Vicky Rose knew something was wrong. She was tired all the time, unable some days to crawl out of bed. When she talked to her doctor, he ran through a battery of tests, trying to find the cause. Finally, he decided upon an answer: As the mother of seven vivacious, home-schooled children, of course she was exhausted, he said.
A week after she eliminated gluten from her diet, she was her usual, energetic self again, and her eyes were opened to the importance of eating the right foods. More than a year ago, she and her husband, Matt, decided to make the entire family gluten-free, and they have become passionate advocates of a growing trend in America — the whole foods, or farm to table, movement.
Monday night, the Roses, along with Chuck and Wendy McMullen of Cedar Bluff and Stephanie Holcombe of Columbus, talked with a crowd of around 60 people who gathered at First Presbyterian Church on Bluecutt Road to discuss forming the GTR Health Food Co-op, a store which would be owned by its members and dedicated to selling “real food” to people across the Golden Triangle.
This, the group’s third meeting, was their best turnout yet, Vicky Rose said.
The premise is simple, but the road ahead will be long, requiring time, money and manpower. But people want food that tastes good, Matt Rose said. They want locally-grown food that tastes the way it is supposed to taste.
Some audience members, like Anne Freeze, were concerned about the potential impact on the Hitching Lot Farmers’ Market, but the Roses said they believe there is room in the local economy for both options.
How will it work?
The co-op will be based upon the principles of the Food Co-Op Initiative (foodcoopinitiative.coop), which was founded in Minnesota in 2005. A steering committee will be formed to conduct market research, using traffic patterns, population density, rent rates, shopping habits and potential legal issues to determine the best location for the store.
Then they will begin a capital campaign and membership drive for the necessary seed money and volunteers. Matt Rose estimates it will take in excess of $100,000 to start and between 250,000 to 350,000 volunteer hours to bring the project to fruition. Although anyone will be able to shop at the store just as they would at any local grocery, they will also have the option to become member-owners for a fee of between $75 to $100 per year. Proceeds will be divvied among members.
The GTR Health Food Co-op is expected to take six to eight months to get off the ground.
“It’s a big mountain, but it’s just a series of little hills if we all work together,” Rose said.
For Freeze, who was one of a small group of volunteers instrumental in revitalizing the Hitching Lot Farmers’ Market in 2007 — more than three decades after its inception — there are many questions.
One chief question is what impact it will have on local farmers and whether there are enough to keep the co-op well-stocked. The Hitching Lot Farmers’ Market is open three days a week from May to October, with around 30 farmers selling their goods from the backs of pickup trucks and station wagons.
Rose said conversations with local farmers like Scott Enlow, who owns and operates Black Creek Farms in Lowndes County, have indicated that winter is a particularly difficult time, because the farmers’ market is closed and it’s difficult to reach customers. While many local growers sell produce from their farms, too, it takes time away from their gardens and crops.
A co-op would solve that program, Rose said. The farmers could deliver their wares to the store, then return to their farms to grow more, leaving the selling to someone else.
The Roses envision a place where people can buy fresh food and bulk herbs and spices, along with natural products like cloth diapers, homemade soap, organic coffee and perhaps even enjoy a sandwich from a small cafe inside.
There could even be classes in everything from nutrition and health to midwifery.
If you build it,
will they come?
Some in the audience expressed concerns that while co-ops are successful in northern states, the South is a different culture entirely. In places like Minnesota, a community-minded cooperative spirit is common, but Mississippians tend to prize independence, taking a “me against the world” stance, one man said.
Selling the concept might be the biggest hurdle. But Vicky Rose said when they moved to Mississippi from Minnesota four years ago, they experienced culture shock but they also learned something — Southerners may have a strong independent streak, but they are also quick to show up on your doorstep with a cake and a helping hand. That didn’t happen in Minnesota, she said.
Rainbow Natural Grocery Cooperative was founded in Jackson in 1980 and now features a grocery, cafe and deli. Members pay anywhere from $25 a year for a single, non-voting membership, to shareholder memberships for $200 per year. Members receive discounts, but anyone can shop at the store, whether they hold a membership or not.
One of the people at Monday night’s meeting was Columbus native and resident Corky Smith. He likes shopping at the Hitching Lot Farmers’ Market, but he sheepishly admitted that he often sleeps too late on Saturdays, and by 8 a.m., the best produce is gone — sometimes sooner. Once a month, he makes the 240-mile, four-hour round-trip to Birmingham, Ala., just to shop at Whole Foods Market for uncured bacon and other favorites.
He is excited about the idea of a local co-op and believes it could be successful here.
“I just think the possibilities are endless,” he said. “I think this could be ours — our food, our people.”
Mona Sanders, a cancer survivor, turned to a macrobiotic diet while ill, and she, too, is interested in a Golden Triangle food co-op.
“I would have given anything if this place was here,” she said. “I had to order my food, whatever. I’m still here. I will do whatever I can.”
What’s next?
The next meeting will be held in two to three weeks. At that time, a steering committee will be chosen and the beginning stages of the vision will take shape.
“We’ve gotten massive amounts of feedback,” Holcombe told the crowd. “It’s a growing movement. There’s the food aspect, but also this really beautiful concept of the tie to community. We are responsible for us, so if you want this, stay committed and make it happen. This is the South, and this will work in the South.”
For more information about the cooperative, please visit the Triangle Natural Foods Co-op Facebook page at facebook.com/groups/triangle.coop/.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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