Sound Food RSS
| Sound Food's Ferry Farm Stand opens June 24 |
 |
 |
 |
| Local Food | |||
| Written by Carolyn Goodwin | |||
| Tuesday, 16 June 2009 18:42 | |||
|
A project of the local non-profit group Sound Food (www.soundfood.org), the Ferry Farm Stand debuted in June 2008 to encourage Kitsap commuters to eat more food grown close to home. In its first year the Ferry Farm Stand realized sales of over $10,000, all of which went directly to Kitsap County farms. At the same time, it enabled busy commuters to buy locally-grown food. The project has received national attention as a model for distributing locally-grown produce at commuter locations. Articles have been published in online publications such as Springwise and Grist. “We wanted to find a way to make it easy for people to buy local food – especially those who can’t make it to the Farmers’ Market on Saturday,” said Sound Food founder Sallie Maron. “What better place than right where they get off the boat on their way home to dinner?” The Ferry Farm Stand will be located near the Bainbridge Chamber of Commerce’s yellow information station between the terminal and the Kitsap Transit buses. “This couldn’t have happened without the support of the Chamber and Kitsap Transit,” Maron said. “Both groups were excited about the opportunity and allowed us to use their space to make it happen.” Produce will come from many of the local farms that sell at the Bainbridge and Poulsbo Farmers’ Markets. For the Farm Stand’s debut on Wednesday June 24, the produce will come from Butler Green Farms and Laughing Crow Farm. Offerings will include Butler Green’s salad mix, tender young carrots, sweet sugar snap peas, and Laughing Crow Farm’s fresh garlic and garlic scapes. If the weather cooperates, the Farm Stand may also offer local strawberries from Karen Selvar’s Bainbridge Island Farm. Everything will be packaged in $5 increments to streamline transactions and get commuters on their way. There will be recipes and information available for each week’s offerings at the Sound Food website, www.soundfood.org. The Ferry Farm Stand will be open each Wednesday throughout the harvest season from 4:15 pm to 6:15 pm, meeting commuters off the 3:45 pm, 4:40 pm and 5:30 pm ferries from Seattle. Buying locally-grown food has been shown to benefit both the economy and the environment. A study by a group called Sustainable Seattle found that a shift of 20% of our food dollars into locally-directed spending would result in a nearly one billion dollar annual income increase in the Central Puget Sound region, which includes Kitsap County. Most produce currently travels an average of 1500 miles from farm to table. University of Washington researchers have found that the greenhouse gas emissions associated with an apple grown in New Zealand and shipped to Puget Sound are double that of a Washington apple, and the climate impact of an Idaho-grown potato is double that of a Washington potato consumed here. Consider that Laughing Crow Farm’s Betsey Wittick grows her potatoes using horsepower (as in her horse Sam), and that difference grows even greater. It's also been said that one of the best ways to keep farmland from being developed for commercial use is to expand demand for locally-grown produce, creating a higher value for those lands as active farmland. The Ferry Farm Stand is organized and staffed by volunteers from Sound Food, a group founded in 2007 as a project of Sustainable Bainbridge. About Sound Food Sound Food, a project of Sustainable Bainbridge, was founded to encourage the use of local, seasonal and sustainable food by offering information, recipes, and supporting community on Bainbridge Island and the West Sound region. Its first project was to map food producers in Kitsap County. To find the map and more information on local food visit www.soundfood.org . About Sustainable Bainbridge Sustainable Bainbridge is a non-profit organization with a vision for a vibrant future, and a call for collaboration by a diverse group of island residents and organizations in order to meet our shared sustainability goals. For more information visit www.sustainablebainbridge.net Media Contacts: Sallie Maron Sustainable Bainbridge and Sound Food 206-842-5306 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Carolyn Goodwin Sound Food 206-842-1551 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
|
