Only due to the amount of support and teamwork that we had was this online-store experiment able to be so successful! From the Shasta College Horticultural Department’s nursery space where we grow our plants, to CNPS’s online store platform, to Turtle Bay’s loan of their parking lot for our pickup site—there is a lot to be thankful for!
Pre-sale tasks included:
- Continuing propagation to maintain and pot up the plants in the nursery, as well as weeding them and weeding them some more.
- Setting up the Chapter’s online plant store involved attending Zoom meetings; learning the online store platform from CNPS staff Maya Argaman, and continuing to receive her very responsive assistance throughout the plant sale; writing plant descriptions; and locating photos. This included other CNPS chapters that provided plant descriptions and photos for the species that we sell in common, which helped speed up the process.
- Getting public service announcements out to local media sources (aNewsCafe.com, Redding Record Searchlight, North State Climate Action website, Healthy Shasta Facebook page, and radio stations KKRN 88.5 and KFOI 90.0), social media (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram), and newsletters (Shasta Environmental Alliance and The Firecracker), as well as mass emailings to Chapter members.
- Maintaining inventory so that no refunds would be required (and none were).
- Collecting cardboard boxes to fill plant orders (and we needed a lot!), and printing up the plant orders.
- Making signs to direct traffic and label tables for plant orders by last names.
Order fulfillment tasks included:
- Assembling plant orders, which included pulling the plants, boxing the plants, labeling the boxes (1 of 3, 2 of 3, etc., for the larger orders), and multiple double-checking of the plant orders.
- Shuttling the order to the plant pickup site at Turtle Bay’s parking lot.
Plant pickup day tasks included:
- Directing traffic in the parking lot. This was the most isolating task during an already-isolating pandemic and volunteering for this task was truly appreciated!
- Transferring plant orders to one of the three areas set up alphabetically by last name.
- Providing plant labels and providing final checks of the plant orders.
- Greeting customers and helping them find their plant orders.
- Cleanup after the plant orders were all picked up.
We have the most wonderful volunteers who stepped up to help us with this new endeavor: Margaret & Bud Widdowson, Amy & Brad Henderson, Analia Bertucci, Catherine McNeight, Chris Gray, David Ledger, Sue & Doug Mandel, Ed Thomas, John Muegge, John Springer, Jose Hernandez, Laurie Burk, Mary Ann McCrary, Susan Gallaugher, and Susan Libonati-Barnes!
We had an excellent 2020 Fall Native Plant Sale and End-of-Season Native Plant Sale, selling over $5,000 worth of plants! These funds help support our scholarships, grants, contributions, and running of the Chapter.
Thank you very, very much! -The Propagation Team