New routes. We have added Belen, Los Lunas, and Ruidoso to the communities that we feed in New Mexico. Happy to have them on board and so if you know anyone in those areas who like to eat yummy foods, please share this with them. They will be so happy you turned them on to us, that they might send you an allergy-sensitive fruit cake for the holidays.
These new routes continue to help us reach our goal; I want our local food model to cover the entire state of New Mexico. I am unapologetic about my desire to give every New Mexican access to our food. Will they all choose us as an option? No. But our plan is to give New Mexicans better food choices. What you do with those choices is up to you. Yay free will.
Besides healthy food choices, expanding throughout NM strengthens our local food economy and adds diversity. The longer this pandemic grinds on, only the companies with the deep cash reserves will be able to stay in business. And small local businesses are not typically in cash rich reserve situations. So it is quite conceivable that we might see small businesses failing, leaving more faces of big national retailers.
Big retailers will survive (many of them, not all), but for me, the Mom n Pop businesses are what give our towns character. They are what make our towns unique. If you could go to the Frontier Restaurant in 5 states, then it would not be the gem it is for our state. It would be Applebee’s.
So aside from trying to feed more New Mexicans, I want to highlight more New Mexican companies. Give them a louder voice in the sense that a small shop can bring their goods to families throughout the state. What a Win-Win for NM. Thank you for supporting all our partners. Every bit of sup-port could mean the difference between keeping doors open or closed.
What else is happening this week??? Oh yes, insulated liners for our boxes. With the weather getting warmer, we had some custom insulated liners made for our cardboard boxes. I realize that many of our customers are home right now and bring the delivery inside as soon as our drivers are socially distant from your doorknob. But, if you are not home and want a little extra protection from the elements, I suggest adding these liners.
These liners are on our website now. If you would like your order packed using a liner, simply add 1 liner to your order and our thoughtful packers will see that and pack accordingly. We will Not be recycling these at the moment, but I en-courage you to hang on to the liners so that we can sanitize and reuse them after the covid craziness wanes.
Cherries. The cherries that we are highlighting this week were literally homeless. Some of them grew a pit on the out-side of the skin. Others grew 2 cherries around 1 pit. Some not shaped the way a cherry looks on the internet. All in all, a crazy looking bunch of cherries that taste amazing and just look different. Because of this, no store would take them. So we took on the (easy) task of finding homes for them. Your home! You will save money and help alleviate food waste. What a great combo.
This also reminds me of an article I read this week outlining how food costs have jumped more recently than over the last 5 decades! As I sipped my Organically roasted asphalt that I call coffee, I thought what a strange article because we are sheltered from that. Our food costs are the same (or lower) now than they were 2 months ago and even 2 years ago.
I point this out because it shows the importance of a local food supply. Local food is Food Security. When massive processing plants are shut down affecting millions of people, we are still secure by using our butcher, Mickey, in Moriarty. The same dude we have been working with for 15 years. And working with many of the same ranchers and growers as al-ways.
Again, local food is food security All of the time. But especially in times of uncertainty. We have a consistent and reliable food offering for you and your familia not because of what we have done in the last 2 months, but because of what we have built over the last 17 years. I cannot stress this notion enough.
The people who have been chasing the cheapest food are the most at risk and anxious right now. I want you to know we have you covered, relax, and be as healthy (and happy) as you can right now. Your family needs you healthy and so does our community.
Protect Yourself, Protect the Herd. Farmer Monte
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