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

[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.

[rosiewoodboat.livejournal.com]

There are many home-based food co-ops and buyer's clubs in MA.

[siirim.livejournal.com]

do you know of any in somerville? the aforementioned somerville food coop is closing down, apparently..

[rosiewoodboat.livejournal.com]

There is a raw milk and egg co-op. Drop me an email if you want info.

[ron_newman]

Why is it closing? (I don't see anything on their web site about closing.)

[siirim.livejournal.com]

membership is dropping, they said.

[ron_newman]

Could be that CSAs (farm shares) have cut into their membership.

[rosiewoodboat.livejournal.com]

Not likely. Buyer's clubs like this deal generally in dry goods.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Because several of the key members have moved (or will move) out of Somerville, leaving not enough to sustain the group. Unfortunately, nobody was able to run a successful membership drive (they say they put a lot of effort into trying to get new members, and while it's true that people did work hard and try, I think the effort was not well-used and we could most definitely fatten the group up if given the chance, but it's too late now) so the group is effectively disbanding into news one at the new locations of the more active members.

The coop doesn't work with produce so the CSAs complement it rather than conflict. The problem I had is that I just don't use that much non-fresh food (and my roomie likes to buy things like paper products at a warehouse club), and the particular items I do use and wanted to buy weren't necessarily any cheaper through the coop than at the supermarket.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

I don't see how that's an argument against what I said.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

And since you were all "drop me a line" rather than giving information, I'm guessing that the groups to which you were referring are operating on a private basis, rather than as public entities.

Which was my point--if there are any of these in Massachusetts, they're not the kind of thing that would be announced on the Internet, because they'd be operating in a legal gray zone.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Note: I was distinguishing between "buyers' clubs" like the Somerville Food Co-Op, that buy and redistribute purchases from a bulk seller, and someone operating what amounts to a grocery store out of their house, which was what the OP's description sounds like.

The sale of dairy products is very closely regulated in Massachusetts, and for good reasons.

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

http://www.justdairy.org/

They deliver raw milk to communities around Somerville. It's more economical and greener to have someone pick up for a group than to have individuals head to the dairy farms.