It’s finally getting warm and sunny here in Pittsburgh. Our floral department really flourishes this time of year, with lots of local seedlings lining the sidewalk throughout the growing season. This year, we have two new seedling vendors to welcome to the co-op: Who Cooks For You Farm and Blackberry Meadows Farm. These growers are replacing Garden Dreams (who has paused their wholesaling operations) and Rick Contray of Wilmington Gardens (who after 30 years of organic farming and 26 years selling to the co-op is finally “trying out retirement”).

We are confident our new growers will meet the high expectations you have for seedlings. Who Cooks For You is a family operated farm located in New Bethlemham, PA that has provided seedlings during our Plant Something Day Sale in the past and is a regular local vendor in our Produce Department. The farm is Certified Naturally Grown and going through USDA Organic Certification. Blackberry Meadows is a family operated USDA Certified Organic farm located in Natrona Heights, PA.

Despite the change in seedling vendors, we are still able to host our Plant Something Day Sale on Sunday, May 19th. This day-long sidewalk sale generates lots of buzz and excitement at the store. This year, all seedlings will be buy 2, get 1 free. We hope you’ll save the date and join us!

Thank you to everyone who came out for our Bulk Sale on Sunday, April 14th. The love for this sale continues to grow and our most recent sale was the most successful one to date, with bulk food and bulk herbs accounting for 30% of our daily store sales!

In the coming weeks, we will be performing a waste audit guided by PA Resources Council. This will give us an accurate sense of where we are with waste reduction, help us establish tracking systems, and aid the development of next steps toward sustainability.

Operationally, we are excited to embrace Maura Holliday as our new General Manager. Maura has been with the co-op for more than 6 years as the Grocery Manager and has been serving on the Interim General Management Team since October 2018. You can learn more about Maura and her vision for the co-op here. The Interim General Management Team will remain in place until our grocery manager position is filled and Maura is fully adapted to her new role as GM. The co-op has experienced a lot of success in the team management structure, and while we are ready to hand the reins to Maura, we also want to ensure we preserve the strength we’ve developed together.