Member Letter, March 2026
- 3 hours ago
- 8 min read
Welcome to the new monthly letter just for the BFC community.
We are going to have a little fun as we work together to build a more resilient local food system! Thank you for being here, and for sharing in this mission.
Announcements & Opportunities
Volunteers needed for counting a bunch of stuff.
BFC Inventory
Tuesday, March 31, 2026
6:30pm until we drop
And the morning of April 1st before opening if we don’t finish
If you can help, please email us at blackberryfood.coop@riseup.net.
Why now?
We are formally converting the Farm Stand to Blackberry Food Cooperative at the end of March. We will be finalizing the purchase of the Farm Stand assets: inventory, equipment, and community goodwill. So when we open on April 1 the store will be Blackberry Food Cooperative! See full story below.
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Got a light?
You know that table lamp that you grabbed when you moved into your first apartment? It looks a bit like it was made by a 3rd grader in art class, and it now takes up room in your garage? We want it! Bring it by the co-op and we will put it to good use bringing light to the shelves.
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Stories from the Co-op
Thursday March 26 at noon our time, BFC Board President, Jim Stevenson will be representing Blackberry Food Co-op as one of the three panelists on FCI Live: Converting to Co-op: Stories from the Field. Register here. You will be able to view it later on FCI’s YouTube channel.
Draw our new Blackberry!
In the mad rush to get the Blackberry Food Co-op going, we used AI prompts for the current BFC blackberry. It did the job. We are not proud of it. We are not excited about it.
Our logo needs the human touch!
We want to replace the mad rush blackberry with one that is handcrafted. We want a Blackberry we can be proud of.
We are looking for submissions from our membership.
April 1, 2026 the Farm Stand officially becomes the Blackberry Food Cooperative
I know what you are thinking. Didn’t we officially become the Blackberry Food Co-op back in like, January?
While the BFC is a legal entity, it is not currently involved in the grocery biz. Under the surface, everything is still running as Coast Form Farm Stand. We need to complete the transition.
What is the holdup?
The short story is that due to continued governmental lethargy we have been unable to get SNAP benefits transitioned over. That is important. We want to be sure that SNAP recipients can get what they need.
So, now we have SNAP coverage?
No, not quite yet.
After months of red tape and delays, and now on our second application, we are finally making progress! We just had our store inspected on Friday. This is a critical step in obtaining our SNAP Retailer authorization and the step that makes the process take 4-6 weeks after they decide we have submitted all of the necessary documents.
We’ve been told that once the store is inspected the process will move quickly. So, we are keeping our fingers crossed that we will be able to accept SNAP payments from our customers by April 1st.
Are SNAP recipients out of luck if we don’t get our authorization by April 1?
Nope. The BFC is ALL about healthy, affordable food for our community members.
If we don’t have SNAP coverage by April 1st, we will provide 10% off food sales for SNAP recipients. The program will be funded through a round-up program. Shoppers at the co-op will have the opportunity to round up at their purchase time.
And, that is why we are counting everything?
Yes!
March 31, 2026
6:30 after closing, we will be meeting to count all inventory — both on the shelves and stored away — to finalize the purchase from Coast Fork Farm Stand.
Email blackberryfood.coop@riseup.net. if you can join us!
People of the Co-op
Meet Charlie!
If you have been to the co-op lately, you have likely been lucky enough to meet Charlie. She brings her infectious passion for food, farming, and community to her role as produce manager, and she has me mildly obsessed with Celeriac
Q: Tell us about your role with the BFC.
I am the produce manager and I share some of the other responsibilities with ordering for different departments in the store.
I feel very blessed to be part of continuing Scott's legacy. One of the many gifts that he brought to the community is helping people have access to healthy food. I want to honor Scott for that - it should be a basic human right.
Q: I hear you have a small biodynamic farm, Can you share what is important to you about farming?
Yes - I do have a small farm, maybe micro. It's 2 acres with a small riparian forest bordering 2/3 of the property. We're at the one of the headwaters of the Siuslaw River, where we are blessed to see a couple different species of spawning salmon and so many different types of animals. I have a small flock of Shetland sheep, far too many chickens and a couple of ducks. I use about an acre for farming though the repairing Forest is it's own food Forest with elderberries, currents, Also berries and so many other native berries and roots. I use biodynamic and regenerative farming practices which helps sequester carbon dioxide. These practices also create a healthy living soil full of mycelium and other nutrients to help plants grow, unlike conventional farming which strips the soil of its health and creates a dead soil that needs fertilizers added in order to try to grow something.
I like knowing how my food is grown. Where it is grown, what energy is put into it. I love knowing that it is grown in a space that is not near a freeway, mills, factories, or space where there is a lot of pollution. For plants absorb the pollutants and then when we consume those pollutants they harm us and our health.
Food is the building blocks for our health. When the world is sick, we people are sick. Farming is a way to help heal the earth and heal the people around us. It is an energetic rippling from small community to greater community.
Farming helps create self reliance and resiliency. I love knowing that if anything were to go wrong and food was hard to access I could feed my family, friends and neighbors. It has already greatly helped me save money on clean food as prices continue to climb.
I also love being part of the farming, preserving community. Having canning sisters, being part of barter fairs, selling at Farmers markets and to local slow food restaurants, and markets are some of my favorite aspects other than the pleasure of eating a sun warmed tomato bursting full of flavor right off the plant. Or cooking meals all sourced from the my little farm.
Q: You also fill the dairy section. You mentioned regenerative farms like Alexandre. Can you tell me about some of the farms that BFC is working with and the foods you are bringing in from them that you are excited about?
Yes! Alexandre is great because all their dairy is A2 which is great for people with sensitivity to Lactose. They also are organic and a regenerative farm. Regenerative farming is so important when it comes to cattle farming in particular, because cows release a lot of methane. But the way they farm at Alexandra actually sequesters that carbon dioxide and also does not destroy the soil's health but helps restore it.
Some of our local producers that I'm excited to continue to bring their produce to the co-op are Toby, Singing Creek and Groundwork.
We are still adding to our list of suppliers. In fact we will have a little sheet for local producers to fill out if they would like to start supplying the co-op with their yummy goods (watch for this soon!). Local and organic are priority. If the farms are also regenerative and biodynamic that is even better because the practices they use are life giving.
We are excited about keeping it seasonal! There are a few things like tomatoes that we just need to have in stock - so we have those organic from Mexico right now. But we are excited to bring in a diversity of seasonal veggies so that we can stay healthy. It's so important to eat the rainbow , you get different vitamins and minerals.
I am also excited to raise enough money for a 2nd open air fridge so that we can keep produce fresh, abundant and diverse for our customers to be able to choose from and make some fun delicious healthy meals.
Q: I know it is edging into Spring, but Winter eating and root veggies - what should we know?
Most root veggies are taproots and reach far into the earth bringing up minerals. Seasonally, they are what to eat in winter because they are readily available. They are nutrient dense, full of antioxidants and fiber, build a healthy immune system, decrease inflammation in our bodies, and improve health over the long term.
Q: You have me very excited about celeriac. How do you like to prepare that ?
Celeriac is full of potassium, calcium, phosphorus, B6. It’s overall amazing. You want to eat warm dishes in cold weather. So, it’s great to throw into stews. Peel it, cube it, roast it with olive oil and other root veggies. Drizzle balsamic reduction over it. My favorite way to prepare Celeriac is in mashed potatoes - don’t forget to add garlic. I love to pair that with chicken seasoned with turmeric and garlic and thyme and oregano.
Thank you, Charlie!
It was great to get to know you a bit and share your love for good food.
Watch for more from Charlie. Later we plan to geek out about mushrooms
Product Highlight
Blackberry Food Co-op is bringing the abundance of the Willamette Valley to our local honey selection, with not one but TWO local honey suppliers.
Local honey is another regional treasure so good it is hard to find the words.
Raw, minimally filtered, and sourced from honeybees in our own backyards— this honey packs all the sweetness and might of an Oregon Springtime in every golden spoonful — without the sneezing.
Mossy Oak Farmstead honey comes straight from the hives of the president of the Lane County Beekeepers Association. From Cottage Grove bees to your pantry —pausing along the way just long enough to be lightly filtered, poured into jars, and capped with colorful lids. We also carry fragrant golden beeswax, and decadent honey butter from Mossy Oaks.
The Rowans, owners of Beetanical Apiary (Creswell, Oregon), “caught the bug” for beekeeping in 2004, when they took over the care of two hives belonging to neighbors and became fascinated with all things honeybee. They are now one of the largest apiaries in the southern Willamette Valley — with hives placed throughout the Valley in a wide variety of microclimates and honey-producing flora—resulting in a delicious diversity of raw, unfiltered honey.
More things to get excited about:
It’s time to get out and dig in the dirt! Sunnyside Sam has returned with plants for Spring and we could not be more ready. Sam set up a new hoop house out front with a plan to fill it up with new green.
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