[BCN] Harvest Coop/Whole Foods/Neighborhoods

[cnslrjoel at fastmail.us]

I am not a member of a coop living situation.  The way I happened upon
this list was through our desire to explore cohousing, my wife and I,
for ourselves. I am an interested member/shopper of the Harvest Coop.  I
also take advantage of the other places to shop available to me: Whole
Foods, Trader Joe's, Roche Brothers, local small shops in
Roslindale...If I may I would like to bring us back to the original
conversation.  I personally feel that if the Harvest can bring me
quality organic food that is a good value as well as other things I
need, which takes into account the real social and environmental costs
of the food and is mindful of the whole chain of production and supply
etc.(Equal Exchange, Slow Food, locally produced, "Organic", and so on)
provide me with a pleasant shopping experience, provides good jobs to
people, meaning good wages, working conditions, and benefits, that is
all I would need from a coop.  I have shopped at other coops, most
recently in the Northwest in Bellingham Washington and Portland Oregon. 
The one in Bellingham was spectacular! The one in Portland was pretty
great too.  Variety, quality, price, pleasant experience all good. 

I do think that for its size, the JP Harvest packs an amazing amount of
variety into a pretty small space.  But inspired by this conversation I
have begun to look into the store more deeply. I would like more
information about their suppliers for some items...I don't think they
are withholding on that.  Also, they are after all embedded in our
capitalist sytem of factory farming so they can't perform miracles. 
Small may be beautiful, and I truly believe it is, and healthier too,
but it also seems to be more expensive at the moment.  Big is powerful,
and I think it is a serious consideration that Whole Foods really may be
attempting to put the competition out of business.  So remember that you
really don't get what you don't pay for even when it seems otherwise.How
many shoppers shop at the Harvest and don't join.  I like the membership
expansion initiative that was mentioned many messages ago. 

I am sure you will agree, that is enough from me right now.  Thanks for
listening.

Joel 


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