Dear Hubby and I belong to a Produce Co-op.  We actually started it up about 7 years ago when we heard about doing this from another group.  It’s been going strong ever since.  And today was Co-op Day so I thought you might need to hear about it.  Because bloggers share every day things, don’t they?

This is the produce we got today.  2 bunches of kale, 5 bunches cilantro, 12 limes, a bag of red grapes, 2 heads of cabbage, a bag of peeled garlic cloves (transferred to a jar at home), 2 bunches broccoli, 5 red pears and 6 yams.  And we got all that for $10.  Yes, you read that correctly….. TEN DOLLARS.

Here’s how it works.  There are 12 families in our co-op.  Each family puts in $10 so we have $120 to spend (difficult math here.)  We rotate the “shopper” and all take a turn.  So my turn rolls up every 24 weeks or about 6 months.  (More difficult math.  Not.)  I should mention that we do this every other Saturday. 

On the day when we are the shopper, we drive to the Farmer’s Market in Dallas to pick up our produce.  We work with a distributor there and order the stuff ahead of time so that early Saturday morning when we do the pickup, it’s a simple process of just driving over, paying for the pre-ordered-via-fax stuff and loading up the car with big boxes.  That’s about all I can handle at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday.  If I had to go through the market that early on Saturday and select things and add up the cost as I went?  Not a pretty picture.  Who knows what they’d get on my shopping day.

Then we drive back to our church and set out 12 laundry baskets on the steps and divide everything up.  Participants come at 10:00, pay their $10 (which gets passed on with our binder of info to the next shopper) and pick up their goodies.  Dear Hubby went along and helped me with the process today.  So I got to sleep in the car on the way (in between sips of Starbucks) AND play Words with Friends all the way back.  I love it when Dear Hubby goes along to help.

And if I’d taken the camera along, I’d have thrown in a few pics of the stuff in boxes and baskets!  But alas.  My blogging skills are lacking.  I am working hard at getting back in the swing of things to keep up with my one New Year’s Resolution.

So now I’ve washed all my goodies and put them away.  And thought you all needed to know about what a great thing a Produce Co-op is.  Maybe you need to check out starting one where you live?

In the meantime, does anyone have any good vegan recipes using cilantro?  5 bunches is a lot of cilantro!  It was a big box of cilantro….. 5 (bunches) x 12 (families) = 60 bunches of cilantro!  And there were a few extras that I passed on to our church secretary when I bumped into her as we were leaving.

I feel a big bowl of guacamole coming on…… and kale chips.  Yum.
Hugs,
Barb