Are there membership fees?

There are no membership fees for customers. There is a one-time fee to Farmers, Growers, and Producers of $40. Customers are welcome to try us for two orders before officially becoming members. These first two orders must be paid for with cash when the orders are picked up. As an alternative, customers can deposit a check into their SLG account prior to picking up their orders. The value of their orders can then be deducted from their account. Checks must be deposited in sufficient time for the amount to clear the bank, otherwise, cash will be required. Checks can be made out to Sequim Locally Grown Mercantile and delivered to 43 Vine Maple Lane in Sequim, 3 days before the order is picked up, unless other arrangements are made.

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Will I have to buy vegetables I don't want?

Unlike some co-ops, buying clubs, or CSAs where everyone gets the same box of stuff (and you don’t know what you’re getting until you get it), with Sequim Locally Grown Mercantile, you get to order what you want, in the quantities that you want, from the farms that you want. The weekly email lists the produce, milled products, fresh flowers, and artisan goods available that week, and you can browse the items on this website before you place your order.

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How do I order?

SLG Mercantile opens again for ordering every Friday 8AM. Each Sunday evening at 8PM, a list of available products is sent to all of our registered customers by e-mail. Customers must place their order for the week no later than Tuesday at 8PM. Orders can be placed here on our website or by responding directly to the e-mail. Ordering through this web site is Sequim Locally Grown Mercantile’s preferred method as it is designed to reduce the amount of time it takes us to process orders as well as provide you with detailed information about our products.

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When do I pay?

We accept cash or deductions from your account balance when you pick up your order. Because we may have to adjust your total then (to account for unnanounced items you decide to purchase or items that were unexpectedly unavailable), we do not accept advance payment on the website.

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When and Where do I pick up my order?

From 4:30 until 5:45 p.m. on Thursday, customers can pick-up their produce at at the Sequim Prairie Grange, 290 Macleay Road, in Sequim.
SLG also offers Home Delivery in our electric truck. If you are not able to pickup your order at the Sequim Prairie Grange, SLG will deliver to your location on Thursday evenings or Friday mornings. We charge $1 per mile from the Grange. You can place your order for Home Delivery on SLG. A Delivery Discount of $5 is given for every $100 worth of SLG product up to the actual delivery charge.

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Why support Locally Grown?

Increase your food security: When you buy locally grown produce and other items from local growers you are increasing your local food security and eliminating unknown sources of food.

4/26/09 New salmonella outbreak connected to alfalfa sprouts

1/30/09 Recalled Products Sent To Schools, Day Cares – Gov’t Launches Criminal Probe

1/20/09 General Mills and Kroger Pull Peanut Butter Items

1/14/09 Bush to issue last-minute PFOA water rule – Surprise move comes as chemical investigated in beef supply

1/11/09 PEANUT BUTTER RECALL: King Nut, Parnell’s Pride Pulled Over Salmonella Fears

1/6/09 Crops absorb livestock antibiotics, science shows

12/30/08 Honey laundering: A sticky trail of intrigue and crime

12/30/08 Antibiotic use could taint honey’s reputation as a miracle drug

11/25/08 Traces of the industrial chemical melamine have been detected in samples of top-selling U.S. infant formula

11/8/08 Don’t Let the Organic Label Be Greenwashed at Fish Farms

10/31/08 Melamine: It’s What’s for Dinner? China’s latest food safety scandals reveal prevalence of melamine in food supply

9/29/08 Cadbury Recalls Chinese-Made Chocolate As 22 More Are Arrested In Milk Scandal

9/24/08 China tainted milk crisis triggers global recalls 10/1/08 New Tests Find Melamine in 31 Chinese Milk Brands

8/28/08 FDA OKs Irradiated Lettuce and Spinach 8/23/08 FDA Plots to Mislead Consumers Over Irradiated Foods

8/8/08 Whole Foods Market is recalling fresh ground beef sold between June 2 through Aug. 6 because the beef might be contaminated with E. coli bacteria.

7/30/08 In searching for the source of a salmonella outbreak, the Food and Drug Administration said it has found a tainted serrano pepper, as well as a jalapeno, at two Mexican farms.

Enhance local economy: By purchasing produce and other items from local growers you are providing stability to your local economy through the support of local businesses.

Save natural resources:Buying locally grown, chemical free food makes you an invaluable link in the process of saving resources such as fossil fuels, wildlife and packaging materials. Also, we are right here in your community so the expense of transportation and delivery is kept to a minimum.

9/26/08 Protect the Birds and the Bees: Stand Strong Against Toxic Pesticides!

Provide learning opportunities: Sequim Locally Grown Mercantile supporters provide member growers the means to help educate our community about the importance of sustainable agriculture.

Supporting a way of life: The number of small farms in the United States has decreased dramatically in the last decade. Please help us preserve an honest and worthy means of making a living.

We believe that small, diverse, family-owned farms contribute to society’s overall health.

Friends of the Fields, a local nonprofit dedicated to protecting farmland from development and promoting sustainable agriculture in Clallam County, can be found at http://www.friendsofthefields.org. Currently, Friends of the Fields is raising funds to protect Finn Hall Farm, 50 acres of productive, USDA-designated prime farmland, farmed by the Jarvis family for five generations. Sequim Locally Grown Mercantile fully supports Friends of the Fields and hopes you will consider a secure online contribution to them at
http://www.friendsofthefields.org/contributions.htm.

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How can I sell through this market?

If you’ve already created a customer account here, simply go to Our Growers and click on ‘Join this Market’. This will add you to our system and our market managers will contact you with the next step. We do charge a one-time-only fee of $40 (which we can deduct from your sales or you can pay upfront) as well as 5% of your overall sales. Like at a traditional farmers’ market, you do get to set your own prices and list your items as you wish. Contact Sid Maroney at olylast@yahoo.com if you want more information.

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Oh no! I forgot to pickup my order! Now what?

Well, I’m sorry we missed you.

About a half hour before we pack up to go home, we’ll call you if you haven’t come yet, using the phone number you tied to your account. If you have a cell phone, use that number!

Most times, we get an answering machine, so if we haven’t reached you when it’s time to go, we’ll try again.

If we still haven’t been able to reach you, your items will be donated or given away! We do not have a means to keep items until the next week, or to deliver them to you. If we were able to reach you on the phone, we may be able to work out an arrangement, but otherwise, your items will be donated or given away!

Since the growers harvested just for you, and (more importantly) since we paid the growers on your behalf when they brought them to our market, you are still responsible for paying for items, even if you do not pick them up. We’ll charge your account, and that amount will get added to your next order.

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Why are some of your products labelled "organic" and others are not?

First off, no “conventional” growers are allowed to sell through our market. Everything sold here is grown without the use of synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides. Everything here could be sold as “organic”, but many growers choose not to.

To use the word “organic”, a grower must register through the USDA and keep up with a tremendous amount of paperwork. The process is very expensive and intensive, and certainly favors the larger factory farms over the small family farm.

Another system is “Certified Naturally Grown”. This nation-wide program seeks to correct the problems with the USDA certification system. The standards are just as strict (and in some cases, more so) as the USDA Organic program, but there is no cost to become certified. There is still some paperwork, but not as much. More importantly, the growers in the program inspect each other, rather than relying on an outside for-profit certifier. Several of our growers have gone this route.

Finally, a few growers are not certified by anyone but still use organic sustainable methods on their farms.

To find out more about our growers, and to see what certification, if any, they have, take a look at our Growers page.

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How do I cook with this produce? Do you have any recipes?

I am working on a full recipe system for the site, but in the meantime we recommend recipes and information sheets from Angelic Organics’ excellent book “Farmer John’s Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables” which can be purchased here. http://tinyurl.com/5uexjw

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How is the market supported?

The farmers, growers, and producers set their own prices. They receive 95% of their asking price with the other 5% going to the market. The customer is charged full price plus 8% percent. This 8% is split to also support the market and the website host (5% to the market and 3% to the host). Therefore, of the 108% that the customer pays, 95% goes to the farmer/grower/producer, 10% goes to the market, and 3% goes to the host. Funds that go to the market pays the market manager, any necessary helpers, incidental charges and promotion/advertising of the market. The market manager’s salary will be capped at a modest income to be determined.

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What is the Mission of SLG?

The Market at Sequim Locally Grown Mercantile is developing into a large group of farmers, growers, and producers located around Sequim, Washington. Each grower farms his/her land using strict standards to ensure that everything produced is chemical-free. All member farms are dedicated to supplying their customers with the freshest and highest quality vegetables, herbs, mill products, dairy, eggs, meats, fruits, flowers, and transplants. Participating farms vary in size and specialty, but all carry the common thread of dedication to community, environment, health and education.

While not a true cooperative, Sequim Locally Grown Mercantile uses cooperative efforts to achieve steady and dependable means of supplying the highest quality produce and other products. Sequim Locally Grown Mercantile works to find new and innovative methods to preserve greenspace, protect our natural resources, support our local economy, provide meaningful work, and return to a more self-sufficient community life. Each farmer realizes the importance of educating the community about the benefits of sustainable agriculture practices to our lives and our land. Sequim Locally Grown Mercantile member farms often dedicate a portion of their personal time to building gardens for their local communities as well as providing fun and informative educational programs for children and adults, including those with special needs.

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What is the history of SLG?

Sequim Locally Grown Mercantile was founded in May 2008 through the combined efforts of Sid Maroney and Local Action for a Sustainable Tomorrow along with input from area farms and customers. Recognizing and responding to needs of community members and small business owners, we combine the efforts of individual growers and producers to market their produce and products. Sequim Locally Grown Mercantile hopes to sell an abundance of local produce and products to local individuals and families, as well as local restaurants and grocery stores.

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