Food Resilience –

A New Chapter for Local Food Action 

For nearly two decades, Local 20/20’s Local Food Action Group has helped strengthen the connection between the people of Jefferson County and the food grown, produced, shared, and enjoyed here. Over the years, community members have helped launch community gardens, supported food-bank gardens and gleaning programs, promoted local farms, created educational programs, explored food-system issues, and developed resources that continue to serve our community today. Many of those early initiatives grew into independent programs and organizations of their own. 

A new chapter is currently evolving, including the several new Action Groups emerging to address specific issues while collaborating to get maximum results.

 The Work That Brought Us Here

In its initial incarnation as the Food Resiliency Action Group, the primary emphasis was the instigation, promotion and support of a network of neighborhood-base community gardens  incubated by Local 20/20 and launched as independently run gardens. By June 2009, there were over 20 such gardens in various stages of development. Most of these gardens are planted and harvested collectively, as opposed to the more common P-Patch model, where people have their own individual plots.  Local 20/20 maintains a list of these gardens as a community resource.The concept of collaborative gardening has been extended to the creation of several food bank gardens as well, which then spun off to form a separate non-profit, the Food Bank Growers organization. A related effort, the volunteer gleaning projects that help to put to use unharvested food that would otherwise be wasted, was housed under Local 20/20 for a while, and then moved to under the Food Bank Growers organization in 2022, as there were great synergies with that organization.  In the educational arena, this action group has produced workshops on worm bin composting and on pressure canning, and provides information about gardening on this website (check out the pages on gardening resources or garden options).

The success of these ventures to promote the growing of food eventually led to the concern that it could undermine our local farm industry by lowering demand for farm produce. At that point the group’s focus transitioned to the support of our local farms. A two-year surveying project was conducted for the purpose of educating ourselves and the public about how the farms and farmers were doing.

Another goal was to start and maintain broad community conversations about our food system, and why it is important to support our local farms. To this end, the group produced two film series, one specifically about GMO food, and the other about food issues associated with changes to agricultural practices over the past fifty years. Each film series was accompanied by discussion. Along the same lines, in 2009, a partner organization to Local 20/20, the Jefferson County Earth Institute, initiated 25 discussion courses from Portland’s NW Earth Institute called Menu for the Future. These six-week discussion courses each had at least one member who made their living from food (farming, fishing, cheese making…) to inform the conversation with input about the importance of supporting our local food entrepreneurs. The series is discussed in depth in a YouTube video. That same effort was repeated in early 2018, and it includes an extra chapter focused on climate and food developed by the Local 20/20 Climate Outreach group. In 2021, the Local Food action group of Local 20/20 promoted an Eat Local! campaign that was an effort of the Salish Sea Regional Transition Hub. We also maintain these webpages with various resources including a list of Local Farms, Farmstands and CSAs, recipes using seasonal ingredients for every month of the year, and ideas on garden options.

In the summer of 2026, an organic event happened when Together Around Food brought people together in Jefferson County for fifteen days of free whole-food, plant-based meals, education, and conversation. More than 3,500 meals were served, and the most important outcome was what happened around the tables.   People connected, learned, questioned, and began imagining what a healthier and more resilient local food system could look like. A growing group of community members now meet the 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month, building on that experience, connecting the resources in our community involved in food resilience and sharing amazing healthy food.  For more information (Link to page with TAF Logo). Email to tafjc@l2020.org.

FEED Jefferson County Map, a project of the Community Wellness project, is a community resource that provides locations and information of School Gardens,Community Gardens, Food Bank Gardens, Farms, and Educational Sources to learn how to start your own plot.

Join the Next Chapter

The Local Food Action Group is active again—and there is a place for you at the table.

We are bringing together people interested in food, health, farming, cooking, education, community resilience, environmental stewardship, and simply getting to know their neighbors.

You don’t need to be vegan, a farmer, a nutrition expert, or a food-system professional. Curiosity is enough.

Current activities include community meals and potlucks, whole-food plant-based cooking demonstrations, seasonal recipes, films and educational programs, conversations about personal and planetary health, and opportunities to support and connect with the many organizations already strengthening Jefferson County’s food system.

Come eat. Come learn. Come teach. Come volunteer. Come meet your neighbors.

For information about upcoming gatherings, volunteering, partnerships, or getting involved: TAFJC@Local2020.org