Beets in December

[Jasmine Sarp]

Man, bummer about the incidents... Sounds like we should schedule another meeting. How does next week look for everyone? Maybe the 7th or 8th? Or is that too soon? Respond with topics for the agenda!

-future buying club location

-space progress

-grant progress

On Fri, Nov 26, 2010 at 7:06 PM, Tara Megos <tara...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey Everyone,

There were a couple incidents with the pick up this week, and we will have to find a new space for it.  One day, the door was wide open with noone inside, and the next day no one locked the front door when they were done and it was left open for an entire day- which includes access to the kitchen and the club charles. 

On Fri, Nov 19, 2010 at 6:53 AM, Kendall Hoff <kenda...@gmail.com> wrote:

I can do that. I may be ten minutes Kate.

Sent from my iPhone

On Nov 19, 2010, at 6:45 AM, Dan Zink <sludg...@gmail.com> wrote:

> OK Saturday at 5? We can meet at my place or a coffee shop or someplace
> else.
>
> On Wed, 2010-11-17 at 15:05 -0500, Jeff Budd wrote:
>> I'm up for it, I think Friday or Saturday would work (for me, Thursday
>> would not be best).
>>
>> Also, if we get together for this I'd like to show you guys an
>> application for fiscal sponsership I picked up from Fusion
>> Partnerships.
>>
>> It's very simple and straightforward and I've already identified what
>> we likely have already completed in prior meetings.  This wouldn't
>> have to take more than 15 minutes as we should probably focus on
>> complete the Operation Storefront application.
>>
>> Jeff
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 16, 2010 at 4:14 PM, Jasmine Sarp <jasmi...@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>        Are we pushing the order back now?
>>
>>
>>        We need to meet to put together our proposal for the Downtown
>>        storefront grants asap, the deadline is this Monday! Are
>>        people available to meet on Thursday or Friday evening or
>>        Saturday? Please review the pdf about the proposals and have a
>>        resume ready. If you need help with a resume email me and I
>>        can help! I'm going to put together a draft of the proposal,
>>        so if you have anything you want to contribute at this point
>>        email me that too!
>>
>>
>>        Also an event of note tomorrow night:
>>        http://fyi.mica.edu/event/debut_screening_baltimore_food_ecology_documentary_and_out_to_pasture_the_future_of_farminf
>>
>>
>>
>>        It's go time!
>>        Jasmine
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>        On Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 8:29 PM, Dan Zink
>>        <sludg...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>                Hi all
>>
>>                So how do we feel about pushing the order forward a
>>                week, so A) we're
>>                using Frankferd and B) we're not doing pickup on
>>                thanksgiving?
>>
>>                If someone can get the prices into the spreadsheet, I
>>                can take it from
>>                there. Anyone want to draft an e-mail?
>>
>>                -
>>                <3 DFZ
>>                (sent from 2003 with love)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>

[Dan Zink]

I could do the 7th or the 8th.

Any ideas for a new pick-up location? 2640? It would be great if we
could throw some ideas out here on the list even before the meeting.

Also, update: we got our first grant application out last week, for
Operation Storefront. Hopefully that will get the ball rolling so we can
apply for more, and perhaps ones that fit our needs even better. Also,
the new Fedex Kinkos merger is possibly the worst
all-i-want-to-do-is-print-4-files-they're-all-on-a-thumb-drive-this-should-be-easy experience I've ever had.

Also, I've been stuck inside with the flu for 3.5 days now, so I have
not been able to call Fusion, but I'm feeling much better today. Talked
to some Free School people at the dance and they didn't know much about
Fusion, so either I was talking to the wrong people, or Fusion is really
hands-off.

[Jeff Budd]

7th or 8th should be fine with me. way to go getting the grant application in dan/jasmine!! i totally spaced on the saturday meeting.. too many obligations that day. anyhow, i printed off three copies of the fusion application for fiscal sponsership and i have a pamphlet from fusion.

i, too, considered using 2640 as a potential option. i can try to get in touch with someone i know who is involved with the red emmas collective to see if/how/when we could work something like that out.

[Jeff Budd]

Hey all... here is a response I got from my friend Clayton who is a red emmas collective member:

Clayton:  So I know folks are really busy at both 2640 and Emma's, but If you wanted to send me an email with sort of the gist, previous logistical workings of the buy-in club and sort of a general idea of how you folks would like to see it operate out of 2640 then I can bring it up to everyone and see if it is a viable option for you folks.

He also mentioned that on December 12th (a sunday) is the next open red emmas meeting. If someone would be interested in joining me there we could have a brief spot on their agenda to explain what we do and what we might want to see happen if we were to use 2640.

Ideally, I'd like to get together an email to send back to him before this Sunday (Dec. 5th) as that is the closed-door red emmas collective meeting where I'm sure Clayton will be conveying this info to the other members. It would be great if he had a proper break down of what we do and what we'd like to see happen (including how we'd use 2640).

What say you?!

[Aliza Ess]

Hey everyone! Not sure if I can make a meeting next week since there is so much going on at this time of year.. I have to figure out scheduling after this weekend.

Just wanted to weigh in on the 2640 question since I am a member of the collective- it probably wouldn't work very well, unfortunately. Since the building is locked at all times it would be pretty complicated scheduling someone to be there with a key for the pick-up days and to make sure there aren't events going on, and we probably wouldn't be able to store all the bulk goods in the space.

One of the things I have been thinking about is a more decentralized method of organization. This could mean that we become an LLC and then sell our minimally packaged goods to other shops we want to collaborate with (Charmington's, possibly Red Emmas although they may have another account, the Bohemian, etc.)  and/or continue to make very large bulk purchases for organizations, restaurants, etc. The current method of selling small amounts of bulk goods to many people coming to pick things up requires a lot of volunteer hours, weighing time, etc. and the pick-up days make things kind of inconvenient.

I'm wondering if we should look into getting a table at the Waverly Farmer's Market over the winter? I know the tables are really packed during the summer, but in the winter when local produce drops off it seems like a good time for people to purchase organic bulk goods. We could start a CSA where people pay up front for re-usable packaging, then come to us each week for their pick-up.

For those of us who weren't at the recent meeting (it was on Saturday?)- can people update us on the current status of the business plan, grant applications, etc?

Thanks! Just baked a raisin-nut bread last night with my awesome Beet goods :) Awesome rainy day breakfast.
a

[Jasmine Sarp]

Yay for online discussion! Do we have minutes from the last meeting?

I'm down for at least seeing if anything could work out with 2640, although I like Aliza's idea of a more decentralized buying club set up. Waverly Market sounds like a neat idea too. I wonder if Mill Valley would be interested in doing a bulk CSA thing with us... since they do produce CSAs... we would be competing with some of their other sellers though. 

Another thing for the agenda is Baltimore Green Week, proposals are due December 15th for their event in April. I'm attaching the request for proposals, may have sent this a while ago too. 

[Dan Zink]

I've got some notes in my little pad, I can transcribe them when I'm
feeling better.

If we're doing a CSA, how does that work? How do we ensure that our
products are local? And how would we bypass Frankferd? Or are we going
to make it CSA-like, in that people order ahead of time and pick up at
the market, even though we're still going through Frankferd? What are
the fees for a table like there?

Jeff, I'd be down for visiting the open meeting with you, I'd just have
to confirm availability.

<3 DFZ

[Jeff Budd]

It would be pretty rad to have Mill Valley add our products to their CSA or make a seperate CSA of just Beet products... however I think this would require a pretty big (and new) commitment on our part to have regularly scheduled orders and pick ups to meet the demand of a regular CSA. Seems like we'd be unable to delay orders or take breaks etc. Just thinking out loud though --- agenda point?!

About using 2640: Dunno if it would be a viable long term space at all, I was thinking something along the lines of a temporary shelter for the beet buying club activities. Chances are we'd probably have to have the delivery come to someone's house and then transport the goods to 2640 for the day of the pick up... again, just thinking out loud here. --- another agenda point!

Dan -- it would be great if you could come to the emmas meeting on the 12th! Confirm when you can.

Getting in on the waverly farmers market is an excellent idea. Any chance people want to meet before next week? If not, 7th or 8th works for me, can we nail down a day soon though? 

[Kendall Hoff]

I can meet on the seventh or eighth. I'm a little confused by Tara's e-mail, but we can discuss all of that at the meeting.

[Dan Zink]

Okay it looks like a lot of people (-Aliza) can do it either 7th or 8th.
I just re-checked my calendar, and I can't do the 7th.

How about the 8th at 7:00? I can make some sort of snacky treat again.
Location?

Tara, Cheryl, does that work for you?

[noah]

The 8th and 7pm works well for me.
_noah

[Dan Zink]

Just talked to Tara, Weds the 8th at 8pm (instead of 7pm) works better
for her. Can we set it in stone now?

Anyone want to host/have suggestion for location?

<3 DFZ

[Jeff Budd]

The 8th @ 8pm is good for me. 

[Aliza Ess]

I have a dentist appt. on the 8th but am o.k. with getting caught up on the meeting over email.

I hope people read my earlier comment about 2640, I don't think it would be possible to store all of our bulk goods at 2640 since they need quite a bit of room. Plus someone with a key would have to be there for all of the pick-up days, which would be somewhat difficult to organize.

a

[Kendall Hoff]

8 is fine. I f we can't do it anywhere else, we can do it at my house.

[Jasmine Sarp]

I'm there.

[Cheryl Carmona]

I can make the meeting at 8PM on the 8th although I may have to leave early.

I think the idea about having the pick-up at the farmers market is a good one.  It would take some planning because I think that we would need to get a tax ID, food permit and a food vending license to sell there.  The city gives out the food vending licenses every few months and the next time is February 1st (I heard this through a friend but I need to confirm with friends who sell at the market).  February 1st isn't that far away so we could work towards that.  It costs $40/week for a space there.  If we are selling food with a 10% markup that means we need to sell $400 to to cover that cost.  We have been hovering around selling about that much but that is mostly due to the members who buy wholesale.  It sounds like we are reaching a point where we are going to shift our model slightly and I think one change that we could make that would benefit us would be to expand our wholesale customers to help us to comfortably cover out minimum order.  We also had some success on the last order with offering some wholesale items to members (another possibility).  CSA could be an interesting model at farmers market.  Selling through other places may work but not sure how we would package some items without going stale (ie. granola).


~Cheryl

On Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 2:54 PM, Aliza Ess <baltim...@gmail.com> wrote: