Grow Fund Awarded to the Peddling Produce Project!

Congratulations!
The Food Bank Farm and Gardens of Jefferson County (FBFG) submitted a proposal for a pilot project called Peddling Produce and has been selected as next year’s recipient of the Food Co-op’s GROW fund. 

The selection committee especially liked how this was framed as a partnership project and hearing in detail how FBFG expects to use these funds, as well as how the project ties into our mission of “Working Together to Nourish Our Community”.

Food Bank Farm & Gardens of Jefferson County (commonly referred to as Food Bank Farm & Gardens or FBFG) is a non-profit charitable organization that works together with the community to produce, preserve and supply locally-grown, fresh, organic fruit and vegetables for the Jefferson County Food Banks and other non-profit venues with similar missions. The organization focuses on food production for food insecure people and on teaching and empowering people to grow their own food.

In cooperation with four other organizations, FBFG will start a pilot project called Peddling Produce to the PT Food Bank to expand an existing small business that currently delivers groceries and produce from PT Farmers Market and PT Food Co-op to local shoppers in need of delivery assistance.

Using the bike transport FBFG will deliver fresh organic produce that is grown in their local food bank, community and home gardens for the food bank. Current harvests are delivered by private cars and pick-up trucks coming from these gardens, and access and parking for deliveries are now complicated by the current system of in-car food pick-up by food bank users. This mode of delivery would ease the delivery process and lessen our local carbon footprint. Hopefully, it will encourage more people to use bicycles for food shopping/errands.

A Grow Fund grant to FBFG would be used to match existing funds that have already been donated by private individuals to PeddlerPT.  Additional funding would enable increased staffing to pedal local produce to the food bank and start a system of delivery by bicycle from our network of local gardens. The funding would pay for a work stipend of $20/hr x 4 hrs/week = $80/week or $320/month x 6 months = $1,920 total or $960 from the GROW fund grant. The balance of $110 (plus its match) would be used to pay for two banners for the bike trailer that advertise PeddlerPT’s services to shoppers and to the PT Food Bank (total of $200). Once success of this initial system of produce pick-up and delivery by bicycle from gardens to the food bank has been shown, more funds will be sought to make this program sustainable into the future.
 
All three food bank gardens in Port Townsend are interested in participating, as are some community/home gardens, in this start-up phase. The PT food bank gardens have been producing from 3-5,000 pounds annually and would immediately keep the peddler(s) busy on delivery days. Extra community and home garden produce would help maximize delivery and efficiency.

This project will be a collaborative effort by four organizations: Port Townsend Food Bank, Local 20/20’s network of community gardens, PeddlerPT, and Food Bank Farm & Gardens.

About FBFG

FBFG is actually part of a network of food-security-related endeavors within our community that began back in 2007 under the guidance of Local 20/20 and inspired through discussion groups reading "Menu from the Future" from the Northwest Earth Institute. Many neighborhood-based community gardens were created at that time.

Prior to formation of FBFG, this entire network of food security efforts were (and still are) quite connected through Local 20/20. Individual and community gardens, while serving the needs of their families and members, have also been encouraged to donate excess produce to the food bank. A regular weekly pick-up system should significantly increase donations from community and home gardens.

PT Peddler delivery day at The Food Co-op

While FBFG with its cadre of volunteer gardeners was founded to maximize the amount of produce reaching those in need and accounts for a large percentage of local harvest deliveries to food banks, many other food sources widen the network of people who foster a culture of donating food to the food insecure. Cooperative partnerships with WSU Extension’s Master Gardener and Seed Library programs, PTSD school gardens and Quimper Community Harvest (gleaners) are part of this network that deliver produce to the food bank(s).

We see this initial delivery program as a prototype that will bloom into a system that will increase the vitality of connection between all these different sources of local food production and the food bank.

About the Grow Fund

Using the interest generated by our participation in the Cooperative Community Fund, The Food Co-op will offer small grants to qualifying, local nonprofits to help them grow a healthy community.

Our grants are focused on the four pillars of community sharing:

1. Improving food access

2. Sustainable agriculture (both land and sea stewardship)

3. Healthy kids, families and animals

4. Supporting the cooperative model

Read more about how the grants are chosen here.

Awards made in previous years:

The Chimacum School District (2018) through the Community Wellness Project received a grant to build a garden space for nine elementary classes (grades 3-5) to spend time each week preparing, planting, tending, and harvesting fresh food. Success with this project will directly feed the bigger plans of the school district to offer school gardens K-12, connect schools with farmers and other local partners (e.g., 4H, WSU Small Farms), and provide healthy snacks and produce (where possible) in the school cafeterias.

The FOOD BANK FARM AND GARDENS (2019) was granted funds for the Finn Project, a Food Bank garden that grew four long rows in the back acreage of Finnriver Cidery’s orchard and donated about 2,700lbs of fresh, certified Organic produce to the Tri Area Food Bank. With the Food Co-op’s Grow Fund the project continued through the 2020 growing season. The funds helped with seasonal start up costs such as seeds, row cover, soil amendments, irrigation infrastructure, and cover crops as well as to help offset the cost of the time and energy we devote to this project.

The Food Bank & Food Gardens of Jefferson County (2020) received funds to help with the purchase of two freeze dryers. Read the story here.