My wife and I have been feeling very compelled to make some changes in our local community. We realize that change begins at a local level, and grows from there, and we want to be a part of that change.
What do we want to change?
We want to change the way people think, eat, shop, spend.. we want people to stop filling themselves with toxic foods that make them feel horrible day in and day out. Many people don’t realize it, but they are slaves to their diet. You are what you eat! If you eat a lot of processed foods, you may find yourself feeling terrible quite often - physically, mentally, and even spiritually.
We live in an area with a lot of farms - growing all kinds of products. Problem is, you have to wait for a farmers market or go to each farm individually. So what about a store where you can find all your local farms products, that will stay stocked - even during a supply chain crisis. Nothing made in China on the shelves. All local goods that you can trace back to the very farm they came from. Meat, seafood (from the Chesapeake Bay), veggies, dairy - all the outside isle goods. This store isn’t where you’ll find a bag of Doritos or Honey Nut Cheerios.
Wondering if anyone on this board has experience with this? We realize it’s not an original idea, but we are serious about it. We also have plans to invest in a plot nearby for a community garden, which is just something that we can give back to the community with. Will also offer opportunities to have workshops and field trips, teaching our locals about cultivating good that are good for our local ecology.
We see the times we are in as an opportunity. People have never been paying attention as much as they are now. It’s a great time to educate and start planting new ideas in people’s heads. Obviously, with our corporate grocery stores shelves empty (I mean seriously empty here), this is the time to introduce an alternative idea. Yes, you will pay more - but you will be supporting your local economy and that really means something.
Please, I would love to have some discussions with you all!
IF I were you, I would print flyers and post on windows, light poles, etc. or personally hand deliver to all the Farmers in your area. Then I would have a group meeting with them in perhaps, your home or one of their large barns if you have a lot of prospects. Then I would see who would be in agreement with supplying and perhaps helping to work to sell these products. In order to keep the money in each farmers pocket, it would be best to have a rotation of the Farmers family members to work the store. This would keep overhead down and prices low.
Once everyone is in agreement, I would then have them ALL or a select few of them who agree to look out for some sort of building that they all together could LEASE to open. Once you get a reasonably priced quote on a LEASE on one or two, then you can call another meeting with all those on board and explain the cost of the Lease and all the details and divide up the amount for each month. Make sure to get each Farmers phone number so you don't have to travel and burn extra expensive gas to notify them of the meetings. If it is a signed Lease for a year or two, have each farmer sign the lease as a co-op in case one farmer stops or backs out. This would give assurance for the monthly lease to be paid. Farmer's are usually good at doing their tax records and that would have to be arranged for how much each Farmer earned and pocketed. There are ways to make this GREAT IDEA work. Good luck and God bless.
Thank you very much for sharing that. Yes, we plan on getting boots on ground and discussing this more with our local farmers. This idea sounds just like a Co-op. We shopped at a local co-op in Vermont for years and loved it.
Good luck to you. I don't and haven't ever done anything like this, so I had to think about how I would go about it. I pray it all works out for you. This may even become a country wide thing. We need all the good food we can get at the local level. Thanks for posting your great idea.
And our hearts are truly in this idea. We aren’t looking to get rich obviously. We want to make a difference in our community through education and FOOD!
Then that means you'll get the job done. I know you're not in it for money. There are lots of us who want to help our communities. Especially the areas where there are poor and lots of children. I am happy that you want to step up, take charge and do something to feed and educate your community. God will bless you and your wife for being such caring and loving human beings. Please post us once you get your store started. It will make lots of us on here very happy. Thank Q