grants Archives - Community Food Co-op

Meet the 2018 Farm Fund Grant Recipients

by Laura Steiger, Outreach Team

April 2018

We are excited to introduce the 2018 grant recipients and share a brief introduction to their projects. Look for updates about these projects throughout the year.

Since 2000, the Co-op’s Farm Fund has granted funds to innovative projects that benefit local, sustainable, organic food and farming.

Co-op Farm Fund projects benefit not only the grant recipients, but benefit our entire community by helping to ensure the future of a vibrant and resilient local farming community and an ongoing supply of local, organic food for all of us. The Co-op Farm Fund is partially funded by your donations—this is your money at work!

Bellingham Food Bank Seed Money Project

In 2018, Seed Money will partner with up to five farms to supply fresh, local produce to Bellingham Food Bank. Here’s how it works: the food bank pre-pays wholesale contracts in March. Farms will grow one or two in-demand crops: cabbage, beets, or winter squash. When crops are ready for harvest, farms call Bellingham Food Bank’s Small Potatoes Gleaning Project and the gleaners harvest, pack, transport, and deliver the produce to Bellingham Food Bank. Farmers are responsible only for growing the food and providing an invoice for what has been harvested.

City Sprouts Farm’s Birchwood Community Farm Stand

Since the Birchwood area Albertsons grocery store closed in 2016, residents have sought solutions to food availability. The Birchwood Community Farm Stand (BCFS) will be centrally located in the Birchwood neighborhood to provide fresh, locally grown produce once a week. Birchwood farmers including City Sprouts Farm, Wild Rye, and Ten Fold Farm will provide fresh vegetables, eggs, and other food items such as locally made bread. The BCFS addresses food access issues and will give customers the opportunity to meet local growers. The stand also provides a marketing opportunity for farmers and producers to sell their goods based on cooperation rather than competition. Weekly information about organic, sustainable vegetable production and how to prepare the available produce will also be provided.

Matheson Farms’ New Rancher Camp

New Rancher Camp is a five-day intensive course for people interested in becoming farmers or ranchers. Participants learn new skills and discover a holistic approach to farming, life, and land management. The retreat-style hands-on camp teaches about livestock, business, grazing, and more. The camp hopes to help to fill the demand for skilled farm and ranch workers and to meet the future demand of retiring farmers and ranchers who would like to find someone qualified to take over their operations. Matheson Farms is a 60-year-old multi-generational local ranch that produces wholesome grass-fed and humanely raised beef and yak.

Sustainable Connections’ Food To Bank On

Started by the Co-op’s Farm Fund and now a Sustainable Connections program, Food To Bank On (FTBO) is a farm incubation project providing resources and mentorship to support the success of new farms while providing fresh, local food to area food banks. In 2018, FTBO will provide an annual series of agriculture-focused business planning workshops and projects to help participants develop successful, long-lasting farm businesses; contract with participating farms to grow food for partner hunger relief agencies, paying wholesale market rates; connect beginning farmers with experienced mentor farmers available for questions, guidance, experience, and to exchange farm visits; provide scholarships for farmers to attend relevant conferences and workshops; give farmers free access to Sustainable Connections’ resources; promote FTBO farms and provide marketing assistance; increase farmers’ access to professional business planning services; and collaborate with WSU Extension to offer farmer field days and Good Agricultural Practices trainings.

Twin Sisters Farmers Market

Twin Sisters is a cooperatively run mobile market that serves Nugent’s Corner and Kendall every Saturday from June through October. Its mission is to support development of a strong local food system in the Foothills region of Whatcom County by increasing affordable access to locally grown, healthy foods. Grant funds will be used to purchase unsold produce (at wholesale rates) remaining after the market closes and deliver it to Foothills Food Bank. This would allow participating farmers to bring more produce to the market, making the market more appealing to customers, while reducing risk for farmers supplying the market with perishable produce. Community members will benefit by having a greater selection of produce at the market, and the 150 families served by Foothills Food Bank distributions will benefit from the additional fresh local produce.

About the Co-op's Farm Fund

Who benefits from the Co-op’s Farm Fund? We all do! Learn more on our website.

Donations accepted at any Co-op register. For information contact Jean Rogers, Farm Fund Administrator, at 360-734-8158 ext. 311, or mardis@communityfood.coop.

Local Vendor: Spring Time Farm

by Meggan Simpson, Downtown Produce

July, 2017

spring time farm nick spring and sarah robinson

Farmers Nick Spring and Sarah Robinson enjoy a quiet moment on their farm in Everson with farm dog Henry.

photo by TwoFish Photography

Here at the Co-op we realize that farming is hard work, seven days a week, and a pretty challenging way to make a living. It is also an integral part of our community and local food system, which is why the Co-op has created programs like the Farm Fund that offer resources to help small farms like Spring Time Farm make their dreams of bringing fresh, nutrient-dense food to their community a reality.

Sarah Robinson and Nick Spring took the next step, with the assistance of a Co-op Farm Fund Next Step grant, and purchased property for their expanding produce and flower farm.

Nick Spring and Sarah Robinson at Spring Time Farm recently received a Next Step Grant—a relatively new Farm Fund program designed to help small farms take the next step and scale up to provide the wholesale market—and we are so happy to help them expand to their very own property. After farming their first four years leasing land, sharing tools, and receiving mentorship from Dusty Williams at Broad Leaf Farm, they are now in the process of moving to their recently purchased 37-acre property where they plan to farm 5 to 7 acres at a time while rotating their crops to ensure soil fertility and health.

Sarah washing lettuce. Look for signs identifying their organic produce and flowers in our stores this summer and support these up-and-coming local farmers.

photo byTwoFish Photography

So where did it all begin for Spring Time Farm? Nick Spring is originally from Portland, Oregon, and was attending Western Washington University in 2012 while running a garden system in town called Bellingham Urban Growers Syndicate (BUGS). You may have seen him bicycling around between classes with rototillers, rakes, and shovels in his trailer, or perhaps you owned one of the 11 plots of land he grew veggies on throughout town. He didn’t grow up farming or gardening but it is in Nick’s genes.

The name Spring Time Farm was the name of the farm Nick’s grandfather ran until he was 90!

Not only was BUGS a transition to reconnecting Nick to his farming heritage and his realization that he wanted to make a career growing food for the community, but BUGS is also how Nick met his amazing and talented partner Sarah Robinson. Sarah grew up in Maryland, went to college in Boston, and spent many years bicycle touring the continent before coming to Bellingham. It was here with the already passionate vegetable-growing Nick that she discovered her love for farming. With the constant and diverse challenges of farming—keeping her mind and body engaged while allowing her to be outside connecting with nature— she was hooked!

Nick with an armfull of giant alliums. The farmers of Spring Time Farm found a natural division of labor with Nick Spring taking the lead on the vegetable side of things and Sarah Robinson using her decidedly green thumb as the lead farmer-florist. Of course, they both frequently work together across all areas of the farm.

photo by Sarah Robinson

Nick and Sarah have been farming together for four years now and the quality and abundance of fruits, veggies, and flowers they bring to the community makes me feel like they have been doing this for so much longer. He is “in charge” of the veggies and she is “in charge” of the flowers, and they have a wonderful employee named Josiah who has been there from the beginning and whose knowledge, hard work, and fresh perspective have been an integral part of their success.

Sarah, Nick, Josiah, and the rest of the crew at Spring Time Farm are always trying new things, looking for new ways to nurture their land and preserve their bodies so they can continue to farm for a very, very long time. And we hope they do!

Nick and Sarah are such a joy to be around, you can see and feel the genuine passion for what they do, and for life in general, shine through in even the smallest interactions with them. You may see them delivering sun-kissed boxes of produce or flowers to either
Co-op store or selling at the Bellingham Farmers Market on Saturdays. Either way, we hope you get a warm and happy feeling when you put something from their local farm into your reusable shopping bag.

nick and sarah jumping for joy during the garlic harvest

Nick and Sarah's enthusiasm for organic farming is contagious. Here they are jumping for joy during the garlic harvest.

photo by Meaghan Flesch

We all benefit from the vibrant local organic farming community in Whatcom County. Maybe you have never grown a vegetable, or just didn’t have time to plant a garden this year, or perhaps all your greens have bolted—don’t fear! Spring Time, Broad Leaf, Terra Verde, Cascadia Mushrooms, Rabbit Fields, Viva Farms, Cedarville, Moondance, Spring Frog, and so many others deliver their
farm-fresh produce to the Co-op to make sure you have delicious and healthful local food to eat.

We know the hard work, dedication to sustainable farming, and connection to nature of these farmers is a large part of what makes the Co-op where you love to shop and Whatcom County such an amazing place to live, eat, and play. Thank you, Hamsters, for supporting your community and all the people who make it go round.

Learn more about the Co-op’s Farm Fund. The fund is supported by donations. You can join your friends and neighbors who support the Farm Fund by donating at any Co-op register or on our website.

Take a closer look at Spring Time Farm.

Co-op’s Farm Fund Takes the “Next Step”

by Jean Rogers, Farm Fund Administrator

triple wren farms, farmers, florists, salmon safe, sarah pabody, steve pabody, whatcom

Farmer-florists Sarah and Steve Pabody of Triple Wren Farms are happy recipients of a Next Step grant, along with five other local farms.

Whatcom County’s local, sustainable agriculture is changing. Food hubs, new markets, and an increasingly collaborative approach to growing and providing local food are creating a promising new farmscape. It takes a community to “raise a food system,” and the Community Food Co-op’s Farm Fund is in the thick of the action.

In an impressive fundraising effort, Co-op members and shoppers matched a grant from the Sustainable Whatcom Fund of the Whatcom Community Foundation to support an innovative new venture—the Next Step Project. As a result, the Farm Fund was recently able to direct $25,500 in grants to six local farms scaling up to supply the local wholesale market.

The Next Step Project pairs grants with loans taken out by farmers who are making the leap of significantly growing their farm operations and attaining a scale that is economically resilient and stable—good news for shoppers as well as farmers. Three recipients matched their Next Step grants with low-interest Farm Fund secured loans, offered through the Industrial Credit Union.

Billy Tate of Moondance Farm praised the project, saying: “I’m really so excited about receiving the Next Step grant award. I’ve had an opportunity to farm now into my twelfth year in Whatcom County and starting a farm from scratch is no easy task. It takes constant investment, risk, attention and sacrifice. The last few years I’ve seen a steady change in my farming style where I’ve been able to begin to fine tune my craft and not spend all my time learning how to grow and market but to focus on growing the right mix for the farm and the community. It’s nice to see a funding opportunity aimed at those farms that have weathered the seasons at a time where funding is still so needed.”

Along with Moondance Farm, the first round of Next Step grant recipients include Sage and Sky Farm, Boldly Grown Farm, The Growing Garden, Triple Wren Farms, and Brittle Barn Farms.

Their project descriptions almost leapt off the pages with creative ways to grow delicious food with care for the land, people, animals, and
future generations.

sage and sky farm, whatcom, bellingham, farmers, andrea roper

Andrea Roper of Sage & Sky Farm.

While we sadly don’t have room for all the details, here is a snapshot of what these local growers expect to accomplish with their Next Step grants:

• extending the season for root vegetables and tripling overall production; washing and cooling root crops with a
re-circulating system that will reduce water use

• expanding into culinary and medicinal dried herbs; building WSDA certified
on-site packing and processing facilities

• purchasing a refrigerated truck to serve a rapidly expanding customer base and provide high-quality organic flowers, veggies, and eggs, using zero-waste practices. The truck can also be used by smaller farms

• purchasing harvest equipment to increase vegetable production and offer crops with high nutritional and medicinal value that aren’t currently available for wholesale; adding processing facilities to harvest, store, and deliver more local food

• adding a walk-in cooler to expand livestock production and increase profitability with the ability to break down 90 percent of the farm’s locally grown, organic-fed, wild-ranged chickens into parts

• purchasing a walk-in freezer and pens to nearly double production and sell local, grass fed, hormone- and antibiotic-free chicken in larger quantities for a
lower price

Responses to the Next Step Project have been extremely positive, and it will be exciting to see the advances these farms make over the next few years. Keep your eye out for their products in the Co-op and other local markets. We’ll continue to share stories throughout the growing season.

Farm Fund Committee Chair and Board Director Laura Ridenour expressed the Co-op’s hopes for the Next Step Project, saying, “If we can pilot this impressive economic incentive and opportunity for three years, we will reach many organic and sustainable Whatcom County farmers capable of scaling up their businesses, resulting in greater economic security for farmers and greater food security for us all.”

Donations by the Community Food Co-op, Co-op shoppers, and local organizations allow the Farm Fund to support projects that build the market for local farms, encourage ecological and socially responsible stewardship of farmland, and increase community access to healthy, local food.

Find more information, make a donation, or watch a video about the Farm Fund.

Questions? Email Farm Fund Administrator Mardi Solomon or call 360-734-8158, ext. 311.

Farm Fund Spotlight: Growing Garden

by Jean Rogers, Farm Fund Adminstrator

greenhouse interior community food co-op

Mike Long (right) is bringing new ideas to the farm: planning to extend the growing season, add more bunched and packaged herbs, and add a new line of dried culinary and medicinal herbs. Brent Harrison (left) will continue to offer guidance and a veteran presence as the farm takes a leap in size and scale.

The Growing Garden is preparing to continue its impressive legacy by combining a solidly established farm with the innovative ideas of a young farmer, backed by the Co-op Farm Fund and the community.

the Growing Garden, one of the longest-operating organic farms in Whatcom County, is also one of the most beloved

If you’ve ever brought home fresh, local basil, dill, mint, and other herbs from the Co-op’s produce department, you know why the Growing Garden, one of the longest-operating organic farms in Whatcom County, is also one of the most beloved.

Owner Brent Harrison—pivotal in local, organic market development for over 30 years—has been supplying the Co-op with herbs, tomatoes, and veggies since 1983.

Receiving a Next Step grant from the Co-op Farm Fund couldn’t have arrived at a better time for the future of the farm, as Brent is turning over the business to young farmer Mike Long, who has been managing the farm for the last six years.

Listening to Brent and Mike talk together, as they surveyed the existing greenhouses and fields, it’s obvious that there is a strong thread of continuity in their values and approach to the land. Brent said, “Michael can keep the farm alive. It’s a lot of work and you get compensated, but not to the level of a lot of other occupations. You have to value the lifestyle, a lot, and then you’re well rewarded.” Mike agreed, “Just being able to come and hang out with plants and bees and really cool farmer owners that got me into this, it’s like I’m just in my dream spot. Brent had the energy to build all this from scratch. I couldn’t get to this level of trying new things if it weren’t for a really core, solid foundation.”

Mike and his wife Molly recently purchased a 5-acre farm that is certified organic as a second site for the Growing Garden. The Next Step grant will be put to use at both sites to add a greenhouse, upgrade the existing packing shed in preparation for the next 20 to 30 years, and to build a new, USDA-certified packing facility. A cooler and possibly a solar dryer are also in the plans.

Mike has observed an increased demand over the last decade for herbs, tomatoes, and cucumbers. “We just need to zero in and boost our production a bit so we can meet those demands,” he said. Adding dried herbs is a way the farm can create a market for something they already have a lot of—herbs that need to get cut back anyway will now be marketable.

Both Brent and Mike see the Next Step Project boosting the vitality of small local farms.

Brent stressed the need for farms to scale up gradually, “I think this thing’s fabulous for the local producers and some of those may jump to a larger scale. But first it’s designed to pick up the small producer to be an efficient local producer, and that’s a big step.”

What we can be sure of is that we can look forward to all the wonderful produce we’ve been accustomed to from the Growing Garden, and an exciting array of delicious and healthful new products as the farm continues its journey as a mainstay of local organic farming.