2022 Annual Report

My last annual report as 3rd president of the Foodbank Farm and Gardens, Inc, dba Foodbank Growers, is bittersweet. Karen Kastel preceded me. She was an Americorps VISTA coordinator for the Farm Gleaning program we were then part of. Lys Burden preceded Karen. She was one of our Founding Mothers, a Port Townsend Food bank volunteer, and a source of ongoing support on every level, especially to new gardens. 

I came onboard as president in 2017 as a filler. Everyone else on the team was an accomplished grower. I was a relatively new volunteer at the Quimper Grange Foodbank Garden. I had worked on small farms for nearly 20 years and came to appreciate the tremendous skill of farmers who had to think clearly on so many levels at the same time: staffing, weather, timing, seeding, transplanting, soil nourishing, harvest, finance, distribution. 

But--I could run a meeting, so I did.

In 2017, 5 years ago, we had 3 gardens: 

-MountainView begun by the YMCA, which shared surplus with the Port Townsend Food Bank,

-the Port Townsend High School garden which produced for the schools in winter and which we managed and harvested in summer chiefly for the food bank, and 

-the Quimper Grange, which was our first dedicated food bank garden. 

Rob Greenfield created a video of the gardens which had over 1.2 thousand views. We donated about 2,500 pounds of organically grown produce to the Port Townsend Foodbank to meet a critical community need. 

By 2022, we had 12 gardens on over 2 acres with 9 greenhouses, and donated 20,527 pounds of produce [with over 12,000# from Goosefoot Farm at FinnRiver Orchard] and 183.5 dozen eggs that year, with nearly 6,000 volunteer hours tracked, and over 6,500 pounds of fruit from Quimper First Harvest. [Total donation to all distributors: 27,140, a decrease of 10,000 pounds from 2021, showing the impact of climate change]. We had Memoranda of Understanding with landowners, insurance, a website and Facebook presence, and included church gardens, home gardens, business gardens, a Grange garden, farm gardens, a designated Community Garden [which is part of an exciting housing partnership with the Olympic Housing Trust], and other food bank gardens. No two are the same. All with a single vision: grow, gather, give.

3 of those 5 years were during a pandemic.

Entering our second decade, we now provide produce for four Jefferson County food banks, having added Tri-Area, Quilcene and Brinnon, as well as other distributors, including  JCARF CSAs  providing for BIPOC* families, and the Jefferson Hospital Oncology Department. We maintain a strong partnership with WSU Master Gardeners, who volunteer in one or more capacities in nearly every garden, and we spun off Growing Groceries in conjunction with WSU to grow more growers. One of our garden managers created the WSU Seed Library, another volunteer began a pilot for a successful freeze drying project that secured over 300 bags of fragile surplus produce that would otherwise have been given to pigs and chickens. This was in partnership with Jefferson County Public Health, WSU Extension Jefferson, and the Old Alcohol Plant/Bayside Housing. The two freeze dryers are currently relocated: one to the Port Townsend Schools and the second to the Recovery Cafe. [The project is being scaled up by other partners for long term food security.] 

In 2022, we merged with  Quimper Community Harvest Gleaners  (also known as PT Gleaners), who work mostly with residential orchards and in 2022 donated 6,573 pounds of fruit in addition to the 1500-2000 pounds harvested at the Blue Heron Orchard. [In 2021 their harvest had been 18,000 pounds. 2022 was a low year following the 2021 heat dome and long, cold, wet spring of 2022 which severely impacted the growth particularly of stone fruit.]

When COVID shut down the country, we partnered with a local initiative to deliver produce from the gardens to the Port Townsend Food Bank via Peddler PT, using an electric bike. We formed a team of volunteers that gardened in the summer at the Port Townsend High School Garden, and in winter travels from garden to garden helping on work parties as needed. We called it the Wild Rovers. We have participated in the Jefferson County Local Food Systems Council, Jefferson Food Access Working Group, Peninsula Food Coalition, the Farm Food Festival, the Jefferson County Farm Tours, and have had a booths at the All County Picnic, as well as presentations on KPTZ and articles in the Port Townsend Leader, Peninsula Daily News, Ludlow Voice, and High Country News. We were asked to present at the WA Master Gardeners 2022 Conference in Olympia.

2022 was the year of organizational infrastructure when we worked to capture in print what was the best of our practice. Our incredible volunteers, while increasing production by over 2000 pounds in the gardens alone, and increasing winter growing to provide an additional 5,593.85 pounds of vegetables from October through the end of December, created and implemented a strategic plan for the year

• Rebuilt the website: www.foodbankgrowers.org, while maintaining Facebook and Instagram
• Re-instituted the position of Garden Coordinator, funded through WA Commerce and administered through WSU Extension/SNAP  from January 2022-June 2023. In addition to the $30,000 Garden Coordinator’s funding, this funding also provided $60,000 stipends for the 4-farmer team at Goosefoot.
• Codified procedures; created and organized files and photos on google docs
• Organized our physical archive
• Added a garden and finance committee to gather and provide input to the Board for direction, planning, and funding
• Updated and shared our seed supply with gardens and through the food banks.
• Created best practice binders as a support for garden managers 
• Increased winter planting and harvesting
• Added a second Plant Sale to support winter growing
• Added a presentation in partnership with WSU Master Gardeners on winter growing
• Presented at service groups and garden clubs, which provided visibility and fiscal support as well as creating additional volunteer opportunities
• Added gardens

We are a volunteer organization supported chiefly by donations and grants: we have increased food security and decreased food waste, as well as added part time staff through targeted funding of over$125,000. Meetings of the Food Security Organization coordinated by the Jefferson Community Foundation, and the Peninsula Food Coalition were critical in providing information and support for the bulk of this funding.



To maintain these programs and add administrative support, we need a solid General Fund of at least $150,000. This will be a critical goal for 2023.

I leave the organization’s board with over 70 volunteers and a solid infrastructure.

We have worked hard, and effectively for 10 years to absorb and support all the interest around local gardens, building community and supplying food for food banks and others in need. 

We have had generous landowners sharing space for gardens.

We have worked with the larger community. 

We have been part of a network of service providers trying to fill gaps without duplication. 

We have listened. 

We have grown, gathered, given. 

https://www.foodbankgrowers.org/about

Thank you.

* https://www.healthline.com/health/bipoc-meaning#meaning

Respectfully submitted, 

Kathy Ryan, President 2017-2022, Foodbank Growers