After months of preparation and hard work, we have finally opened our outfitted warehouse in Ivy!
We started our day with our weekly staff meeting. Kate (director), Eric (operations & accounting consultant), Allison (community outreach), Gregg (legal counsel & public policy fellow), Alan (purchasing, sales & operations), Nathan (warehouse & driver), and myself (Marisa - farmer service & development) all sat around the table and went through our updates.
There were bottles of prosecco, cherries, scones, and orange juice.
We ceremoniously opened the prosecco, but as it was quite early in the morning, I'm not sure that anyone partook. (And if they did - perhaps they did so quietly in a corner!)
Kate handed out a gift to each of us - awesome "team" shirts - all of them with "Local Food Hub" on the front and our names on the back.We then had a great brainstorming meeting with a couple of our local supporters and shortly thereafter, our first delivery of produce arrived.
It was beautifully apropos that our first delivery came from our first farmer to sign up as our partner. Dick Proutt, from Down Branch Farm, came to us in his pick-up and brought gorgeous squash blossoms, french zuccini, patty pan and other summer squash, and some beautiful herbs.
He and Kate chatted for a while and discussed how he got into farming and what some of his challenges are.
Dick shared with us, "Thank you all so much for what you're doing here. It's a life-saver for me. I'm a woodworker and since the economic downturn, there
hasn't been much work. My farm is my only income. You make it easy."We also received produce from Rob Brown's farm, Roundabout Farm, and Meadow Run Gardens.
All in all - a flawless soft launch to the Local Food Hub.
