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Kitchen users
A wide variety of local food entrepreneurs use Taproot’s Kitchen to prepare their delicious food to serve to the community.
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Island Grazing Table
Bryttani is the snack enthusiast behind Island Grazing Table — Lopez Island’s custom charcuterie spreads. From date nights, family gatherings, weddings and everything in between, she can help you celebrate all of life’s moments, big and small. Let’s face it… all celebrations need some grazing!
View her menu and contact Bryttani at https://www.islandgrazing.com/
Just Heavenly Fudge
Desiree Leclair-Damaso is the new owner of Just Heavenly Fudge Factory. She bought the business from MarJoe Davidson and Natalie Wilson who have been making fresh and creamy gourmet fudge since 2005, selling it at farmer’s markets, craft shows, and online. Marjoe and Natalie continue to guide her as she carries on their tradition.
Visit their site to order some delicious fudge! https://justheavenlyfudge.com/
Chicaoji
Randall Waugh’s Chicaoji sauce features a unique blend of goji berries & cacao with a bit of chipotle heat. Ingredients are organic, vegan, gluten & GMO free. Randall’s been a long time Taproot kitchen user and is currently board chair of Taproot Community Kitchen. The Chicaoji business is evolving. Randall is stepping back from the business a bit but others are stepping up with a new focus to make Chicaoji into a product that helps the Lopez Island School student’s business education and culinary arts program through the Lopez School Chicaoji Project.
Order a bottle and look up recipe’s of this local favorite at https://chicaoji.com/
David’s Barbecue
David serves up his Texas style BBQ from his food truck located at Week’s Garage on Fisherman’s Bay Road. He uses Taproot to prepare his delicious side dishes.
www.davidslopezbbq.com/
El Encanto
Cecy Martinez makes delicious cakes and desserts. Find them at the Lopez Island Farmers Market.
Salty Heifer Burger Shack
Sharon Orcutt McMahan, a Lopez Island native, is back and made 2024 her first farmers market operating Salty Heifer Burger Shack. Using Taproot, she cuts and grinds all the meat for her burgers along with prepares all the fresh veggie fixings.
www.lopezislandfarmersmarket.com/about-5-54
Patito’s Sweets
Homemade style desserts from Belen – flan, fruits and creams, and more. Check out her sweets at the Lopez Island Farmer’s Market or online on Instagram.
Belen is taking a break to focus on family but we hope she comes back soon! Follow her on https://www.instagram.com/patitossweet/
Madrona Murphy, Kwiaht
Kwiaht is a non-profit research cooperative with a mission for science for stewardship, and that includes researching and sharing new ways to use wild foods for local food security and resiliency. Botanist Madrona Murphy uses Taproot’s kitchen to share accessible dishes based on abundant, sustainably harvested wild foods including overlooked seafood, native crops developed by Coast Salish communities, and non-native invasive species.
www.kwiaht.org/index.htm
Occasional Fruit
Jim Birkemeier, local farmer, dehydrates a LOT of fruit in Taproot’s commercial food dehydrator. He dries several varieties of apples, pears, Asian pears, and more. The dehydrator can be loaded with about 70 pounds of fresh fruit, depending on the variety. Jim has been an avid support of Taproot for years.
These dried fruits are wonderful ingredients for many other things, including desserts and snack mixes. Plums, berries, peaches, apples, pears…. the list goes on and on.
Taproot has a couple different styles of mandoline (fruit slicer) as well as a corer/wedger that, well, cores and cuts apples and pears into wedges at an amazing rate.
Buy or harvest your own fruit to dehydrate and have local fruit year-round!
Jean Perry, Vortex Juice Bar
With decades of growing, harvesting, preserving, preparing, serving, and selling food under our belt, Vortex Juice Bar and Cafe has taken on the production of small batch products which directly reflect our island food culture and can be sold at local groceries. We are making hummus, soups, dressings, and sauces that make use of the beautiful produce grown on Lopez Island and also incorporate other Lopez made products. We hope to feed people in an uncommonly nourishing way that both reinforces their connection to the island and supports the livelihoods of our island producers.
Vortex embraces the idea that local foods are an honest investment in our island culture and economy. Promoting locally grown foods also represents an investment in the small farms and farmers that produce food with a minimal use of fossil fuels, and with respect for, and conservation of our irreplaceable topsoil and water. We celebrate the idea of eating seasonally and of making good use of what grows well here. We want to offer foods that are beautiful, clean, vital, and delicious.
Taproot, as a shared commercial kitchen, allows us to produce our goods efficiently in a larger, better equipped space than the Vortex kitchen, and enjoy the mutual support and collaboration of other food producers.
www.vortexonlopez.com/
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People who use Taproot”s refrigerated and/or frozen storage facilities.
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San Juan Islands Food Hub
Taproot serves as the Lopez Island node of the food hub’s network connecting local farmers and gardeners with customers throughout San Juan County. Taproot provides SJIFH with dry, refrigerated and frozen storage for their customers.
sjifh.com/
Ding Dong’s Garden
Dingdong’s garden is a Lopez Island nursery with thousands of trees and over 600 varieties of Figs, Mulberries, Currants, Willow, and Grapes. They sell cuttings and scion for plant propagation. They also sell dried willow for basketry and decorative arrangements. Our big cutting and scionwood sale takes place every year on January 1st at 12PM PST.
dingdongsgarden.com/
Lopez Island Gleaners
The Lopez Island Gleaners are organized by the Lopez Island Family Resource Center. A crew of volunteers goes around to local farms and gardens to harvest fruit that is stored in Taproot’s refrigerated storage and distributed to the Lopez Island School, the Food Share and other community organizations that take food to people who need it. The Lopez Locavores sometimes process the gleaned fruit into value added items like sauces and soups.
lifrc.org/lopez-gleaners/
El Taco ‘Bout it
El Taco ‘Bout It is a food truck based on Lopez Island, WA specializing in tacos, burritos, and quesadillas, with revolving specials on the daily! El Taco ‘Bout It sources fresh, whole ingredients locally on Lopez Island and from Skagit Valley, always using organic and non-GMO ingredients when possible. They mainly use Taproot’s refrigerated storage facilities.
www.eltacoboutit.com/
Lopez Island Food Share
Lopez Island Food Share, a project of the Lopez Island Family Resource Center, provides food to hundreds of Lopez Islanders each week. They use Taproot’s refrigerated storage facilities and occasionally the kitchen to process food.
lifrc.org/foodshare/
Setsunai Noodle Bar
Established in the Spring of 2017, Setsunai was born out of necessity, bringing food diversity to Lopez Island in a big way. Freshly made and locally sourced, our journey has been an organic one. We are always exploring new flavors to bring to our menu and to our island, while consistently supporting our local farms and highlighting our region’s seasonal agriculture. Setsunai uses Taproot’s refrigerated storage facilities.
www.setsunainoodlebar.com/
Horse Drawn Farms
Horse Drawn Farms stores their excellent farm products in Taproot’s walk-in freezer.
Stonecrest Farms
Stonecrest farms produces high quality beef and lamb.
“Our focus is on harvesting solar energy through grazing to promote healthy soil, healthy grass, healthy animals, and healthy people. We utilize holistic management to produce high quality beef and lamb while regenerating the land and supporting an excellent quality of life for our family. Our cattle and sheep are integral tools in our land management strategies as we farm on this island and bring a piece of Lopez agricultural history back into production.”
Stonecrest uses Taproot’s refrigerated storage facilites.
www.stonecrestonlopez.com/
Lopez Locavores
The Lopez Locavores are a not-for-profit organization passionately dedicated to cultivating community through the support and celebration of local food, farm and education. The Locavores occasionally use the Taproot kitchen to process and store foods for the Food Share, our island’s food bank.
Learn more about this local endeavor and volunteer to help at https://lopezlocavores.org/
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Special Event users
A wide variety of people use Taproot Kitchen occasionally. Taproot provides storage and prep space for all sorts local events: including weddings, special events, festivals, catering, parties, fundraisers, food training classes/workshops and community events. Locals use Taproot’s equipment to process their own garden produce for personal consumption.
Taproot Lopez Community Kitchen 