Still have questions? If you don’t find it here, please email Sid at olylast@yahoo.com or call 808-7300.
Here are some frequently asked questions:
- Are there membership fees?
- Will I have to buy vegetables I don't want?
- How do I order?
- When do I pay?
- When and Where do I pick up my order?
- Why Support Locally Grown?
- How can I sell through this market?
- Oh no! I forgot to pickup my order! Now what?
- Why are some of your products labelled "organic" and others are not?
- How do I cook with this produce? Do you have any recipes?
- How is the market supported?
And here are some answers:
Are there membership fees?
There are no membership fees for customers. There is a one-time fee to Farmers, Growers, and Producers of $40. Customers are welcome to try us for two orders before officially becoming members. These first two orders must be paid for with cash when the orders are picked up. As an alternative, customers can deposit a check into their SLG account prior to picking up their orders. The value of their orders can then be deducted from their account. Checks must be deposited in sufficient time for the amount to clear the bank, otherwise, cash will be required. Checks can be made out to Sequim Locally Grown Mercantile and delivered to 43 Vine Maple Lane in Sequim, 3 days before the order is picked up, unless other arrangements are made.
Will I have to buy vegetables I don't want?
Unlike some co-ops, buying clubs, or CSAs where everyone gets the same box of stuff (and you don’t know what you’re getting until you get it), with Sequim Locally Grown Mercantile, you get to order what you want, in the quantities that you want, from the farms that you want. The weekly email lists the produce, milled products, fresh flowers, and artisan goods available that week, and you can browse the items on this website before you place your order.
How do I order?
SLG Mercantile opens again for ordering every Friday 8AM. Each Sunday evening at 8PM, a list of available products is sent to all of our registered customers by e-mail. Customers must place their order for the week no later than Tuesday at 8PM. Orders can be placed here on our website or by responding directly to the e-mail. Ordering through this web site is Sequim Locally Grown Mercantile’s preferred method as it is designed to reduce the amount of time it takes us to process orders as well as provide you with detailed information about our products.
When do I pay?
We accept cash or deductions from your account balance when you pick up your order. Because we may have to adjust your total then (to account for unnanounced items you decide to purchase or items that were unexpectedly unavailable), we do not accept advance payment on the website.
When and Where do I pick up my order?
From 4:30 until 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, customers can pick-up their produce at at the Sequim Prairie Grange, 290 Macleay Road, in Sequim.
Why Support Locally Grown?
Increase your food security: When you buy locally grown produce and other items from local growers you are increasing your local food security and eliminating unknown sources of food.
Enhance your local economy: By purchasing produce and other items from local growers you are providing stability to your local economy through the support of local businesses.
Save natural resources: Buying locally makes you an invaluable link in the process of saving resources such as fossil fuels and packaging materials. Also, we are right here in your community so the expense of transportation and delivery is kept to a minimum.
Provide learning opportunities: Locally Grown supporters provide member growers the means to help educate our community about the importance of sustainable agriculture.
Supporting a way of life: The number of small farms in the United States has decreased dramatically in the last decade. Please help us preserve an honest and worthy means of making a living.
We believe that small, diverse, family-owned farms contribute to society’s overall health.
How can I sell through this market?
If you’ve already created a customer account here, simply go to Our Growers and click on ‘Join this Market’. This will add you to our system and our market managers will contact you with the next step. We do charge a one-time-only fee of $40 (which we can deduct from your sales or you can pay upfront) as well as 5% of your overall sales. Like at a traditional farmers’ market, you do get to set your own prices and list your items as you wish. Contact Sid Maroney at olylast@yahoo.com if you want more information.
Oh no! I forgot to pickup my order! Now what?
Well, I’m sorry we missed you.
About a half hour before we pack up to go home, we’ll call you if you haven’t come yet, using the phone number you tied to your account. If you have a cell phone, use that number!
Most times, we get an answering machine, so if we haven’t reached you when it’s time to go, we’ll try again.
If we still haven’t been able to reach you, your items will be donated or given away! We do not have a means to keep items until the next week, or to deliver them to you. If we were able to reach you on the phone, we may be able to work out an arrangement, but otherwise, your items will be donated or given away!
Since the growers harvested just for you, and (more importantly) since we paid the growers on your behalf when they brought them to our market, you are still responsible for paying for items, even if you do not pick them up. We’ll charge your account, and that amount will get added to your next order.
Why are some of your products labelled "organic" and others are not?
First off, no “conventional” growers are allowed to sell through our market. Everything sold here is grown without the use of synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides. Everything here could be sold as “organic”, but many growers choose not to.
To use the word “organic”, a grower must register through the USDA and keep up with a tremendous amount of paperwork. The process is very expensive and intensive, and certainly favors the larger factory farms over the small family farm.
Another system is “Certified Naturally Grown”. This nation-wide program seeks to correct the problems with the USDA certification system. The standards are just as strict (and in some cases, more so) as the USDA Organic program, but there is no cost to become certified. There is still some paperwork, but not as much. More importantly, the growers in the program inspect each other, rather than relying on an outside for-profit certifier. Several of our growers have gone this route.
Finally, a few growers are not certified by anyone but still use organic sustainable methods on their farms.
To find out more about our growers, and to see what certification, if any, they have, take a look at our Growers page.
How do I cook with this produce? Do you have any recipes?
I am working on a full recipe system for the site, but in the meantime we recommend recipes and information sheets from Angelic Organics’ excellent book “Farmer John’s Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables” which can be purchased here. http://tinyurl.com/5uexjw
How is the market supported?
The farmers, growers, and producers set their own prices. They receive 95% of their asking price with the other 5% going to the market. The customer is charged full price plus 8% percent. This 8% is split to also support the market and the website host (5% to the market and 3% to the host). Therefore, of the 108% that the customer pays, 95% goes to the farmer/grower/producer, 10% goes to the market, and 3% goes to the host. Funds that go to the market pays the market manager, any necessary helpers, incidental charges and promotion/advertising of the market. The market manager’s salary will be capped at a modest income to be determined.
