Buy Local Food In Kitsap

Peninsula Chefs To Show Off Their Sublime Local Fare

The Kitsap Community and Agricultural Alliance Presents:
The Peninsula Local Food Chef Showoff
Tuesday, September 15, 2009 4:00 to 10:00 pm
President’s Hall, Kitsap Fairgrounds
1200 NW Fairgrounds Road, Bremerton, WA
Tickets: $25.00 in advance, $30.00 at the door
See www.LocalFoodChefShowoff.org to order on online purchase at Monica’s Waterfront Bakery and Cafe, 3472 NW Byron Street, Old Town Silverdale, WA  360-698-2991.

2008 American Farmland Trust Farmer of the Year, Nash Huber

Kate Dean, Connecting Farmers To The Land

The KCAA is a serious organization. Building a local food network can be a challenge. Sometimes it seems that every time we look at an obstacle facing local food and local farms a few more pop up in the process. It takes serious effort from committed people to stay with it through it all.

But the connection with most people and their food is maybe more loosely tethered. Most of us just like our food to taste good and be there when we want it. Those that don’t have plentiful opportunities to eat local food are really missing out on the first of those experiences. That includes probably a majority of people because at least in Kitsap County local food purchases add up to less than 1/3 of one percent of the total of food and beverages consumed by us.

Satisfying the second requirement will take more effort to develop production, processing, storage and distribution capacities locally but that is the object of building a local food network. This what the Kitsap Community and Agricultural Alliance does, serious work, but who says we can’t have a good time while we work?

So KCAA members and friends including Monica Downen of Monica’s Waterfront Bakery and Cafe in Silverdale, WA, Chef Chris Plemmons, instructor in the Olympic College Culinary Arts Program and co-owner of Two Snooty Chefs, Chef Jeff McClelland of the Harbour Pub and Pegasus Coffee House on Bainbridge Island and Adam Victor, a Bremerton chef and entrepreneur have cooked up a sweet event to work on the first requirement.

It is a pure pleasure to work with our KCAA task force team, our members and friends for the cause. Working with generous, thoughtful people is always my pleasure but KCAA has embarked on a months’ long series of projects, meetings and demonstrations focusing on connecting young and new farmers with opportunities to farm.

That is why we connected with Nash Huber and Kate Dean to be our keynote speakers at our September meeting. Nash is a leader in the nation for preserving farmland and grooming younger farmers to succeed him. In 2008 he was awarded Farmer of the Year designation by the American Farmland Trust for his work. He is a co-founder of the Puget Consumers Cooperative Farmland Trust.

Kate Dean also has the farm entrepreneurs genetic makeup. She and her husband have been involved in a variety of production and value added startups including the amazing Mt. Townsend Creamery in Port Townsend. MTC produces appetizing  artisan cheeses with fresh local milk from the Olympic Peninsula. More recently, she is fast becoming an expert on structuring creative ways of connecting young farmers with landowners seeking to keep or re-start their arable parcels into food production.

Buying local food is a special case of what is commonly known as the buy local movement. Adherents of this cause believe with good reason that buying local first boosts incomes and builds wealth and security for our friends and neighbors. Maybe that is why some here-to-for unlikely businesses are jumping on the bandwagon to sponsor our Peninsula Local Food Chef Showoff. The names of these sponsors, so far are listed below.

Any young or new farmer with ambitions to farm and any landowner with visions of seeing their land developed into a food oasis should be here to meet Nash Huber, Kate Dean and the collection of entities and individuals that will be on hand with displays of resources and ideas to help them. This will include the Washington Farmlink program of the Cascade Harvest Coalition that has performed the operation successfully with dozens of matches so far.

Not to mention that the Puget Sound Meat Producers Co-op. The PSMPC is a startup that is vastly increasing access to retail markets for local meat by building and operating a mobile slaughtering unit.