New online store makes buying local easy

LUNASA…making local easy. With seeds sown in the Raisin River Co-op, the Chelsea Community Kitchen and the Yellow Door, Jane Pacheco and Dawn Thompson are making it easy to buy local. Jane and Dawn are both proponents of celebrating Michigan’s bounty and eating local foods, but know the difficulty in trying to buy everything local throughout the year. They have now put together an online storefront called Lunasa (loo-nah-sah), a name derived from the annual Celtic celebration of the harvest.

Jane and Dawn are working around the clock to line up farmers and producers to create a one-stop online shop for local Michigan products. Twice a month, producers will upload their products to www.lunasa.us and then members order and pay for their purchases online. Producers and members then meet every second and fourth Tuesday each month to make the exchange.

As a Lunasa member you will have the opportunity to order what you want, when you want it. If a producer has it listed as available online and you order it, it's as if they will be picking it, baking it, or processing it just for you. You can customize your order every time you log in and personally shop from a variety of local Michigan producers of meats, eggs, dairy, produce, maple syrup, honey, beverages, and household items such as natural soaps. All products are made in Michigan and brought to you in person by the producer of the product to the Lunasa warehouse on market day.

To become a member of Lunasa, you purchase an online $40.00 annual membership beginning July 1, 2010. Membership gives you access to producers of local goods, year round, through an online order system and an in-person distribution transfer location. Other benefits of membership include connecting with local producers, meeting new people through the market, building confidence in your purchases, contributing to the health of the local economy, and the overall feeling that you've done something to make a difference in your community. www.lunasa.us