The Food Safety Net at Work

July 6, 2024

This Saturday, Salish Coast Garden Farmer Neil Howe and volunteer Bonnie Obremski harvested 50 pounds of lettuce, 40 pounds of peas, and 15 pounds of bunching onions for a total of 105 pounds.

Where does it go during summer break?

Currently school is out, which means the kids are not in the cafeteria munching down farm-fresh food. Meanwhile veggies in the production garden can't stop growing...  Rather than letting them go to waste or turning them into compost, the veggies go to the PT Food Bank  where our community can benefit from crisp and ready to eat produce.  The PT high school garden does the same thing, i.e. taking "excess produce" to the food bank during breaks.

Sometimes produce can be blanched and preserved in the school refrigerator/freezer until it's ready to be turned into one of the 720 meals that are served daily to the students of Port Townsend School District. It's only when the food that can't be processed right away that is donated to the PT Food Bank or the  Recovery Cafe  which is also just up the street.

The give/take is reciprocal.

The school kitchen also receives excess food from the Food Bank. After  Wednesday's Food Bank public hours are over, sometimes fresh food that hasn't been taken home by patrons can't hold another three days until Saturday's open hours. To put that food to use (instead of being composted), Shannon Gray, the PTSD Food Director  picks up the produce and processes it back at the school. A couple weeks ago she noticed that the Food Bank Volunteers were chopping up veggies by hand.  Shannon offered up the Salish school kitchen and its commercial grade chopping tools to make fast work of the veggie pile. Win. Win.

This is how it works in a community which understands how paying it forward, makes our communities stronger and more resilient. Our food safety net is better each time we learn of each other's needs, and then share our fresh food bounty and resources.

If you have extra food growing in your garden, the  Food Banks will gladly take the excess and redistribute it to those who need it most.