It was a very early start this morning to another exciting day for the 21 Acres Food Hub. Chelsea Gabrielle is our new driver/distributor/marketer for the hub: She met farmers, Mat and Erik from the newly formed Snoqualmie Valley Farmers Cooperative; Lucy Norris, Northwest Agriculture Business Center; and Shane Moss, Not Yet Foundation, at 6 am at 21 Acres, to load 200+ boxes of locally grown produce destined for home bound and fragile seniors in Seattle.

Here’s an excerpt from an email from Lucy that just arrived after the rendezvous at the hub:

“Congratulations to the Snoqualmie Valley Farmers Cooperative! This morning at 6:00 a.m. marked their inaugural delivery as a Co-op! SVFC is playing a key role in a privately funded project led by NABC, in partnership with City of Seattle Human Services Aging and Disability Div. and 21 Acres Food Hub to deliver fresh, organic produce bags to low-income, homebound seniors in King County this summer. This important program is launching a new farm business while increasing access to healthy food.”

The Food Hub provides online transaction services facilitated through localorbit.com, and aggregation and distribution services for locally grown products from area farmers from King, Snohomish, Skagit and Whatcom Counties — the most glorious food that can be found.  All of these services are provided at no cost to buyers (most of the work is supported by grants, Northwest Agriculture Business Center and 21 Acres this year).  We deliver products twice a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) to food service providers in the area and once a week during the summer to seniors in Seattle.  Most of this produce is harvested on the morning of delivery, or the evening before – meaning that it is the freshest, highest quality that it can be.  In addition to sending buyers twice-weekly emails about what’s fresh and in season, Chelsea often has information about what is particularly beautiful coming off the farmers’ fields.

It is easy for buyers to sign up and order right away and there is absolutely no obligation to do so, ever: When buyers find products they want, they order, and they will be delivered on the day specified.  We are currently serving educational institutions, area restaurants, congregate senior meal programs and child care centers. It’s all very exciting for our first year of operations. For more information about the hub, visit the 21 Acres website.

Lastly, we want to be sure to express our eternal gratitude to Shane Moss of the Not Yet Foundation for their organization’s support of the hub.  We are so thankful.

Photos:

1) Snoqualmie Valley Farmers Coop’s Matt and Erik at 21 Acres with produce boxes bound for Meals on Wheels and Chicken Soup Brigade

2) Delivery driver Chelsea Gabrielle loading the boxes into the 21 Acres Food Hub truck

3) Group shot of Matt, Erick, Chelsea and Shane from Not Yet Foundation (she rode along on the inaugural delivery today).