The Urban Permaculture Farm Magazine

Annie Spiegelman the Dirt Diva
September 2009

It's always mystified me that people who can afford health insurance and can shop at Whole Foods have access to safe and healthy food, while the ones who can't afford a doctor's visit are left to buy cheap processed food, lacking any nutritional value, and increasing their chances of obesity, heart disease, diabetes and a plethora of other debilitating diseases. What dimwit created this unjust food system? That guy is SO FIRED!

Then one rainy day, Lisa Ludwigsen, resource development coordinator of 'Petaluma Bounty' took me on a private tour of a new organic farm/community garden Petaluma, California. Petaluma Bounty is a nonprofit organization working to address hunger and improve local food options. Not only do they grow fresh food on their two-acre farm in downtown Petaluma, but they also redistribute surplus food and provide affordable fresh, organic food to low income families, schools and seniors. "Our mission is to provide a healthier food system in Petaluma," says Grayson James, executive director of the organization. A growing number of seniors in Petaluma live on fixed incomes and are unable to afford healthy, fresh food, while almost 1 in 3 children in Petaluma City Schools live in families that cannot afford to put healthy food on the table on a daily basis.

The farm received the initial seed funding from the Hub of Petaluma Foundation. Elim Lutheran Church is the fiscal sponsor. "I gave a presentation at the church a few years ago," says James. "After the meeting, the daughter of Mr. Stonitsch, a longtime Petaluma resident, graciously convinced her dad to let us use his property on Shasta Road to grow this community farm." Gottfried Stonitsch is generously leasing the land where he raised his family, to Bounty Farm for five years. Along with support from Clover Stornetta Farms, North Bay Construction, Whole Foods, Green Waster Recovery, Exchange Bank and Kaiser Permanente the vision soon became a reality. "We envisioned this as the visual focal point for a healthy Petaluma food system. People can come here and experience food growing in the ground, look at it, taste it, get their hands dirty and learn. This is an educational forum," says James.

"The property was once a thriving lumber yard. I can't thank the volunteers enough," says farm manager Amy Rice-Jones. "They've done the cleaning and preparing of the land, and recently 25 brave, strong volunteers built a large greenhouse on the property in practically one day. The community support has just been incredible." Fields of cover crops of vetch, fava beans, peas and oats are all thriving happily on the day I visit. In the spring they'll be chopped down and worked into the soil as a nutritious fertilizer and amendment before the flower and vegetable seedlings growing in the new greenhouse, are planted in the ground.

"During the summer months, I bring Mr. Stonitsch a flower bouquet every week. He lives here on the property. Periodically he'll come around. He's a big fan of the flower garden," says Jones. "Numerous restaurants in Petaluma cook with our crops; CafÈ Zazzle, Dempsey's, The Tea Room CafÈ and Central Market are a few. Our produce and flowers are also available at the local Farmer's Market. In the growing season, we have a flower subscription business where local businesses can sign up to purchase a fresh weekly bouquet of locally grown, organic flowers."

"Amy showed up here and just plugged into this and started growing flowers. This program is bringing so many people together, thanks to her," says Ludwigsen. "The volunteers are instrumental. Every bit of Petaluma Bounty is volunteers. We have kids from age 3 to age 80 coming here to help out!" Besides the 2-acre farm, Petaluma Bounty has 3 other remarkable programs:

1. Bounty Hunters collect surplus fruits and vegetables from the local community. All those peaches you left sitting on the ground inviting pests and fungus, because you're busy tweeting on Twitter, can now be doing what they're supposed to being doing, feeding people. There's even a 'food posse' who will be sent to pick up food at your home if you're unable to drop it off at one of the Bounty Hunter's collection sites. These brave bounty hunters have collected 90,00 pounds of surplus food since August 2006!

2. The Bounty Box Food Club delivers a weekly box of healthy, fresh produce to low-income households at wholesale prices (subsidized by retail Bounty Box sales and corporate sponsorships).

3. Petaluma Bounty has also created community gardens at McDowell Elementary School and McKinley Elementary school and a third garden is located close to Petaluma's historic downtown. Many families who live in apartments now have a place to grow their own food.

"Our mission is to make healthy food available to everyone in Petaluma. To change a food system, it can't be done with just one program. You have to take a broader view. We're connecting with others locally to see how we can all team together so we can really start to shift an entire system," says Grayson James.

To volunteer time or equipment or to make financial donations, contact Amy or Grayson at www.petalumabounty.org or call 707-775-3663.

Visit annie@dirtdiva.com