Membership Applications

We are sprouting and need YOU to help us grow! To receive information on how to become a member-owner of Yakima Food Cooperative, please email buylocal@yakimafoodcooperative.com with your First and Last Name in the subject line. Volunteers will reply with instructions for completing your application. Online processing will be available at a later date. Thank you for your support!

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Newsletters

January 2012 Newsletter

New Survey .. please take a minute and fill it out !

Hello Friends of the Yakima Food Co-op,

First of all we would like to acknowledge and thank all of you who have filled out the Membership Interest/Product Interest Survey either online or at one of our gatherings. The information we gathered was greatly appreciated.  Given all your encouragement, we are now moving forward with the next steps to make the Yakima Food Co-op a reality.

To that end, the board of directors is working in conjunction with several Heritage University business students to put together a business plan for the Yakima Food Cooperative. We certainly don't want to start the Co-op and have it fail early for lack of adequate planning and due diligence. As part of this business planning effort we are doing some additional market research to figure out how best to serve your needs. 

We would really appreciate your response to a brief survey. It’s quick and easy. Just follow this link to take the online survey. All responses are anonymous. Here’s the survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YFCEM.

Just so you know, we may need to do further surveys in the future as we continue to plan and gather the necessary information.  As this planning process continues forward we will be sending out regular updates to keep everyone informed.

Thank you so much for your assistance,

Yakima Food Co-op Board
Maria Jett
Erin Malland
Mary Pellicer
Mary Stevenson
Shelly Thompson

Yakima Magazine Article

The Co-op was featured in the Yakima Magazine issue released on March 4, 2011!

Mission Statement

The Yakima Food Cooperative is a consumer cooperative that strives to buy from local organic farmers and producers. Its mission is to:

a. offer quality foods and products from ecologically sound, economically viable and socially responsible sources;
b. provide local farmers and producers with an avenue to market products at a fair price; and
c. foster opportunities for the greater Yakima community to gather and grow together.

Vision

We envision an inclusive food cooperative that nurtures and nourishes all communities in the Yakima Valley. By supporting businesses that implement positive environmental and social practices, we will honor our members’ needs, encourage healthy lifestyle choices, and promote a vibrant local economy. We are proud to offer leadership, farm-to-consumer business networking, and farm-to-table food supply through the efforts of our members.

Buying Local, A Local Perspective

The Yakima Food Cooperative strives to support local producers and to offer high quality items produced as close to the Yakima Valley as possible. Instead of a rigid geographic definition, this defines a flexible region for different products.

In deciding what foods to offer to our members, we look for items produced in the Yakima Valley first, then neighboring counties, the Pacific Northwest, the United States and lastly, imported with fair trade considerations. In addition to location, products will be evaluated using Yakima Food Cooperative’s product sourcing guidelines (in the final stages of development).

Yakima Food Co-op is exploring opportunities for the buying club and future store with the following farmers, growers and producers:

Alvarez Organic Farms, Mabton: organic fruits and mixed vegetables, garlic, onions, shallots, potatoes, squash, pumpkins

American Produce, Omak: sustainable farm fresh, sliced & specialty fruits

AprésVin, Prosser: uses the pomace (seeds, skins, and stems) leftover from winemaking to produce artisanal, varietal grape seed oils and nutritious, gluten-free grape seed flour

Badger Mountain Vineyard, Kennewick: organic wines

Barbee Orchards/Bella Terra Gardens, Zillah: organic fruits and vegetables

Baron Farms, Wapato: humanely raised, vegetarian-fed, hormone-free and sustainably farmed eggs, pastured chicken, pastured pork, and grass-fed beef

Cherry Creek Ranch, Naches: organic fruits and walnuts

Chester “The Honey Man” Ferguson, Yakima Valley: raw honey

Cloud View Farms, Royal City: organic mixed vegetables, garlic

Douglas Farms, Selah: grass-fed beef, pork, sheep and chicken

Heirloom Cattle Company, White Swan: organic native grass-fed, stress free, pastured beef without hormones, antibiotics and grain

Holy Cows Grassfed Beef, Wapato: USDA certified organic grassfed beef, Animal Welfare Approved raising practices, Angus/Limousin cross, closed herd and wholly sustainable as all winter feed is grown in their organic pastures

Irish Eyes Garden Seeds, Ellensburg: organic vegetables, poultry, eggs

Jenny Mae’s Gluten Free Goodies, Yakima: vegan and/or gluten-free baked goods such as pizza rounds, sandwich rounds, bread, cookies, cupcakes

K 2 Orchards, organic fruits and berries

Mair Farm-Taki, Wapato: organic fruits, herbs & vegetables

Pride and Joy Dairy, Granger: organic raw milk, cream, eggs, butter, grass-fed beef and lamb

Razey Orchards, Naches: organic apples, cherries, dried cherries

Ricorganics, Harrah: organic vegetables, squash, pumpkins, grains, legumes

Sunnyslope Ranch, Wapato: organic fruits

Tieton Farm and Creamery, Tieton: Chevre, Feta, Provolone and Halloumi artisan cheeses made from local, grass-fed, free-roaming animals on a sustainable, chemical-free farm

Vendors at local farmers markets …and many more!

We will likely order bulk and packaged natural foods and products from the following distributors and vendors: Azure Standard, Frontier Natural Products Co-op, GloryBee Foods, United Natural Foods Inc.

Update from the Community Meeting on August 15, 2010

The first community meeting for Yakima Food Cooperative was a success! Detailed minutes will be available soon, but we want to share a review of the meeting and provide you with a big picture of Yakima Food Co-op's progress. Our thanks to everyone who helped prepare for, attended, participated in and/or supported this meeting. Many of you were out of town or otherwise unable to attend, but took the time to spread the word to others or sent a kind message demonstrating your support. 

As an email and Facebook administrator, I can tell you this is a truly amazing group of people which grows daily. What started as a small gathering around a dinner table last fall has increased to over 100 email contacts and 167 Facebook "fans." It is a privilege to be a part of such an inspiring grassroots effort. Thank you!

We kicked off the community meeting on Sunday with a very informative presentation by local producer Dan Peplow of Heirloom Cattle Company. He spoke of the rewards and challenges of being an organic grass-fed cattle rancher in a conventional climate that is slowly but surely changing to allow room for competition by people who value what they produce and eat. His family farm provides a stress-free environment for animals from pasture through processing.  Their cows may roam freely over hundreds of acres grazing on diverse, organic, native grasses.  They strive to use or sell every part of the animal. Dan discussed the flexibility and quality consumers can enjoy by purchasing directly from local producers. A few people even bought some beef during a short break. Heirloom Cattle Company distributes through personal orders via web, phone and email as well as through CSAs, buying clubs, farmers markets and co-ops. Special thanks to Dan, wife Sarah and son Micah for taking time to spend with us during their travels from market to market. More information on Dan's presentation will be available in the minutes and by visiting their website, www.hcc-grassfed-beef.com

Kelli Carmony shared a brief history of how the Yakima Food Cooperative got started and its progress to date. Committee members discussed consumer and volunteer opportunities with the group.

Chris Klebaum of K2 Orchards (baumerk@gmail.com) voiced his interests and concerns as a local organic grower. At this time if anyone is interested in his products, especially for jams or pie-filling, please contact Chris. He is also seeking suggestions for new organic products to grow. Thanks, Chris!

Members are encouraged to provide the product committee with contact information for local producers.

Email buylocal@yakimafoodcooperative.com and Facebook www.facebook.com/yakimafoodcooperative are currently the best vehicle to share resources. Co-op voice mail, new email and mailing addresses will be announced upon activation.

Minutes from past meetings are available via email upon request and may be viewed on the website at a later date. Recorded minutes from this community meeting will be emailed to you soon.

Thank you so much for your interest and support! Special thanks to Bernice Monahan at Glenwood Square. Kudos to committee members Mary Stevenson, Danielle Surkatty, Paula Knutson, Eleanor Hungate, Kara Lolley, Laura Klasner, Kelli and Jay Carmony, Dan Dugger and Eunsil Kim, Stan and Lori Isley, Ray Paolella, Beka Pruitt, Chris Malland and others who have contributed to this effort.

2011 Board Meeting Schedule

The Co-op board meets at 6pm on the 2nd Thursday of each month

November 10
December  8

2011 Meeting Minutes

Board Meeting Minutes - January 18, 2011

2010 Meeting Minutes

Minutes of the August 15th Community Meeting [ 31 KB]
Minutes of the July 25th General Meeting [ 31 KB]
Minutes of the May 15th General Meeting [ 46 KB]
Minutes of the March 28th Meeting [ 46 KB]
Minutes of the January 31st Informal Meeting [ 146 KB]

Mailing List

If you'd like to be added to our mailing list .. please sign-up:

Join the Yakima Food Cooperative

If you are interested in being added to our email mailing list, or in becoming a member once the Cooperative is open, please complete and email the Member Interest Survey and Product Interest Survey [ 36 KB]. This feedback will help us start off in the best direction to meet the needs of future members of the Yakima Food Cooperative.

The Yakima Food Cooperative ... A developing story...

In the fall of 2009, a small group of professionals started having conversations about the need and desire for a local food co-op. They had enjoyed previous experiences working and shopping in co-op grocery stores. Founding members participate in buying clubs, CSAs and support farmers markets. Some are members of a local goat co-op and/or maintain memberships with out of area co-ops. After a few months of "word of mouth" spearheading via email, social networking and gatherings, the interest group outgrew round table discussions in living rooms.

Committees were formed, volunteers were recruited and tasks were assigned. A mission statement was drafted and approved. Potential drop site locations were explored and operational requirements were researched. The name Yakima Food Cooperative, Co-op for short, was confirmed by consensus at a general meeting in March 2010. Kelli Carmony was named Treasurer and a small board of directors formed.

The product sourcing committee tackled definitions of local and ethical, terms acknowledged in the mission statement. Lists of local producers, distributors and product requests were compiled. Product Sourcing Guidelines, a template of standards and considerations for co-op purchasing, are developing.

Diane Gasaway, Executive Director of the Northwest Cooperative Development Center, visited the co-op's general meeting in May armed with tools and suggestions and delivered positive feedback about the co-op's progress. A draft of the Articles of Incorporation was prepared by Lori Isley and is currently in the final stage of completion.

A community meeting was suggested, discussed and planned. Yakima Herald-Republic featured news of the developing co-op in a May 6, 2010 article about the Locavore movement and announced the details of the community meeting in ShopTalk. A vision was drafted by the product committee and approved at the July 25 general meeting. A Facebook page and website were developed. And a meeting open to the public was held!

I am sure I left out a detail or two along the way so please contribute your ideas to this developing story. I am grateful for the opportunity to share my perspective of the co-op's progress. Thank you!

Erin Malland