permaculture

[Bob Waldrop <bob@bobwaldrop.net>]

Come in the spring or the fall, as our op center is not heated or air 
conditioned.  I remain amazed to this day at the willingness of people 
to show up and work all day in a non-air conditioned warehouse in the 
summer to get this food in and out the doors.  Part of the reason is 
that all of the volunteers are members whose food is also in the mix.  
We do offer volunteers an incentive of $7.25 credit towards their 
purchases, about half the hours worked are turned in for this we figure.

rmw

On 8/7/2012 5:00 PM, Bob Waldrop wrote:
> A brochure about our coop which as I read it now I see is minorly out of
> date (it says we have 2500 items for sale each month but we've had
> 4,000+ for several months.
>
> http://www.oklahomafood.coop/pdf/brochure1109.pdf
>
> Here is an essay -- How to organize a local food coop --
>
> http://www.oklahomafood.coop/organizing.php
>
> Our producer procedures -- www.oklahomafood.coop/producers.php which
> include our product standards.  Don't discount the difficulty of
> defining what a "local food" or non-food item is that may be sold
> through your group.  In the beginning, I thought this was a no brainer,
> but I was very wrong about that, lol.
>
> Our Articles of Incorporation
> http://www.oklahomafood.coop/articlesofinc.php
>
> Policy manual
> http://www.oklahomafood.coop/policy.php
>
> We have 4,299 products available this month.
>
> Our membership page, which includes applications for the different
> classes of producers (food, non-food, prepared food, processed foods, it
> also has a description of the approval process for new producers.
>
> http://www.oklahomafood.coop/okfoodservice.php
>
> If you decide to do this, you should come here for one of our delivery
> days.  A lot of the groups that have started up have done that.  There's
> is nothing quite like seeing it in action.  Somewhere between 15-20,000
> different products, from 100+ producers, going out to 900 or so
> customers at 45 different locations, and we do that pretty much all in
> one day, with 6 part-time employees and about 100 or so volunteers
> (between the operations center and the 45 pickup sites).
>
> Bob Waldrop
>
> On 8/7/2012 4:11 PM, Cory Brennan wrote:
> > Do you have any write ups about your cooperative Bob? Or how does one get 
> > more data? We might be interested in our area.
> >    
> > Koreen Brennan
> >
> > www.growpermaculture.com
> > www.meetup.com/sustainable-urban-agriculture-coalition
> > www.meetup.com/createclearwater
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> >    From: Bob Waldrop <bob@bobwaldrop.net>
> > To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> > Sent: Tuesday, August 7, 2012 5:03 PM
> > Subject: Re: [permaculture] [permaculture-99] Dacha Movement: History and 
> > Effects In Russia
> >    
> > Yes I'm reading and I tend to agree with Toby.  While I often say
> > everyone should grow some food, I have a good vision of the limits of
> > food growth in urban areas for most people, especially those who have no
> > land or very little land.  I have 1/7th of an acre, and over half that
> > is covered with buildings or concrete, and I raise food on the concrete
> > in pots, but I am not raising anything like a full diet here and won't
> > be able to do that either.
> >
> > Someone with a small balcony can raise some herbs and a half dozen
> > tomato plants -- where is the rest of their food coming from?
> >
> > Well, if they are in Oklahoma City, or Tulsa, Lawton, Muskogee,
> > Tahlequah, McAlester or one of the other communities served by the
> > Oklahoma Food Cooperative, they could choose every month from more than
> > 4,000 different food and non-food items offered by typically 100+
> > producers, everything is made or grown right here in Oklahoma and sold
> > by its producer through the Coop.
> >
> > THAT'S WHY I started the Oklahoma Food Cooperative in 2003.  I think it
> > is a great, replicable model for developing urban food systems. There
> > are nearly 20 other such cooperatives that have started via our model,
> > including one in Australia and two in Canada.  Our unique contribution
> > primarily I think is the conception of the organization as a hybrid
> > producer/consumer coop, with both producers and customers as members.
> > That meant that we could charge a lower price for a membership share,
> > since the potential number of customer members is much larger than the
> > number of producer members.  In our model, instead of the coop buying
> > wholesale and selling retail, each producer is his or her own brand.
> > They set their prices, we charge them 10% for selling through the coop,
> > and the customers pay 10% for buying through the coop, so the coop gets
> > 20% and the producer gets 80% of the food, a much better distribution of
> > the money than is found in supermarkets.
> >
> > In general, I think permaculture designers should pay as much attention
> > to invisible structures as we do to growing things, but that's not the
> > way generally that things work out.   I always thought that Toby's move
> > back to the city from a rural area marked a significant milepost in the
> > development of the permaculture movement.
> >
> > We are evolving our way perhaps to becoming a triple hybrid as a
> > worker-customer-producer cooperative.  If someone was just starting out
> > doing this today, that's what I would recommend that they start with.
> >
> > List of "Oklahoma plan" cooperatives in other states --
> > http://www.oklahomafood.coop/otherstates.php .
> >
> > Bob Waldrop, http://www.oklahomafood.coop
> >
> > On 8/7/2012 1:28 PM, venaurafarm wrote:
> > > On 8/7/2012 10:02 AM, Toby Hemenway wrote:
> > > > > If we want to survive . . . each and every family as much as
> > > > > possible needs to be able to produce it's own food for itself, and
> > > > > as many other people as possible.
> > > Right on and thumbs up, onward relentless, let nothing stand in your way.
> > >
> > > > I don't need to grow my own food.
> > > But there are millions of others who do need to grow their own food in
> > > order to have a healthy diet, involve themselves in very worthwhile
> > > activities as practitioners and learners. Many need to do this to put
> > > food on their tables as they try to weather the poor economy, job loss,
> > > keep their homes and land, keep transportation or seek working
> > > alternatives (bus, bicycle, carpool), have adequate healthcare, etc.
> > >
> > > > I need to be part of a healthy
> > > > network that does.
> > > Those networks, if they exist, are not necessarily available to millions
> > > of people and for a varieties or reasons. Let's hear more about your
> > > networks. Who forms them, who is part of them and who keeps them going
> > > and functionsl?
> > >
> > > The LL plan for America includes a computer/web/internet-based product
> > > and services production, marketing and distribution network, PSPMDN.
> > > It could be created and made to work and serve everyone participating,
> > > no matter how small, as consumer or seller, barter, trade, donate, have
> > > its own currency and be compatible and cooperative with the IRS.
> > >
> > > > While I'd love it if everyone gardened, a
> > > > coordinated community food system
> > > Where are they and how many are there; what is the projected future for
> > > this resource?
> > >
> > > > is more resilient and allows more
> > > > diversity than individual dachas, and fits better with American
> > > > culture and land ownership patterns. The US has a very different
> > > > history from Russia.
> > > Not so. At all. You're conception of this is too fixed and limited
> > > and too limited to the past.
> > >
> > > > And most yards are too small to produce "all our
> > > > own food."
> > > Straw man argument. They need to produce as much of their food needs as
> > > possible, themselves. This can be done in pots or windowsills in
> > > apartments, urban or suburban homes, rural homes and homesteads and
> > > farms. How many thousands of books have been written encouraging people
> > > to grow their own for table fare and health, and to share or sell. How
> > > many tens of thousands of videos exist on YouTube demonstrating every
> > > aspect of home food production and renewable energy, and cottage
> > > industry possibilities. We need 21st Century Victory Gardeners
> > > Practicing Permaculture. We need a nation of them. Think of the savings
> > > in energy, materials and equipment.
> > >
> > > Its a mass movement already, a happening thing, thank providence.
> > >
> > > This is what permaculture is really all about down to its core set of
> > > principles.
> > >
> > > > A single 18th-Century farmer could feed 50 people. Making the
> > > > household, instead of the farm, the neighborhood or even the town,
> > > > the core unit of a food system atomizes the community.  Let's not
> > > > default to "go it alone." It reduces the many options for reaching a
> > > > goal--meeting our food needs--to a single tactic: grow it all
> > > > yourself. It means that this critical function is done only one way,
> > > > with all the attendant hazards (what if you get hurt?) and reduces
> > > > most people to serfs farming for a banker. It's part of the mix, but
> > > > not the solution.
> > > >
> > > > The dachas are well worth looking at.  But severe food and economic
> > > > disruptions tend to be brief in developed countries (see Argentina,
> > > > Iceland, Weimar Germany, Mexico, etc.), stabilizing soon at a
> > > > simplified level. So to redesign as though the unstable period will
> > > > be permanent is unwise.
> > > >
> > > > While Russians were busy farming their 2.5 acre dachas all day, the
> > > > oligarchs were seizing control of everything else. They still have
> > > > it. Let's learn from that. We need to organize at a higher level than
> > > > the household.
> > > And the oligarchs, the cabal, corporations, etc. are not doing this now?
> > > Stealing their investments, causing profound inflation and profiteering
> > > from price rises (charge what the market will bear, law of supply and
> > > demand), sending most American jobs overseas and not creating a
> > > significant number of new ones to replace those lost, largely factory
> > > and small local businesses ceasing operation in the face of competition
> > > from chain stores selling imported goods (at inflated prices). And
> > > people do not need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, reorganize
> > > their lives and livelihoods, seek self sufficiency, independence,
> > > personal sovereignty, freedom, liberty, family security and access to
> > > the basic necessities of live? Of course they do, now as much as ever,
> > > including during the Great Depression.
> > >
> > > > Toby http://patternliteracy.com
> > > This is a good thread, keep it going.
> > > Are you reading, Koreen and Bob Waldrop?
> > >
> > > LL
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