I offer you what I hope you will see as a rational, reasonable explanation...
In May of 2011 a new Ontario Corporation was formed. Your Local Market Co-operative Inc. A workers' co-operative local grocery store/bakery/take-out restaurant.
Well... here's the deal:
Of the 20 most active Stratford Urban Farming Experiment participants, 4 are the current member-owners who founded and are now employed by Your Local Market Co-op. The conversations started in September 2010 about creating a more sustainable Stratford, Ontario by experimenting with urban farming. The conversations naturally progressed to asking how else can we make a more sustainable Stratford? and with many SUFE'rs working in seasonal and/or insecure jobs some of us started asking, how can we find sustainable year-round employment that supports our values and supports a more sustainable Stratford?
The answer was this type of employment could not be found. It needed to be created. So, we have created it for ourselves and have recently even hired another active SUFE'r.
That makes 5 SUFE'rs employed by the new co-operative corporation (hopefully more to come). A co-operative corporation with a vision of being an important part of creating a more sustainable Stratford. And many SUFE'rs and members of the community actively supporting it.
Your Local Market Co-op is now the home of some of SUFE's stuff, including the free gardening resource library. The fundraising for SUFE will continue in June at the Slow Food market with YLMC's co-operation.
Also when I take a break from blogging, I plan on looking into ways to make SUFE a slightly more legitimate entity....
