BMS Co-op food market has filled the gap for many during coronavirus challenge

DAYTON-People shopping at the Blue Mountain Station Co-op market have been able to find some of the items they couldn't find at retail grocery stores, because of hoarding by panic-stricken shoppers reacting to the coronavirus pandemic.

Market Manager Valerie Mudry said there were no impacts or disruption to their supply chain, largely because all products at the market are locally sourced.

People are now consistently buying their meat, produce, dairy, and eggs from the Co-op, she said.

Business has been brisk, and her days are busy, Mudry said.

Her work week begins on Tuesday when she does all the cooking and food prep for lunch for the week. She also places orders for meat, dairy, flour and eggs.

"If it's in the Co-op, I'm ordering it," she said.

While she is doing all of that, her assistant, Lorna Barth, is restocking the shelves, cashiering, cleaning, and watering plants at the garden nursery.

Later, that day, Mudry is in Walla Walla picking up produce from Hayshaker Farms and meat and dairy products from Blue Valley Meats, for restocking the market the next day.

"Restocking is a never-ending chore," she said.

Mudry also does the ordering for the garden nursery and helps Master Gardener Gordon Farley with sales, watering, and shipments.

On Thursday Mudry begins preparing special foods for the weekend.

She said the emphasis is on keeping up with food rotation, keeping food hot, and "keeping the bread and cookies coming".

Mudry said she is happy to have a job that provides consistency and stability after a 35-year career in the restaurant business, which included a fifteen-year career as owner of the Whoop 'Em Up Hollow restaurant in Waitsburg.

"There's enough of a restaurant impact to keep me happy," she said about working at the BMS Market Food Co-op.