The governor of our state just announced that all restaurants in our state shall limit themselves to takeout and delivery orders only. Additionally, gatherings of 25 people or more are banned, and the authorities are recommending that we all avoid places with more than ten people. All of us here at Our Table hope and pray that you and your loved ones will be healthy and safe through this crisis.

For us, this is a potentially existential crisis not only as individuals, but also as a community-owned business. Most of our farm’s produce is sold to restaurants and there is no question that many restaurants are liable to slow down or even fail before things get better. Of course, people must still eat and the best way to stay healthy is to eat a diet high in fresh, organically grown vegetables… Therefore, we are working to increase the amount of produce we deliver to local grocers (including our own store) and for sale directly to customers through our CSA. We are also continuing to plant on schedule under the assumption (hope?) that by the time the plants we put in the ground today bear fruit, this crisis will be more manageable. However, it would be naïve to downplay the potential risks. Despite our best efforts to stay healthy, we might not have the staff to harvest and deliver our produce; or too many of our customers might scale back purchases to the point where we cannot sell everything we grow. For a small low-margin business like ours, these scenarios would be devastating.

Part of the logic that drove my wife and I to create Our Table was to help increase the resiliency of our food system. The current industrial food system in our country is so focused on short-term "efficiency" (where efficiency is defined almost solely in terms of dollars and cents) that it routinely sacrifices resiliency, diversity, and the health of people, communities, and the planet. Locally produced food is, by definition, more resilient than food trucked from hundreds or thousands of miles away. Consider that most of the produce in our supermarkets is sourced from California where farms rely on large numbers of migrant workers housed in less-than-ideal conditions. What happens if Covid-19 runs rampant through these communities? Long supply chains rely on dozens and dozens of people in multiple companies showing up to work and doing their bit. It's all very "efficient" and, as a result, fragile.

What then can we do? Well, for one, I think it’s imperative that as a community and a nation, we come together to support each other. The government is considering a variety of measures to help small businesses survive this crisis. Since small businesses employ over 50% of all Americans, such initiatives impact all of us. We recently signed on to a letter to the Governor calling for some very specific relief measures. You too can petition your elected officials for action. It is also very important to continue supporting all your beloved local businesses. The Amazons of the world will probably grow and become even more powerful during this crisis. Sadly, they will likely do so at the cost of small locally owned businesses. Here at Our Table, you can sign up for our CSA, and order your groceries online for pickup or home delivery (use coupon code STOCKUP for free delivery). Please do not come to our store if you are sick or especially vulnerable – give us a call or order online and we will be happy to get your groceries for you. We ask that you not consume any food or drink you purchase at our store on our premises but, instead, take it home. We are cancelling our Friday happy hour and cancelling or postponing all other public events for the next 6-8 weeks. Most importantly, we ask that you take care of yourself and stay healthy! Although we’ll miss visiting with you, these actions will help ensure that a place you love will survive this crisis. For our part, we pledge to do everything in our power to remain open, grow the best food we can to ensure your health and wellbeing, and support our community.
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What’s all this got to do with toilet paper? Well, for one, we implore you not to hoard. Hoarding has little long-term benefit and our need for toilet paper is unlikely to increase during a respiratory viral outbreak. Toilet paper is a modern invention which much of the world does just fine without; perhaps we will learn how to rely less on TP as well! We humans are very good at cooperating and coming together in times of crisis. Let’s support each other by doing just that. Also, conserve those squares…

 As the situation with the Coronavirus evolves and shifts, I want to take a moment to tell you about how Our Table is responding to the situation. As a cooperative and community farm our highest priority is the wellbeing of our staff, our members, and our community. In fact, as a farm and grocery store, our primary business is your nutrition and health! In this spirit, we are taking the following measures:

I read an article in the newspaper this morning about a long-term care nurse in Washington state who doesn’t have paid sick leave because she’s classified as a private contractor. As a worker cooperative, we take a very different approach. All our staff get paid sick leave. We have expanded the amount of paid sick leave our staff can take in order to ensure that they can care for themselves and family members during this crisis. Additionally, our staff has voluntarily elected to contribute a portion of their paycheck into a “fund” to help colleagues who might be sick or quarantined for long periods of time. Sadly, it is all too common in the service industry for people to lose their jobs if they call in sick. This is a travesty and I am very proud of the fact that our staff can rest at east knowing that they will get the support they need.

In our store and on the farm, we have instituted a number of protocols to ensure that high-touch surfaces including door handles, credit-card machines, etc. are sanitized up to four times a day. We don’t have good data on how long this virus can survive on surfaces so our approach is one of abundant caution. All our staff has food-safety and food-handler training and we are constantly reminding everyone to follow good practices. In our kitchen, we are brewing up some elderberry syrup this morning using elderberries that we harvested from our farm last year and honey from our own hives. Elderberry is particularly effective at warding off colds and flus. We will be giving each of our staff members some of this tonic to take home and will also be selling it in our store.

We’ve all heard of the long lines at stores as people stock up on toilet paper! At our store, we are working with out suppliers to ensure that we have ample supplies of not just toilet paper but all sorts of other essentials. Of course, we have plenty of food! One big advantage is that the vast majority of the products we carry are sourced locally. This means short supply chains that are less likely to be disrupted in times of crisis. In other words, local sourcing equals more resilience and food security. This is a big benefit of local agriculture that often goes unmentioned in the glossy advertising. We are here to serve our community and are grateful for your support. You can rest assured that we will never ever engage in predatory pricing or other such unsavory practices that take advantage of people’s vulnerabilities and fear. If you don't want to venture out, we also offer online ordering and home delivery from our store. Like your mother probably said: “Eat your vegetables!” To mom’s advice, I would add that a balanced diet of nutritious, chemical-free, and delicious food shared with friends and family is probably the best way to stay healthy and help your immune system.
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At the end of the day, this virus knows no boundaries and the only way to combat it is to come together as a community and support each other. Be well, eat well, and help your neighbors!

- Narendra Varma, Founder, Our Table Cooperative