Organic & Solidarity Shopping: the box with El Tamiso products.

After almost ten years of collaboration with Gas Biorekk, the El Tamiso Cooperative takes a new path with the newly founded Cooperative “The Twelve Months”, created by some active members of Biorekk, who took over the management of the Osteria di Fuori Porta for about a year. Therefore, the management of the activity changes, which becomes less dependent on the good will of those who have spent time and energy, often voluntary, taking on a more structured role and therefore also more onerous from a contractual point of view.

On the other hand, the spirit that moved this initiative from the beginning does not change: that is, the promotion of local agriculture that translates into concrete help precisely to farmers who find a preferential channel for placing their product, and a benefit also for those who then find freshly picked products on the table. In fact, this involves a series of positive effects (energy savings, less pollution, support for niche agriculture at risk of disappearing, etc.) that we could summarize with the slogan “good practices” in contrast to an approved consumerist logic. In the basket you will also find “forgotten” products such as Paduan broccoli cabbage or, always accompanied by information sheets, products with some small “aesthetic” defect that makes it difficult to place them in traditional commercial streets: let's remember “stormed” pumpkins over the years, also a concrete way to help those who would otherwise lose the fruit of their work entirely. There is no shortage of periods during the year when local production is scarce and to ensure continuity of service, there is also access to products that come from other areas of Italy with which El Tamiso maintains relationships.

Finally, the news: a smaller basket (in size and price, 13€) to meet the needs of those who eat only one meal at home or have fewer needs.

Below is Biorekk's press release to its members on the new methods of managing the project:

The Osteria di Fuori Porta officially manages the weekly fruit and vegetable boxes

Biorekk, as we know, was born thanks to the initiative and foresight of a group of friends who believed in the project of an organic and supportive purchasing group from Padua, in collaboration with the Cooperative of producers El Tamiso.

The small group of friends and families that initially experimented with organic and solidarity spending with weekly tapes, has then grown over the years in number and in planning. Biorekk has become a Social Promotion Association, it has encountered many organizations along its journey with which to create projects, sometimes even avant-garde, in the world of organic and critical consumption and in this sense, it has never spared itself trying to open and follow new paths.

Volunteers and people who have always followed the cassette project (from the preparation of weekly orders, to the relationship with Coop El Tamiso to identify the products to be inserted in the boxes, to their door-to-door distribution) have less and less time available to dedicate to this activity which, as you can imagine, is onerous in terms of time and responsibility.

Given this difficult situation, Biorekk could have, albeit reluctantly, abandoned the cassette business, instead carrying out other equally interesting but less demanding ones.

Instead, Biorekk believes and supports the importance of this project, of the relationship with the Cooperative of producers El Tamiso, of that between consumers, of the important social and economic impact of choosing to do the shopping in this way: this is how critical consumption is implemented, this is how another economy is concretely supported.

Biorekk believed it and still believes it: that's why he worked to be able to offer you this service again. This is how, in the Osteria di Fuori Porta (managed by the I 12 Months Cooperative), the most suitable person to continue this activity was identified.

The Coop. The 12 months, in fact, is managed by a group of people who have always been active in the field of critical consumption and share, with Biorekk, the fundamental values linked to the choice of organic.

After a year of break-in, we can say that the Osteria is ready to manage the entire process independently: Biorekk therefore entrusts it with the task of continuing the weekly collective purchase of fruits and vegetables in collaboration with Coop. The Thames.

For this reason, some time ago, you may have noticed that orders for the tapes can only be placed from the Osteria website on the page:

http://ordini.osteriadifuoriporta.it

and that the Osteria had to make changes to make the business economically sustainable (increase in the price of boxes by 1€ and reduction in the number of delivery points).

Instead, monthly collective purchases are continuing, managed entirely by Biorekk, which deals, as always, on a voluntary basis, with carefully selecting products and producers, maintaining a transparent and constructive relationship with the latter and managing the monthly delivery to the many members.

An important page for the Association therefore closes, but we are confident that a door will certainly open from this “passage”: Biorekk's action is effective only to the extent that it manages to contaminate, with its values and actions, the surrounding economic and social fabric, in various forms and ways that must be supported and appreciated.

Good luck to the Osteria di Fuori Porta and a big thank you to the guys from Biorekk who have so far managed the cassette project with commitment and dedication.

Thanks also to you, who have had the patience to read this far and you will certainly have the patience to continue to engage with and for Biorekk!

Warm greetings,

The Biorekk group of active members