Our Westside store will be closing early at 8pm on Wednesday 12/30 for inventory. The Eastside will be open regular hours.

We’ll have abbreviated hours coming up both for the holidays and in January.

• December 25th 9am – 5pm
• December 30th 8am – 8pm (inventory at Westside only) Eastside will be open regular hours which are 8am- 9pm
• January 1st 10am – 9 pm
• January 6th 8am – 8pm (Inventory at Eastside only) Westside will be open regular hours which are 8am-9pm

Yes we are open December 25th but with shorter hours (9am – 5pm)

We’re also open 1/1/26 from 10am- 9pm’

You really don’t want to miss this! It’s this coming week and is pay what up can! Sign up on the Co-op website under Co-op classes. Brought to you by three biking experts: Are you a fair-weather cyclist who is rainy season curious? Riding through our rainy season can keep you outside and moving, feeling the cool air, watching the changing colors and shifts in light. It’s a great way to slow down and appreciate what’s around us. In this class you will learn strategies for staying cozy, dry and safe through the wet season, discuss lower stress routes around town, how to use transit to fast forward your bike ride, and ways to keep your bike running smoothly through the season.

The winners of the 3 seats for the Board of Directors term January 2026-December 2028 are:

• Anch Bergeson
• Andie Giron 
• Christina Upshur

• Anch Bergeson 128 votes  (58 paper/65 online)
• Andie Giron  91 votes  (47 paper/44 online)
• Christina Upshur  65 votes (25 paper/40 online)
• Glenn Phillips  46 votes  (17 paper/29 online)
• Jill Saibel  15 votes  (8 paper/7 online)
• Laurie Weldner  53 votes  (22 paper/31 online)
• Riley Moody  10 votes  (6 paper/4 online)
• Sarah Glass  24 votes  (11 paper/13 online)
• *Shannon Chancellor  71 votes  (27 paper/44 online)
  *candidate withdrew 11/7/2025

Yes, both of our stores will be open on Thursday 11/27, but our hours will be shorter. We will only be open from 9-5. Thanks!

The staff collective would like to recognize the diversity in our community. If you have thoughts on our store hours we would love to here from you at customerservice@olympiafood.coop

Turkey info 2025

They will arrive on Friday November 21st.

• No pre-orders or special orders
• First come first serve
• Whole birds will range from 6-24 lbs

BOTH STORES:

( ABF=Anti-biotic free, free range)

Mary’s ABF Free Range: $4.99/lb No Antibiotics ever/Fed an Organic Vegetarian Diet/Fed— No Animal By- Products/No Added Hormones/No Preservatives/Gluten-Free/Gap Rated
Step 1

Mary’s Organic, Non-GMO: $5.99/lb
No Antibiotics ever/Fed an Organic Vegetarian Diet/Fed No Animal By-
Products/No Added Hormones/No Preservatives/Gluten-Free/Gap Rated
Step 2-Enriched Environment

EASTSIDE ONLY

LOCAL!!! Washington Farm Raised Turkeys! $10.99/lb
Palouse Farms Pasture Raised, Non-GMO, corn and soy-free, locally grown
grains and sunflower seeds: $10.99/lb

Diestel ABF Free Range: $5.49/lb
No Antibiotics ever/Fed an Organic Vegetarian Diet/Fed No Animal By-
Products/No Added Hormones/No Preservatives/Gluten-Free/Gap Rated
Step 1

Diestel Organic, Non-GMO, GAP STEP RATED: $6.69/lb
No Antibiotics ever/Non-GMO, Fed an Organic Vegetarian Diet/Fed No
Animal By-Products/No Added Hormones/No Preservatives/Gluten-
Free/Gap Step Rated

Diestel Organic, Pasture Raised, Regenified Certified: $7.49/lb
 Pasture Raised using Regenerative Practices No Antibiotics ever/Non-GMO,
Fed an Organic Vegetarian Diet/Fed No Animal By-Products/No Added
Hormones/No Preservatives/Gluten-Free/Gap Step Rated

Turkey parts (thighs, breasts & drumsticks) will not be available this year, as we don’t have a source for them.

Goose! ABF, 10-12 lb: $12.49/lb
Duck! ABF, 3.5-6 lb: $5.99/lb
Cornish Hens! Organic, $8.49/lb

In these trying times, we wanted to highlight some of the ways we offer food support to members of our community.

1. We offer a free “CAP” low income membership which also gives a 10% discount on purchases. To sign up come into either store or email customerservice@olympiafood.coop

2. We have a “Pay it forward” program which anyone in need can access for up to $20 a day, or whatever amount is currently in the fund if it is less than $20. The intent of the program is to give people in need easier access to food by using donated funds from others in the community to help cover their purchases. To use or donate to the program ask a cashier.

3. We have food bank collection boxes at the front of each store.

Here are some additional resources not related to our co-op:

• Thurston County Food Bank https://tcfb.org/services/locations/
• WA 211: wa211.org/resources/food or dial 2-1-1 (nearest pantry, hot meal, delivery).
• WSDA map: Access Food Near You
• Seniors – Meals on Wheels & Community Dining Info: southsoundseniors.org/nutrition/meals-on-wheels, Phone: 360-586-6181
• WIC (Women, Infants & Children): Benefits in WA are funded through mid-to-late November; check for updates and eligibility doh.wa.gov/you-and-your-family/wic
• School Meals: Reimbursements are continuing, and districts report no disruptions expected through December; families who may qualify for free or reduced-price meals can apply any time during the school year. Washington School Meals Application Finder

Join us Saturday November 8th from 11am- 2pm for our Annual Membership Meeting, hosted by the Ashho Cultural Center in Tumwater.

Featuring a speaker from the Deschutes Estuary Restoration Project.

Meeting Agenda:

Annual Membership Meeting— The International Year of Cooperatives

11:00 am Welcome – MC – ASSHO Announcement Jim Hutcheon
11:05 am Land Acknowledgement Sarika Igloi
11:08 am Local Vendors Welcome Jim Hutcheon

Blue Heron, Varadi Pretzels

11:15 am Board Report Jim Hutcheon

***

11:20 am Meet the Candidates (5 mins ea) 4 Board candidates
11:40 am Working Member Report Noraa Daniels
11:45 am    Community Sustaining Fund Keith Dublanica
Echo Morrigan
11:55 am Staff Report Mo Tobin
12:00 pm Finance Report Harry Levine
12:05 pm Meet the Candidates (5 mins ea) 5 Board candidates
12:30 pm Lunch is served
12:50 pm Keynote: Deschutes Estuary Restoration Project Shaina Thompson

WA Dept of Enterprise Services (incls. Q&A)

1:15 pm Expansion & Capital Campaign Update Redwood Naragon
1:35 pm    Table Discussions, Open Mic/Q&A
2:00 pm Closing Remarks Jim Hutcheon

Note: Many thanks to ASHHO, our speakers today (vendors, Shaina, Keith, Echo), and
all the working members and staff who helped to make this event possible.

The Olympia Food Co-op Pay-It-Forward Program is a fund that customers can donate money to or withdraw from at the registers. The intent of the program is to give people in need easier access to food, by using donated funds from others in the community to help cover their purchases.

The fund may be used to cover up to $20 per person per day, or whatever amount is currently in the fund if it less than $20. It can be accessed at either location.

How to use the Pay-It-Forward Fund:

1. Go to the checkout line or the customer service desk. Ask a worker if money is available in the Pay-It-Forward Fund. You cannot make a Pay-It-Forward purchase if there’s no money in the fund.
2. Collect your items. If there is enough money available, you may use up to $20 per person per day.
3. Go to the checkout like normal. Tell the cashier you’d like to make a Pay-It-Forward purchase, or hand them one of the blue pay it forward cards (available at the registers and customer service desk), Volunteer cashiers will need to call a staff member for assistance.
4. Using your own money to cover part of the total is encouraged, but not required. Thank you for helping us maintain this community resource.

Want to donate?

Ask a cashier! 100% of contributions directly support our community.

Alert, cheese recall!

Twin Sisters Creamery just voluntarily recalled Whatcom blue cheese due to E coli contamination. If you bought this recently don’t eat it and we’ll happily refund you!

We’re excited to have 9 candidates running for the 3 open seats on our Board of Directors.

Go here to learn about them and cast your votes!

Yakama Nation Farm. Where does your produce come from? By Maggie Jay, Staff member

The land of the Central River basin has belonged to the Yakama Nation since the beginning of time. About 4 years ago, Inaba Produce Farms changed hands to become Yakama Nation Farms. The purchase was the culmination of a century-plus partnership between Japanese immigrants and Indigenous people of the Yakama Nation, who rented affordable land to them when they were barred from buying or leasing it elsewhere.

The Yakama Nation Farm is fully tribally-owned now by the Yakama Nation. When the Inaba family decided to retire and sell the business, continuing their partnership with the Yakama Nation was the option that seemed right. Generations of successful farming practices and development of packing, shipping, cold storage facilities and skilled workers help ensure food sovereignty for the tribe.

The farming practices used by the Yakama Nation result in vibrant soil that will continue to produce quality produce for years and years. Inaba Produce Farms, now Yakama Nation Farms can be found on our produce shelves! Yakima Nation Farms now produces asparagus, bell pepper, cantaloupe, corn, watermelon, grapes, onions, squash and more. Historically our Produce Department has been able to source winter squash, melons, cukes, zukes, and some asparagus from their farm.

So when you buy produce from the Olympia Food Co-op, you may also be buying “produce” with Indigenous roots and a vision for the future; owned and operated by the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation.” (Yakama Nation Farms)

Visit ynfarms.com to learn more and to schedule a visit to their farm!

2nd Quarter 2025 Finance Report By Jill Lieseke, Staff Member

Although you may not want to admit it, you can feel it in the air. Summer is ending, and along with that the second quarter finances are closed and ready for your review. Both locations are still showing strong sales. Our local producers and farmers did not disappoint this past season and I hope you were able to get some yummy locally grown and produced goods. There will be plenty more going into Autumn.

For your review is a condensed version of the Co-op’s Combined East/West Year to Date (YTD) 2nd Quarter 2025 Budget Report. This report shows our 2025 ‘Actual’ numbers compared to our ‘Budgeted’ numbers and the variance between the two. The Co-op buys products, called Cost of Goods Sold (COGS), and we sell these products (SALES). When COGS are subtracted from sales, this equals ‘Gross Sales Revenue.’ This is how much money was made from sales, less the cost of the products that we sold.

Comparing our budgeted figures to our actual sales, we achieved more than projected–about $300,000 more. Since sales are over budget, then naturally, COGS are also over budget, resulting in a ‘Total Gross Sales Revenue’ of over $4.3 million. Compared to the budget, this is almost $150,000 more than what was projected at this point in the year. The ‘Other Revenue’ line is coming in at almost $46,000 over the budgeted amount, resulting in approximately $188,000 more than what was budgeted for ‘Total Net Revenue.’

‘Expenses’ on this report are consolidated into four categories. When these ‘Expenses’ are subtracted from ‘Revenue,’ which is the money that was made from selling products, then we find ‘Total Net Income/Loss’. Our expenses are just a little more than $27,000 over what we budgeted, resulting in a ‘Net Income’ of almost $195,500. This figure is a little more than $160,000 over what was budgeted for at the end of this 2nd quarter.

These strong sales could not have happened without YOU, our community members. We appreciate every one of you that makes up the fabric of this amazing group of Co-op members. You are all part of creating a sustainable and long-lived community hub that provides good food. Be proud!

Questions? Comments? Email the Finance Committee at jill@olympiafood.coop

October 11th & 12th!

What is Sorghum?

Sorghum is an African indigenous cereal grain which holds rich food tradition for Black and Brown communities across the world.

Inspired by Haki’s founding members roots in Kenya, for the last three years, we have been learning how to acclimate and grow sweet sorghum (called Muhia in our mother tongue) at our collective farm in rural Thurston County. The planting, harvest, and processing of sorghum is a communal tradition passed down through the generations.

Sorghum produces its high nutritional value as a milled grain, and its unique sugar -filled stalks, which we press and boil into sorghum molasses. We invite you to be a part of the process by participating in the early fall harvest and processing of our Sorghum/Muhia crop!

Live Music

The communal stewardship of sorghum crops has historically been infused with art and music. Bands for the event include the music projects of Sorghum growers and volunteers who have tended the crop as well as beloved artists across the South Sound!

• Trust Fall
• Montgomery Brown & the Cowboy Apocalypse
• The Beehees
• Siempre Bruja
• Sunflower Season
• Mazigazi
• Yarrow
• More artists to be announced!

Camping Out

Purchase a $10 tent spot with your weekend pass to campout on the farm! Campers are welcome to bring additional food items and tents to make your stay on the property comfortable.

Amenities include

• Access to the Black River
• Port-a-potties
• Hand washing station
• On site trash and recycling
• Tea/coffee station
• Charging station

More details logistics on camping will be provided upon checkout. Questions about camping? send us an email at haki@hakifarmers.org.

Come celebrate the year of cooperatives with us at our 48th Annual Membership Meeting on Saturday November 8th from 11am-2pm. Hosted by the Asho Cultural Center in Tumwater, 5757 Littlerock Rd SW.

Join us for a delicious lunch and hot beverage! Plus hear about:

• How cooperatives build community
• Co-op business updates
• Elections and Board candidates information

Featuring a speaker from the Deschutes Estuary Restoration Project

Thanks to everyone who came out to The Harvest Party last Sunday at our Westside Co-op to celebrate local farmers and a shout out to the staff organizers Maggie, Mat, Chris & Opal for a job well done!

We had a great turn out, musical performances by bands that included staff members Corey, Olivia, Ange and Monica, zucchini races, food and… fun!

*Photo by Kendra Hemlock.

Our fabulous working member Ana Brinson will be teaching this great class on Friday and there’s still room!

Stone Fruit Shrub

Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, also marks the beginning of a ten day period, ending with Yom Kippur, where Jewish tradition calls for deep self-reflection within ourselves and the communities we belong to. –By Adina Burstein, Staff member

Many Jewish communities use traditional foods, imbued with symbolism, as a catalyst for these introspective conversations. The tradition can be dated back to 3rd century Babylon (present day Iraq), when a Talmudic Rabbi encouraged the community to eat foods that grew in abundance to symbolize the abundance they hoped for in the new year. The ritual grew from there to include foods with Aramaic names that could be used as puns representing other desires for the coming year. This ritual, the foods chosen, and the meanings associated have shifted and changed with the diasporic communities that keep the tradition alive. Yehi Ratzones is a Sephardic tradition that takes these symbolic foods and turns them into a seder. Similar to Passover seders (where there are a lot of foods, but each one needs to be talked about at length before you can eat it), this tradition takes each food, one by one, and uses it to set an intention for the new year. While Judaism is generally considered a closed practice, eating, reflecting on our food, and creating meaning out of that, is uniquely human and deeply grounding.

This year, as I gather fruits and vegetables for my Rosh Hashana, I am thinking about the danger farmworkers in America are facing at the hands of ICE, how nothing we eat is removed from the political. As I feel gratitude for the abundance that I have access to I am also filled with grief for the people of Palestine and Sudan who are struggling to survive under famines that are politically motivated and artificially imposed. While it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the scale of injustice in our world, many Rosh Hashanah foods are chosen to reaffirm the power each of us has to make change in the world. The foods shared here, as well as their symbolism, are incomplete. Their purpose is not to tell us what to hope for, but to ask ourselves what the world needs and what the current moment requires of us.

• Black-Eyed Pea rubiya in Aramaic, shares its root with the word rebah, meaning increase. This food is a classic in the new year celebrations of many cultures, and Jewish tradition asks us to identify what we hope will be fruitful and abundant in our lives this year.
• Carrot gezer in Aramaic, shares its root with the word g’zar, meaning decree. What laws or decrees have been made that don’t serve justice and we hope are nullified in the next year?
• Beet selek in Aramaic, shares its root with the word salak, meaning to remove. What blocks the path ahead and how can it be removed? Is there a person you wish would just “beet it”?
• Date tamar in Aramaic, shares its root with tam, meaning to end. Many people eat dates in the hope that there will be an end to all wars, violence, and oppression. What systems in the world and patterns within ourselves need to come to an end to bring this about?
• “New Fruit” can mean a fruit you have never eaten before or a fruit that you have not eaten yet this year. This food symbolizes new possibilities and is a reminder that, as long as we’re alive, we are able to experience new things.
• Apples Dipped in Honey or Sugar symbolize the sweet new year we want to have. What does sweetness look like to you?

Honorable mentions go to round challahs (with or without raisins), fish (heads and/or whole), pomegranates leeks, and gourds–all staples at Rosh Hashanahs around the world, each imbued with layers of meaning: sometimes serious, sometimes silly, and continually growing.

Whether it’s for Rosh Hashanah or your next meal, what foods will you eat and what will they mean to you?

We still have room in the learn to make Injera class tonigh by Jay Ryan!

Register here 

We have a very important announcement related to running for the board of directors:

If you submitted your application before September 2nd, you may need to reapply due to a technical issue on our end. We are very sorry for any inconvenience. Please email us at boardapplication@olympiafood.coop to make sure we received your application.

The Board of Directors meets the third Thursday of every month. Meetings start at 6:00 pm, and take place at the Co-op’s downtown office at 610 Columbia St SW as well as by zoom.  All Olympia Food Co-op members are welcome to attend and each agenda includes open time for member comments. Comments to the Board can also be emailed to ofcboard@olympiafood.coop

zoom link to attend virtually

Asphalting work’s happening on Landsdale Road this week! Yes, we are open and apologies in advance for any inconvenience. From what we understand this work will be completed by August 22nd. Thank you for your patience!

What’s the sound I hear… an Eastside Store improvement project? — By Fern Moore, Staff Member

For the last several years, our Eastside store has been enjoying significant growth. While it’s so wonderful to see more and more customers choosing the Co-op as a place to get their food, we know that the increase in customers is creating more challenges for you and our staff. Shopping aisles are getting crammed, parking is becoming a challenge, bathrooms are limited and our product offerings could be much more if we had more retail space. In addition to serious space limitations, we are in real need of upgrades to the existing facility. The Eastside Store is quite energy inefficient, and we know it’s getting kind of funky…

What Would An Improved Eastside Look Like?
To better serve our growing membership base, we need more retail space with abundant displays of our local, organic produce and all the products currently on sale. Imagine the
checkout area being spacious and easy to move around in! And how about parking at the Eastside that is easily navigable and well signed, new and larger bathrooms, a more eco-
friendly facility, and a more aesthetically-pleasing storefront!

Are There Any New Features That Might Result From This Project?
Some ideas we’ve heard from members and staff include a full-service deli, more dining space, espresso bar, and more bulk items. Solar panel arrays, a battery back-up system, all electric HVAC, and a better insulated store would all lead to a more eco-friendly experience for Co-op members. In the coming months, the Co-op Board will be reaching out to our members to hear from you about what changes might be most important to you so that we can align project store improvements with the priorities of our membership.

Will This Happen Tomorrow?
The simple answer is no. Given the property size we have, there are many factors to consider and we are currently working with consultants to analyze the various options including expanding and improving our current store, rebuilding the store on our current property, or relocating to another property. We know we need to make changes and it will take time for this process to unfold. In the meantime, thank you for your patience and we look forward to updating you on this exciting endeavor!

Please feel free to contact expansion@olympiafood.coop with any
questions or comments. Thanks!