Finding your own food network

billingsgazette.com/lifestyles/food-and-cooking/recipes/finding-your-own-food-network-in-the-time-of-coronavirus/article_c7a2f98f-cb03-5236-9627-7d0266632b36.html


A brand new farmstand sits on a dirt road on the outskirts of Huson, Montana, population 210. Out of the way does not begin to describe its location, even by Huson standards. Tracy Potter-Fins, owner of County Rail Farms, sets out the offerings for the farmstand’s second day of business. Day No, 1 had resulted in one sale, thanks to Potter-Fins’ post on Nextdoor, the neighborhood-based social network.



“She got onions, she got kale starts, she got carrots, she was psyched," Potter-Fins recounts, according on the customer's follow-up post on Nextdoor.



Prices are listed at the farmstand, but a sign says to pay as much as you can. In small-town Montana, that often isn’t much. The original idea, first proposed by her employee Arlyce Rosko last summer, was to offer unsold produce to the local community at a steep discount.



“We want to get as much food into the hands of low-income people as we can without hurting our business,” Potter-Fins said.



Thanks to the pandemic, Potter-Fins’ marketing plan remains fluid, and her farmstand could play a crucial role beyond its original job as discount surplus liquidation site. From a social distancing perspective, that first sale could not have gone better. The customer came, shopped and left without any face-to-face or hand-to-hand interactions. In addition to being an unstaffed point of sale, the farmstand will also be a drop-off point for online orders, and perhaps more, depending on how the season unfolds.



Consumers of fresh veggies, meanwhile, are also weighing their options. For numerous virus-related reasons, many are looking to take a more active role in their food supply chains. Some are stockpiling canned goods, while others don’t want to go anywhere near a supermarket. Many are preparing to grow their own, or doubling down on their local food networks.