NEW SITE LAUNCHED TO CONNECT CONSUMERS and LOCAL PRODUCERS

The Central Oregon Localvore site has been launched!This is a great new resource for producers and consumers alike.

Central Oregon Locavore is an organization dedicated to creating a healthy and vibrant local food market and local economy in Bend, OR. Our website is www.centraloregonlocavore.com.

For Consumers:

Central Oregon Locavore is an online local food marketplace where you can purchase direct from local farmers from the convenience of your own home, office, car, while on vacation, from an airplane, or pretty much from wherever these days.... All of the farmers/producers featured on the website at this time are based in Central Oregon. Our goal is to support and strengthen our local economy and food resource network.

We will begin with two-week ordering periods and as volume increases we will progress to weekly ordering periods. You will soon be able to purchase local items using the Central Oregon Locavore website (once the farmers/producers upload their products). To shop you will place items in your cart, check-out, pay using a credit or debit card (secure server) and recieve a reciept. The farmers/producers will receive your orders and on delivery/pick-up day they will deliver the items to the "drop-point" at the Cascade Living Water Store, located at 2146 NE 4th St (near the main post office in Bend). The employees and volunteers for Central Oregon Locavore will then sort the orders and you, the buyer, will pick them up between 4-7pm on the designated day. Thursdays will be the designated delivery/pick-up day. Please see the calendar (soon to be added) on the website to stay current. The first pick-up event is Thursday April 22nd.

For Producers:

You will have the ability to post what items you will have available each week and the price you want for each item. Rather than receiving many small, individual orders from many consumers, you receive one large order on a weekly basis and drop it off at one location in Bend. This location is commonly referred to as the “drop site”. The site will be located on Bend’s East side at The Cascade Living Water Store (2146 NE 4th Street, by the main post office). This way you can save lots of time and energy, which you can then put back into your farm or business. We will be starting off with every-other week deliveries and moving to weekly once the volume has increased. The first order will be due at the drop site on April 22nd so please get those items posted!

We are describing the site as an online farmers market, very similar to a regular farmers market but without the stand, other related overhead expenses and unsold products at the end of the day.

Getting started is really simple. It’s a matter of registering your farm on our website, providing a short farm or business description, and then adding what products you sell. I will contact you after you register to explain the process and answer any questions you may have.