Over in California, where organic produce practically rains from the sky, people have easy, affordable access to food grown without chemicals. Here, we have wind chimes and crafty knickknacks aplenty at our own farmers’ markets, yet strangely the comestibles are scarce. If we want raw, organic fruits and vegetables, we pay out the nose to corporate chains.
No more, says Cathie Garnier, a California native who moved to town three years ago. She’s started Las Vegas Organic Food Co-op, a buying club that passes down savings by purchasing in bulk and doing away with ways we’re used to buying food: There’s no retail venue, no packaging, no shelving, no bagging. Plus, it’s independently owned and operated, completely democratic and voluntary.
As the only one in town that’s actively recruiting out of the regular public for members, it’s free to join. The only cost besides the price of food is a 2.5 percent (of the entire order) fee split amongst all the members, plus a 5 percent charge per individual order to cover costs such as advertising and packaging materials, though the latter’s waived if you help load or unload the truck when it gets to Garnier’s house. Once a month you just e-mail Garnier your order form, wait for the food to get into town and then go pick it up.
“People here are always complaining to me that they can’t afford to eat organic food,” Garnier says. “I thought this was a great way to get rid of that excuse.”
Besides being in the middle of the desert, where farmland obviously isn’t a source of pride and joy, we don’t get many organic distributors even driving through here. But Garnier tracked down ShopNatural, a 33-year-old food co-op based out of Tucson, which delivers to seven states.
Though they carry more than 7,500 individual items, Garnier’s narrowed it down to a few hundred, lots of organic and/or raw food, very few prepackaged goods.
Through the co-op, you can get three pounds of organic yellow onions for $1.47, less if 11 others chip in with you. Five pounds of organic red potatoes run $1.42. Sprouted breads and vegan ice cream go a good two bucks less than you’d pay in a store. But the brands are the same as you’d find almost anywhere—Amy’s, Lundberg, Gardenburger—and in the cases where the price difference is negligible (condiments and sauces), it’s almost worth the extra few cents for convenience.
It’s not a perfect practice, but it’s just taking off. Garnier’s mailing list contains about two dozen potentially interested folk, and the more people join in, the more varied the ordering selection will become.
She’s been advertising through her website (lvorganicfoodcoop.info), the Holistic Chamber of Commerce, Craigslist and good old-fashioned word-of-mouth. “Las Vegas is not as aware about health issues as other places,” she says. “People are hungry for that kind of information; there’s just not much of an outlet here for it. I’m big into organics and natural health. It’s my passion to teach people about it.”
As more people from other states move here, she says, “They’re hungry for this kind of information, but there’s been no source. We want to be that source.”