We are Susan and Harley Soltes, with our son Wylie and our two interns, Mandy and Tom run Bow Hill Blueberries, the
oldest family-run blueberry farm in Skagit Valley. We are transitioning the 65-year-old conventional farm to organic production. Our goal is to recreate this farm as the vibrant community-oriented center it once was while growing the best heirloom blueberries possible.
With the Food Hub at Bow Hill our desire is to share our existing warehouse and cold storage with farms in our area, free of charge for the 2013 growing season.
We are working on a pilot a program that aggregates our local produce, meat, dairy and more for northwestern Washington metro area hospitals, daycares, buying clubs and restaurants creating greater access to locally produced food while reducing waste and increasing small farm resilience.
Our partners at the Northwest Agricultural Business Center, a not-for-profit organization whose goal it is to help local farms, have partnered with an online platform (localorb.it) that makes it really easy for businesses to buy local food from really local farms. Last year at our farm alone we sold hundreds of pounds of blueberries through this platform to hospitals and daycares. To realize these important sales, we had to load up the berries and drive them 140 miles round trip. This took up most of a day, wasting a lot of fuel and time that would be better spent on the farm. Many farms in our area face the same problem, because of the transportation challenge.
The solution is easy – start a carpool for our produce, meats, dairy and other locally produced products. The NABC has secured a truck, driver and expenses for our deliveries and all we need is a specific place and time to meet. That’s what the Food Hub at Bow Hill provides.
We’re essentially a refrigerated "park and ride". All we need to make this work is the funding to cover the overhead for the aggregation site that includes refrigeration, potential freezing and the man or womanpower to make it happen.With this funding we will be able to make the service free to our neighboring small farms and enable more buyers to participate. The result is farmers working together to increase access to healthy, locally produced food and increased small farm profitability.
Also users can put together buying groups, join Local Orbit (free) and be a buyer from any of the dozens of farmers who are going to be using the system. It all launched May 27.
For more information: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/north-sound-food-hub-at-bow-hill
oldest family-run blueberry farm in Skagit Valley. We are transitioning the 65-year-old conventional farm to organic production. Our goal is to recreate this farm as the vibrant community-oriented center it once was while growing the best heirloom blueberries possible.
With the Food Hub at Bow Hill our desire is to share our existing warehouse and cold storage with farms in our area, free of charge for the 2013 growing season.
We are working on a pilot a program that aggregates our local produce, meat, dairy and more for northwestern Washington metro area hospitals, daycares, buying clubs and restaurants creating greater access to locally produced food while reducing waste and increasing small farm resilience.
Our partners at the Northwest Agricultural Business Center, a not-for-profit organization whose goal it is to help local farms, have partnered with an online platform (localorb.it) that makes it really easy for businesses to buy local food from really local farms. Last year at our farm alone we sold hundreds of pounds of blueberries through this platform to hospitals and daycares. To realize these important sales, we had to load up the berries and drive them 140 miles round trip. This took up most of a day, wasting a lot of fuel and time that would be better spent on the farm. Many farms in our area face the same problem, because of the transportation challenge.
The solution is easy – start a carpool for our produce, meats, dairy and other locally produced products. The NABC has secured a truck, driver and expenses for our deliveries and all we need is a specific place and time to meet. That’s what the Food Hub at Bow Hill provides.
We’re essentially a refrigerated "park and ride". All we need to make this work is the funding to cover the overhead for the aggregation site that includes refrigeration, potential freezing and the man or womanpower to make it happen.With this funding we will be able to make the service free to our neighboring small farms and enable more buyers to participate. The result is farmers working together to increase access to healthy, locally produced food and increased small farm profitability.
Also users can put together buying groups, join Local Orbit (free) and be a buyer from any of the dozens of farmers who are going to be using the system. It all launched May 27.
For more information: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/north-sound-food-hub-at-bow-hill
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