined! We offered chili recipes with the tomatoes in various prime spots around the store, and shoppers were happy the Co-op could give them such a great deal so they could stock up.  

Food System Development

We were saddened when we heard that Mt. Townsend Creamery would cease operations at the end of January. We hope that another creamery opens in its place, but in the meantime, we will be looking for more local Washington cheeses to fill out our cheese case. Coincidentally, in the middle of February we were notified that Nash’s Farm Store was closing. We don’t anticipate this will affect our ability to buy and sell Nash’s products, including grains, beans, produce, and meat.

There are many new locally produced items so far this year. We have 22 new Local WA products, spread over almost every department, including two new lines: Coro by Salumi cured meats and Timber City Ginger hard ginger beer, both from Seattle. Plus we have 27 new Local 5 products, all in the grocery & floral departments. We have four brand new vendors: Gold Feather Coffee Roasters from Port Angeles, Goodness Tea from Sequim, and Hopscotch Farm Cannery and Petula Plants, both from Port Townsend.  Plus Sugar Hill is bringing us sweet treats after a several year hiatus.   

Environmental Stewardship

The Co-op sponsored the first Repair Café, held 2/29 at the Community Center. With a focus on repair and re-use, the goal was for people to learn mending skills and/or get favorite items repaired. Skills offered ranged from fixing small electronics, jewelry, and stringed instruments to knife sharpening, sewing, and bike repairs. 

Several years ago, our cash registers used paper with BPA as the active ingredient, which could not be recycled because these chemicals get leached out and end up in our water systems. Of course, it wasn’t healthy for people to touch either, so we kept looking for alternatives. BPS, our first replacement, was slightly better than BPA, but just by a little bit, so we gladly switched to a new paper made with Vitamin C—which accounted for its yellow hue. It worked but was hard to read. Now we have a white paper is easier to read, has no plastic core, and no carbon footprint due to the company’s purchased offsets. 

Outreach

The Olympic Cooperative Network (OCN) was proud to announce that students from the Power of Ownership academy held in 2018 have successfully launched two new cooperatives this year: Marine Survey & Assessments and Ridgeline Homecare Co-op.

The Product Research Committee is working on the annual update of TAUFIL (The Acceptable and Unacceptable Food Ingredient List). In particular, we are reviewing and updating our list of food products that contain carrageenan. For the upcoming issue of Around the Table, PRC has an article about glyphosate testing of food. The Organic & NonGMO Report, a publication we offer to customers at the front of the store, has been a valuable reference, and the PRC spends some time every meeting reviewing the most current issue.