Small but mighty, with more to come! (Ozette & Haida potatoes & squash, to follow.)
String beans (FH Middle School in the background, left photo)/Below, Eleanor is a hunter/gatherer . All photos Linda DC
Hi Everyone!
Here are lovely pictures of our first harvest! - string beans picked in the twilight last week (we couldn't wait - the deer were starting to look just a bit too hungry). These beans were donated to Andy and Liz at the school's Food for Thought lunch program started and run by all San Juan islanders, with initial support from Land & Sea.
We're planning on putting in garlic and kale and harvesting potatoes next week - stay tuned here and through email for details.To add your name to our email list, contact slowfoodlandandsea@gmail.com. Right now Maureen's getting our events calendar updated, too - we'll link to that as soon as it's ready!
And - the amazing Food for Thought program started by Andy & Liz will take up our suggestion to create a food broker/farm liason intern position for students at the high school, and we'll continue to support that however we can. That's been an important missing link for getting local food at good prices into schools, and we are happy that the idea looks like it will take root! This can be great training for a young person - developing relationships, putting together a calling schedule and a system to contact farmers and supply the kitchen - basically, learning to be a food broker - which is something the islands also desperately need on the commercial level between restaurants and growers. And it would be one more way to get good working relationships between the kitchen and people who might not have lots of connections with the school. Good all around!
We're so lucky on our island to have an amazing woman working as a link between our local producers and our local Co Op, serving as a role model for this internship! Above, 2 photos of Eleanor, the beautiful Patron Saint of Hunter - Gatherers.Eleanor Hartmann stocks our miracle of a San Juan Community Co Op with the most wonderful locally grown foods she and Anna Spears search out and gather from our islands and all over our region, and from family farms in parts of rural Oregon - and not only that, but also serves on the Co Op board, too. Eleanor volunteers and on her own time has introduced herself to our island farmers and food artisans, then has gone out into the field to bring back what they make and grow.
What a great example of making things happen!
October is sign up time at the San Juan Community Co Op, to renew or if you want to join.
Don't miss out on the local bounty while you're there! Vegetables, fruits, nuts, honey, milk, eggs, cheese, juice, poultry, seafood, fresh and preserved meats, ice cream, breads and baked goods at very good prices!
