Building relationships to support local food

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Piles of mushrooms, bouquets of fragrant flowers, stacks of fresh peppers and baskets of fluffy lettuce filled the Port Townsend Community Center on Nov. 4 as farmers, food producers, local chefs and restaurant owners gathered to build relationships between businesses and promote food production in Jefferson County.

Home of many farms, wineries, cideries, cheesemakers, butchers, fisheries and other food producers, the county has an array of products, and more restaurants are taking advantage of them to provide their customers with local ingredients.

Jefferson County Farmers Market, the WSU Jefferson County Extension, the Silverwater Café, the Fireside Restaurant at the Inn at Port Ludlow, the Jefferson County Local Food Council, Ajax Café, and the Olympic Culinary Loop joined to host the first Local Food Expo to engage eaters and highlight local food.

Thirty-two producers attended, representing products of all kind.

“The purpose of this event is to connect farmers and producers with local buyers, like chefs or institutional buyers, like the food bank and the hospital,” said Kellie Henwood from the WSU Extension Regional Small Farms Program. “The whole point is to set up those relationships, because it’s a very relationship-oriented industry.”

At the expo, farmers and food producers brought samples of their produce, meats, cheeses, wines and more for restaurant owners and chefs to try. 

“You know who’s growing your food, you know how they’re growing it,” said Kris Nelson, owner of Alchemy Bistro, Sirens Pub and The Old Whiskey Mill, who likes buying local products not only for the fresher flavors, but also because of the easy communication with producers. “You get to communicate with them what you need and how much you need. If you want anything special or unusual, they work with you to try to create that.”

For farmers and producers, making connections with restaurants and businesses is one of the best ways to sell their products.

“Wholesale makes up almost 60 percent of our total sales,” said Karen Williams from Red Dog Farm in Chimacum. “This enables us to set up really beneficial relationships.”

The expo also allowed farms to highlight their Consumer Supported Agriculture memberships for individuals hoping to buy local products on a regular basis.

“It’s unique for a community of our size to have such an abundance of products,” said Amanda Milholland, director of the Jefferson County Farmers Market.

The Local Food Expo highlighted the widespread benefits of eating locally. Shopping for local food not only supports the Jefferson County economy but also the environment, since produce grown here travels fewer miles from farm to plate. Not only that, local food tastes better, Nelson said. 

“The farm you work with will say, ‘We’re picking now, how much do you want?’ So you get the product in on day one,” she said. “It lasts longer, and the actual flavor is better because it is fresher.”