A robust network of connections and collaborations is unfolding here on Lopez Island — a tapestry where, at each intersection, bonds are being woven together to create a unique and sustainable food alliance.
This alliance is made up of more than a dozen different community partners and organizations, each with their own unique vision, all with one thing at the heart: a desire to create and contribute to an abundant, sustainable local food system that is both affordable and accessible.
Over the course of the next few months, we will be spotlighting each and every one of the fundamental knots that knit us all together.
First we start with what the functions of the Lopez Food Center and Taproot will be, who they will serve, and why these two physical spaces are needed for the overall Lopez food system.
So let’s begin there, addressing the why.
Living on an island, we are at the mercy of an environmentally taxing system of industrial food production and imports. This leaves us vulnerable to food shortages, nutritional decline and ecological damages.
Alone, we are mere threads in the greater fabric of society. But when organizations unite, we become connected, threads interlaced together by choice. In the case of food system infrastructure, numerous organizations, food businesses, farmers, and individuals are working together to knit a socially innovative web of support. A web that increases our ability to grow, and is both rooted in our respective organizations, while rising together in the name of food sustainability.
How to assure a sustainable, local food system has been discussed for decades, but the urgency grew while listening to the needs of local farmers and food businesses in the spring of 2020. When the COVID pandemic triggered food supply disruptions, the fragility of our food supply became apparent both locally and nationwide. That’s when Lopez Island Food Share, Lopez Locavores, San Juan Islands Ag Guild, San Juan Islands Food Hub, and Taproot Community Kitchen began seriously pooling ideas to solve some of the island’s food insecurities.
“We have a rich opportunity to create a systemic model that is unique to our island, that supports everyone. Coordinating our efforts, collaborating where effective, and specializing in different needs of the food system is the most productive way to do that.” says Jean Perry, owner of Vortex Cafe and Secretary of Taproot Community Kitchen.
Collaboration not only facilitates the pooling and exchange of diverse resources, including knowledge, and skills, but also maximizes efforts for funding and connection. By working together, individuals and organizations can leverage each other’s strengths, each focusing on specific needs, and maximize the impact of their respective efforts.
What does this collaboration look like in action?
Taproot Community Kitchen, in its island center location off Dill Road, currently offers access to a shared-use commercial food processing facility. This not only increases local food business’ capacity for value added products such as processing, preserving and packaging, but it also allows space for farmers, gleaners and food producers to store their products between production and distribution. They also offer mentoring and training to help launch new food businesses.
The Lopez Food Center, in its Village location, will become a new home for the Lopez Food Share. Providing a community kitchen with a classroom and small event space for pop-up restaurants and nonprofits that serve food directly to the public, they will also have a shared parking area for food trucks as well as a small, highly visible retail space for the San Juan Islands Food Hub, which will boost sales of locally grown and produced foods. They have also planned to incorporate storage for Lopez Village restaurants and food businesses that need access near their business.
Collaborations like these don’t happen overnight. Just like any big infrastructural project, they take time. They require a clear set of shared values, a strong foundation of trust, and a willingness to listen, share and step up, or back, whenever necessary. They also require very real engagement and investment of time by all involved members, including funders. When done with the kind of heart and passion present in this particular group of people, collaboration has the ability to unlock and accelerate positive social change.
We hope you will join us on this journey toward that positive change, which will help create great equity with our current food system and sustain and nourish our community for many decades to come.
Stay tuned for our upcoming spotlights on the important collaborations happening on Lopez Island and within our food alliance.
Taproot Lopez Community Kitchen 