King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks Blog
“It’s not just enough to want people to get free things, we also want people to get high-quality things and to be inspired to look at food slightly differently,” said Moyo Tornai, one of the co-founders of the Black Star Food Collective. Continue readingBlack Star Food Collective: Increasing food access through food buying clubs
“Being able to share the different cultures of our diverse student body through our food in the cafeteria is really important,” said Seattle Public Schools Executive Chef Emme Collins.
Collins has led a new district initiative to introduce culturally relevant meals with locally sourced ingredients into the school’s lunch menus. This initiative has pushed culinary services to test out new recipes, collaborate with local farms and food vendors, and engage the 52,381 students enrolled at Seattle Public Schools.
Continue readingSeattle Public Schools: Serving culturally responsive meals for students with local ingredients
King County restaurants were some of the businesses most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Global supply chain disruptions and restrictions
King County tracks local watershed health with a team of young environmental scientists who hunt for bugs in local streams. Recruiting begins soon
Snoqualmie River Farm – still known to some as Beyers Farm – sits along the Snoqualmie River in the heart of the Snoqualmie Valley’s farming community. When the Beyers family decided to sell the land, they wanted to ensure it stayed in agricultural production. King County purchased the site as part of the Farmland Preservation Program in 2019, and it includes 20 acres of rich farming land that are now available to beginning growers who have their sights set on commercial agriculture.Continue readingMore farmers on more farmland: SnoValley Tilth preparing growers for success at Snoqualmie River Farm
Right along the Duwamish River is a vibrant and resilient neighborhood named South Park, which is full of passionate, caring, and hardworking community members who are dedicated to creating a space for connecting and celebrating the gifts the neighborhood offers.Continue readingCultivate South Park: Expanding food access and food justice though neighborhood led projects
From Director True: Producing lasting results under extraordinary circumstances Protecting and restoring the natural environment in one of the fastest-growing metropolitan
Continue readingProducing lasting results under extraordinary circumstances
From scorching summertime heat to sustained seasonal flooding, climate change isn’t a theoretical exercise in King County: It’s real, and it’s happening now. King County is taking action to lessen the harmful impacts of climate change to people and our shared environment.Continue readingClimate actions: At home, at work, and everywhere in between, King County is delivering integrated solutions for a more resilient, sustainable, and equitable future
“I want to see small gardens all over the city,” says Victoria Plumage, coordinator at Sovereignty Farm. The farm launched this year with the goals of providing a space for Native American residents of King County to grow culturally significant foods and employing several members of the Chief Seattle Club as apprentices.Continue readingSovereignty Farm’s Victoria Plumage reflects on the project’s first year
As many farmers markets across King County wind down until next summer, the Local Food Initiative team wanted to share another way you can source fresh, local produce, and even have it delivered to your doorstep. We spoke with Chris Teeny, co-owner of Pacific Coast Harvest (PCH) and Farmstand Local Foods, about what these brands are doing to make it easy for individuals – and for larger customers such as restaurants – to support local growers.Continue readingPacific Coast Harvest and Farmstand Local Foods: Sending out and scaling up local food