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Press release - August 15, 2003
FROM OUR FAMILY FARMS TO YOUR FAMILY TABLE:
Oklahoma Food Order Delivery Service Will Bring the Farmer's Market
to the Customer's Front Door
Group offers soon-to-be-unemployed Wrangler workers in Seminole help to
start market gardens to create secure, local jobs in rural areas.
The Oklahoma Food Cooperative Organizing Committee is happy to
announce a new local food order delivery service to bring the freshest
local Oklahoma foods direct from farmers to customers.
Offering the ultimate in convenience for busy people -- home
delivery each week -- the organization will feature a product line of
Oklahoma all natural beef, pork, lamb, farm raised venison, eggs, dairy products, peanuts,
certified organic vegetables and herbs, processed foods such as
jellies and jams, condiments like salsa and barbecue sauce, and
nonfood items like body care, medicinal, and house cleaning products.
"You could make a meal out of what we deal," says Robert Waldrop of
Oklahoma City, founder of the group. All products listed with the
Oklahoma Food order/delivery service are Oklahoma grown or made, and
they are offered to customers direct from those producers.
"Buying food directly from farmers is a way to give your family
the freshest and highest quality foods, while at the same time doing
good work building a more secure and sustainable future for all
Oklahomans," says Waldrop. "The fastest, easiest, and cheapest way
to bring economic relief to rural communities is by helping farmers
sell products directly to the public. Oklahoma City used to be a
center of direct relationships between farmers and customers, and as
those relationships have declined, so have our rural communities," he
continued. Waldrop says that the secret to cooking great meals like
your grandmother produced is to cook from basic foods and use the
freshest local ingredients.
While most of the people participating are presently in
Oklahoma City, Norman, and Edmond, the group is working to extend its
efforts to other areas such as Tulsa, Lawton, Enid, and Muskogee.
Oklahoma Food is raising money to establish its service by selling
memberships, which cost $50, and will begin its weekly service when it
reaches 200 members. Tulsa service can begin with 33 members in that
area; Enid with 25, and the group can do an OKC-Guthrie-Stillwater
route with 25 members.
This new cooperative enterprise positions Oklahoma to become a
leader in the burgeoning "local food" movement, which has been
described as "the next new thing in food". "Cultural Creatives" and
"Cultural Conservatives" are both excited about the idea of such easy
access to fresh local food, and the group hopes the presence of its
service will make Oklahoma communities better places to live, and
contributes to the health and happiness of Oklahoma families. The
group's goal is to use its order delivery service to "bootstrap" its
way into opening retail stores that only sell Oklahoma foods.
The Oklahoma Food Cooperative Organizing Committee has also begun
an outreach effort to the Wrangler workers in Seminole who are losing
their jobs, encouraging them to begin small market gardens to help
them create secure local jobs based on their own initiative and work,
and is offering to help them market their produce.
The members of the board of directors are: Kim Barker (Waynoka),
Kathy Carter-White (Tahlequah), Jonalu Johnstone (OKC), Walter Kelley
(Norman), JoAnn Logan (Edmond), Mark Parman (Webbers Falls), Robert
Waldrop (OKC)
For more information:
Oklahoma Food Service: description of the
nuts and bolts of the service
Oklahoma Food Budget: budget information
Getting Started: philosophy of local
food
National websites regarding local and slow food movements:
http://www.localharvest.org
http://www.slowfood.com
http://www.foodroutes.org
For more information contact Robert Waldrop, 405 613 4688,
rmwj@soonernet.com
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