Everyday things you can do to promote a strong and sustainable local food system*

Growing and Farming

  • Compost your kitchen waste and feed it to your garden
  • Plant a few seeds in your back yard or in a pot on the porch
  • Grow your own home vegetable garden
  • Join a nearby community garden
  • No community garden? Start one
  • Learn how to preserve your harvest and save seeds
  • Share cuttings, seeds and tubers with neighbors
  • Adopt a neglected tree and get permission to glean fruit from it
  • Plant another fruit tree or berry bush
  • Create a root cellar/food storage area at home
  • Borrow or rent a cider press for your extra apples
  • Help your kids plant their own vegetables
  • Convert your lawn to edible landscaping
  • Find a garden partner
  • Organize cooperative gardening and sharing
  • Share gardening tools like tillers, tractors, hoes, hoses and rakes
  • Plant an extra row for the local Food Bank
  • Buy heritage seeds from local sources
  • Start a neighborhood seed bank or contribute to one
  • Build a greenhouse with neighbors to help grow food year round
  • Get chickens for your backyard
  • Try worm bin composting; kids love it!
  • Learn about permaculture
  • Join the Quimper Community Harvest gleaning group
  • Be informed about the connections between climate change and food production methods
  • Volunteer at a local Food Bank or School Garden

Purchasing, Preparing, Preserving, and Sharing

  • Cook a meal made from local produce
  • Donate regularly or volunteer at your local food bank
  • Take home-grown food to a shut-in neighbor
  • Ask your favorite restaurant to try sourcing locally
  • Ask vendors to provide recipes for seasonal vegetables
  • Dry, can, sauce or freeze your own fruits and vegetables
  • Buy something organic from a local farmer
  • Visit you local farmer’s market and buy something new to try
  • Increase the portion of your food from local sources each week
  • Buy a food share or a cash-advance voucher from a local farm
  • Urge local grocery managers to provide more locally-grown produce
  • Ask your grocery store to “define” what they mean by local
  • Shop at food co-ops and country stores
  • Invite your neighbor to dinner
  • Make peace with eating seasonally
  • Buy a food share or a cash-advance voucher from a local farm CSA

Land Management and Public Policy

  • Become informed on the issue of GMOs
  • Support preservation of local farmland
  • Support policies that address the impacts of population growth
  • Grant a land trust conservation easement on your property
  • Urge your school board to include local produce in cafeterias
  • Encourage your school food service to maximize use of locally-sourced food
  • Urge your County Commissioners to support a Conservation Futures program
  • Actively participate in City and County Comprehensive Plan updates as they happen
  • Form or join a “slow money investment club” that supports local food
  • Lobby your farmers to sign a Safe Seed Pledge

* This list is in large part adapted from a pamphlet put out by the North Olympic Peninsula Local Food Access Network. Thank you L-FAN and WSU Clallam County Extension

Last updated:Tuesday, February 19, 2019