MOON currently has 800 member-owners, including 575 living in ZIP code 45056. About 3,700 households (excluding Miami students) live in 45056, so about 15 percent of Oxford-area households are owners of MOON cooperative.
The second distinctive local contribution of MOON is the large number of products in the store that are grown or made locally. Produce comes from local growers when possible, but supplies vary with the seasons.
Fruits and vegetables actually represent a small percentage of MOON’s local products. Nearly all of the meat and dairy are locally sourced. And Oxford-area individuals produce a wide array of grocery staples, everything from soap to cookies.
These tiny-scale Oxford-area growers and producers generate volumes that are much too small for the large stores to handle. The large stores require uniformity of appearance and predictability in output that small local producers can’t meet.
The large stores need to focus on well-known, heavily-advertised national brands. These products are manufactured all over the world and shipped through an international distribution network.
Time to start thinking turkey
As the calendar turns to November, it’s time to start thinking about Thanksgiving. The centerpiece of Thanksgiving for most families — the turkey — can be sourced locally through MOON Co-op.
The most important reason to get your turkey from a local source is confidence that the turkey was treated humanely in life and in death. MOON’s turkey supplier is Bowman Landes, a family that has raised turkeys for four generations, since 1948, on a family farm in Miami County near New Carlisle.
Bowman Landes turkeys live outdoors in free range. They are protected from predators by heavy-duty fencing.
Their free-range turkeys are provided with feed, water and shelter, and antibiotics are not administered to the animals.
The feed is a mix of wheat, corn and soybeans grown on the farm. The crops are grown using no-till and other sustainable field practices.
Turkeys from Bowman Landes are available for pre-ordering until Nov. 16 at MOON, with pickup anticipated on Nov. 25.
MOON Co-op, located at 516 S. Locust St. in Oxford, is open to the public every day. More information at www.mooncoop.coop.
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