Fwd: Kitsap Community Food Co-op Monthly Update: August

[Bob Taylor]

Rusty and I are involved in trying to get this food coop launched in our area- thought you would like to read this letter.

Bob Taylor

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Kitsap Community Food Co-op" <in...@kitsapfoodcoop.org>

Date: August 7, 2010 2:37:07 AM PDT

To: "Kitsap Community Food Co-op Subscriber" <rrta...@telebyte.net>

Subject: Kitsap Community Food Co-op Monthly Update: August

Reply-To: "Kitsap Community Food Co-op" <in...@kitsapfoodcoop.org>

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Dear Cooperators,

As I was digging through my email today, searching on the word "tomato," I came across an old email that stopped me in my tracks. It was from our dear friend and baker Luigi Ferrari, sent to me two years ago this month. Luigi tragically passed away just over one year ago. As many of you knew, he was an avid supporter both of local food and of our emerging co-op. I want to share that letter in its entirety with you today. There is so much I could say here about Luigi, but I will let his own words speak for himself. I don't think I ever responded to his email except to thank him in person, and now that he is gone, I wish I had taken the time to more carefully sift through the words of wisdom he has to say here and respond to him in a more thoughtful manner. This is a lesson to me -- and I hope to all of us -- about never taking anything or anyone for granted, and to celebrate the unique spirit we each bring to our community every day. I hope you all enjoy what he has to say, an d take as much from it as I did.

Cooperatively,

Laura Moynihan, Board President
Kitsap Community Food Co-op
la...@kitsapfoodcoop.org
(360) 813-1301
www.kitsapfoodcoop.org

________________________

Subject: "What is your most important question about local food in Kitsap?"
Date: August 12, 2008 2:13:50 PM PDT

I should let you know sooner rather than later, that I have never actually been in a modern food co-op, though I grew-up living in ad-hoc co-ops and much of my knowledge is antiquated, and may not be relevant to this or even the last century.

My father and his three brothers immigrated to this country and like many immigrant families lived cooperatively out of necessity. Between the brothers there were a gaggle of children who were „Jobbed-out‰ for whatever tasks were in season. A literal labor-ready pool.

The brothers had their specialized talents and the labors and fruits were shared amongst all of us:

Antonio the carpenter made things from nothing. Houses, barns, chicken coops, pergolas. I remember spending a summer lifting one of the brother‚s houses to dig a wine cellar under it. We first had to plant trees to prevent any prying eyes from inspecting such an undertaking.

Felice, was the farmer and fisherman who tilled crops for animal feed which we rendered into fresh and cured meats, cheeses, and more compost than you could imagine. A small fruit orchard and the tastiest vinegars and cheeses I ever ate. We went to the ice house and filled a truck with ice then packed fresh meat in it and sold it next to the check-cashing trailer at the gates of the auto plants on paydays.

Guseppi, the master butcher, wine maker and vegetable gardener grows the most amazing fruits and vegetables you ever saw, oh and the prochutto, salumi, and sausages. I get dizzy just thinking about it, and this is before even tasting his home brews∑

Paulino, the mechanic did his best to keep tractors, cars, computers, huskers, thrashers, mowers, shellers, and everything mechanical running.

I‚ll spare you the mind spinning talents the wives of these men had laboring at their sides∑

We bought animal feed from farm co-ops, we augmented our food supply by exchanging labor for excess production from local farmers, and foraged like rabbits for everything from asparagus to Zepoli (From bakery dumpsters). Picking, canning, curing, picking, pasta making, blacksmithing∑ These were all cooperative things.

So with that, here is the letter I drafted, but have not posted. And the link to what I suppose is more of a farmer/producer co op. They have a farm, store, bakery and restaurant at the farm where they sell products produced locally: http://www.gatheringtogetherfarm.com/farmstore.html I suppose it is what I think of when I daydream∑ Producers building the infrastructure, investing in delivering what they do best and selling the shares to the consumers. Sort of a bricks and mortar CSA scheme.

Here is the response I drafted to the question: "What is your most important question about local food in Kitsap?"

I suppose that my question contains echoes the previous, How do I get my hands on locally grown food. I am actually a food producer in the area and am at farm markets all week, but still I long for the days when I could get veggies from the farm.

I seem to be able to get small boxes of even smaller portions of veggies through a CSA program, and I do from time to time bring home a bag of lettuce from the farm markets, but the sort of produce I can not seem to get my hands on here in Kitsap are the bushels of tomatoes for canning, or peppers, boxes full of eggplant for canning, beans for freezing or fruit.

All I seem to be able to get are those portion sizes meant for a meal, a bunch of lettuce or handful of greens, and purchasing in this way is cost prohibitive and frankly just a tease to my taste buds. I was raised to eat and to preserve what is in season right now. When in grocery stores, I use a simple rule of thumb, $.99 or less = abundant = in season, but there seems to be no analogue in the modern farm markets.

Now do not think me a cheapskate, I do grow many of my own veggies and am well aware the true cost of quality (local, well grown, and fresh) produce and do not mind paying a premium for it, but to make it work I need to be able to get enough of that produce to fill my freezer or pantry for the year not just the season or the week and for my favorite foods I seem to have trouble filling my pot. For example, I grow some 20 lbs of garlic each year and every spring before the fresh greens of a new crop breaks the ground, I begin to panic and to ration my precious bulbs in fear that the new season will be delayed or worse. As it is, I manage to get about 50% of my veggies in season (June-Sept) from local producers but not nearly enough to squirrel away this premium produce for the long and dark months in between. This means that 87.5% of my annual produce budget is „left on the table‰ and is doomed to some multi-national, and 87.5% of my food needs are dependent on the national food production and delivery infrastructure.

How do we turn the tables of this equation? What needs to happen to make us 87.5% independent of imported foods?

I realize that this "preserve it yourself" mentality makes me something of a throwback, but I think that it is a part of what makes local agriculture work. Not feeding people today, or June-Sept, but feeding people. And an important component of local agriculture is to help people learn how to shop, how to make the harvest last, and how with just a little value-add, a jar of tomatoes goes from a $.99 commodity in a chain supermarket into a treasure, and a priceless heirloom. My family literally has preserved foods from loved ones past not for eating, but as a symbol of the love that went into the foraging, preparation and preservation of the foods and the love of life and family behind the labors.

So, I guess that my question is: How do we teach the „Consumer‰ to consume more in harmony with the seasons and to preserve foods to take advantage of the flood of seasonal abundance, in order to better sustain the farmers who take the time to produce the foods we so desperately need: Food storage training and tools at farm markets? An investment in a local cooperative food processing industry? Cold storage facilities at the farms? How do we teach the value of this labor of love?

A favorite saying is: If you are not preparing your food for yourself, you are outsourcing the most essential human need you have and generally to the lowest bidder.

Cheers,
Luigi Ferrari