REKO- Local Food Community

Today I'm talking with Brecca at REKO- Local Food Community. You can follow on Facebook as well.

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00:00
This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Brecca at REKO Local Food Community. Good afternoon, Brecca. It's one o'clock in the afternoon. I don't know where I was. Hello. Nice to be with you. You too. How are you?

00:26
I'm doing so well, thanks. We're trying to stay warm over here in my neck of the woods, but from listening to some of your previous podcasts, we're not that cold. So we hit two degrees this morning, and I was thinking I was not having a good day, but then I heard negative 25, and I was like, I'm OK. I'm OK. Well, it's really funny, because they're predicting rain for this afternoon here. It's like 35 degrees today. Oh my goodness, yeah. No fun.

00:52
It would be really, really nice if the weather would reflect what month we're actually in. Wouldn't it? That's true. My husband and I were talking in last year in January is when we got all our snow. So we didn't have snow all winter last year till January came and that's when we got pelted. And this year's been similar. We haven't been pelted with snow, but the temperatures are super cold. So I'm like, I'm ready to kind of start breaking into spring, not have the winter.

01:23
It's not that far away. We are rolling into February here soon. So there's hope. And I feel like all I do is talk about the weather at the beginning of every podcast episode. But like I've said, it's how I express my care for who I'm talking to. So well, when you're talking homesteading weather, that's what we're all thinking about. Exactly. Yeah. All right. So tell me about yourself and about RICO and what does REKO stand for? It's R-E-K-O. Yeah. So

01:50
REKO is actually a Swedish acronym that was put out by a Finnish farmer, and it just means fair consumption. So REKO itself here in Idaho started in 2020 around COVID craziness. So we had farmers markets that were threatening not to open because they couldn't meet the demands of city authorities and health authorities.

02:19
We had restaurants that were closed down. And for all of our small producers here in Idaho, those were two of the biggest cells for their farms and their homesteads was restaurants and farmers markets. And so we had Tia Groves with...

02:40
They no longer run it, but they sold mushrooms at the time. And she actually started Rico here locally as a collaboration of producers to create a way to continue to sell our goods because we were still producing them, but we just lost all of our avenues of selling them during 2020.

03:01
Okay, that makes a lot of sense. Did I see that it doesn't cost money to be part of it on your website or did I misread that? So actually, so there's two different parts of Rico. There's Rico the app, which is a great resource that has been produced by a couple of tech guys out of Utah and we just teamed up with them.

03:27
to be able to use the app, but the app is created with the producer in mind. So it is absolutely free for the producer. There's no cost. It is a storefront. So it's a great way to have a website that you can use that storefront of REKO through the app or if they're on a computer it goes through a website and

03:54
Sorry, my computer just notified me it's low. So anyways, but either way we can go, the producers aren't paying for it. There is a small fee that's asked from the customer at checkout and that's how the app is paid for. So we have a lot of producers here that have really taken advantage of that and created websites with that.

04:22
with REKO built in as the purchasing power for their website. So it saves our producers money on fees. It saves our producers money on having a storefront that's online, right? Because I know for our particular business, we have our own website and we set it up with WooCommerce years before REKO app was ever available. And we pay a lot of money for that every year. So

04:50
It is REKO. The app is definitely set up with producers in mind and it is a free tool for producers when that is When we talk about the farmers when we talk about the farmers market here in Idaho We have created a collaboration of vendors that have come together as REKO Treasure Valley And we actually created a farmers market out of it. So it's an online farmers market

05:17
We do charge, if you were to participate in all eight locations, it is $30 a month. So it's still very affordable. That $30 a month that we all pitch in goes to advertising the farmers market. So that's literally the only thing it pays for, but it's been a great resource for us as producers to come together and have, to help all of us, right? When the tide rises, we all rise. So.

05:46
Yes, I believe that completely. Okay, so are you a producer too? Do you grow things and sell things? I, we do. My husband and I own and operate HIPWA ranch, which we, probably 80% of our business is beef and then just over the years, we have listened to our customers and started producing chicken and pork and we raise farm fresh eggs as well. Nice.

06:14
How's your flock doing? Because there's been all this bird flu stuff. Is your chicken flock doing OK? Yeah. You know, our flock is totally happy and healthy. They're not enjoying the cold at the moment, so they have cut production due to the cold. But as far as health, everybody's looking really healthy and good. Good. I just saw another story come through my newsfeed this morning that another big chicken producing or egg producing place has gone down due to.

06:43
Due to bird flu, I'm like, we're not gonna have any eggs here soon, because we had chickens, but we got rid of them, so we don't want to feed them through the winter. That was a very stupid idea. We should not have gotten rid of our chickens. I'm really regretting our choices right now.

06:59
Yeah, nope, that's a little bit of a painful one with the current economic situation of eggs for sure. Yes, and it was a choice between feeding them all winter with the price of feed being high and maybe getting a couple eggs a week or just getting rid of them. We only had 12 and starting over in the spring. And I was like, sure, go ahead, get rid of them. That's fine.

07:24
And then all this birth food stuff really kicked in shortly after we called our chickens. And I was like, we're dumb. My husband was laughing. I'm like, you know, that's one thing about homesteading and doing that stuff on your own is you live and learn, right? We make decisions and we learn like, oh, maybe that wasn't the best decision. We do it different the next time. So when you know more, you do better. So yes, yes. That's cool.

07:48
We're going to do a new experiment this spring. We're going to get actual chicks this year, baby chickens. Oh yeah. We've had, we've bought laying hens up until now. And my husband was like, I'd really like to try getting a couple of day old chicks and, and doing it from there through. And I was like, are you sure? He was like, he's like, it'll be fun. And I'm like, okay, if there's a fun element, I'm in. It'll be fun or a nightmare, but

08:18
12 would be high fun. I bet that would be fun. I just want to hold one of the baby chickens because I've held baby ducks and I know how soft they are, but I've never held a chick. So it'll be my opportunity to try that next. Awesome. Okay. So how many people are involved with this Rico thing that you guys have set up for your area? We fluctuate by seasons, but as far as producers, we'll have anywhere from 10 to 20 producers.

08:47
throughout the year that participate in Ricoh. And then as far as customers, that's a hard number for me to gauge because I don't have access to that information. But I can tell you that, I mean, I know we probably have several hundred throughout the valley that shop with Ricoh Treasure Valley specifically. And so we are trying to grow that. We're trying to reduce the friction with the Ricoh app.

09:17
Because we figure as local producers, that's nine-tenths of the problem, right, is reducing friction. So consumers need to know where the farms are first, and how to purchase. And then once they figure that out, then it's a convenience factor of making it easy to purchase. And Ricoh does all of those things. It puts everybody in one spot so people can come and they can shop from all 10 to 20 producers.

09:45
and pay one checkout fee and then they show up to one location for a 15 minute pickup window. So our producers that do produce or those sensitive things that don't last forever, they love this model because they're only picking what's been pre-ordered. So all of our orders come in pre-ordered and end up...

10:12
going out to specific locations for a 15 minute pickup window. So we hit three different locations on one day and four different locations on another day. And then our last drop is on Thursdays and that's out in Mountain Home, which is about 45 minutes from most of our other drops. That's wonderful. The friction word that you keep using, I keep reading a lot about friction with people trying to buy things.

10:42
To me, friction is what happens when I run my finger over sandpaper or drag my fingernails down a chalkboard. And I had never really thought about that word being used as the stumbling blocks to customers getting things from producers. And so I'm trying to add this to my brain now because I just have never heard it used that way before.

11:08
Sure. Yeah, no, friction is, I mean, I guess when I think of friction, I think of the same things you think of, but when we think of a business model, when we have friction, it's making it less accessible for customers, right? Like we might be out here producing and we think we have it all set up because we have a website and we're going to farmers markets, but we are in a grocery store that's on the corner of a busy intersection with, you know,

11:38
signs, neon signs saying shop here and sending out ads in every newspaper every weekend. And so people who are wanting to shop local but haven't been shopping local get a little bit lost. I mean, they're just a little bit confused at how to start. And so we're just looking to make that process easier for everybody. And I'm really glad that you are because we understand it completely.

12:05
We live like four or five miles outside of our town and we have a farm stand in the summer. And this past summer there was nothing in it because our garden did nothing this year. It was bad. But two summers ago, our first year with the farm stand, we had signs at the end of the driveway and I would post on Facebook. And we had people in and out of our driveway all day two summers ago buying our produce. And it was amazing. Yeah, that's awesome. Like I couldn't believe how many people.

12:35
would swing out here to pick up tomatoes or cucumbers or squash or whatever they were here for. And of course it drove my dog crazy because she is an excellent watchdog. That's her only job and she does it really well. So there was a lot of dog barking going on two summers ago. But you're absolutely right. It's really hard to market stuff if you don't have a marketing background, if you don't know what it is.

13:01
all the ins and outs of letting people know where you are and what you have and why you're doing it. Right. And I think it's easier too when we collaborate as producers, you know, our business model for Hipple Ranch. So to give a little history, I married a rancher, right? I didn't grow up ranching. I married into the family and kind of the marketing side and the business side of things is more my wheelhouse. And

13:30
And the animal side is more my husband's wheelhouse. So we have the benefit of having a little bit of insight to both worlds. But it does become, you know, when you're ranching full-time, that's a full-time job. Like taking care of animals and keeping vegetables growing. And you know, you end up with a full-time job and then try to market on top of that as another full-time job, and then if you're meeting customers anywhere, then you've got a delivery, I mean, it just grows to...

13:59
almost feel like something beyond what we can handle. But when we collaborate with those around us, that's one thing that we've always done, my husband and I, is we don't look at other producers that produce beef as competitors. Because at the end of the day, the more people we have raising food locally, the better off we all are. And when we...

14:25
can join arms and realize that, you know, I'm going to hit a certain target market and there's going to be people that are attracted to us, whether it's by our brand or the way we raise or grow things. And then, you know, there might be another producer that comes and sells with us also. And they attract a different market of people that aren't interested in what we offer for whatever reason. So there's so many people out there. I mean, that's why you don't walk into a grocery store and see one option in

14:54
in any of your aisles, really, you have several options of the same type of thing because everything is attracting somebody different. And I think that that's a really hard concept for some small producers. But I think that when we get away from the me, me, me, and we think more of a collaborative effort, we can all do so much better. Yes. And when you're not thinking me, me, me, and you're thinking us, it feels better too.

15:23
Absolutely. Yep, sure does. And when you feel better, you do better just like you were just saying. So yes, for sure. Awesome. Well, I don't know what else to ask you because like, I don't know enough about what you're doing to have specific questions. So is there anything you would like to share that might be important about what you're doing besides what you've already said? Yeah, you know, Rico, so

15:50
If you're a small producer, you have a homestead and you're looking to make it into a money thing, be able to pay for itself, to grow in any way, shape or form, I would highly recommend you check out the Rico app because it is designed specifically for producers. I know there's a lot of stuff out there.

16:12
But there's expenses involved with that. And it always seems to fall back on the producer because it's an easier buy-in for a producer to think they need to do that for their business. But, um, Rico has the mindset to support the producer. So definitely check out, um, the Rico app. It's Rico hub, R E K O H U B.com. If you're in Idaho, um, make sure and check out Rico treasure valley. It's R E K O and then treasure valley.

16:42
And that's where you can see all of the pickup locations for our local farmers market here. Another thing that I think that we run into issues as small producers is we've talked about accessibility, but then also to try to compete as a small producer, it sometimes feels like we don't stand a chance.

17:09
And I guess I'm just speaking from personal experience. So maybe there's some people that can relate with me there, but another idea or thought behind Ricoh and this is, this is the way that we started Ricoh in 2020. So it was definitely a deliberate action to do it this way, but it is an online resource, which takes it out of city or health district hands, right? Because all purchases are being made online.

17:38
We have also set Ricoh Treasure Valley up to be a private membership association. And so what that means is that we have agreements between producer and customer that we are shopping with each other, we're aware of the risks and, and we agree to shop with one another. So that takes a lot of the restriction that, that tends to suffocate out a lot of small producers out of the equation.

18:08
So always something great to look into, right, is private membership associations. And I can tell you that we are just getting ready. We set RICO up as a private membership association. It's ran as a ministry of sorts. There's a lot of protections there as a church, right, in the United States. So it is set up as a church. We're here to serve our community.

18:37
community, regardless of religion. I know a lot of people hear church and think, but regardless of your religion, what you do believe or don't believe, it doesn't matter. We're here to serve our community with food, good, wholesome, homegrown, home-sourced food. So, that is how we have RICO set up and we're getting ready to open in March. We will open

19:03
It's going to kind of be a tester and see, I'm sure we'll get pushed back and we'll just have to be prepared for that. But we are opening a storefront. It will be an outreach program of Rico. And the storefront, I don't know how it is everywhere, but in Idaho, we have a cottage food permit. And that cottage food permit allows people to cook in their own kitchens.

19:28
certain items, right? Like so the health department dictates what you can and can't cook in your own kitchen. And then they have restrictions as to how you can sell that. It has to be you selling it directly to the consumer. So you could never cook in your own kitchen and sell it through a grocery store or sell it through another avenue like that.

19:52
What we're hoping is we're opening up the storefront is a collaboration of producers are coming in together to purchase or to lease the space. And then together as producers, we're going to pitch in to pay for somebody to work that space. So, it's not my business, it's not Rico's business, it is a group of producers businesses. And it's all of their business being represented in one location.

20:22
And so it'll be an interesting thing because it's out of the norm and it's not the way that most things are ran or done. But I think that the benefit it's going to offer here is it's going to allow those small cottage food license producers to have a storefront, to have a place to push their items through, and it will be private membership. So.

20:48
There's really no place for regulation there because it's out of the public domain. So that's where all the regulation comes in is in public domain. So as small producers, we need to be looking for other avenues. And you often words that you'll hear that you might be more familiar with in this area is like CSA, right? CSA boxes or...

21:13
shares, beef shares. So it's along the same intent and idea. It's just expanding it a little bit. And that's something that we've been had success with within Rico Treasure Valley for the last, I don't know, since 2020, so the last four years going on five years. And now we're going to...

21:38
push our limits here a little bit more and try a storefront and see how that goes. So you know, I'm an open resource and we're always trying things and we're trying to make things more accessible and feasible for producers to produce because I think our entire nation is going to not only be needing it but wanting it. There's already been a huge push that way anyways and I think the more of us that can

22:07
and be relevant in today's market, the better. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. I see bread and cookies in that storefront in March. Oh yeah. There's going to be bread and cookies and coffee and we'll have milk and cheeses and meats and produce galore. And we'll also have some crafts, some local art, art and craft vendors that will be producing and maybe even some swag, right? Like t-shirts and hats and.

22:37
You want to be a member of something, you want to have some swag for that membership. So, yeah, we plan to have it all. And I'm hoping that we have that open and going by March is our goal. And everything's lining out really good right now for that. So. It sounds so fun. And it also reminds me of the general store that is down the road by three or four miles from where my parents live in Maine.

23:06
I cannot think of the name of it right now because I can't. But, but when we visited last time, we stopped in and it used to be, it used to be a general store in the old fashioned sense of a general store. Like, like you think of back in the 1900s. Yeah. But, but this place is so cool. You walk in and it's just this big room. I think it was originally a barn and they have, they have.

23:35
Everything is from that local area in Maine as far as I know and they have like hats that somebody Handmade and they have mittens and they have candles and they have soaps and they have tallow not they have tallow I think they have tallow. Yeah everything and they had all in season produce for sale and they had some meats and they had raw milk in the cooler and

24:00
I didn't want to leave. I just wanted to hang out there for like a week because it was just so fun to see what they had. Yeah. Well, and all of those resources, when those resources are all available in our community, our communities are so much stronger because of it. So we need to help feed those communities now. And that's something that I not only preach, but my family, we shop local. We shop...

24:27
I can honestly say that the only things we go to a Walmart or a grocery, a big box store for are the things we shouldn't be eating anyways. So, you know, your chips and soda and the things that maybe aren't being produced locally, but there are even, we even have a producer here in Idaho that produces some really yummy chips and they do it in the most healthy way you can comparatively to other chip producers.

24:57
You know, it's just, it's just having an idea, getting out there and then grinding and just going for it and realizing that people are hungry for local connections. They want to not only be purchasing from local homesteaders and farmers, but, but they want to be building connections with those people as well. So providing an opportunity and avenue for them to do that is what RICO is all about.

25:24
Well, congratulations on the store. I think that is so amazing. Yes, we are super excited and it will, um, we'll have a big grand opening around it and, and probably a potluck at opening and, um, you know, hopefully be welcomed with open arms by the community, which I foresee happening. We already do a lot of things where we have people come to this particular location to pick up pre-orders.

25:52
and the thought or idea that they can come and shop the store, I think is going to be even more enticing to them to get their hands on product or see it before they buy it. So yes, for sure. Definitely. I'm like that. I can't, I hate buying stuff online because I can't see it or touch it. It drives me crazy. Right. So you know what you're getting until you order it and it's not what you thought. But yeah, I will, I will never buy a shirt online again.

26:20
I bought a t-shirt one time, so I thought it was really cute. And I ordered a large because I usually wore a large t-shirt and got it. And it was like a double XL large. I was swimming in it. I was like, honey, here, take the cute shirt. I don't know, I use it for a rag in the garage. I didn't feel right returning it because it was sort of my mistake and I just didn't want to deal with it because I'm lazy. But

26:48
Now, now I know that a medium t-shirt is perfect as long as I actually go and try it on. So, there you go. Perfect. Please take pictures of the grand opening and post them on your Facebook page because I would love to see what the inside of the store looks like. Oh, absolutely. We will be all over that. So we, it's going to be exciting. And, and you know, that's another avenue we found. We're actually running the storefront out of a two-door shop.

27:17
And it's one that's in a residential area and we've already had a little pushback from the city about that, but it's under a conditional use permit. It's a storage facility. So, you know, I mean, just thinking outside the box and finding ways to make things work. The cost of the building itself was a quarter of what it would have been if I would have rent went and rented a commercial building. So just finding little ways to do stuff like that outside the box makes it doable. So.

27:45
Yeah, it's going to be nice and it's going to be awesome and there will be pictures everywhere, I promise. Good, because I really want to see it because I fall in love with all my guests. They tell me their plans for the future and I'm like, oh, I need to see how that turns out. So I will have to check into that. We're happy to do that. So yeah, we have, I mean, we've been blessed with a wide array of producers here in Idaho. And like I said, my husband and I, we produce meats.

28:15
All natural meats, we do the grass-fed grass finish and regenerative farming techniques. And then we have honey producers and we have dairy producers. All right here in our area, we do sourdough bread bakers and lots of goody makers and infused honeys even and roasted coffee beans. People will get their beans and roast them themselves here locally.

28:41
So we sell all of that through our Ricoh farmers market and even apothecary, a lot of skincare products, everything and anything you could need for your hair and skin and body is also sold. So great resources and just trying to keep our community lifted by coming together is huge, I think. Definitely, absolutely. Keep doing that. It's so important right now.

29:11
Yeah, for sure. I feel like so many people right now are so frustrated with each other that they can't even have a conversation. So whatever you can do to have people be happy to talk to each other, I am all for it. And you know, go back to just good old days. How are, how are things in your world right in front of you shut all the noise off outside of yourself and your community and just look at things and how they're going in front of you. And.

29:39
who needs help, let's just go help them and let's just go back to that community feel and get rid of all the other noise because that's all it is is noise. Let's hope, let's hope that's all it is. I want it to be noise. I don't want it to be anything bad for anybody. I am, I'm not going to talk about politics, but I'm just feeling so defeated right now on a lot of things. And so...

30:04
When I talk to you or whoever I talk to for the podcast, you guys bring me back up to sanity so it's good. Yes, all is well. I mean, in my world, you know, I look around my family. We're all fed and happy and we have a house, a roof over our head. Our animals are fed and happy. We have good relations with lots of people around us in our community and, you know, we do what we can to take care of each other. And when those things are happening, that's all we can control.

30:34
So you focus on what you can control and you let go of the other stuff and makes life a lot easier. Yeah. And remember that when you wake up in the morning, it's a gift. Absolutely. Every day. Yeah. I, every morning I wake up and I'm like, I'm still alive. This is wonderful. What is going to happen today? Yep. That's how I try to start my day because I know something is going to come through my information input thing in my brain. That's going to, that's

31:04
And then I go, nope, it doesn't have to stop me. I can keep going with what I was doing. It's okay. So anyway, Rekha, I'm so glad that I reached out to talk with you because this is such a good idea. RICO is such a brilliant idea and you are making it even better. Well, thank you, Mary. I appreciate your time. And I am always happy to be a resource for people who are either wondering how to get set up with RICO or wanting to start an online farmers market in their area. I...

31:33
I'm happy to share what knowledge we have gained over the last five years. So well, I just happen to know somebody who might be hitting you up to talk with you about that stuff and I'll tell you about it after we stop recording. Okay, sounds good. All right. Thank you so much for having a great day. Thanks Mary, you too.