Fresh citrus at the Red Hills Online Market distribution center
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting my daughter in Tallahassee, Florida to celebrate her 30th birthday. It was unseasonably warm—in the 70’s and 80’s each sunny day. And I was able to accompany her to her farmers market job on two occasions. It was a great learning experience for me! The Red Hills Online Market was founded as part of the Red Hills Small Farm Alliance, a nonprofit organization of Tallahassee-area farmers. Four women in agriculture began the collaborative effort in 2010 with a mission to increase economic stability for small farms, increase access to fresh, local food, and offer educational and mentoring opportunities to local farmers. They established a local C.R.A.F.T. chapter (Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training, an effort originating in New York in 1994) and continue to offer regular farmer-to-farmer training. The market is the arm of RHSFA that increases access to fresh local food. The Alliance initiated a “certified locally grown” label to help consumers identify food grown/made within 100 miles of Tallahassee.
Abundant produce at Red Hills distribution center
The market operates online only, with orders opening Sundays at 8am and closing Tuesdays at 6am (www.rhomarket.com). Deliveries happen on Thursdays to individual homes as well as 19 area “hubs.” Customers log on, shop, and pay for their purchases within that window. On Wednesdays, the market staff set up their warehouse-like facility for vendor delivery. An order sheet for each vendor is printed out, then rows of shelves, coolers and freezers with product labels are rearranged to accommodate the volume ordered that week. Insulated, reusable delivery bags are cleaned and prepared for packing, and non-produce vendors deliver their orders. Early Thursday morning produce vendors deliver their orders. Each order is checked in by a staff member who verifies that the vendor supplied what the customers ordered.
Jo Ann waits for a picker to bring an order for quality control and packing
And then the fun begins. Using printouts of each customer’s order, 8-10 “picker” staff begin filling orders from the shelves and coolers/freezers. Each picker brings an order to the 6-8 quality control/packing tables for verification by another staff member. Both the picker and the quality control person sign off on the order, then it is packed into insulated reusable bags with a color-coded summary stapled to the front. The colors indicate the route/delivery driver the order will go to next. Completed orders are placed on rolling shelves coded for each hub and driver. About a dozen drivers pick up orders and deliver throughout the day. Usually by 5pm the shelves are empty, and the week’s orders have been delivered.
Bridgett inspects packed bags ready for delivery
Workers are hired on contract for an hourly rate and work Wednesdays and Thursdays. The manager and assistant managers handle all the administrative aspects of the market including troubleshooting, communicating with vendors and staff, preparing a weekly newsletter, managing social media, and everything else that keeps this all going. Red Hills Online Market uses “Local Food Marketplace,” one of the over twenty-five online platforms available to maintain inventory and process all orders and invoices.
So, what does a Florida market offer? This is the fun part. Of course, their growers and producers live in USDA Zone 8B and most of us are in Zone 3a. Their tomato season is in June, but I still see a few, but this month is citrus season. There are so many kinds of citrus I didn’t even know existed. Browse www.rhomarket.com for a tour of amazing produce. The day I help pack, we handle every kind of produce imaginable in addition to frozen meat, many kinds of soups and pies, and kombucha, artisan cheese, specialty baked goods, eggs, milk, hummus, honey, pecans, pizza dough, coffee, tea, and wonderful fresh turmeric, ginger, garlic, basil, thyme, sage, and cilantro. I marvel at the varieties of bok choi and take special note of the watermelon radishes. Some vendors offer a “farm share” filled with whatever is plentiful that week. This week, the baskets are overflowing with greens of every kind. The grits and cornmeal and cactus plants remind me that I’m in the south.
Greens, greens, and more greens!
I notice the same kind of camaraderie among producers and staff that I experience at our farmers markets here on the Iron Range. And we talk a bit about that—it seems to me that folks who grow food for others are a special kind of people. And those who spend their time aggregating and delivering it are too. On Saturday, we stopped in at a Tallahassee area in-person farmers market located in the yard of a local church. Some of the same vendors are there and many new ones. We browse table after table of fresh produce. Attendance is good and the produce is selling fast. I get a serious case of Zone 8B envy!!
At the farmers market
But, as I must, I fly back to our Zone 3a and get stranded in Minneapolis by a snowstorm. So, I’m writing this column from my friend’s dining room table while the snow continues. I’ve brought the inspiration with me, though, and I dream of growing our markets up north to such abundance. Happy Holidays, folks!