The pandemic has turned the task of the grocery store into a possible danger to physical fitness: a hidden game of staying away from others, marked by a rigorous handwash. We are reluctant to make the purchase and yet we still have to eat.
Several start-ups have sprung up offering online orders and home delivery of groceries. These were created to send the generosity of local farms to the homes of the surrounding community. They were introduced through the possibility at a time when we are all interested in buying a house.
Second Mile Food Hub is a nonprofit organization of the local Clark County food movement. The Second Mile project is to add, distribute and market farmers in Clark County. The online shop was unveiled in May and is filled with herbs, vegetables, microchips, mushrooms, nuts, baked goods and locally prepared foods.
Second Mile is “a hyperlocal grocery store without TP,” said Holly Hansen, a member of the board of directors at a time and owns the area where it operates. Each item goes from the farmer to the center.
“Only the farmer and I the vegetables, ” said Hansen. “We’re masked and wearing gloves when we do.”
Some of those pieces may be familiar to anyone who has visited the Salmon Creek Farmers Market. Ann Foster, who leads this farmers market, is a member of the board of administrators and the driving force of the food center.
Second Mile delivers Americans along the interstate five aisle from downtown Vancouver to Ridgefield. The original concept was to deliver it to the workplace buildings, but the pandemic hit and the staff stopped congregating in the units’ spaces. Deliveries to an outdoor neighbor organization I-five can be arranged if others organize an ordering organization. Lately, Second Mile delivers to a capsule with six neighbors. Orders arrive at the door on Thursdays between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Alpenrose has been in Portland for a hundred years, but stopped milk delivery 40 years ago. That replaced when Smith Brothers Farms bought the company in September 2019.
Smith Brothers has been delivering milk to the Seattle domain since the dairy began in 1920. The company’s business style is based on building a relationship between consumers and the user who delivers their milk. As in the past, a milk delivery man is assigned an address and delivery to the same families each week.
Alpenrose planned to launch the delivery service in 2021, but accelerated the schedule when the pandemic occurred.
“Alpenrose’s milk and eggs are at the heart of our business model, yet we must carry things that make people’s lives easier,” said Josh Reynolds, the company’s vice president and general manager.
Alpenrose milk comes from local dairy farms and is purchased from the Northwest Dairy Association Cooperative. Alpenrose has partnered with local dishes such as Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Franz Bread, Tillamook, Zenner’s Sausage Company, Pacific Coast Fruit Company, Portland Coffee Roasters and Spielman Bagels.
“Certainly, products aren’t a strong category, however, we’re interested in adding locally grown produce and food kits from restaurants that have evolved the pandemic,” Reynolds said.
Clark County delivery domain includes Vancouver, Camas and Battle Ground. Alpenrose has won Delivery Requests from Ridgefield. Reynolds would not guarantee expansion in this domain in the short term, but he is aware of the demand.
The minimum order for loose shipments is $15, with a delivery payment of $2.99 for small orders. Orders arrive in an old white steel case with the Alpenrose logo that is reused for long-term deliveries.
The owners of Masa Trang Ho and Trang Sharbaugh met at Vietnam High School in 2003. They met in Southern California a decade later and discovered a mutual interest in a waste-free lifestyle. Both were also looking for a more meaningful career. Taking the boat from Ho to Catalina to do their grocery shopping for both one and two days reconnected them with their training years in Vietnam, where their moms went to the market daily in search of the most up-to-date ingredients.
Sharbaugh moved to Portland from Sydney, Australia, where he earned a master’s degree in marketing from RMIT University. Ho, who worked in the fashion industry in the San Francisco Bay Area, soon enrolled in it. In December 2018, Masa was trained to create a way to bring locally grown fresh food to Portland-area consumers. They created a list of two hundred farmers and then forced them to enroll in Masa. They also volunteered on farms to immerse themselves in farmers’ challenges.
Masa’s online page offers around 500 products, adding normal commodities such as new products, milk and hen eggs, as well as pieces such as peacock eggs, silkworm cocoons and wool socks.
Traditional food retailers do not link consumers to farmers as Masa does. For example, Masa not only sells pieces of Happiness Family Farms on Sauvie Island and Vancouver, but also tells the story of Burundian refugees Prosper Hezumuryano and Rosata Niyonzima, who grow African aubergines, red beans and amaranth in their home countries.
Masa makes deliveries to Vancouver lately. Shipping payment is $7.50, no minimum order required. Orders are placed on Wednesday night and delivered on Saturday. Masa is exploring the possibility of extending delivery to other parts of Clark County.