Honest
SLATE
I Am the Eggman by Neil Rice
“I am the eggman, I am the walrus, Goo goo g’ joob Goo goo goo g’ joob!”---The Beatles Honest Weight Food Cooperative has an Eggman! But in reality the Eggman is not one person, it is a variety of folks who have worked cooperatively over the years to supply our eggs. While Co-op eggs these days are supplied by a number of local farmers, HWFC has gotten eggs from the Cornell family farm in Hoosick Falls since 1992. The idea of the Eggman comes from Member-Owner Peter Murdoch, who fondly recalls arriving in the chaos of our Quail Street location where he was met by an MO who would call out, “The Eggman is here!” So it quickly became Peter’s expected response to answer the call with a loud and high-pitched response coined from the Beatles’ popular (if rather meaningless and silly) song: “Goo
Honest Weight Food Co-op’s Community Newsletter for Membership • Staff • Governance • Management Published monthly by the Communications Committee to promote transparency, report without bias, and sustain community.
f e B r u a r y 2O26 Honest Weight Food Co-op • 100 Watervliet Avenue, Albany, NY 12206 • 518-482-2667
honestslate@honestweight.coop • https://www.honestweight.coop/ goo g’joob, goo goo g’joob!” (The writer had to look up these lyrics and was surprised because he always thought the line was “Kookoo kachoo, koo-koo kachoo!”) So who are the MOs behind the idea of the Eggman? For Peter it started in 1992 when Bob, currently our benevolent Bulk Department guy, saw the need for getting the eggs to Albany and realized that Peter lived out that way, and he worked in Albany. Soon Peter started his Friday ritual of going to the Cornell Farm to load up the eggs and take them to the Co-op. It was a biweekly task, with alternate weeks completed by another Rensselaer County MO Guinevere Thayler. Each week one of our MOs would meet a member of the Cornell family and load 12 or so boxes, each containing 12 dozen Cornell Farm eggs. (That’s 12 gross of eggs, not that the eggs were, or are, gross.) 12 gross = 144 eggs, so each fragile load consists of 12 x 144 eggs, or 1,728 eggs. Could be an omelet for a giant!
January RMM Vote Results
One ballot passed, approved by 98% of voting Member-Owners. See page 8 for details It wasn’t long before his wife, MO Ellen Crane, began to share the egg-toting duties. They are still able to share that responsibility, and these days MO Rachel Riemann Akera, who also lives in the hills near Grafton and used to work with Pete, has picked up Guinevere’s role and delivers the eggs to HWFC on alternate weeks. Some interesting moments surfaced in this process over the years. Can you imagine getting 1,728 eggs into a Honda Fit? Just ask Rachel: it can be done! And as far as we recall, no one has had to contend with a gross or two of scrambled eggs along the highway: when Ellen was rear-ended on Rte. 7 en route to the Co-op, somehow the eggs miraculously survived. And when Peter was forced by a detour to take the Northway south into Albany and his car’s differential went kaput, all it took was a call to the Co-op. A while later, staff MO Gail Fleisher continued on page 6
CONTENTS
Peter Murdoch and Allan Cornell in the farmhouse sorting room. honestslate@honestweight.coop
Enck Attends Book Club. Club. ................ 2 Across the Board & Committees.... Committees.... 3 V-Day Shopping............................... ............................... 4 Suggestion Box Q&A.. ..................... 5 Shatavari & Kudzu Root.................. Root.................. 5 Board Decisions .............................. 6 Committee Corner ......................... 7 MO Announcements...................... Announcements...................... 8 https://www.honestweight.coop/