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Why limit ourselves to only 50% ? Seems like a half ass goal to me! I think its very realistic to say we can provide 75% of our food, which would include fish, seaweed, and other wildcrafted goods. That leaves 25% for chocolate, avocados, and yerba mate, all of which i cannot live without.

I have heard this spoken of as the "solar fraction" -- the amount of food that optimal farming produces using just the sun and available water. Obviously, season extension -- cold frames, greenhouses, use of waste industrial heat to support hydroponics -- increases the solar fraction. Amory claims to produce bananas in his Snowmass atrium (but neglects to mention that they are very few and very puny. Some crops, like chocolate, just cannot be grown with our 40th parallel light.)

I think we should shoot for between 75% and 90%, depending on how hard it is to get chocolate and mate.

Saki’s 2020 Diary

Half the food we eat is grown locally, and the percentage increases every year.

I went to Harvest Market today to see how the produce from our farm is displyed. There are pictures of us with the students and volunteers and other pictures of local farmers and gardeners. It’s all part of a nice little display in the local produce section. The veggies look amazing! They are so plump and glowing with vitality, and it’s fun to see so many different varieties. A few steps away is the new herb and mushroom display with some recipe cards for the novice cooks. I think I’ll try something new with the oyster mushroomst his week.

A wide range of processed speciality foods are exported.

They’ve redesigned the local foods shelf in the cooler aisle this week. I see our local Noyo Brand sauces and dressings and a bigger selection of cheeses. The community kitchens have really taken off, especially with baked goods, and I’ve been seeing more and more Noyo Brand products in stores in Willits, Ukiah, and Santa Rosa. Last time I was at Trader Joe’s I saw they had moved Noyo Mushrooms next to the wine aisle. They had those cute little signs talking up the mushrooms and how unique our region is for mushroom growing. Maybe we should find some wine and mushroom recipes to send down with the next delivery.

School, senior and hospital food services buy and serve local food, as do many coast restaurants.

On my way out I got a newspaper and notice the story about the farm to school programs13th year anniversary. There is also a picture of the middle schoolers delivering to the senior center and another of the the new hospital garden. There is also an ad for the Parents and Friends Landscaping League.

Hundreds of household gardens were installed with the help of the Youth Crew Intern Program.

There is a blurb at the end of the article about when the next Youth Crew training is starting and how they have added another session due to demand from both kids who want to work and people who want gardens.

A group of local producers and food activists worked together to create an efficient, low cost, easy to use, county wide distribution and food storage network. The integration of the retail, distribution, growing, and processing components of the local food network has created wealth and a high level of services and products for everyone.

On my way home I pass by the the Food Bowl. I see the Wages Creek Ranch truck is dropping off potatoes for cold storage. The sign in front of Chop & Pack has the date for the fall butchering workshop. I spoke with John Ford yesterday and he was happy to know ranchers didn’t have to drive their stock to Eureka anymore now that we had our local plant. I like the new electric trucks too, they make deliveries over the hill really cost effective and they have more space for our logo on them.

No one goes hungry on the coast anymore.

Driving by the food bank I start thinking about harvesting for the farmer’s market tomorrow. I figure we we will have broccoli for the tithe this week. Planting the extra row hasn’t been a hardship at all. Since the food bank got involved at the market it’s been great to have the extra helpers on harvest days and everyone is in such good spirits when they leave carrying boxes of food. I hear they have started the Time and Tithe program at the community kitchens too.

The farmers market grew steadily, began to offer a winter market, and many more value added products were produced at several local community kitchens. Several hundred new jobs and a variety of businesses have emerged in the food sector and thousands of acres are back in food production.

After the harvest tomrrow I’m going to the Noyo Food Forest monthly potluck. It sure has gotten big! I remember when we started back in 09 we all fit into the dining room at the Grey Whale Inn. Last month we filled the Noyo Food Center! The City of Fort Bragg really made the right decision when they decided to invest in the year round market building and small business incubator. There has been talk about breaking up the big potluck into smaller ones with each one for a different group. Someone thought we should have seperate dinners for the farmers, gardeners, picklers, dryers, ranchers, freezers, herbies, salad divas, etc. but I like it that we are all sprawly and mixed together. The kids like it too, more other kids to play with. Next month I think I’ll finally have the Farmlands Poster ready to share. With all the new farms it’s taken over a year to update and show everyone in the network. We have over 500 farms now!

Farmers are local heroes. A group called Farm Futures started meeting regularly. They created an educational network for farmers that helped make land, funding and housing available for new farmers.

When I get home I find an invitation to the 2020 Farm Fest in my mail box. This year we are celebrating our oldest and youngest farmers. It’s been great how our farm revolution has bridged the generations. So many old timers and retired boomers had the land but no farmers. The Farm Futures Fund really brought it all togther with housing and equipment for production.

Our local community was so successful at building a healthy food system that government agencies at every level responded by implementing positive farm friendly policies.

On the news tonight I heard the new farm bill passed with 90% funding going to small farms and food producers. This is really going to help all the folks that are just getting started revitalizing their local food systems. I guess the tide has finally turned!