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Eat from your foodshed
Imagine you’re standing at the mouth of the Skagit River. You look upstream into a watershed. You can see the whole landscape and its network of streams and rivers, ponds and lakes. You see where the water comes from, where it combines and accumulates, how it unites to flow down to Puget Sound. Now step away from the river and imagine you’re at home, sitting at your kitchen table about to eat a favorite meal. Look back from your mouth just as you looked back from the mouth of the Skagit. What is on your plate and where does it come from? What impact do our food choices have?
Eat at the Learning Center dining hall and you will have the opportunity to explore how food flows from fields to our tables and all of the steps in between. Purchasing organic foods from local growers and teaching about our foodshed not only contributes to sustainable operations at the Learning Center, it creates new ways for us to connect people, nature and community through education.
Foodshed Project goals have also been incorporated into our field programs. At Mountain School we continue to serve local and organic foods prepared by the students, and to learn about the impacts of food choice. New this season, we will also offer Skagit Valley Foodshed seminars focusing on wild edibles, local foods and farming.
Our Foodshed Project began with a task force comprised of farmers, business people, community members and Institute staff and graduate students. We established the following goals:
- Offer appealing, wholesome food choices
- Serve organic and sustainably produced food
- Purchase locally grown, seasonally appropriate food
- Minimize waste
- Educate about the power of food choice
North Cascades Institute continues to identify local farms, business partners and funding sources, and to develop the educational component of the Foodshed Project. To learn more call 360-856-5700 ext. 209 or email nci@ncascades.org.
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