Saying that nothing gets wasted at the Fort Bragg Food Bank is an understatement. The Food Bank has become a hub of reuse and freecycling of just about everything. There have been giveaways of beds, Christmas trees and furniture. Cardboard is recycled. Empty boxes are protected and given back to the shipper. Every day, free books and piles of clothes are given away. The clothes often go to young families, but they are also scouted by fashionistas young and old.
Still-edible food from places like Harvest Market, that would have been thrown away, is quickly and efficiently sorted and given to those in need. Yes, vegetables don’t last forever, but clients are willing to pick through to find the best.
Then what happens to it? That’s when the real drama starts.
The inedible food left behind after the most valiant efforts to use it may be the most coveted of all food bank leavings. The warehouse I rent at 900 N. Franklin is right next door and I will say I am a generous neighbor to an even more generous Food Bank. For a decade I sold thousands of books yearly for a living and donated dozens of titles every week to the Food Bank. I have received as much or more grace and many benefits from them, even beyond as I have written this series each year. The blessings have really been amazing.
But then come the leftovers. I lust after the food scraps for my chickens, as do other farmers. A certain pig farmer has taken all the food scraps there for years, as well as from Purity and many other spots. Farm wastes are traditionally first-come-first-served, so that’s how it works. Warehouse manager Jim DiMauro finds discards for me when he can. I go all over town looking for the variety of foods that chickens need for optimal health. Recently, I restarted picking up the scraps from the Hospitality House, which delighted everybody involved. When the Fort Bragg Lions Club served Christmas dinner to homebound people and a big crowd at Lions Hall, we took all the leftovers to the Hospitality House.
All the local feeding and helping programs use and reuse, much of the material coming from the Food Bank and almost none escaping to the landfill. We also pick through the trash at the World’s Largest Salmon Barbecue and save all compostables and edibles.
While the media presents horrific images of shopper stampedes at WalMart or advertisements for gas-guzzling automobiles, there is much more real conservation, more recycling and reuse going on every year. There is an old saying “waste not, want not”. The axiom is like salt to a slug to both our current political parties. Washington promotes unlimited consumption and a global free trade economy as the heart of our national values. But more and more people are going back to the ethic of their grandparents, or great-grandparents: fresh local food over processed; raw milk, even if it is illegal. More and more chickens, goats and sheep are appearing in backyards and on smaller farms. Not only do the farmers want to eat and sell fresh food, they want fresh, non-GMO, pesticide-free food to sell to feed to their animals. I pick through it and use only the best quality leavings for food.
There are fierce battles and waiting lists for any available organic food items that can be fed to animals. Every coast business that serves or sells food has been approached by the blooming crop of farmers in the area. My chickens, like the rest of us, are much more healthy when they eat green vegetables. There is something blowing in the wind, with a natural and sometimes odd aroma: a new program with the local garbage company in which a separate container can be provided for food scraps. In Ukiah, those are going to a local farming operation. The growing idea is that all food that can enrich land should stay at home. Food “waste” is shared in a central location, not sold. Landfills are spared and land is enriched.
There is something natural about using everything where it is made and where it is eaten. Plus, it reduces our carbon footprint. If everybody did with less and ate and shopped locally, the issue of global climate change would likely improve. No matter what you believe about that, it’s simply right and good not to waste, to reuse where possible and to recycle.
However, Fort Bragg-Mendocino lags considerably behind Ukiah, Boonville, Willits and even some of the south county. We don’t have enough farmers here. Part of it is the weather, of course, that chilly fog cutting in on some production. But there are farmlands available without farmers. Several volunteer organizations are working hard to make this better: the Good Farm Fund, the Willits Grange’s Farm School, a new wool mill in Ukiah. All of it is good news for the future. There is a new seed bank emerging at Stanford Inn in Mendocino and an emerging Mendocino County Food Hub. Gowan Batist’s Fortunate Farm hosts a monthly Coastal Farmer’s Guild meeting, organized by Chelsea Browning-Bohannah.
Many of the farmers are young, an important part of “up-cycling.” The Lions’ Senior dinner, traditionally served by a middle-aged group to seniors, was blessed this year by an influx of young people from the Fort Bragg Leos club at Fort Bragg High School. The Food Bank has also benefited from young volunteers and several high school programs this year. The thrill of watching the spirit, energy and strength of youth doing things with local food is palpable.
Another literally fast-growing local organic and fresh food asset is the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens.
“We harvest twice a week for nearly ten months of the year and once a week for the other two months,” said Mary Anne Payne, director of the gardens. “According to MCBG Staff Gardener, Jaime Jensen, we are often able to provide hundreds of pounds of fresh, organic greens to the Food Bank each week. This is all possible thanks to the Gardens’ dedicated staff and volunteers, who are inspired to help feed our community. We are still working on the expansion of the vegetable garden. Winter can be a great time to work out the infrastructure and details making the garden ready to propagate another 7,000 plus pounds of food next year,” Payne said.
Much more is needed before we can have local food available year-round but lots of people are trying. Over the past decade (thanks in part to the donations given during Season of Sharing) I have seen the Food Bank here grow in efficiency, freezers, and food quality. Local food is given away much more often. The Food Bank can and should be part of a reenergized local food economy.
Actually, it’s you the residents of the Coast who are responsible for the sprouting of generosity, not any of the named organizations.
“Not a day passes that several people don’t show up at the Food Bank door with a bag of groceries (obviously thoughtfully chosen), recycled grocery bags, hand-knitted caps, a bag of apples or a check. The giving of these donations is a deeply personal exchange,” said Food Bank Executive Director Nancy Severy.
There were 658 client households served at Christmas by the Food Bank. Everyone who wanted a whole turkey got one. Other choices were hams (very popular), chicken, fish, and vegan roasts.
Nothing stays the same and right now food is getting much more local all over the world. Many old ways and old breeds of everything from chickens to kale are being brought back. We have developed a tremendous community asset in the Food Bank just in time for this. When you give to the Food Bank, the money does go a very long way, further than some would want to think about.
For myself, my leased warehouse is 2800 square feet and we are looking for a food purpose to fulfill its history. It was constructed more than a century ago when Fort Bragg was briefly the pea-raising capital of California. The railroad came and the cannery down the road burned (the property purchased by the original Rossi). The solid redwood warehouse got partitioned off and used as a feed store. With my book business sold I am looking to use the warehouse for local food storage, production or whatever ideas may sprout. If anyone wants to be involved in any of this, I’d be happy to be the conduit, just email me at the address at the top.
There is a change in how Season of Sharing is being administered this year. The Fort Bragg Advocate-News, The Mendocino Beacon and the Fort Bragg Food Bank would like to thank the Community Foundation of Mendocino County for its help in receiving and processing donations — and passing along 100 percent of the funds to the Food Bank — for the past decade and a half. Starting this year, donations can be made directly to the Food Bank. Please make checks out to the Fort Bragg Food Bank and put “Season of Sharing” on the memo line. Mail to Fort Bragg Food Bank, Post Office Box 70, Fort Bragg, CA 95437. Each week, the names of donors from the previous week will be printed in the newspapers unless the donor wishes to remain anonymous.
The following people donated to the Season of Sharing over the past week: Phyllis Weeks, anonymous In Memory of Charles and Jean Lee, anonymous in Honor of the Advocate-News and Beacon Gang, anonymous in Memory of Nonie and Fred Grass, Ronald and Lola Brashear, Noyo Women’s Rowing Crew, Jeanette Hansen, Sue Mathews-Ogle, Bill and Sonya Sappington, and one other anonymous donor. Donations from Dec. 21 through Dec. 28 were $6,990. Total donations to date are $24,350.
