Notes from Food Co-op Meeting 10/3/07
Present: Rebbecca (facilitation), Ann (notes), Randy, Andrea, Dave, Ritu, Ron, Adam
1. Improving our $ tracking
- current method: people give money to Randy by Monday evening, he enters the amounts and dates into a spreadsheet
- would like to get $ in an envelope with the name on it with the dates
- we will 1) put envelopes outside Randy’s door 2) Randy will meet with Lara to learn more about bookkeeping 3) provide optional receipts for people to take
- Ritu will put envelopes, Ann will tape a box by Randy’s door
- future steps: putting spreadsheet with money received up on the wiki
2. Reliable communication with both farmers
- Jaime Farms: Randy emails Edgar on Wednesday, currently usually getting email back on Friday with what is available, then Lara emails him back
- Lara told Jaime farms on Sunday to respond to us each week to find out if we have an order
- Finley Farms: the only week when they missed giving us food, their workers hadn’t come in and they forgot to tell us
- two proposals: 1) follow up with whoever we placed the order 2) always order from both farms such that we get at least half our produce
- Randy would like to know by Friday morning what the deal is with the farmers
- another proposal: ask both farmers to provide us with lists of produce by Thursday
- what’s going on currently? Randy and Lara decided to order from Jaime when there isn’t a lot of money in an order because we didn’t get much from Finley, even though our last consensus was to alternate farms each wee
- appreciation for Randy and Lara for doing so much work and understanding for the executive decision making
- We will ask both providers to give us lists of produce by Thursday, coordinator will follow up on Friday (contact info for farmers will be on the wiki).
- If executive decisions are made by Randy and Lara, they will communicate with the group via email.
3. How to decide which farmer we order from
- proposal: Randy and Lara can decide, but let everyone know who we’re ordering from
- there is a big difference in quantity, affects whether people split boxes
- mixed feelings about Jaime and Finley: quantity v. quality
- we could continue with Jaime farms and get some items (ie garlic and onions) from Finley
- alternating farms accommodates people who care more about quality and quantity
- what’s the minimum we can order from each farmer
- difficult issue, lots of different issues, need to revisit this as we go through with it
- Randy is concerned that if we have less than $200, we won’t get enough from Finley farms
- Dave can help with ordering from Finley farms, since it puts a significant burden on Lara.
- We will keep alternating for the next month and then reconsider.
4. Bulk buy
- Ann is willing to work on another order with help from Thiago
- November from Azure Standard
- everyone who participates should put in an hour’s worth of work
- Ann will be in the organizer role, people should step in and make sure she shares the work
- Ann, Thiago and possibly Rebbecca will meet to talk about logistics for a November order.
5. Expanding the co-op
- yes! Let’s do it.
- make sure to be welcoming to people who don’t live at LAEV, let them know that they should either be here by 9 for food pick-up or make other arrangements
- can make cash payments by mail, but have to do it in advance of the Monday deadline
- at this point, feel free to post info about the co-op to listservs
- Dave will put together a 2-3 paragraph blurb to send to the list that people can forward, and is willing to serve as contact person.
Next meeting date: Thursday, November 1st at 8pm