The Community Center was filling up with animals waiting to hear about the new food co-op that Cheeseland was introducing. Prices at the market had been rising for more than a year, and budgets were straining.

Toni Tabby: I was talking to my husband last week. We might have to go back to catching dinner. It’s getting too expensive buy everything. The kids think it’s disgusting, but we may not have any choice.

Ginger Khatt: I know what you mean. But eating mice kinda turns my stomach too. I mean, we’d be eating our neighbors.

Toni: I know. And they are such cute little things.

The speakers had been playing music. Then a voice came on:

Voice: Would everyone please be seated.

There was a general shuffling as people took a seat. Toni looked around. There were a lot of animals: lions, cats, dogs, rabbits, sheep. Even a few mice. Ginger was right. She couldn’t eat her neighbors. She was startled by what came next. The speaker was Pauly Porcine, the ex-Mayor. He was introducing his wife Shirley.

Pauly: Hello, everyone. Bet you didn’t expect to see me so soon, did you? I’m only here to introduce my lovely wife. She has been hard at work putting together a lot of information about food. Please give her a warm welcome.

The animals clapped politely.

Shirley: Hello everyone. Pauly is giving me too much credit. There were four of us working on this project. I’m just the speaker. June, Evelyn, and Clarence have been working hard along side of me.

The audience  clapped again as the other team members stood up.

Shirley: The cost of food has risen almost 10% overall in the past year. Some things are worse than others. And we have a rather unique issue here in Cheeseland. None of our animal proteins can be locally sourced. After all, you don’t eat your neighbors.

Shirley looked around the room as she said that. The prey animals were looking relieved. The carnivores nodded.

Leopold Lion: So what are we supposed to do about not being able to afford meat? I’ve had to raise prices in the cafe, and I’m losing customers. I may have to close the Carnivore Cafe if we can’t figure something out.

Giselle Sheep: I’m very happy to hear that I won’t be on the menu, but things aren’t a lot better for us herbivores. Our yards aren’t big enough to feed a family.

Shirley: That’s why we need to work together on this. We can get better prices if we buy in bulk.

Clarence: And we need a community farm as well.

Jack Rabbit: Exactly how does this work anyway?

Shirley: The first thing we need to decide is what kind of food do we want to buy and what do we want to grow/make ourselves?

Jack: What do you mean, make ourselves?

Clarence: For example, I’m a cow. As is my beautiful wife, Evelyn. She makes wonderful cheeses. If we can get other volunteers, no co-op member would need to buy cheese.

Toni: Ooh. I love cheese.

(Not sure why they think we are British)

Jack: I still don’t understand. Do we sign up and pay for what we want?

Shirley: That’s close. You can join the co-op for a set fee. You need to decide what types of food you would like 1 or more shares of. For the sake of explanation: 1 share of dairy would be $5, 1 share of vegetables would be $5, 1 share of fruit would be $5, and 1 share of meat would be $7. What actual food that represents will vary from week to week, depending on what’s available. You can also earn shares by volunteering in the garden or contributing something you can make, like butter or cheese.

Jack: Can I change what I want, week to week?

June: That’s where I come in. I’m going to create a spreadsheet with who wants how much of which shares, week-to-week. You can select what you want on a weekly basis, but it will always lag by a week, so we have time to buy it.

Jack: And where will you buy it?

June: Mainly farmers’ markets and food wholesalers.

Shirley: Any more questions? (She looked around.) Okay, the first step is to go to cheeselandfoodcoop.chz and let us know what kinds of food you would be interested in getting. We will compile all of the answers and send out a preliminary food list. Thank you for coming.

The animals applauded and started chattering among themselves.

Next week: Can the animals find enough common ground to make a food co-op work?