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Real Pickles

Northeast Grown, 100% organic, fermented & raw pickles, sauerkraut, kimchi, kvass, and hot sauce

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Home / Our Co-operative

Our Co-operative

As a worker co-operative, Real Pickles is preserving our strong social mission, empowering our staff to direct the future of our business, and creating good local jobs with shared profits.  We are proud to be part of a movement to build and strengthen democratic economies in our community and beyond.

Preserving our mission

2018 Real Pickles worker ownersIn 2013 we decided to re-write the typical storyline for a successful natural foods business (getting big, selling out) by setting up a structure that would keep our business small, locally-owned, and mission-driven. By transitioning our sole proprietorship into a co-operatively-owned business we inscribed our mission into our organizing documents and bylaws. This ensures that our commitments to social justice, environmental sustainability, and economic equality are embedded in our business practices. We are committed to keeping Real Pickles rooted in the community and staying true to the strong social mission on which it was founded. Operating as a co-operative helps to make that possible!

Co-operative Principles:
  • Voluntary and open membership
  • Democratic member control
  • Members’ economic participation
  • Autonomy and independence
  • Education
  • Training and information
  • Cooperation among cooperatives
  • Concern for community

Co-operative Structure

Real Pickles packing line

Worker co-operatives are membership organizations that are owned and controlled by their employees. Following one year of employment at Real Pickles, our staff become eligible for worker-ownership, which entitles them to a single vote in co-op affairs and to a share of profits through annual patronage dividends. Our co-op is governed by a Board of Directors made up of our worker-owners, which supervises the General Manager. The Board operates by consensus, which is a collaborative decision-making process seeking to address the views and concerns of all participants. We also have a Board of Advisors that brings together outside expertise in cooperative development, community business, natural foods wholesale, food production, finance, and food systems thinking, and provides outstanding support to the worker-ownership as we engage in visioning and long-term strategic planning for our co-operative enterprise.

Co-operative Culture

We work to manage our business operations in a participatory and inclusive manner, an approach that has greatly contributed to a satisfying and productive workplace for all employees. Decision-making authority is clearly defined while, at the same time, other opinions are invited and valued. All employees participate in our co-operative education program, which includes classes on finance, co-operatives, Real Pickles history, social mission, and governance topics. This cultivates inquisitive and knowledgeable staff who are invested in the business.

Building a democratic economy

We are proud to be playing a part in building a new and democratic economy in which everyone has a voice in our collective economic future. In transitioning to a worker co-operative, we not only expanded the ownership and control of our business to our employees, but also gave our community a chance to invest in our vision of success. (Check out this case study to learn more.) We are so thankful for the support of the 77 community members who invested in Real Pickles during our 2013 community investment campaign, and who made our transition to a co-operative structure possible.

Read more about Real Pickles

Our Mission
Our Farmers
Our Story
Real Pickles solar-powered facility
Our facility

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These are REAL pickles: naturally fermented withou These are REAL pickles: naturally fermented without vinegar. Organic and Northeast grown.  #ReelPickles 
#PackedWithAMission #RealPickles #organic #northeastgrown #pickles #fermented #reels
Thanks for featuring us in this AMAZING raw salad Thanks for featuring us in this AMAZING raw salad @perfectfoodsinc ! 

Repost @perfectfoodsinc 
BEST Raw Vegan Salad You’ll Ever Have👇

This salad is Day 1 of our raw vegan reset cleanse. Full recipes for the dressing and faux tuna and the rest of the week’s delicious recipes can be found in our cleanse 👉 link in bio to set up a free consultation.

Ingredients:
🌱 4 oz @perfectfoodsinc Sunflower Microgreens (chopped)
🌱 4 oz @perfectfoodsinc Pea Microgreens (chopped)
🥕 Carrots
🥬 Romaine Lettuce & Celery
🌞 Sunflower Faux Tuna
✨ @realpickles Sauerkraut
🥕 Carrot Ginger Dressing
🎃 Topped with pumpkin seeds and mung bean sprouts

Comment below ME if you are looking to lose weight, reduce inflammation, improve gut health, increase energy levels or just overall level up and improve your health and want a FREE health consultation to see if our cleanse is for you👇👇

#rawvegan #vegansofig #juicing #cleanse #juicecleanse #detox #holsiticheslth #autoimmunedisease #inflammation #guthealth #cleanseyourbody #feelingmyself #sprouting #sproutsfarmersmarket #greensmoothie #fixmeaplate #smoothierecipes #nyc #nycvegan #vegansofinsta #vegansofnj
We are thrilled to introduce you all to TWO MORE m We are thrilled to introduce you all to TWO MORE member-owners of our co-op, Amy Laprade and Victor Signore! As a worker co-operative, Real Pickles is preserving our strong social mission, empowering our staff to direct the future of our business, and creating good local jobs with shared profits. 

Amy is part of our production team and our shipping and distribution team. Amy says “what excites me the most about becoming a worker owner at Real Pickles is the opportunity to build alliances with like-minded people, which can help shape the kind of community I wish to live in.” When Amy is not packing your orders and making ferments she likes to spend her time writing, doing hot yoga and spending quality time with her partner Geoff and their cat, Jack. 

Victor is the Real Pickles Vegetable Coordinator. He is responsible for maintaining our relationships with our farmers, helping to plan our starting season, ordering vegetables and so much more! He says that he is excited to be a part of something that is having a positive effect in supporting our local agriculture, local economy and our community. “Being a worker-owner means that I can help shape the future of Real Pickles and what our next steps may be as we face issues, such as climate change.” Victor is a musician, a visual artist and lives nearby with his partner, Mere and their sweet kitty Olalla.

We are so excited that our co-operative is expanding to include these excellent folks! Welcome Victor and Amy!

#workercooperative #workerowned #RealPickles #PackedWithAMission
Real Pickles is hiring a production assistant! Lin Real Pickles is hiring a production assistant! Link in bio for details! 

Real Pickles is a worker-owned co-operative in Greenfield, MA, producing organic fermented vegetables from Northeast-grown produce.  Our mission is to promote human and ecological health by providing people with delicious, nourishing food and by working toward a regional, organic food system in the Northeast.  As a co-op, each worker has the opportunity to become an owner of the business and participate in shaping its future.  We are strongly committed to creating good jobs that support the dignity of all workers in an equitable and inclusive workplace. 
#workercoops #workerowned #coop
The time has come! Organic Dill Pickles are back f The time has come! Organic Dill Pickles are back for the season! Thank you to our farmers for such an abundant and beautiful start to the cucumber harvests! Fresh batches of pickles are making their way to your stores in the Northeast! Enjoy! 

*check out our store locator on our website. Link in bio.

#RealPickles #DillPickles #organic #lactofermentation #NortheastGrown #coop 

@atlasfarm @redfirefarm
@leafandbeanfarm on Ask A Sista Farmer series this @leafandbeanfarm on Ask A Sista Farmer series this Friday at 4pm on Instagram Live @soulfirefarm - See you there! 

Repost from @soulfirefarm
•
See you this Friday at 4 PM for Ask a Sista Farmer!

Interested in making the jump from urban living to rural homesteading? Then join us for ASK A SISTA FARMER - EPISODE #38

On Friday, July 1 at 4 PM ET we are joined by Nivek Anderson-Brown of Leaf and Bean Farm, a homesteader and micro vegetable farmer from Virginia. Nivek will teach us the ins and outs of homesteading for self-sufficiency, and talk about the journey from urban to rural life. 

Learn more and follow @Leafandbeanfarm and Leafandbean.farm 

***
Ask a Sista Farmer, FIRST Fridays, 4:00-4:40 Eastern
On Instagram Live @soulfirefarm 
Past Episodes www.soulfirefarm.org/ask-a-sista-farmer 
Apply to be a presenter here https://bit.ly/AASFapp 

Are you ready to grow your own food and medicine for self-reliance and community resilience? First Fridays, experienced Black womxn* farmers answer your chat questions about gardening, livestock, agroforestry, plant medicine, business operations, and food preservation. At the end of the show we have a GIVEAWAY to the person who wins our quiz. To free ourselves we must feed ourselves!

Ask A Sista Farmer centers the voices of Black, Indigenous, People-of-Color, Queer, Trans*, Disabled, Immigrant, and Poor communities. Everyone is welcome to watch and listen, but please make space for centered folks to ask questions and share. Thank you. 

Sista and womxn includes trans* and nonbinary folks

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Contact

311 Wells St
Greenfield, MA 01301
(413) 774-2600
info@realpickles.com

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