Farm to table

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Community agriculture and locavore thread

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1. North Sound Food Hub

http://www.agbizcenter.org/business-services/regional-food-hubs/north-sound-wholesale-market

North Sound Food Hub (formerly Skagit Wholesale Market) provides marketing, aggregation and distribution of the freshest, seasonal produce, meat, dairy and more, direct from local producers operating in Skagit, Whatcom, San Juan and Island counties.

How Does It Work?

•Businesses, institutions and buying groups purchase online at the North Sound Food Hub (a Local Orbit platform)
•Farms bring their orders to the North Sound Food Hub
•Local buyers pick up their orders from multiple farms at the North Sound Food Hub
•21 Acres Food Hub delivers orders to Seattle customers once weekly
Where Does The Food Come From?

Only sustainable Washington farms and ranches that can legally sell their raw and value added agricultural products commercially are eligible to sell through the North Sound Food Hub. Producers as well as the food hub facilities follow strict WSDA food safety guidelines and have implemented quality production standards according to their size and scale. Many producers carry USDA Organic or other third party certifications. Buyers can learn all about each farm by reading the seller profiles online.

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2. New Holly market garden

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2021135876_sarahcolumnxml.html?syndication=rss&utm_source=feedly

New Holly Market Garden, started 20 years ago by immigrants and refugees on an unused basketball court in Southeast Seattle, now is one of two city P-Patches selling organic produce through a subscription service.

A hazy sun glows through tender new lettuce leaves and bright green peapods at the New Holly Rockery Market Garden. It’s rush hour and the clanging of the light rail on Rainier Avenue South occasionally drowns out birds chirping in shade of a cluster of fruit trees.

But it’s exactly that contrast — of a working garden in distinctly urban setting — that makes the New Holly Market Garden special. It’s a swath of food growing right in the middle of the New Holly Housing Development in Southeast Seattle.

And this food could end up on your dinner table.

New Holly Garden is one of two plots within the city of Seattle’s P-Patch Community Gardening Program that produce food for sale through CSAs (short for Community Supported Agriculture), a system where customers subscribe to a service that provides them with locally grown food each week.

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3. New Stockbox market will freshen up First Hill, could help change groceries in Seattle

http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2013/05/new-stockbox-market-will-freshen-up-first-hill-could-help-change-groceries-in-seattle/

Stockbox’s first store in the Seattle area opened in South Park in summer 2012. By November, it had already announced a slate of changes based on buying behavior and customer requests. The company continues to be involved with civic issues related to the availability of nutritious, affordable food in lower income and urban areas of the city.

The produce at the First Hill location will come from Marra Farms, an organic community garden in South Park.

Officials from King County’s Harborview Medical Center invited Ferrence and her team at Stockbox to take a look at a space on their campus on 9th and James late last year.

At 2,000 square feet, the First Hill grocery will be a much more densely packed version of the giant footprint required for big grocery chains like QFC and Safeway but larger than its South Park iteration. It will focus on fresh, locally sourced milk, meat, produce, grains, and “grab and go” meals.

“The grab and go meals are our most popular items—we make healthy and fresh sandwiches, wraps and salads that people will be able to quickly pick up and eat in between busy work schedules,” Ferrence said. “We want to respond not only to the residential community here, but the work force as well.”