Granary Food Coop

Good afternoon,

My name is Gordon Hicks. I am a senior geology major at the University Of Minnesota – Morris. I am currently working for the Center for Small Towns, a community outreach program that provides resources to rural Minnesota. This semester I have been working with Meg Scholberg and Kathy Draeger on developing resources for the Granary Food Coop. Hopefully some of you stopped by during the Arts Meander last fall and saw the pottery display courtesy of Mark Mustfull – an Ortonville resident and professional potter. It is with great pleasure that I have been working for the Granary.

Although it may seem unintuitive to some, I believe local foods are a key to success – especially in rural America – to surviving the “Technology Age”. The beginnings of rural Minnesota reflect the roots of civilization, namely the importance of local agriculture. However, technology render the Earth [metaphorically] small, and globalization has rendered the earth [metaphorically] flat. Because the opposite side of the Earth is reachable in less than 24 hours, we can easily forget th community immediately surrounding us. I
am a product of cosmopolitan Minnesota, and I am glad to have gone to a school in a rural part of the state to get a different perspective.

The Ortonville Granary (47 NW 2^nd St) has been operating for over 20 years. It stocks organic foods, many in bulk, as well as recycled and green cleaning and paper products. The Granary orders its spices from Frontier Natural Foods, who ensure fair trade relationships between the farmers and buyers. Packaged and bulk goods are ordered from United Natural Foods Inc., a distributer of organic foods. The Granary stocks some local goods (flour, eggs), and is looking to expand the number of perishable and non perishable goods from local sources. If anyone has ideas for local food (anything from bison to flax), or requests for a certain type of local food that you would buy from the Granary, please let me know.

I am glad to have found out about this forum. After visiting the Granary several times, I have been wondering how many of its customers had internet access and would utilize online resources. An online community is very helpful for discussing ideas and concerns related to local foods. How many of you out there would be interested in a monthly e-newsletter with updates on the Granary as well as a coupon?

Thanks for any input!


Gordon Hicks

Donnie,

Thank you for posting here. I agree that the Granary is really a great asset for the local foods scene in Big Stone County. I'm so grateful to the volunteers that keep it going. It really adds to our quality of life living here. I also love volunteering there-- my big social outing!

I hope that you can come to the meeting on Monday night Donnie. It would be great to have your knowledge and connections at the table.

Best,

Kathy

Bumping this post to request some assistance.

I am trying to draw more volunteers and shoppers to the Granary. I know that the dynamics of Ortonville are different than Morris, so I feel that a survey will help me to understand how to draw customers to the Granary.

At the bottom of my post is a link to a short (5 questions) survey I created on Surveymonkey. The purpose of this survey is to get preliminary responses to questions I feel are important for improving the Granary. Eventually, I would like to carry out a larger scale survey of more Ortonville residents. Consider this my trial run!

I would appreciate it if you could fill this out and leave some comments. It should only take a minute or two.

Again, thanks for your help.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Rk3_2f7vwid16tGkGqk4rs0Q_3d_3d