(Ed. note: The Table is closed Feb. 16 due to weather–which is what Linda is musing about in this post from Friday: the challenges we face in never being quite sure how to plan for weather. We’ll see you Feb. 23.)
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats was a favorite story of my children when they were young. Now, the word snow turns me in to an indecisive, glued-to-the-Weather-Channel, stressed-out person. A big storm like we just had is an easy call. Nobody was moving. In the winter time when we are buying produce from grocers, orders get placed by Thursday. The fun for me begins the Wednesday before each Table when the sales are announced. Right now–Friday–I am sitting with a beautiful order for Aldi for bananas, navel oranges, mandarins, potatoes and onions which I have not placed because of the weather. Monday has snow and freezing rain in the forecast, changing over to rain. When will it start and when will it change? If I pick up on Monday and school is cancelled, we have 160 pounds of bananas to make banana bread and smoothies out of or to distribute to various other agencies. The Food Bank is closed on Monday for President’s Day, which means no dairy or produce from them, so it’s a tough decision. So I sit and wait until Monday to see what the weather will do and hope that Aldi will be able to provide some of my wish list at the last moment.
Inventory at the Food Bank right now is low; that happens several times a year. So we will be offering some new items next Tuesday: juice and shelf-stable milk. We will have more canned vegetables and tomato products. Non-perishables are up and perishables are down. It’s a juggling act. The goal is to make what we offer as healthy as possible. To do that means checking inventory at the Food Bank four or five times a day just to grab enough for us to put out at The Table each Tuesday.
But just when things start to look gloomy, along comes a bright spot: a call from Aldi. Would we like some toilet paper? I now have 1,494 rolls of toilet paper in my garage which my husband informs me need to go by mid-March so he can go back to woodworking. Think I’ll go re-read The Snowy Day in front of the fireplace and enjoy. – Linda
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