For more information contact Robert Waldrop, 405 613 4688

FROM OUR FAMILY FARMS TO YOUR FAMILY TABLE:

-- Oklahoma Food Order Delivery Service Will Bring the Farmer's Market to the Customer's Front Door

-- Group offers help to Wrangler workers in Seminole to help them start market gardens to create secure, local jobs in rural areas.

The Oklahoma Food Cooperative Organizing Committee is happy to announce a new local food order delivery service to bring the freshest local Oklahoma foods direct from farmers to customers.

Offering the ultimate in convenience for busy people -- home delivery each week -- the organization will feature a product line of Oklahoma all natural beef, pork, lamb, eggs, dairy products, peanuts, certified organic vegetables and herbs, processed foods such as jellies and jams, condiments like salsa and barbecue sauce, and nonfood items like body care, medicinal, and house cleaning products. "You could make a meal out of what we deal," says Robert Waldrop of Oklahoma City, founder of the group. All products listed with the Oklahoma Food order/delivery servivce are Oklahoma grown or made, and they are offered to customers direct from those producers.

"Buying food directly from farmers is a way to give your family the freshest and highest quality foods, while at the same time doing good work building a more secure and sustainable future for all Oklahomans," says Waldrop. "The fastest, easiest, and cheapest way to bring economic relief to rural communities is by helping farmers sell products directly to the public. Oklahoma City used to be a center of direct relationships between farmers and customers, and as those relationships have declined, so have our rural communities," he continued. Waldrop says that the secret to cooking great meals like your grandmother produced is to cook from basic foods and use the freshest local ingredients.

While most of the people participating are presently in the Oklahoma City, Norman, and Edmond, the group is working to extend its efforts to other areas such as Tulsa, Lawton, Enid, and Muskogee. Oklahoma Food is raising money to establish its service by selling memberships, which cost $50, and will begin its weekly service when it reaches 200 members. Tulsa service can begin with 33 members in that area; Enid with 25, and the group can do an OKC-Guthrie-Stillwater route with 25 members.

This new cooperative enterprise positions Oklahoma to become a leader in the burgeoning "local food" movement, which has been described as "the next new thing in food". "Cultural Creatives" and "Cultural Conservatives" are both excited about the idea of such easy access to fresh local food, and the group hopes the presence of its service will make Oklahoma communities better places to live, and contributes to the health and happiness of Oklahoma families. The group's goal is to use its order delivery service to "bootstrap" its way into opening retail stores that only sell Oklahoma foods.

The Oklahoma Food Cooperative Organizing Committee has also begun an outreach effort to the Wrangler workers in Seminole who are losing their jobs, encouraging them to begin small market gardens to help them create secure local jobs based on their own initiative and work, and is offering to help them market their produce.

The members of the board of directors are: Kim Barker (Waynoka), Kathy Carter-White (Tahlequah), Jonalu Johnstone (OKC), Walter Kelley (Norman), JoAnn Logan (Edmond), Mark Parman (Webbers Falls), Robert Waldrop (OKC)

For more information:

• http://www.oklahomafood.org/gettingstarted.php

To join:

• http://www.oklahomafood.org/okfoodservice.php