Some of you might recognize the woman in the photo below, Rita, from the growers markets in Albuquerque. Rita is the owner of Gluten Free Goods. She's the one responsible for creating the new gluten free vegan treats that you may have noticed on this week's product list. After becoming familiar with our market-style offerings, Rita reached out to us to see if we would be interested in listing her almond meal-based cookies on our website. We thought we would give it a try. The people have spoken! The entire case that we posted on our website sold out before ordering closed on Monday.

We are offering 2 different kinds of cookies: chocolate chip and cranberry walnut. They come in packs of 2 cookies that total 3.2 oz. Gluten Free Goods does not use refined sugar and uses a base of almond meal, tapioca flour and rice flour depending on the product. Their cookies also have other wholesome ingredients like walnuts, sesame seeds and coconut, which make them rich and protein and healthy fats that are easy to digest. Check out the product descriptions by clicking on the photos on our website to see a full ingredient list for each cookie.

Rita is a licensed nutrition educator and strongly believes in conscious and healthy eating. She is also concerned with making her products as accessible as possible and wants to change perceptions around gluten free foods. We are happy to be supporting and working with another local producer creating sweet, healthy treats. If you didn't have a chance to try them this week, toss a pack in your cart next week. You won't regret it!

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For many folks around New Mexico March means one thing: WIND. While some of us dread the spring winds and the allergies they often bring, farmers see the winds as a marker of a new growing season! We have word from a few of our farmers that their vegetable starts (like the little guys in the photo above) are thriving and are getting ready to be planted once the nights warm up a few more degrees. With all of the moisture we've gotten this winter, especially up north, farmers feel confident that it will be a fruitful season!

In the meantime this means a little less variety in what we have access to locally. Farmers are getting to the bottom of their winter veggie stock, like carrots, squash, and hearty greens. Not to fear! We still have access to fresh lettuce and watercress from Silver Leaf Farms thanks to their hydroponic setup, as well as potatoes from White Mountain Farms and hydroponic tomatoes and cucumbers from Preferred Produce in Deming. We try hard to source as much locally as we can all year long, but some parts of the year are easier than others. When we can't source our share locally we strive to supplement the 2-3 local items in each share with organic items. We want to be sure that we are always offering the highest quality produce for all of our members year-round!

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Last week a group of 9 students from Jessica Rowland's Food Systems class, part of the UNM Sustainability Studies program, came to MoGro to volunteer. We gave them a brief tour of Roadrunner Food Bank and chatted about our food sourcing, waste, composting and distribution to give them a feel for how a food-based nonprofit fits into our larger food system. The students helped to pack out Weekly Shares, while our loyal weekly volunteers shifted gears and repacked our dry goods, like flour, blue corn products, rice, and beans. With a recent uptick in orders we have noticed our grocery items selling much quicker. We depend on large groups of volunteers to help us repack, so we're extremely grateful for them when we have them!

Our volunteers are extremely valuable -- we rely on them to make each week happen. From packing to distributing, volunteers are involved in every step along the way. There isn't a week where our Weekly Shares are not packed without the help of our volunteers. After the Shares are packed they are sent to different pickup locations, which are run by volunteers. We would like to express our gratitude to all of these fine folks!

If you are in the Albuquerque area and are interested in joining us for one of our packs on Tuesdays evenings from 4 - 7 PM we would love to have you. Email shelby@mogro.net for more info.

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