Food Coop or Buyers Club near Davis?

[siirim.livejournal.com]

Hello,

I'm new to the area and am looking for a food cooperative or buyers club in the area. The only thing that I've heard of so far is Harvest Coop, which is great, but I'd like to find something closer to Davis that focuses on local produce and building community.

I am coming from Washington DC where I was a member of a fantastic small food cooperative that was located in a friend's house. It was very informal but provided the members with a great sense of community and cheap local/organic produce and bulk goods. We bought produce, bread, cheese, coffee, chocolate, granola, pasta, etc. at bulk rates and sold it to members for the wholesale price plus a mark-up.  It was only open on Saturdays and was run by member labor (which was only 3 hours every 6 weeks).

Is there anything like this around here? These types of places make for a great alternative to Shaw's and a good supplement to the farmer's market. It's also a great way to get to know people with similar interests. If not, would anyone be interested in starting such a group?

Thanks!
Siiri

Comments

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

It's not a co-op, but there's a farmer's market every Wednesday (including today!) in Davis. It's behind the plaza that's next to the Starbucks. Just an FYI.

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

I remember shopping at one of those with a friend who lived in D.C. many, many years ago. I'm tapped out for things I'm doing now, but I would love to know of one if one gets started...though with the farmer's market and farmshares around, it might be tricky...

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

http://www.sfcoop.org/

[ellf.livejournal.com]

It's like an advertisement for http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com.

[ron_newman]

It sounds like you might want a farm share (also known as CSA, Community-Supported Agriculture). This post has more info on that.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

To be quite honest, I'm not sure that that would be legal in Massachusetts. There are a lot of regulations about the safe and hygienic storage and sale of food by retailers, and I doubt that private homes would meet them.

[jadelennox]

I know Harvest isn't right in Davis, but I'd like to put in a plug for it anyway. The prices on the bulk food are really good, and they do a lot of effort into building community. Admittedly, their customer service could improve, but check them out anyway.

Boston Organics

[samsdaddy.livejournal.com]

We get organic froots 'n veggies delivered to our door by Boston Organics. Good stuff cheap! http://www.bostonorganics.com/

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

There's Serve New England:
http://www.servenewengland.org/

I don't think it's organic, but you can save a lot of money on food, I believe. There used to be a distribution center in Somerville, but it looks like there isn't anymore.

Buyer's Club

[ethanfield.livejournal.com]

Millstone Co-op (http://www.millstonecoop.org/), near Morisson Ave and Willow Ave, hosts a buying club that people outside that coop can join. Food comes monthly from UNFI (http://unfi.com), which is the major organic food distributor in town. They supply Harvest with their stuff.