S2E2: Love your Mother...Earth Farm

Fresh food for underserved communities in Pierce County, Washington.

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Welcome to Season 2: Episode 2, Love your Mother…Earth Farm. Season 2 is all about our food system, food access and food justice. For this episode, we interviewed the previous farm manager of the Mother Earth Farm, Liam McNamara, about the Emergency Food Network and the unique niche that the Mother Earth Farm plays in providing fresh local food to those who need it.

We recorded the interview last May, so a few of the items are a tiny bit out of date; covid-19 references were pre-delta and omicron variants. Also, references to last year, would be 2020 and next year would be 2022. Hopefully this isn’t too confusing. Since sometimes we do our episodes out of order, we didn’t think this would be too big of a challenge for our listeners…

Liam McNamara

Liam McNamara, (previous) Mother Earth Farm Manager

Liam graduated from the Evergreen State College with a BA in Environmental Justice. He has been involved with sustainable agriculture for 11 years and as of last year was in his 8th full season of farming. He also has 4 years of experience working with the Washington State Department of Agriculture as an organic certification regulator. Liam left Mother Earth Farm after we recorded this interview and returned to working for the WSDA in 2021. He worked with Mother Earth Farm for two seasons. Having grown up in Puyallup, he felt blessed to be farming in the beautiful Puyallup Valley and working to support his community by growing produce or neighbors in need.

Emergency Food Network

The Emergency Food Network is a non-profit food bank in Tacoma, Washington that provides services to Pierce County residents. They are responsible for providing food to various food pantries and other food distribution locations throughout Pierce County. They are trying to increase their capacity to improve overall food security and provide fresh, nutrient rich, culturally appropriate foods to their community. Programs like this are so important in the role they play to provide fresh, healthy produce to underserved communities and in providing a space for community building.

According to an article in the Journal of Community Health, “Food banks play a major role in the food aid sector by distributing donated and purchased groceries directly to food insecure families. The public health implications of food insecurity are significant , particularly as food insecurity has a higher prevalence among certain population groups.” In their review of existing studies performed to evaluate the effectiveness of food banks for providing food security it was, “found that while food banks have an important role to play in providing immediate solutions to severe food deprivation, they are limited in their capacity to improve overall food security outcomes due to the limited provision of nutrient-dense foods in insufficient amounts, especially from dairy, vegetables and fruits.”

The Emergency Food Network, a food bank, is able to help address the limited provisions of nutrient-dense foods by having their own farm and that’s a big reason why we wanted to include them in our discussion about food sovereignty this season.

Liam in one of the high tunnels - Always weeding…

Mother Earth Farm

A special part of their program is the inclusion of an 8-acre farm in the Puyallup River Valley called Mother Earth Farm. From the farm they are able to provide an average of 100,000 pounds (that’s 50 tons!!!) of fresh produce annually that contribute to their hunger relief programs. They are also able to work with their community to identify specific desired foods and adjust what they are growing to their community’s needs. They are able to provide fresh greens throughout the winter to select food pantries that would otherwise not have access to them. Most of the food from the farm is available to their neighbors in need within 24 hours of harvest! There are opportunities to volunteer with Mother Earth Farm to help with seeding, weeding, composting, irrigation and harvesting. At this time they ask all volunteers to submit a volunteer application and be registered for a volunteer date. Usually volunteer times are available on Fridays and Saturdays in the morning or afternoon.

While Mother Earth Farm operates within our traditional food system, it embodies most of the principles of food sovereignty.

• They focus on food for the people, working to provide healthy and culturally appropriate foods

• They value the food providers, those who grow, harvest and process the food from the farm manager, to all of the volunteers

• It localizes the food system, by allowing the farm to work with their consumers to make joint food decisions that benefit and protect all

• It allows for local control of what they grow and how they grow it and they are able to be responsive to input from the community about what to grow

• It helps the community build knowledge and skills by providing a place for growing food and community

• Mother Earth Farm is working with nature to avoid costly and toxic inputs and improve the resiliency of local food systems

Emergency Food Network Volunteering

One of our favorite parts about the Emergency Food Network, besides helping ensure that everyone has food to eat, is all of the opportunities to volunteer. Jen and Amy have both participated in the Repack Program and we highly recommend it. We had fun turning giant pallet boxes full of frozen carrots into more household level packages. It might have helped that we volunteered with a great group of employees from the Port of Tacoma, but we think you could turn this into a fun activity regardless of your company. The Repack program redistributes over 1.5 MILLION pounds (that’s 750 tons!!!) of food annually!

They also started the Grow Your Food seed program, in part as a response to the pandemic. This program provides free seed starts so people can grow their own food at home or in a community garden. Last year they grew 15,000 seed starts and they were available on a first-come, first served basis at various locations throughout the County in April!!! They also have resources and master gardeners available to help people grow their seed starts.

It looks like both the Brewer’s Night and the Wine and Weeding volunteer events are still on hold, but hopefully will be back soon, as these are great ways for people to volunteer on Mother Earth Farm. However, if you want to get a little bit of a feel for them, here’s their last post (from 2019, sad face) about a Wine and Weeding event.

If you live in Pierce County and need assistance accessing food, you can check out the Emergency Food Network’s Resource Page, which includes information on food pantries, meal sites, shelters and home delivery.

And just like we mentioned last episode, calling ‘211’ in Washington and Oregon (and maybe all states?) will help you connect with many services, including rent and utility assistance, counseling and mental health services, food and clothing resources, shelter and affordable housing, employment and education services, military and veteran resources, and transportation.

To learn more about the Emergency Food Network, you can sign up for emails or on their website. You can also “Like” them on Facebook. Events, volunteer info, donation campaigns and general news are shared in their email newsletter, The Feed, and on social media.

Finally we thought we would share the Emergency Food Network’s latest guidance on masking when volunteering with them:

“Volunteer Mask Policy (as of January 1, 2022): Due to the increasing instances of Covid-19 cases in Pierce County, we have updated our volunteer mask policy. All volunteers will be asked to wear a KN95, or to double-mask, with a surgical mask and a cloth mask on top. Masks are to be worn over your mouth and nose, the entire time you are in the EFN building. We will provide these masks upon arrival if you do not have your own. Breaks for eating and drinking will take place right outside our door. Individuals that are vaccinated will not be required to wear a mask when working outside. By volunteering with EFN you are agreeing to follow this policy.”

Other Programs to Help Ensure No One Goes Hungry

Does a program like the Emergency Food Network exist in your community? Probably.

We highlighted a few other food access programs in our local areas, but the best place for you to volunteer is right in your own community. We challenge you to find your Food Bank and see what volunteer opportunities exist.

In Eugene, Oregon, we highlighted the Burrito Brigade, which provides weekly free vegan burritos to those in need. In addition, they have a few other programs including free pantries and a no requirement/ no questions asked food program called Waste to Taste. In addition, Food for Lane County works to reduce hunger by engaging the community to create access to food. Meanwhile, Thurston County Food Bank, based in Olympia, Washington, is working to eliminate hunger within their community. They have lots of volunteer opportunities, a gleaning program, and you can donate excess produce from your garden.

Until Next Time…

Please join us for our next episode in two weeks on February 1, 2022. In Episode 3 - If you Were a Fruit, we interview Tiare and Jordyn with City Fruit in Seattle to learn more about gleaning and how you can help keep food from going to waste.

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And now a cat for no reason!!!