Beans for Bags - Growing Food for the Food Bank

In 2012 the Food Bank Farm and Gardens of Jefferson County delivered 800 pounds of fresh food to the Port Townsend Food Bank. They began their program at the Mountain View Commons with grant money from JC Master Gardener’s Foundation and the JC Food Bank.

In 2019, they expect to grow over 10,000 pounds of food with an additional garden in Chimacum, and two unique partnerships with Sunfield School and Finnriver Farm. This is the first year they delivered food to the Quilcene Food Bank and the second year to deliver to the Tri-Area Food Bank in Chimacum.

The organization is completely volunteer operated. Water is critical, and with limited volunteer hours their goal is to have irrigation on timers. The Food Co-op’s Bean for Bags program funds will help them to achieve this.

Northwest Harvest is Washington state’s hunger relief agency. Their mission is to lead the fight for hungry people statewide to have access to nutritious food while respecting their dignity and promoting good health. Our local challenge is that even with food from Northwest Harvest at 3 cents a pound, it is not enough to supply food during the winter months for those in need. The Food Bank Farm & Garden of JC is now thinking about critical next steps - to process vegetables and fruit for winter storage.