• Cooks Co~op
  • Posts
  • orders are open + reflections from the field + about the near future

orders are open + reflections from the field + about the near future

Author

Angela Hirst
April 10, 2026

COOKS CO~OP

Billy & Ange are having a holiday this week, so it’s a shorter than usual newsletter.

Billy on holidays with her family

Pickups: Thurs 16th or Sat 18th April (Meetup)

Early close for coffee is Sunday 11am. Orders for everything else close Tuesday 11am as usual.

Ange’s garden on holiday

A ramble from Ange…

HOW LUCKY ARE WE?

After hauling these pumpkins out of the garden this morning, I thought: I can’t believe how little food costs when it takes this much effort to grow! The market value of these pumpkins is way too low for me to want to sell them to the Co-op. I’d rather give them away in exchange for happy faces than sell them for $3/kg.

And then I thought, how lucky are we that some people ARE actually willing to sell food to us? Real people - trying to make a living growing food that hasn’t ransacked the earth - to feed us. It seems an extraordinary miracle that this kind of person still exists in the world.

It reminds me why this Co-op is so important to me. We, too, all of us, are doing work that not everyone would be willing to do. By being willing, we’re part of a team. We’re supporting farmers and producers willing to do their parts, and together, we’re creating room for soil and biodiversity and community resilience and livelihood. What we’re building together, what it feels like…

It’s what I feel when I look at these apples.

And this fennel.

And what I feel when I’m talking to this new farmer, William, and he’s telling me about why he’s doing what he’s doing - that he used to grow broilers for a massive poultry company and he just couldn’t stand to be part of that system any more. And so now he’s farming his way, and he’s part of what we’re part of, and we’re all caring for the whole.

So in the spirit of this, we want to talk to you about what’s next. It won't be the last chance we get to talk about it, but it’s a timely one, as there are some very near next steps that we want you to be a part of. We’ll probably sit in a circle, eat some apples, tell you some stuff and then you can tell us some stuff, so we can figure out what to do next.

COME TALK WITH US ABOUT THE NEAR FUTURE

We want to share some opportunities with you (plus, there’s that proposal we sent out last week to talk about if you have any feedback or questions around it).

When: End of our Meetup, Saturday 18th April, 4:30pm.

INTERESTED IN JOINING OUR CO-OP?

We’re open to new members and it’s easy to try us out.

Reply to this Newsletter if you’re interested in trying us out. We can even get you set up for next week if you’re super eager!

Saturday Meetup Produce Stall.

The List

AND JUST WHEN IT FEELS LIKE THERE’S NO MORE PRODUCTS TO ADD…

Please grab some of the following in your shop this month and join in on Slack to help shape our stocking decisions (#product-suggestions #product-reviews):

NEW AND/OR BACK IN STOCK

Vegetarian Broth Concentrate (lemongrass, lime & ginger) from Urban Forager · Living Coconut's Dutch Cacao & Maple Coconut Yoghurt · Another Thank You Lemon Myrtle & Oat Milk Body Wash · and our Apostle Hot Sauces have finally arrived along with a new pistachio nut bar from South Forty and some Spicy Sesame Dan Dan Noodles!

Castell Park Pastured Eggs - William Sylvester will be driving his jumbo eggs from Esk to our door at least every fortnight, at a very reasonable price.

The delectable lamb from Peachester Fresh (including a new lamb rack) and hopefully Bundarra arrives in time with some salamis for us to try! We’ll also have some of their other pork cuts (bone in shoulder, ribs, jowl, osso bucco) plus some of their chicken drumsticks.

And finally some new bulk dark chocolate - Valrhona’s Satilia Noire 70%. It’ll be our most affordable 70% chocolate.

Apostle Hot Sauces


ENOUGH FROM US, TIME TO ORDER

Hope to see you Saturday 18th April at our Meetup, or the Thursday before for a quick box pickup, or/and for a chat after our Meetup (4:30pm).

Members: please alert us to if you’re picking up Thursday or Saturday by picking the option in the Produce List.

Non-members: we would still love to know if you’re interested in joining in 2026. Reply to this email and we’ll prioritise you for a trial next week even.

xx your Co-op crew.

Reya on holiday