announcements
YOU ARE INVITED TO A BBQ!
We want to celebrate the summer and raise a little money for our delegate to this year’s Terra Madre, so we are hosting a BBQ. On the menu - smoked free range Skagit Valley chicken, grilled
sausage, and sweet corn, accompanied by local cheese, bread, butter, and pickles, and my own BBQ sauce (check the recipe on our website www.slowfoodskagit.org ) Our beer is all the way from Seattle, but it is organic – Pike Place Brewery Naughty Nellie Ale. Where else can you get all that for $20 a person? And I did not even mention the good company of like minded Slow Food supporters!
Lots of information about Terra Madre, and our wonderfuly qualified delegate Ellen Gray are included below, along with the date, time, and location of this special event.
Please help support our Terra Madre delegate, and let us know you are planning to attend by emailing us at:
Thanks,
Burk
AUGUST 22, 2010
TERRA MADRE FUNDRAISER
2 pm - 5 pm
Rexville Grocery Pavilion
19271 Best Road
Mount Vernon, WA 98273
Join us for the conviviality of the table – Slow Food style!
$20 per person all-inclusive.
Questions? Email info@slowfoodskagit.org
or call (360) 293-5507 or (360) 293-4525
TERRA MADRE 2010
Terra Madre is one of the food world's premier events, presented by Slow Food International every two years, in Turino, Italy. This year, our convivium has been honored with the opportunity to send members of our community to participate in these world-changing events.
Terra Madre is an international network of over 5,000 farmers, food producers, cooks, activists, and educators from 150 countries. It began, in 2004, as a way for sustainable food producers and farmers to connect, and share their practices with others across the globe.
MEET OUR DELEGATE
Potential participants from throughout the world apply to be selected for the privilege of attending this inspiring international gathering. The total number of delegates has been trimmed by 25% this time, so it is wonderful that Slow Food Skagit River Salish Sea has been honored to have a member of our Skagit community accepted as a delegate to attend this year's event.
Ellen Gray, Co-Chair Good Food Coalition: Ellen has been the Executive Director of The Washington Sustainable Food & Farming Network since January 2008. She stepped up to this role from her staff position of Development Coordinator. Ellen currently Chairs the Washington Small Farm Advisory Board, serves on the “Kitchen Cabinet” of Washington State University’s Dean of the College of Agriculture, Human and Natural Resource Sciences and co-chairs the Good Food Coalition. Ellen has a MMA from the University of Washington and a BA from the University of Vermont. She is a dynamic, articulate, energetic, and seasoned nonprofit professional with diverse hands-on experience and skills. Ellen has a long commitment to advocacy work and more than 25 year’s experience in the non-profit sector. Originally from Vermont, Ellen spent much of her childhood working on either dairy or horse farms. She has a deep appreciation for the challenges facing small farms that are a vital element of a healthy agricultural landscape. As a parent of a 13 year old boy, Ellen has worked for several years to encourage her school district to serve more locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables. She has a passionate and personal interest in the farm to school movement. Her son has participated in the Slow Food in Schools program at Lincoln Elementary School in Mount Vernon Washington. www.wsffn.org
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP
We need your help so that our local delegate can attend this grand gathering. Delegates must pay for their own airfare to get to Italy. Slow Food International and numerous sponsors will provide for our delegate while she is in Torino. But, airfare will be between $1200 and $1400, and we do not want her to miss out on this amazing opportunity because she can't afford the airline ticket.
You may have noticed that we haven't asked you for money for our convivium. We don't get the dues money when you join, and we have not wanted to ask for anything for free from the local food producers that we created our convivium to promote and support. We have felt that we would not ask for donations from you until we had a specific reason.
Now, we have a great reason, to help this deserving member of our Slow Food Community travel to the home of Slow Food, to join with her colleagues from all over the world, to learn, experience, taste, and bring their world food connection back to the Skagit.
We are planning fundraising activities, big and small, for later in the summer. But, to encourage our delegate that she will have some financial help with her tickets, I am asking you if you would please send a cash donation now. If you can send a check to help, whether it's $10 or $100, please make it out to "Slow Food Skagit" and mail it to P.O. Box 488, Anacortes, WA 98221. Donations to Slow Food Skagit are tax deductible (501-3c).
We will thank the companies and individuals who donate, on our website and in our newsletter (unless you ask us not to). We appreciate your participation in our Slow Food Community.
Our delegate will undertake her own fundraising activities, as well. We encourage you to support her individual efforts.
Questions? Email info@slowfoodskagit.org
or call (360) 293-5507 or (360) 293-4525
MORE ABOUT TERRA MADRE
For more information about Terra Madre, please go to the Slow Food USA website.
http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/programs/details/bringing_terra_madre_home/
Thank you for your support of Slow Food Skagit River Salish Sea!
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BRINGING IT ALL BACK
HOMEBREW COMPETITION
Registration July 5 - August 5
Part of the Skagit County Fair
Winners announced August 14 at the Fair
$5 entry per item
The Rockfish Grill and Anacortes Brewery will honor the Brewer’s Choice Award winner by brewing a commercial batch from the winning recipe.
Entry forms, rules, and guidelines available at
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SERVING THE SKAGIT HARVEST COOKBOOK
What a deal! For a few more weeks you can order your copy of Serving the Skagit Harvest at just $15 (regular price $20) and help build a better food future here in our community.
Serving The Skagit Harvest contains 90 recipes from 50 contributors in the Skagit Valley, including avid vegetable gardeners, local Community Supported Agriculture operations, eating establishments, and more. There are contributions from home vegetable growers, from Graham Kerr, who has just embarked on a vegetable-growing experience of his own, and from the chef at Skagit Valley Hospital, who is sourcing local food for the hospital cafeteria.
Interspersed with growing, harvesting, and vegetable-storing tips, the
recipes are divided by season and focus on what can be grown in urban backyards and sourced from local farmers´ markets. A harvest calendar showcases the breadth of produce that can be grown here, and the resource section lists places to explore for more local offerings.
The cookbook also introduces you to some fascinating folks. Meet a fellow who grows food at the base of Mt. Erie, a gal who gardens in a wooded area of Bow, another on the banks of the SwinomishChannel, and one who grows food in a "sun-challenged" yard in Concrete.
To order a pre-sale copy, please mail a check for $15 to Skagit Beat the Heat at PO Box 1122, Anacortes, 98221, earmarked "EYY Cookbook." Thank you for helping us print what we believe will be a local treasure!
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LOCAL FOOD PRODUCERS
WHOLESALE MARKET
"This project is the result of local food stakeholders banding together to
re-assemble and re-integrate a food system by returning to an older way of doing business. We're not re-inventing the wheel, but putting the spokes back together - and re-using it. We are starting small but we need to start something." Jodie Buller, Skagit Coop
CONTACT: Jodie Buller; Skagit Valley Co-op, (360-336-5087x136), or Lucy Norris; Puget Sound Food Network (PSFN), 360-336-3666
June 8, 2010 [Mount Vernon, WA] - Local food producers are ready to sell their products to wholesale buyers in the covered parking lot of the Skagit Valley Food Co-op on Thursday mornings from 8-10 a.m., starting Thursday, June 24th, and will be there every Thursday through harvest season, interest provided.
This weekly market site will help buyers and sellers reduce the time and fuel costs associated with direct marketing of quality, local food products," say Lucy Norris, PSFN Project Manager. "The Skagit Valley Co-op and Puget Sound Food Network identified an initial group of local vendors, now we need to energize restaurant and food service buyers, and other food retailers to step up to the plate, so to speak." Buyers will have some options. They can preorder from a farm, and then pay and collect at the market site, or choose to pick up later. There will be limited invoicing and delivery available. "We're encouraging producers to provide tasting samples, so we believe impulse buys will be commonplace, too," says Skagit Food Co-op's Erin Treat. Weekly "fresh sheets" are available for those who sign up for market email updates.
"The Skagit WholeSale Market is a way for us to help foster face-to-face, triple bottom line business practices," according to Jodie Buller, Marketing and Outreach Coordinator at the Skagit Food Co-op. A collaboration between the Co-op and Puget Sound Food Network, it is the only grassroots business-to-business market of its kind in Northwest Washington. "The Market will provide a personal way for the many faces of our foodshed to source wholesale volumes from many Skagit Valley producers, in the same place at the same time."
The Skagit WholeSale Market is grounded in the harvest of all-star Skagit organic producers like Hedlin Farm, Skagit River Ranch, Ralph's Greenhouse, Skagit Flats, the newly formed Viva Farms, rounded out with staples from Sakuma Bros, Twin Sisters Mushrooms, San Juan Pasta Company, Hidden Meadow Ranch, Fresh Breeze Organic Dairy, Gothberg Farms, as well as seasonal appearances from smaller growers and orchards nearby and east of the mountains.
Those interested in learning more or wish to participate as a Skagit WholeSale Market buyer or seller should contact Erin Treat at skagitcoop@gmail.com. Map and directions to the Skagit Valley Food Co-op are posted at http://www.skagitfoodcoop.com/map.html.
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SHAMBALA COMMUNITY TRADING POST
7 pm
Shambala Community Trading Post, and Perma-Cultural plants/seed exchange Project.
395E North Camano Drive, 360 387 8622. HOURS; Saturdays, June 26 through – Oct 30, 10A-2P. Sale of Perennial vegetables/trees, Monday- Sat. year-round, by appt.
We invite you to join us for a Pot-Luck exchange (bring anything, local foods suggested) and discussion, just up the bend from Camano Commons/Terry’s Corner, north of the Sunrise Blvd lighted intersection (just 5 minutes from Stanwood) . This idea is in its infancy, it is new to us as well, and we hope to embrace a small village of like-minded folks to join together. The concept is intended to be completely un-bureaucratic in its design….no board members, no prepaid appointments or obligations for Saturday participation, folks will create their own hand-shake agreements on their own terms, to be fulfilled at their own discretion without our regulation. As our guests, we naturally retain the right to refuse participation if problematic situations occur.
We invite neighbors to Re-use, Trade, Buy locally with us; Plants & Produce, Goods, Services and Resources, utilizing Shambala Dolla’s, swaps/service exchanges, cash. Donations & Desires welcome, for dignified need exchanges, and any proceeds will be applied to year round trade structure expenses. Monthly Exchange-Picnic /Potluck first Thursday 6PM year round. www.camanomarket.com
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NEW LOCAL FOOD AND FARM
MAGAZINE LAUNCHES
A new publication focusing on food, farms and more in the Northwest Washington, will debut next week. Locally owned and operated, Grow Northwest Magazine will publish bi-monthly (six times a year), with the first issue out in May. The magazine will highlight the diverse offerings of farmers and food producers, all grown or made in the Northwest.
“Everything from produce, dairy, meats and seafood, to items such as BBQ sauce, cereal, chocolate, ice cream and drinks,” Co-Publisher Becca Schwarz Cole said. “If it’s grown or made in the Northwest, we’ll cover it.”
In addition to local food and farms, the magazine will publish other features including DIY projects, sustainable living, seasonal cooking and recipes, locavore travel adventures, gardening, crafts, events, and profiles of organizations and artisans – all with a local angle.
“The Northwest has so much to offer in terms of food production, sustainable living and the DIY ethic. There is real passion here for supporting the local economy and those who grow, make, produce and create,” she said. “The magazine will be a go-to guide for those people who enjoy these things and live by them.”
Initially, the magazine will generally cover Whatcom, Skagit and San Juan counties, but also include information from neighboring counties and lower B.C. “As we grow, we will expand our coverage area. What you can find within 150 miles is staggering. We are receiving inquiries from all over the Puget Sound-North Cascades region – both producers looking to market their items and residents wanting to know more about what’s out there.”
The magazine’s website (still under construction) will feature all of the information included in the print issues, as well as food directories by county, blogs, events and other features.
“Like many in the Northwest, our family is very passionate about local food, farms and artisans,” she said. “We have been wanting to launch this for a couple years now, and are excited to get this off the ground. The amount of interest and support already has been amazing.”
Grow Northwest Magazine is locally owned and operated by Whatcom County residents Becca Schwarz Cole and Brent Cole. The husband-wife team also publishes What’s Up! Magazine, which just celebrated its 12th anniversary, and the Foothills Gazette, started in 2005.
The free publication will be sustained by advertising, with subscriptions and donations by readers who wish to do so. Advertising information and a media kit are posted online.
For more information, contact Grow Northwest Magazine at (360) 599-3320 or info@grownorthwest.com. Mail can be sent to P. O. Box 1907 Maple Falls, WA 98266. Additional information will be published on the magazine’s website at www.grownorthwest.com <http://www.grownorthwest.com> . Anyone interested in following the magazine via Facebook can visit the Grow Northwest Magazine fan page.
A launch party for Grow Northwest will be held on Saturday, May 29 at Boundary Bay Brewery in Bellingham. The event will start at 3 p.m. and feature live music and prizes. All are welcome.
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GUEMES- FIDALGO STAPLE FOODS PROJECT
The compelling reasons to produce local foods are; to significantly reduce carbon emissions, to help reduce the negative impacts of resource depletion (especially of fossil fuels) and to increase community security in a rapidly changing world. The purpose of the staple food project is to take one beginning step in creating a truly self-supporting local food system and increase community resilience in the spirit of the transition movement. The project will gather data through experimentation and teach by example and community outreach. It will strengthen our local economy and provide needed jobs and empower our young people with important skills. The hope is that we could provide a viable model that would then spread exponentially to encompass our entire locality.
This project will be using organic growing and permaculture methods. We will encompass as much diversity as possible and try using available rainfall for watering. The focus at the beginning will be on staple foods- those that provide the caloric bulk of our diets and that we need 365 days per year. We will grow non-perishables (grains, beans) as well as crops for medium length storage (squash, potatoes, onions). The reason for this emphasis is that there already exist various sources for fresh local seasonable produce as well as growing numbers of home gardeners. What we are lacking are truly community grown staples.
I see this project having two components. The first is to create a community supported farm in which people purchase shares of a predetermined harvest. A list of potential crops would be presented to the shareholders to determine which and how much of each to plant. This arrangement should be self-supporting in that the cost of the shares should cover the costs of the farm, the labor and the material inputs. We have already a number of people interested in becoming shareholders. We will start small with 1-2 acres so that we will have a high chance of success.
The second component would involve doing trials to determine which crops would be suitable for our local climate and low input growing methods. It would not be reasonable to expect a small number of shareholders to bear the cost of trials that might have uncertain results, so I see this part of the farm would be funded through a community grant. This would also provide funds for educational outreach and for development and acquisition of appropriate technology tools. Some of our other focuses will be to research and trial methods for carbon sequestration in our soils and plant life. We also need to be developing a seed base for those crops that do well in our area. Many seeds are already difficult to find and in order to plan now for possible food shortages in the future we need to be growing out our stocks now so they will be available when we need them.
The immediate tasks ahead of us are;
To find a qualified grower and recruit other seasonal labor.
To establish a committee to write the ground rules and legal framework by which the farm will operate.
To work up a budget and make plans for fundraising.
And to find someone with writing abilities to create a brochure and get some media exposure.
We are looking for a few dedicated people to help with this effort.
Contact Susan Ferrel
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Skagit Valley Food Co-op Joins the Skagit Food Share Alliance;
Gears up for 2nd Annual Bite of Skagit Fundraiser Celebration
Contact: Jodie Buller, 360-336-5087x136; cooproom@gmail.com
The Skagit Valley Food Co-op, a community-owned natural foods market in downtown Mount Vernon, announced this month that they are joining in collaborative partnership with North Coast Credit Union and Skagit County Community Action Agency (SCCAA) to help raise funds and awareness for the Skagit Food Share Alliance (SFSA), founded in 2007.
The SFSA is a community effort to source local food for Skagit County’s Food Bank Distribution Center in Sedro-Woolley, for re-distribution in food banks throughout Skagit County. Their major fundraiser is the Bite of Skagit, where local restaurants offer tastes and entrees for sale at a community celebration with music and a beer garden. Net proceeds from this event go to purchasing contracts with local farmers for hot meal programs and food bank distribution. This year’s Bite of Skagit will be held on Saturday July 31st from noon - 4 pm in downtown Mount Vernon.
According to Arielle Stein, coordinator for the Food Bank Distribution Center: “One-fourth of our low-income citizens report going hungry from lack of food, and 20% of all Skagit households rely on area food banks. There are 13 independent food banks in Skagit County, each using their own limited resources to obtain and distribute food to the hungry.”
The Skagit Food Share Alliance’s primary objectives are to provide fresh, nutritious produce to local food banks for distribution to those in need, to support local agriculture by paying local farmers wholesale prices for their produce, and to educate food bank clients in healthy food preparation.
“The Co-op’s mission is tightly connected with the focus and vision of the Skagit Food Share Alliance,” said Skagit Valley Food Co-op General Manager Todd Wood, “we believe in providing community access to nutritious foods and education about how to prepare them, and in supporting local producers and suppliers. We are committed to cooperating with groups who are working toward these same goals.”
The Skagit Valley Food Co-op and SCCAA will partner on a display garden for the SICBA show in March, focusing on container gardens, sustainable gardening methods and Victory Gardens, encouraging community members to “Grow a row” for foodbanks.
For more information about the Skagit food Share Alliance’s Bite of Skagit event, please contact Susan Lanahan at: (360) 685-4005 or slanahan@northcoastcu.com
For more information about the Skagit Valley Food Co-op, please visit: www.skagitfoodcoop.com
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THE PRO FOOD MOVEMENT
One thing is clear, we can no longer allow industry to control the dialog, but fighting fire with fire, especially the use of fear to influence consumer behavior, doesn’t sit well, and would probably be less effective than other approaches. To that end I’ve attempted to define the concept of “Pro Food” based on a set of core principles that get at the heart of why I and others are dedicated to driving these principles into mainstream culture through communications and alternative food systems.
PRO FOOD IS…
•Inclusive – Everybody is part of Pro Food, since everyone can gain from its success.
•Pro Farm – Fresh, healthy, and sustainable food starts with the farmers who grow it. Without their dedication, stewardship of the land and tireless labor it is difficult to envision Pro Food getting out of the gate.
•Pro Consumer – Today’s conventional food system has invested billions of dollars in constructing a food infrastructure designed to do one thing: sell as much food as possible, as quickly and cheaply as possible. This strategy has been good for bottom lines, bad for waistlines and even worse for personal healthcare costs. Pro Food envisions bringing farm and plate together in innovative retail experiences that go beyond convenience to embrace flavor, taste, seasonal rhythms, community and health.
•Pro Cooking – Where would we be without cooking? Unfortunately for the last few generations, cooking has been left by the wayside in exchange for cheap, convenient substitutes as people became increasingly squeezed for time and energy. In many ways, Pro Food is based in the home kitchen, the best place to ensure we eat sustainably every day.
•Pro Eating – The only thing possibly more important than cooking is eating. And while Pro Food places an emphasis on awakening America’s home kitchens, it also recognizes that many institutions (schools, hospitals, corporate cafeterias) and restaurants are doing their part in bringing the same healthy, flavorful and sustainable food on to every plate they serve.
•Community-Oriented – Pro Food recognizes the simple pleasure of bringing people together around food. Information is shared, bonds are strengthened and friendships are made. It also appreciates the economic benefits it can bring to regional food economies. Sustainable food can be imported (in the absence of local options), but increasing demand being met through local channels, there will be incentive for farms and processors to participate, as well as for existing providers to transition to sustainable production. Keeping money circulating longer within regional economies is key to Pro Food efforts.
•Entrepreneurial – Building a meaningful Pro Food presence in a food system dominated by massive conventional players with deeply entrenched interests (and reach) will take a lot of hard work, innovation and old fashioned luck. Fortunately we can leverage America’s entrepreneurial spirit in systematically building the ever-broader foundation needed to move Pro Food forward.
What Pro Food ultimately becomes is up to those who recognize and embrace its ideal of healthy, sustainable food systems and make it their own. For it is up to all of us, from farmers to eaters, and everyone else who cares about the food they eat, to carry Pro Food forward and make its vision, its values a reality.
http://everytable.wordpress.com/2009/06/30/pro-food-is-2/
my 2 cents
I like what I've read about the proposed Pro Food endeavor. I would bring it to the Tilth Producers board for sign on, I also believe it is important to occasionally get people pissed off enough to do something about their own behavior and make a substantive change. so I believe that in general a positive approach is critical, but I also think it is good from time to time to get things riled up; especially when it comes to paying real dollars for more expensive food, which we are tought is a stupid thing to do. This year is a good example. Our sales at market last year were significantly higher than the year before. This year, there is less traffic at the Mt Vernon market, our sales are down 30+%.
To me that means, that even converts, avid supporters and regular consumers have changed their buying habits for fresh local organic produce. Likewise, sales in general at our local food co-op are also down.
For me personally, learning more about something that makes me angry, gets me going, and makes me change my behavior. We are fighting conditioned belief systems and inertia even from the motivated. Gotta motivate more people.
Anne Schwartz
Blue Heron Farm
Tilth Producers of WA
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Regional
Seasonal
Sustainable
Convivial
