2025 in the Taproot Community Kitchen

As we close out another year on Lopez Island, we’re reflecting with enormous gratitude on ways we’ve been able to participate in nourishing Lopez and growing local food resilience. Taproot Community Kitchen began as a shared dream: a place where local food, local skills, and local generosity came together to help improve our island’s food resiliency.

From farmers and gleaners to food entrepreneurs, from volunteers to families preserving seasonal abundance, community members walked through our doors — and walked out supported, connected, and nourished.

And for those of you who have helped us along the way; by choosing to use the kitchen, storing your precious goods, volunteering to help us with improvement projects, spending hours laboring to better the kitchen, we thank you with deep appreciation.  And for those of you who have entrusted donation funds with us – we thank you generously and celebrate your investment in our shared use commercial kitchen.
2025 Highlights

Local Food Security and Community Use

• Community members – Kwiaht, the Lopez Gleaners, home cooks, and chefs all preserved gleaned and farm-grown produce including apples, tomatoes, squash, berries, and sugar beets to ensure healthy food stays local and available year-round.  They used our shared equipment including the commercial dehydrator, freeze dryer, steam jacketed kettle, fruit corer/wedger, juicer/pulper, induction burners, commercial slicer, blenders, and the various shared small wares we have for use.
• Our walk-in fridge and freezer continued to provide critical cold storage for farmers, families, Lopez Gleaners, the local Food Share, SJI Food Hub, and small businesses — reducing waste and increasing food resilience across the island. 
• Our generator back up system was put into place during planned and unplanned outages, keeping our client’s foods cold and frozen.
• We opened our doors to the community at the Lopez Island Farm Tours in October and are planning to host an open house in 2026 once our new cook room space is complete.  And we were invited to speak at the Lopez Community Land Trust’s Harvest dinner, allowing us to share the history of Taproot, our most recent accomplishments, highlight our amazing community of kitchen users, and our vision for the future.

Empowering Local Food Entrepreneurs
Taproot continues to serve as a launchpad for Lopez food makers.

• We have numerous small food business’ that use Taproot to store their ingredients in our walk-in cooler and freezer including: El Taco ‘Bout It, Lopez Island Coffee Roasters, Patito’s Sweets, and Setsunai
• DingDong’s Garden has been using the walk-in fridge these last few winters to store willow cuttings for their garden sales
• Many farmers including Stonecrest Farm & Graziers, Horse Drawn Farm, Sweet Grass, S&S Homestead, Lopez Harvest, Watmough Bay Farm, Shade Maiden Mushrooms, School Road Farm and other small growers have all have used the space to store farm and garden goods
• We’ve hosted two large weddings, giving them the opportunity to store their event foods and flowers before the big day
• Before opening at the Galley, Setsunai stored and operated their ramen making machine in our prep kitchen
• Island Grazing Table creates her beautiful charcuterie and event spreads in the kitchen
• Just Heavenly Fudge – now under new ownership — crafts her small-batch fudge at Taproot
• David’s BBQ prepares sides to pair with his Texas BBQ
• Vortex has continued to make hummus in the kitchen
• Salty Heifer Burger Shack has now operated two summers in the kitchen making food for the Farmer’s market
• And the beloved Chicaoji hot sauce is back up and running! Taproot is developing our capacity as a co-packer by crafting small batches in the kitchen as the business scales up with its new owner.

And we want to say a special thanks Natalie Wilson and MarJoe Davidson for all their time using Taproot.  They have passed their business onto Desiree LeClair – the new owner of Just Heavenly Fudge.  And thank you to Randall Waugh for all his years in the Taproot kitchen making Chicaoji.  For every bottle filled you helped craft the shared-use kitchen into some special!

Our 2025 Food Business Scholarship program (supported by a Lopez Thrift Store grant) helped new entrepreneurs access equipment, mentorship, trainings, and space — lowering the barrier to starting a food business on Lopez.  Highlights of the program include:

• Helping the new owner of Just Heavenly Fudge with her WSDA license.
• We are in the process of helping two other potential business owners get their WSDA licenses to bring more amazing food to our island!
• We’ve been helping businesses get their certified food managers training, SJC permits, and business licenses including El Encanto, Island Grazing Table, and the new owners of Islandale. 

Major Infrastructure Milestones
This year brought huge progress toward expanding Taproot’s capabilities:

• We wrapped up a USDA Rural Business Development Grant, which helped us outfit our new commercial cook room, which includes a 10 burner fas range, large ovens, and a 12 gallon steam kettle — dramatically increasing production capacity for both entrepreneurs and community projects.
• And speaking of our cook room – it’s about to open!  Final electrical and construction is wrapping up, we’ve passed our fire suppression tests with the new SJC Fire Marshal, and we’re working with our SJC building department to gain approval and get out final inspection approved.
• Woodman Hall and the Lopez Food Share donated older but functional freezers and a refrigerator after they were able to upgrade their equipment onsite so we’ve increased our cold and frozen storage capacity. Thank you, Woodman Hall and the Lopez Food Share!

Thank you for taking the time to walk down memory lane with us.  Piece by piece, this community has built a facility that is helping strengthen our entire local food system. We’re eager to see what 2026 brings!  We are a small non-profit with big dreams and there are many ways you can help support our vision.  Please consider a year end gift as it will support:

• Scholarships for new local food businesses
• Affordable access for families and nonprofits
• Ongoing operating support so Taproot can stay welcoming, maintained, and accessible

And know your donation doesn’t just support a kitchen. It supports food security, entrepreneurship, local agriculture, and resilience for Lopez Island.

Give online:
lopeztaproot.org/donate/

Checks can be mailed to:
Taproot A Lopez Kitchen
P.O. Box 551
Lopez Island, WA 98261

Taproot is a 501c(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization (EIN# 81-1346888)

Other ways to support Taproot:

• Volunteer with food preservation or kitchen projects
• Share this newsletter with friends
• Use the kitchen for your next food project or business idea
• email info@lopeztaproot.org to contact us!

Every contribution — large or small — grows our shared food resilience.

Thank You for Being Part of Taproot

Taproot exists because this community believes in feeding one another, supporting local livelihoods, and building a sustainable island food system. 

Thank you for standing with us.

Thank you for giving generously.

And thank you for helping ensure Taproot continues to nourish the Lopez community for years to come.

With gratitude,
The Taproot Community Kitchen Crew
Randall, Jean, Jim, Natalie, Bryan, Robinik, Wendy, and Laurie 

Mid November 2025 Update

The cook room is finished enough to welcome San Juan County building inspector and fire marshall. They visited and gave us a short punch list of things to do. The contractor who installed the fire suppression exhaust hood visited to calibrate the gizmos that make that system function properly.

Once we pass final inspection, Taproot Kitchen will be serving the Lopez Island community’s commercial and personal food processing needs for many years to come.

We are about ready to get cooking and creating local jobs!

This is just a glimpse at the some of the equipment Taproot has. Want to start your own food business? Want to take Grandma’s cookie recipe to the world? Want to preserve the abundant locally produced food for year-round nourishment?

Let’s do it!

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Cook Room Summer 2025 Update

While we had hoped to open the cook room in early 2025, we’ve faced the all-too-common challenge of extremely busy contractor schedules! The good news is that we’re nearly there. Our electrician is finishing up, and we recently hit a major milestone: the installation of a new OPALCO meter. We’re now in the process of connecting all the new cook room electrical to that meter — a huge step toward powering up the space for real. We are thrilled to be on the cusp of completion of this grassroots project. In the meantime get a sneak peak into the new space.

Summer 2025 Update

Taproot Community Kitchen is thrilled to announce the launch of our Value-Added Food Business Scholarship, a new opportunity designed to support both emerging and established food entrepreneurs on Lopez Island.

Made possible through the generous support of a Lopez Thrift Shop grant, this program aims to empower Lopezians who are passionate about creating value-added food products—such as jams, sauces, baked goods, fermented items, and more—that enrich our local food culture and contribute to a vibrant, sustainable island economy.

Scholarship recipients may receive a variety of help based off their needs and funding available:

• Access to Taproot’s professional kitchen facilities, including time in the kitchen and access to food storage
• Mentorship with food business professionals and Taproot staff
• Business development support, including marketing, licensing, and scaling guidance and assistance with food permitting fees

Whether you’re launching a new food venture or growing an existing one, this scholarship provides the resources and community support to help your business thrive.

Applications are now being accepted! For more information or to apply, visit the Taproot Food Business Scholarships page

Cook Room Spring 2025 Update

We reached an amazing milestone in March 2025 — Lynden Sheet Metal installed our large kitchen hood. You might even notice the new cap popping out of the roof while you are driving down Dill Road!  Thank you, NW Bay Builders, for getting the room ready — you’ve helped us transform the space into what will be an exceptional kitchen.  And thank you, Hobi Plumbing, for coming in quickly to install the needed gas valve before the fire suppression was installed!

Cook Room Summer 2024 Update

Taproot was able to complete its fundraising goal for the fire-suppression hood and placed its order with Lynden Sheet Metal to engineer, fabricate, and install. The project manager and crew from Lynden meet with our general contractor (Bay Builders NW), electrician (L.N.S Electric), and plumber (Hobi Plumbing) over the summer to go over the specific installation needs. Framing, rough-in plumbing, and rough-in electrical are now complete. As we enter mid-September, our contractor will be installing insulation and putting up sheetrock. We’ve ordered the gas range and commercial sized baker’s oven with grant funding and are working on the final layout of tables and racks for our new users.

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, The 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.

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Cook Room Update

Fundraising Update: Taproot is in the final steps of our fundraising process to finish our cook room expansion. We’ve secured funds to outfit the kitchen and storage space with equipment.  However, between final construction costs and installing the Class 1 fire suppression hood we need to raise another $80,000. As soon as we raise this amount, we’ll be able to finalize the expansion and open our doors this summer. Please consider a donation to help build the cook room — any amount will help us!

With the completion of this project, we’ll be able to offer farmers, caterers, new food processors, and value-added food makers more space and kitchen tools to flourish and grow! And we will be able to better support our food focused nonprofits like the Lopez Locavores, Transitions Lopez, and the developing Lopez Food Center. 

Check out the construction progress by the wonderful Bay Builders Northwest LLC !

Project Details: Taproot is expanding its services by adding a cook room — offering businesses and individuals access to a modular, fully equipped kitchen including a large gas range, convection ovens for baking, a 12 gallon steam jacketed tilting kettle for cooking large batches of sauces & soups, a fire-suppression hood, ice machine, and lots of dry storage.

The project is converting a storage area at Lopez Storage into one large room that will have a proper kitchen hood and cooking equipment on one end plus lots of room for processing and storage. The hood is designed to have quick-connect connections to propane and electricity. Movable tables and shelves will allow each kitchen user to arrange things for their operation. Open storage allows users to expand and shrink their storage needs as the seasons’ cycle.

As a small nonprofit and SJC-inspected shared-use commercial kitchen, Taproot is trying to provide nourishment, livelihood, and support food security on Lopez. Taproot currently has three major funding sources – kitchen use fees, grants, and donations. Please consider donating today to help fund needed construction costs so we can expand our services!

Please consider a donation — any amount will help us reach our goal!

Project Milestones

Plans were developed in 2021

Taproot was gifted over $90,000 in 2021 to help fund the project

Plans were submitted to San Juan County (SJC) in March 2022

A Provisional Use Permit was granted by SJC to Taproot in March 2023

Permit Approved by SJC on April 24, 2023

Awarded a Rural Business Development Grant (RBDG) from the USDA to fund equipment purchases for the cook room in September 2023

Construction started December 2023

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Taproot receives USDA Rural Business Development Grant (RBDG)

RBDG is a competitive grant designed to support targeted technical assistance, training, and other activities leading to the development or expansion of small and emerging private businesses in rural areas that have fewer than 50 employees and less than $1 million in gross revenues. In July of 2023 Taproot was awarded $41,028.00 in technical assistance to purchase necessary equipment for our cook room expansion project.

Cook Room Permit Approved! April 24, 2023

On April 24, 2023, we received our APPROVED PERMIT from San Juan County (SJC)!  We can move forward with construction! Taproot is planning to expand its services by adding a cook room, offering businesses and individuals access to a modular, fully equipped kitchen including a gas range, convection ovens, a large steam jacketed tilting kettle, a fire-suppression hood, a blast chiller, and lots of dry storage. We submitted the plans to the San Juan County Building Department and going through the process of getting them approved. Read all about the cook room project here.

New Freeze Dryer & Vacuum Packer available

The Food Preservation Program (FPP) is a collaboration between Taproot and Lopez Island Family Resource Center (LIFRC), with strong support from the Lopez Locavores. In tandem with LIFRC’s Gleaning Program, the mission of FPP is to reduce food waste and increase reliable access to nutritious food for the Lopez Island community. FPP team members and volunteers collect surplus produce that would otherwise go to waste, preserve it and distribute it to community members for free at the Lopez Food Share. This includes produce harvested right here on Lopez, donated by farmers, gardeners, and orchard owners in our own community! We also seek to educate and equip Lopezians who want to learn to preserve their own food with educational opportunities and access to Taproot’s state-of-the-art food preservation equipment. FPP’s mission is a collaborative one that thrives in relationships with several parts of our island’s food ecosystem.  The program is funded by a USDA grant, which helped Taproot purchase a freeze dryer and vacuum packer. Along with our commercial dehydrator, Taproot is your one-stop food preservation shop! Contact the Kitchen Manager to book time in the kitchen.

Mentorship Program Open for Value-Added Food Producers

Does running your own food business intrigue you? Want to explore creating a value-added food product but unsure where to start?

Let Taproot help kickstart your journey with our exciting new mentorship program. Have a secret recipe for the best pickled local vegetables, island-grown fruit jams, or hyper-local tonic? We are encouraging farmers, food enthusiasts, and people like YOU — those who have always wanted to run their own gig making quality foods. Let us help you navigate the challenges and joys of food product creation, come tour the Taproot kitchen!

Our program is designed to help you gather direction and support on the topics of food safety, business set-up, pricing, marketing, and traversing the ins and outs of WSDA and SJC Health Department requirements. Learn more about the program.

Taproot Kitchen Open House Invitation

Taproot Kitchen would like to extend a warm welcome to our open house scheduled for Sunday, December 11 from 2-5 p.m. We’ll be opening our doors at 1008 Dill Road to invite the community in to view our prep kitchen, share some locally made treats, and talk about next steps for Taproot. We are hoping to build awareness about our cook room plans that are awaiting county approval and our recently awarded USDA grant to help us support value-added food production on the islands.

Come join us for an afternoon nourishing ourselves and our local economy. We’ll be talking about ways to create and sustain jobs, support our local agriculture and foster resilient food systems. 

And give y’all a chance to fill up your bellies with some yummy eats and treats

Please mark your calendars!
Sunday, December 11th from 2 – 5 p.m.

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Taproot Kitchen Update, September 13, 2022

We want to update the Lopez Island community about what’s going on with Taproot Community Kitchen. Here are the high points.

1. We’ve installed a commercial walk-in refrigerator and, with the help of SJI Food Hub, a commercial walk-in freezer. We also installed a backup generator for WHEN not IF the power goes out.
2. We built a CoolBot storage unit. A CoolBot uses an air conditioner to cool a room for storage of fruits and vegetables that require cool storage but not commercial refrigeration.
3. Grants and donations have enabled us to invest in a wide range of processing equipment, food preservation equipment, and also to hire staff and jumpstart a mentoring program for start-up businesses.
4. The Cook Room addition, fully equipped with gas range and convection ovens, is proceeding with the SJC permitting process. This addition expands our opportunities for both commercial and home use plus a LOT of additional dry food storage capacity.
5. Taproot hosts the Lopez Island “spoke” of the SJI Food Hub.

We are pleased to continue pursuing our goals of promoting food security and economic empowerment, and supporting our local foodshed by providing a facility for processing, preserving and storing local foodstuffs.

Please contact us if you are interested in using Taproot Community Kitchen or in joining us to continue growing this vital island resource.

Jean, Laurie, Jim and Randall, Taproot Kitchen Board

As Wendell Barry notes in his essay, A Long Job, Too Late to Quit

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November 2021

TAPROOT HOLDS 2021 ANNUAL MEETING

Late afternoon of Nov 20, 2021 a handful of hearty Lopez community members joined Taproot’s four Board members in holding our first Annual Meeting on Brewvado’s terrace outside the Homestead Building in Lopez Village… thanks to Lisa and Mike for sharing their space and firepits with us! Co-chair Randall Waugh called the meeting to order and welcomed all in attendance, then introduced others on the Taproot Board: fellow Co-chair Jean Perry, Secretary Lissa Pfandler, and our very welcome, newest Board member and Treasurer, Joan Egan. Next Jean summarized Taproot’s mission and purpose, and Lissa gave a quick review of Taproot history since its formation as a nonprofit in January 2016. It was noted that during its early years Taproot evolved to an approach based on the idea of “starting small and making happen what we can” an example of decisions resulting from this approach is Taproot’s siting its kitchen in former Chicaoji production space in the Lopez Storage Building on Dill Rd.

In the most recent several years Taproot undertook and completed a space remodel at their Dill Rd location to move closer to being a “full” commercial kitchen. Plumbing, electrical, and general construction upgrades were completed to assure Health Dept and building codes compliance; however, costs for a hood meant that no range and oven were installed at this time. Taproot re-opened as a food preparation space in October 2019, and Taproot’s strategy forward shifted to include the idea of growing into additional space to provide a ‘cook room’ with commercial hood, range, and oven as well as additional flexible use space. By Spring of 2021 Taproot completed installation of a walk-in refrigerator, the purchase of which was funded by the first-ever USDA Rural Business Development Grant (RBDG) approved for Taproot.

Next on the agenda Joan Egan, who has done much work on grants since joining Taproot about a year ago, reported on the status of all three of the grants Taproot is currently active with:

Walk-in Freezer – San Juan Agricultural Guild received a grant that included a walk-in freezer to use on Lopez in support of their activities and proposed to Taproot for us to host and operate this unit.
STATUS: freezer ordered; plans are for it to be installed within the next two months, pending unit arrival

Taproot’s second RBDG – this approved grant funds purchase of a backup generator to use for power assurance-of-supply for the two Taproot walk-ins (refrigerator, freezer), and funds incremental electrical infrastructure upgrades.
STATUS: in process of getting quote; plan to order within next two months, significant lead time for equipment means timing for installation activities is likely to be spring to summer 2022

Another grant: Taproot has been notified as being awarded an additional grant of $297k across three years; however, the award is being finalized and we are not allowed to share details at this time [Note – Since the Annual Meeting this constraint has been lifted; the grant is a USDA Local Food Promotion Program (LFPP) grant.]

Overall grant proceeds are planned to allow Taproot:

• to hire a part-time kitchen manager, a part-time community outreach person, and a part-time mentoring program administrator
• to add new processing and kitchen equipment (ex: dishwasher, bottle capper, piston filler, label applicator, etc.)
• to pursue various accounting system upgrades
• to add stipends for applicants from within the new mentoring program to support them as they start up new business

Joan also provided a summary Treasurer’s report of Taproot’s current financial status. Taproot has significant funds tied up in purpose-specific reserves. Currently operating expenses exceed income, with Taproot using non-restricted donated funds to cover this regular revenue shortfall. Grants outcomes and progress on the capital improvement project of adding a cook room are directly aimed at addressing this shortfall.

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Jean Perry continued by discussing Taproot’s 2022 goals, which include

• Implement the upgrades awarded in currently active grants.
• Finalize the cook room project.
• Fundraise for balance of grant matches and for the balance needed for building out the cook room. This will include both additional grant applications and traditional fundraising.
• Make progress on co-applications for a grant for low-income food preparation skill-building.
• Participate in the development work underway more broadly on Lopez to establish a Food Center that brings together synergistic food-related efforts on the island.
• A future interest area for Taproot beyond 2022 is growing access to co-packing capabilities.

The entire Board participated in answering several questions from the audience, including one that gave the Board the opportunity to clarify how the Taproot Board is operating. In line with Taproot’s By-Laws, up to this first Annual Meeting we have been operating as a “startup” Board. In 2022 we plan to actively work to shift into an operating model more typical of nonprofit Boards, including having elections for our directors (officers) at future Annual Meetings. Taproot is always looking for more board members and advisors for this effort…please help us get this message out, by telling anyone with interest to contact any one of us.

After Q&As wrapped up, Randall adjourned the meeting, and all present shifted to enjoying a social hour of conversation and snacks around Brewvado’s cozy firepits.

Just a quick reminder …Taproot is a community kitchen and food storage provider with a primary purpose to support the creation of jobs featuring our abundant fresh farm produce from Lopez. We do this by providing a certified commercial food processing and preparation space with commercial equipment; the shared infrastructure permits small entrepreneurs, intermittent users, nonprofits, and individuals to develop culinary uses of Lopez’s bounty. By growing the food-work capabilities at Taproot, we hope to provide nourishment, livelihood, and food security for our community.

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August 2021

Cookroom Expansion

Thanks to a substantial anonymous donation, Taproot has commenced planning to build out a full-on Cook Room! This includes a gas range and oven, a commercial convection oven and space for other equipment all under a commercial fire-suppression hood. Overall functional capacity of Taproot will grow significantly with this expansion, targeted for completion during 2022.

A cook room will add to our existing kitchen facilities which already provide equipment for making soups, jams, dehydrated food products and much more! So far, Taproot has received two grants from USDA Rural Development. The first grant financed the installation of a walk in refrigerator, which was installed in 2021. The second grant, which was received in July of 2021, will finance the installation of a back-up generator to support our refrigeration system. Taproot has been gifted a walk-in freezer by the San Juan Islands Food Hub, which we expect to be installed in 2021 as well.

Our ultimate goal is to provide full service value-added food production, refrigeration and storage facilities to businesses, families and individuals in San Juan County.

Small Business Mentoring Program

Taproot has assembled a team of food industry experts to begin its farmer and value-added food producer mentoring program.

Our plan is to bring together a group of program participants and help guide them through the challenges and joys of food product creation, food safety, business set-up, pricing, marketing and other topics which participants may request.

We are beginning this process by requesting contact information from interested individuals. We intend to hold meetings via zoom or at the conference room of the Lopez Island Family Resource Center, based on a time schedule designed to accommodate our participants’ busy schedules. One- on-one mentoring sessions will also be available. Please contact us to be added to our emailing list.

Taproot strives to foster connections between food and land stewardship which sustain the health and economic stability of our community. Well paying jobs, which build upon use of local farm produce, are key to this happening. Our mentoring team is committed to acheiving this goal.

Click link below to see our cool new brochure about the Cookroom and Mentoring Program.

Local Food pivots around San Juan Food Hub.

Taproot continues as the Lopez Island spoke of the San Juan Islands Food Hub. The Hub connects a network of farmers, processors and individuals, restaurants and grocery stores with its aggregation and distribution system. This service helps build our local food economy and strengthens our local food sustainability. The Food Hub has agreed to gift a walk-in freezer to Taproot, which will be purchased from the proceeds of a grant they received from USDA Agricultural Marketing Service.

Welcome to the San Juan Islands Food Hub

Back-up generators will keep things cool

We will purchase and install a backup generator for our walk-in refrigerator and (soon-to-be) walk-in freezer. This generator will automatically maintain temperatures in both units during the intermittent power outages (sometimes lasting days, even weeks) we have on Lopez Island.

The electrical backup system is funded by our recently approved 2021 USDA Rural Business Development Grant along with local donations of money and labor. Many thanks go to our new Board member, Joan Egan, for her tremendous skills at pulling together grant requests. Planning and implementation work to expand our electrical system and install a power back-up system for Taproot’s walk-in refrigerator and (soon to be walk-in freezer) are underway.

Cook room project heats up

Thanks to a substantial anonymous donation, Taproot has commenced planning to build out a full-on Cook Room! This includes a gas range and oven, a commercial convection oven and space for other equipment all under a commercial fire-suppression hood. Overall functional capacity of Taproot will grow significantly with this expansion, targeted for completion during 2022.

Local Food Security: Beyond 2020

December 2020

Food insecurity became a focus of much attention in 2020. The circumstances arising from a global pandemic pointedly revealed the fragilities in our food systems and supply chains. It also exposed the most vulnerable among us to immediate threats of food, health, and financial insecurities.

Wages and salaries on Lopez Island are among the lowest in Washington State. Job opportunities that pay a “livable” wage are scarce, as the primary economic activities of our community are farming, seasonal tourism, retail and related services. Many of our family members, neighbors, and friends were already struggling to meet their basic needs. COVID-19 made their problems exponentially worse.

The Lopez community rose to meet these challenges in many ways. Our food-based support system began collaborating in new and innovative activities. Generous donors funded a study of overall community (food security) needs. San Juan County Food Hub, the Lopez Island Family Resource Center (LIFRC), the Lopez Locavores and Taproot Kitchen joined this effort to assess the feasibility of creating a Lopez-based food center. Ideally, a coalition of organizations residing under one roof could leverage each other’s strengths, expand markets for local food and create opportunities for local farmers and food producers. The food center building would provide the necessary infrastructure for collecting, storing, processing and distributing farm produce and value-added products.

The Food Hub, one of many of such hubs nationwide, facilitates collection and distribution of locally produced foods. The Food Hub connects dozens of San Juan County farmers and food processors with hundreds of consumers on their own and other islands. During 2020, Taproot Kitchen provided the Lopez Island “spoke” of the Hub’s food aggregation and distribution system.

“Stand Up for Lopez, a Pandemic Food Security Program” was initiated by the LIFRC. Again, thanks to incredibly generous donors, LIFRC began feeding Islanders by purchasing food directly from 19 local farmers and restaurants and then distributing fresh produce and meals through the newly formed Lopez Food Bank. (Grace Church Food Bank and LIFRC Lopez Fresh decided to join forces to more efficiently distribute food to our community.) The following link connects to a video which further explains this collaboration.

The Lopez Locavores took on an additional food security project during and worked hard to process Island produce into frozen meals to be distributed through the Food Bank throughout the long cold and hungry days of Winter. http://lopezlocavores.org Summer’s fresh veggies and fruits became Winter’s nourishment, thanks to these hardworking volunteers.

Taproot Kitchen served as a lynch pin in all of these efforts by providing storage space, distribution facilities and a processing venue.

In October of 2020, Taproot’s walk-in refrigerator, a purchase funded by a $21,000 grant from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), arrived at our kitchen facilities. Taproot Kitchen is now equipped with “state of the art” commercial-grade appliances including a food dehydrator, tilting blender, steam jacketed kettle, immersion blender, food processors and fruit wedger/corer. Installation of the walk-in refrigerator will be completed early in 2021.

2021 will also bring Taproot Kitchen to the start of the next phase of our business plan. We are applying for a new grant from the USDA in February. If awarded, grant funds will be used to purchase and install a commercial oven, cooktop, range hood and ancillary kitchen equipment. The preliminary cost estimate for this project is $65,000.

The mission of Taproot includes creating jobs by promoting local economic opportunity and entrepreneurship; encouraging local agriculture; and improving Island food resiliency. To be successful in competing for USDA grant funds in 2021, Taproot must demonstrate the availability of about $30,000 in matching donations.

If you believe in the importance of local food security and job creation, please donate to this infrastructure upgrade by February. You can securely make a tax deductible donation online on the Taproot website or send a check to Taproot Kitchen, PO Box 551, Lopez Island, WA 98261.

This donation will help make our USDA grant application a success. Your gift will also improve Lopez Island’s food processing capability, making for a stronger link in the supply chain from local farms to ‘plates and bowls.’

Thank you,
The Taproot Crew

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October 2020

Taproot Kitchen Walk-in Refrigerator Installation

We are delighted to announce that Taproot’s brand-new, commercial walk-in refrigerator has arrived! Community volunteers unloaded the components and have assembled the box. The peripheral construction and utility hook-ups are in the works.

In 2019 Taproot received a $21,000 grant from the WSDA to purchase and install a 10’x11′ walk-in. This unit adds to the Lopez Island community’s core food security infrastructure.

Thanks to all the volunteers, including those who helped prepare for this USDA Rural Business Development Grant (RBDG), and to the taxpayers who have so generously strengthened our Island’s agricultural and small business economy and food security.

Local food entrepreneurs such as food trucks, Saturday/Winter Market vendors and processors creating shelf-ready products for stores will use the walk-in. Also, the SJI Food Hub, Lopez Food Bank, Gleaners, Locavores, LIFRC and individual community members will use it.

It is wonderful to add this cold storage capability to the Lopez Island’s food security infrastructure. Many people, some yet unborn, will be nourished with the help of this essential piece of equipment.

March 10, 2020

The coming of the light at Taproot

Rave to the anonymous donor who paid for installation of solar panels at Lopez Storage for the benefit and use of Taproot, Lopez’ community kitchen. The panels will power up commercial food processing equipment and cold storage space while reducing our carbon footprint.

As the days get longer, we continue to grow. The taproot is going down deep and solar ray leaves going up!

Get in touch to see how you can use Taproot kitchen for your commercial or personal food-processing adventures. info@lopeztaproot.org

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December 20, 2019

Taproot’s Making News, County-Wide

It’s been a fruitful and productive year at Taproot Kitchen. As 2019 winds down, we want to take a moment to thank you for all you’ve done to support Taproot through a major transformation. It would not be possible without the generous time and resources members of the community have provided.

We’re also excited that the good news about Lopez Island’s own commercial, community kitchen is getting recognized beyond our shores. Three weekly island papers published an article about Taproot, which is included below. We’re on our way to a stronger food system, more entrepreneurial opportunities for our community, and lots of tasting things being developed in the kitchen.

Next Steps: New Walk-in Fridge!
We continue to look towards the future and taking on a new phase to improve Taproot’s capacity, including the installation of a large commercial walk-in refrigerator, partially funded by a United States Department of Agriculture grant, to significantly expand refrigerated storage capacity.

Please consider a year-end donation to enable Taproot to make even bigger strides in 2020. Donate online at: https://lopeztaproot.org/support/ or send a check to Taproot, A Lopez Kitchen, P.O. Box 551, Lopez Island, WA, 98261. Thank you!!

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December 17, 2019

Phase One of Taproot Kitchen Build-out Complete. The Kitchen is Open.

By Taproot Board

Full text article available at The Islands’ Sounder and The Journal of the San Juan Islands.

Taproot Kitchen on Dill Road re-opened for business thanks to many volunteers and contributors. Over the year, significant infrastructure upgrades added a whole new level of opportunity for local entrepreneurs, strengthening Taproot’s capacity as a WSDA licensed food processing facility (think food on the grocery store shelf) and processing for home use. The improvements allow Taproot to be used by vendors who need San Juan County Health Department permits (think Farmers Market food vendors).

The kitchen is ready to bring your creative culinary skills to life. Equipment available for use include:
–Robot Coupe MP550 Turbo 21″ Immersion Blender: This powerful tool creates sauces makes quick work of blending produce.
–Robot Coupe CL50 Ultra Continuous Feed Food Processor slices and dices at an industrial scale.
–OMCAN 6-gallon tilting blender to make batches of sauce and dressings.
–An industrial fruit corer/wedger to prepares apples and pears for saucing and dehydrating. This device removes the cores and slices fruit into wedges much more efficiently than can be done by hand.
–A 20 rack commercial food dehydrator with adjustable temperature and 3-speed fans; dries up to 100 pounds of fruit a day.
–Induction burners for cooking up your dreams.
–Commercial refrigerator and freezer to keep your product fresh and at the correct temperature for food safety standards.
Full equipment list and facility use pricing is here: LopezTaproot.org/the-kitchen/

If you wish to use the kitchen, develop a business which uses the kitchen, or want to get in touch for any reason, contact us at: info@lopeztaproot.org.

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September 26, 2019

Taproot Kitchen passed SJC Health Department inspection!!

Another step forward! Last week, the SJC Health Department inspector visited the Taproot Kitchen. She came. She saw. She approved.

The kitchen is now open and ready for all kinds of users. Whether processing for home use or commercial, Taproot is the spot for you.

And keep your eyes open for an announcement of kitchen use training. Get in touch to sign up and learn more about what Taproot Kitchen has to offer: info@lopeztaproot.org

Donations always welcome to keep the knife slicing and Taproot’s doors open: lopeztaproot.org/donate. 

Thank you for your continued support and encouragement. 
The Taproot Crew

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August 23, 2019

Opening the door to food security and entrepreneurship

Big news! Taproot passed its San Juan County building inspection for occupancy. Right off the bat this means two groups can use the kitchen: People who want to do non-commercial processing for personal consumption and people who want to manufacture commercial products as a WSDA (Washington State Dept. of Agriculture) licensed food processor.

Now for those planning to use Taproot as a commercial kitchen to prepare direct-to-consumer foods, for example for catering or Farmer’s Market prep, we have one more hurdle: an inspection by the San Juan County Health Department. We will let you know when that happens.

To clarify, the WSDA certifies “food processing facilities” and the SJC Health Department certifies “commercial kitchens”. It’s a somewhat confusing but important difference.

If you want to use Taproot for any reason, send an email to info@lopeztaproot.org and we will let you know how to get started.

Let us all give thanks to the many supporters, volunteers and donors who helped to get us this far. It has been a long slog and we are so pleased that we are one step closer to our goal of local food and economic security.

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June 17, 2019

We know you’ve been waiting for Taproot’s re-opening.

Take a look behind the scenes on Dill Road and you’ll find a bevy of dedicated workers and volunteers creating a new Taproot kitchen that will knock your socks off. New flooring, pallet-sized doors, bright lighting, and a solid electrical system mean Taproot is set to be a unique resource for local food producers, whether commercial, non-profit, or home-use.

Construction continues at a good clip now. Sheet-rocking, mudding, taping, painting, painting, painting. It’s all part of the process and the end is in sight.

We’re also hard at work defining the processes and policies for use of the shiny, new facilities. For instance, we’ll have guidance ready to help new food entrepreneurs navigate the murky waters of vendor licensing and processing. In other words, we’ll help you figure out what you need to make and sell your products.

Re-opening is so close now, you can almost taste it!

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June 2, 2019

There’s a Big, New Blender Coming to Lopez Thanks to Lopez Thrift Shop

Through their generous grants to Taproot and Lopez Locavores, a lot more people will have access to healthy, local produce. Taproot is now able to purchase a commercial quality immersion blender, perfect for processing fruit and veggies.

This tool will be located in the Taproot Kitchen on Dill Road and available for local commercial processors and public use. It will also be used by the Lopez Locavores to process fruit gleaned from local farms, orchards, and home gardens. Instead of going to waste, these apples, pears, and other island gems will be washed, dried, sauced, frozen, or otherwise preserved to be distributed to our island community over the lean winter months. Lopez Fresh, the school, the Senior Center, Hamlet, and Meals on Wheels will all benefit from the great generosity of the Lopez Thrift Shop.

Thanks Lopez Thrift Shop!

Get in touch with us to learn how you can use the blender to turn your raw produce into something more. Email us at info@lopeztaproot.org

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May 2019

Taproot Kitchen awarded $2,500 grant from Orcas Island Co-op FARM Fund Grant!

YeeHaw!! Taproot Kitchen on Lopez Island just received a $2,500 grant from the Orcas Island Farm Fund Grant program!

This generous grant enables Taproot to purchase food-processing equipment for use by local food producers, processors, farmers, and community members.

For example, the Lopez Locavores will use Taproot equipment to process gleaned fruit.

This is a volunteer-driven effort to preserve food gleaned from local farms and home gardens. 9,200 pounds of gleaned fruit was harvested in the 2018/19 season and distributed to several community groups. This coming season Taproot will be ready to assist the Locavores’ efforts even better.

The FARM Fund started on Orcas Island through the Orcas Food Co-op. It is currently funded by a combination of 0.5% of all sales in the Orcas Food Co-op produce department, funds raised as part of the Orcas Food Co-op “Community Hero” program and other community donations. This is the first year the FARM Fund has accepted applications county-wide. We are thrilled and thankful to Orcas Food Co-op for supporting healthy and productive food systems throughout the islands.  

The nonprofit Taproot Kitchen provides commercial grade food-processing equipment for small food businesses and to help locals to efficiently feed their families. Contact Taproot to learn more about how you can use the equipment.

Thank you Orcas Food Co-op and all y’all Orcatrazians for generously supporting food security in the San Juan Islands. Put another star next to your name!

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April 2019

Remodel continues.

Walls are painted. The resurfacing of the floor and installation of the Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic panels on the walls. (That’s the wall covering you see in commercial kitchens that uneven like the skin of an orange but super cleanable and white.

Watch your email if you’ve already signed up to help or write us a info@lopeztaproot.org to find out how to help with the next steps.

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December 2018

$10,000 Challenge Grant met!

We all did it! Thanks to all the generous donations, the Taproot Matching Funds Challenge has been not only been met but exceeded!

We collected almost $13,000!

Read the Islands Weekly article about Taproot’s fundraising success and community commitment.

Thanks to everyone for your ongoing support!

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CoolBot walk-in cooler that was loaded with food feed people all winter.

The CoolBot walk-in cooler has apples, pears, asian pears, buckets of pickles and a LOT of  kiwi fruit. Some of this belongs to individuals but the vast bulk of fruit put into the CoolBot this season has been picked by the Lopez Island Gleaners. They’ve picked about 9,000 pounds of fruit so far this year!

The Gleaner program has two operational “branches” coordinated by the energetic Dixie Budke.

• Lopez Island Family Resouce Center Harvest Glean Team: Picks fruit
• Lopez Locavore Culinary Glean Team: Processes fruit

The Taproot Coolbot provides critical infrastructure to support both of these branches. Cold storage allows the fresh fruit to be preserved until it can either be served directly or processed into value added products like sauces, frozen and dried fruit, juices and so forth. This collaboration feeds the community through the Lopez Fresh Food Bank, Senior Meals, and the kids at school.

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…And back to the upgrade update…

Pitch in and help with the construction phase. Contact us at <info@lopeztaproot.org> for details. This is going to be fun!!

Get on mailing list: Subscribe if you’d like to get updates about Taproot’s progress or get notification of work parties and such. There should be a pop up box to subscribe on this page or scroll down to the bottom of the page and subscribe.

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Taproot in the Press

Published by Islands Weekly, November 12, 2016

By Gretchen Wing

The logo of the Taproot beet announces its vision: Taproot is a kitchen grounded deep in community to produce nutritious food. Community members dismayed at seeing the Taproot sign disappear from the site of the former Blossom Grocery should rest assured: Taproot is growing in a new location on Dill Road, in the island’s center.

Co-founders Randall Waugh and Jean Perry, like many other islanders, have dreamed about this project for years. Waugh compares Taproot’s inception to “a seed waiting years for the right conditions to sprout.” According to Perry, owner of Vortex, the availability of the Village site “seemed a prompt too good to pass up, and the wheels of community kitchen activism started to turn. Again.” From Vancouver, Washington, Lissa Pfandler joined Perry and Waugh to form a Board of Directors, which filed as a non-profit and began laying the groundwork for an ongoing, shared-use commercial kitchen.

According to Taproot’s website, “It is vitally important that local producers have a place to make their products, and it is fitting that the cost of that facility be shared by many hands. This kitchen will benefit all of us, by enabling small businesses to expand, innovate, and flourish. We hope to help people create healthy, locally made products that will eventually become an integral part of the food-web of the San Juan Islands.”

Unfortunately, funding for the Village space became problematic.

“It became daunting to raise funds quickly enough to keep the project moving forward without draining resources on rent, utilities, and insurance,” Perry explains. So the board found a new option.

The Dill Road site, where Waugh creates his well-known Chicaoji sauce, presents some challenges, but even more promises. The immediate hurdle is that the kitchen is set up strictly for commercial production of specific products approved by the Washington State Department of Agriculture, like Chicaoji. “Any other [shelf-ready] product can jump right in and get their licensing from the WSDA,” says Perry, but “prep food” for catering or Farmer’s Market is not yet allowed. But, with community help, the Taproot board intends to make the improvements necessary to achieve this capability.

Participation in Taproot will comprise a combination of membership plus user fees, still to be determined. Currently, the board wants more stakeholders at the ground level. Help in any form is welcome: volunteer time to shape bylaws and operations; funds to install the facility’s equipment; labor to convert the space; social media work to spread the word.

Hal Seifert, owner of the Dill Road facility, is “super excited” about Taproot moving in. “Once it gets up and running more and more people will see the value in utilizing a community kitchen. It’s another step in getting our food closer to the source.”

Waugh is happy to help anyone who needs assistance in obtaining WSDA approval of their product in order to join Taproot. Locals can also process food for personal consumption immediately. Taproot has already dried several hundred pounds of fruit in the commercial dehydrator donated by Jim Birkemeier.

“Imagine putting 60 pounds of fruit in the dryer at once,” said Waugh. “You can’t do that at home.”

For more information or to get involved, visit http://www.lopeztaproot.org or contact info@lopeztaproot.org.

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Current use:

The Taproot Community Kitchen on Dill Road has been serving two WSDA producers, Chicaoji Sauce and Kraut Pleasers, and has also hosted a number of non-commercial endeavors like a kim chee workshop and the drying of hundreds of pounds of Lopez fruit. The day to day operations of the kitchen are entirely covered by the users, and the more users we have, the lower the costs and the more improvements we can make.

Backstory: 

Existing facilities work fine for value added products that obtain their processing authority from the WSDA (Washington State Dept of Agriculture). Direct-to-Consumer vendors (Farmers Market, catering, food trucks, etc.) need a few changes to meet San Juan County Health Dept regulations. 

Current project: Plumbing and lighting upgrade

• install sinks and dishwasher
• install a brand new 80 gallon hot water heater. (Thanks to the Lopez Island Thrift Shop for donating this specific item.)
• refinish the floor
• install vinyl wall panels

Can you help?

Tell people you know who want to process food for themselves or start/grow a small food biz that we are actually getting really close to finishing the kitchen.

Get on our email list.

Email us at info@lopeztaproot.org

Support local food security!

1. If you want to help, email us at <info@lopeztaproot.org>
2. Donate –
   • Donate securely on our website via PayPal at https://lopeztaproot.org/donate/ .
   • Send a check to PO Box 551, Lopez Island, WA, 98261
3. Please forward this message to anyone you think might like to support local food production on Lopez Island.

Questions?

Email us at info@lopeztaproot.org…. or talk to Jean at the Vortex Cafe after 3:00 PM Wednesday – Saturday.

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