Well, it's three weeks post surgery and the co-op went more smoothly than two weeks ago but still had more hiccups than normal. I was so worried I'd sleep through the phone call from the truck again that I hardly slept all night. I didn't know there was a different driver so when I checked my alarm for the umpteenth time and saw that it was 5:15 am (1/2 hour later than normal), I got so worried I checked to make sure there was a dial tone on the phone. There was! The driver showed up at 5:30 and Isaac and Dode transferred the produce to the trailer.
We had plenty of volunteers that I supervised from a chair with my foot up on a stool. One of the volunteers brought a bin with a lid and stop sign on it for small bulk items to go in and we didn't loose any this time. It was only as checkout was winding down that I realized there were a few problems. I have to create an order for myself manually each time. The other orders go through google checkout and are downloaded into my database as a CSV. When I printed out the checkout sheets Wednesday morning, my order wasn't on it. I thought that was weird because I remembered entering my order but when I checked there was no record of it. So, I created an order and all was well. When I went to see who I'd need to call to come get their produce, I noticed that there were two orders for the same person, another Stephanie. Dode built my database to sort by first name and when I'd created my order, I'd accidentally assigned it to her. It worked out for the best though because one person had ordered that didn't show up on the checkout sheet and I still had a basket for her. The problem was that I'd ordered two conventional, one organic and one Asian pack. I didn't need double of everything and suddenly was faced with $60 of produce that no one had paid for. I was able to advertise their availability on my Facebook page and within 5 minutes, they were all spoken for. Relief!
this should eliminate the honest mistakes
The 2nd problem that I realized too late to fix was that the volunteers weren't very careful when they distributed produce. When we're distributing big things like lettuce, pineapples, bags of carrots, it's easy to know if someone got missed by how many are left over. Small things like apples, oranges, avocados, and cucumbers come in boxes that are sold by weight not item count. When I hear how many are left over, it's not obvious if someone has been missed. Several people commented on missed items this week. I'm going to have to try to think of a way to prevent this. Maybe as we finish up the baskets I can hand out a list of what they are supposed to have and ask different volunteers to each take a row and check that everything is there. We're always done long before people start picking up so it shouldn't be a problem.
One thing I struggle with is how to motivate people to help out. The same people generally help week after week while others pick up week after week and never help. In fact, I have a stellar volunteer who showed up today to help even though she had missed the order deadline and wasn't picking up any produce! In my reminder emails about ordering produce and pick up produce I always include the following information...
"As a participant in the co-op, please remember that this is not a business, it is a volunteer effort. I am facilitating this co-op as a volunteer. If you choose to participate in the co-op, please plan to help in some way at least once for every four times you receive produce. There is a list of volunteer jobs on the web site under “Sign up to Volunteer”.
I know that there is no way that everyone will help, it's just not human nature, but we definitely need a few more to commit each week! I wish there was a way I could get people to feel that they are a part of a co-op, not that they're just taking advantage of a cheap way to buy produce.
Saturday work day
Some Saturdays are for fun, some are for laziness, and some are for projects around the house. Today was a project day. Dode and Anastaya worked together (well Dode worked and Anastaya kept him company) to build her some hurdles. She is planning on being on the track team again this year and she really wants to be one of the students selected to run the hurdles. She thinks that by practicing at home, she's got a chance. Dode bought some conduit at the hardware store, bent it, welded it, and created two competition sized hurdles.
I'd decided that it was time to freshen up the front door. Our house will never have much curb appeal, but I do my best to make it a welcoming and fun place. (We're doing pretty well on the fun aspect!). Thinking about it, we actually do great on welcoming too. The UPS man, the mail lady, friends coming over, small children have no problem opening up the front door and coming right in. I think it's because it has a clear window you can see through. I want every house I ever live in to have a door like that (the old farm house did and the apartment we lived in before that too) so that people will feel like we're an informal kind of house where all are welcome.
Getting back to the front door, it was painted barn red when we first moved in. Nice and safe. I decided to be bold this time. I choose a robin's egg blue. While I love our welcoming front door, I hated all those windows that I had to tape off. I started on them and then headed off to the hardware to buy the paint. When I got back, Anastaya had completed the job for me. What a kind service! Once I painted the front of the door, I realized that the back of it was looking pretty worn so I taped off all the windows on the inside and painted it and the trim around it too. I used the same paint I used in the girls room on their doors. When Miriam saw it she said, "Chocolate!" My thoughts exactly!
before, with the windows taped
love the leaning tree!
Dode bought me the wall plaque on the left of the door on the due date for our 1st pregnancy, which ended in a miscarriage at 17 weeks. The plaque has hung next to the door of three homes now. Even though we're blessed with six children now, my heart still remembers the pain of that loss.
during
(You can peek into the packed useless room (our pantry) through the open doors behind me. Doesn't everyone need a wall of food?)
finished
Isaac says it makes him happy to see the color of the door.
Jacob loves the color so much, he wants to paint one of the walls in his room the color.
I was also working on fixing the door to the useless room. It's right next to the front door so everyone sees it when they come inside. It's a cheap hollow core door that had a hole knocked in it from before we moved in. I'd looked on craigslist to see if I could buy a new door but it's a non standard size and I couldn't find anything. So, I bought myself a mesh drywall patch and some wall compound and fixed up the door. My fix isn't perfect but I think that now people won't notice the door instead of seeing that ugly hole. I painted that door chocolate brown too. Then I realized that it was a project that just kept going and going. All the doors and door trim are pretty beat up after living here for seven years with six kids. Less than a foot from the useless room door is a closet, a few yards down the hall is a bathroom door. Every door needs paint. My foot wouldn't cooperate today but it's on the "do someday" list!
Once Dode and Anastaya finished up the hurdles, he got to work assembling a tumbling compost bin I bought at Costco. I figured Dode and Isaac could use the time spent assembling it for Isaac's "handyman" class. It took them 3 1/2 hours! Dode gives it a big thumbs down for ease of assembly. It required specialized tools that your average homeowner wouldn't own but there was no mention on the box of that requirement. Now that it's assembled, Dode agrees that it's built very sturdy and should work well. What it won't work for is food composting. It's made of thick plastic. For food composting, which I'd love to do since I create so much veggie waste, I'm going to have Isaac build me a plywood worm bin. That way, the squirrels and other rodents won't have such an easy time gnawing their way through.
Speaking of rodents
I don't know if any of you remember the fun we had last week with a rat in the house. I was never able to trap him and assumed that he'd left the way he came. Friday night we were sitting in the living room when William wandered over by the piano. He hurried up to me and whispered, "The mouse is over by the kapano (piano)." We weren't convinced but when Isaac looked, sure enough, there it was. It wasn't moving, it had died right there. When Miriam saw it she said, "I guess he wanted to sleep next to the piano." Dode got the fun job of disposing of it. No more rodents (that we know of anyway!) is a good thing.
I love the new door color!
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