Our community includes both our fellow local food enthusiasts and the small farmers we serve, so we truly appreciate your support of our online farmers market for sourcing or selling local food. Your local food purchases significantly help neighborhood farmers! In addition, there are seven other ways to uplift the co-op that all help reinforce our mission to assist farmers and shoppers gain back their precious time while supporting a robust local food economy.
We hire farmers and other community members to represent the co-op at market. For beginning farmers this employment is invaluable as their inventory levels are often low and the overhead to attend markets is high. They are able to sell their own produce and represent other co-op farmers while also getting to know our customers. Working the markets is fun for other community members as well, and allows non-farmers to be part of the farming scene. Check Member Resources for opportunities.
We know our future customers are nearby, we just haven't met them yet! Support us by volunteering your time to help get the word out. Check Member Resources for opportunities!
Educational work experiences may be available at our member farms, check Member Resources to see available opportunities.
We are a non-profit enterprise dedicated to facilitating easy access to a year-round local food marketplace for both shoppers and our fellow farmers. The co-op aims to expand in ways that support farmers in making a living, generate job opportunities, and provide our community with the finest locally produced food. In our store is a donation to the co-op. Any donation we receive will be directed towards succeeding in our mission and vision! greatly valued nonetheless 🥰. If you would like to make an anonymous donation or would like for us to avoid credit card fees, you can donate directly into our account at 4Front Credit Union. Thank you for considering us as a recipient of your charitable giving this year!
An investment in us expands exponentially because we are comprised of so many small farms. With the traditional public funding farmers have come to rely on dwindling, our local food economy risks becoming unsustainable. Become an important part of local food security by investing land or funds into our legal structure. Please start the conversation by emailing us.
If you are interested in joining our cooperative this is the first step, please visit Member Resources to get started.
If you are interested in joining our cooperative, becoming a patron is the first step, please visit Member Resources to get started.
What Does Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Mean?
A CSA is formed by farmers, and it means that a consumer owns a share of the farm. Consumers buy their share usually during the late winter or early spring to help invest in the farming season. They traditionally have had a work trade element to them, but more often these days it is just a monetary transaction to buy a share. Once one owns a share one receives a percentage of the harvest periodically, usually weekly.
How is our cooperative different?
Our shares are all farmer owned. This allows the consumer to purchase whatever and however much they would like of all the harvests without being beholden to the investment risks. Our farmer owners are helping support one another by marketing and distributing farm products together, as well as sharing information, innovations, equipment, and labor.
To shop for your local food groceries and plants from co-op producers, click Shop Online. This takes you to the Open Food Network: non-profit and open-source software designed to help farmers collaborate and create thriving enterprises together.
Patron and Member Resources include applications, agreements, SOP's, crop-planning, data-sets, and by-laws.
Fridays & Wednesdays
Alden
Bellaire
Williamsburg
Grand Traverse Commons
Elk Rapids
East Jordan
