HELLO! MEMBERS AND YET-TO-BES…

Our dearest community,

It’s been a doozy of a month, and there’s a lot to share. One highlight: we’ve been getting to know a few of the Shed’s existing Bulk Buyers Group, and gee they’re a lovely bunch, how lucky are we?!

Speaking of which…

WE HAVE A MOVE DATE!

Saturday 18th July. We’ll schlep chest freezers, refrigerators, bulk buckets and shelves 3 minutes down the road (sounds easy, doesn’t it) to take up residence in a perfect corner of the Food Connect Shed.

Thanks so much to Dom for putting his hand up to coordinate our move. Big relief for me (Ange). Plus, so many people have said they’ll help AND move day is on our usual Meetup Day, so hopefully you’ll be available yeah??

We’re still to figure out how exactly shopping will work around that weekend... but if as many people as possible can pick up on the Thursday, that will help to empty our fridges.

Please head to #the-move to stay informed and helpful!

ORDERING IS OPEN FOR: 18th or 20th June

**HERE’S THIS MONTH’S LIST**

Coffee closes Sunday 14th June, 11am.

Everything else closes Tuesday 16th June 11am.

INTERESTED IN JOINING OUR CO-OP?

We suggest trying us out for a month or so. Reply to this Newsletter if you’re interested and we can get you set up for ordering.

MEMBER NUMBERS

I've been reluctant to push commitments from trialling members as we are in such flux with both our move and our soon to be formal structure. So we have a glorious 34 committed member households, and another 9 actively trialling, and 6 Shed Bulk Buyers who’ve asked to stay informed but haven’t ordered from us yet. So all up, 49 households. Collective abundance is blooming!

OUR INVENTORY BANK

We have approximately $30k of stock. This is up from our usual $27k mostly due to an (almost) half cow occupying our freezers and the last cartons of Republica del Cacao ever to be available in Australia. So yeah, we’re full to the brim.

One thing that would really help us right now: if you have spare funds, consider loading up your credit. It stays yours, but getting some cash moving through the Co-op while we're carrying this much stock would make a real difference.

Also - please don’t leave your balances in the negative. If you see it highlighted red, fix it pronto. Actually, maybe just check where you’re at right now…

For many of our 1,200+ products, one-unit purchases aren't a problem — we order one Port Lincoln Sardine Garum, it arrives next day, zero impact on stock on hand.

But plenty of products must be bought by the carton and ordered over ten days in advance. That means they need to be physically here to be available to order. Fine for consistent favourites (hello Pepo Farm's walnuts, we can't keep up with you!), but a real challenge for slower movers. Just because members bought the first carton of, say, Tabletop Flame Raisins, doesn't mean they'll buy them again. Restock anyway and suddenly we've got wallflowers.

Time to weed them out. Head to #discontinued-products in Slack and be frank: if you've tried something you'd never buy again, name it. No holds barred.

We love our monthly Meetups, and so appreciate the effort many of you put in to make them joyous and efficient. But in case you didn't know, there are other devoted humans working on your boxes every week.

Rachael bags up all your bulk orders. Sato does ordering with me and runs the pack. Josh picks up and drops off your dairy. Cat & Mel bring in 200kg of fresh produce from United Organics every Thursday morning. Chelsea (with little George) tackles our accumulating cardboard mountains. Cindy weighs all our buckets in a rolling stocktake. And Naomi, in the background of it all, keeps all your credit balances up to date.

The energy this weekly effort releases into the Co-op — and to me personally — is immense. Thank you. If you feel like you're missing out on the fun, don’t worry! We'll need even more weekly help once we move.

NEW (in no particular order)... Medjool Date Paste, Burundi Single Origin Almanac Coffees, Harissa Paste Mix, GevityRx Am Cleanse Bone Broth Concentrate, Apricot Jam in bulk, Kris Lloyd’s Buffalo Persian Feta, organic dried whole bananas, Arakai Teas, Autumn Black & Green as well as Green Spring Flush, and a High Country Sencha from Yarra Vale Tea Company, Symons Organic Butter, Organic Gelatin Powder, and 56% Dark Republica del Cacao Chocolate while it lasts!

RETURNING… fresh Medjools from Gundarra. Oh… and half a cow from Corinya Rise.

AND BAGELS! NYC Bagel Deli Bagels, - Blueberry, Cinnamon, Gluten Free, Everything, Onion, Plain, Poppy Seed, Sesame, Rye… freshly baked just for Saturday Meetups. This means you can only order them if you’ve also selected Saturday as your pick up day.

HELP US MEET MINIMUMS ON…

Broccoli, Cauliflower, Celery, Cucumber, Baby Cos, Sweet Corn, Imperial Mandarins

ENOUGH FROM US, TIME TO SHOP

Hope to see you Saturday 20th June at our Meetup, or the Thursday before for a quick box pickup.

**HERE’S THIS MONTH’S LIST AGAIN**

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

Non-members: Reply to this email and we’ll prioritise you for a trial.

xx Ange on behalf of your Co-op Crew.