It's a sleepy evening here in our living room, with two dozing cats and a dozing Rob scattered around to a soundtrack of sleepy music. Yet, somehow, I can't tear myself away from my computer to do nothing. Instead, I'm trying to puzzle through a new mission and vision statement for *cino, since I've been putting off the primer (*cino introductory book) content for a couple of days now while I research bulk fair trade food for World Fare. There really are some exciting bulk dry goods options out there and I can't stop thinking about how we can transition the store toward something a little more useful in a daily sort of way for people in our community. Here's what I've managed to locate so far:
- White Rice
- Red Rice
- Wild Rice
- Quinoa
- Loose tea
- Coffee beans (obviously)
- Raw sugar
- Baking cocoa/hot cocoa
- Dried corn
- Cashews
- "Jungle" chocolate
I like the idea that people could come in with containers to fill up with all kinds of delicious, beautiful goodies to use when they get home. I also like the idea of seeing the containers filled with all of these naturally-occuring, lovely things and watching customers enjoy the act of measuring them out, like precious commodities.
Of course, the big question becomes: why don't we just start a food co-op? We have plenty of space in our store to do foods alongside the handcrafts. Look at how much stuff the People's Food Co-op in Kalamazoo crams into its tiny space, for goodness' sake! Well, something else to look out for, I suppose.
