“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.”
— Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness
Resilience Rising
Farming is humbling work. Being human is humbling work! There are a heap of essential questions that shape our lives and livelihood on this land…and that give rise to the projects and approaches we share below.
What does it mean to belong in a place? How does agriculture transform a landscape? How do we exist in nourishing inter-relationship with the human and wild communities around us? What historic and ongoing harms need understanding, accountability and repair? How can we support all of our community in being well-fed, more locally self-sufficient and resilient through the changes ahead? What other questions do we need to be asking?
We’ve been working for years with the WSU BREAD LAB to find ways to localize wholesome whole grain nutrition. We’ve also loved growing a connection with REVOLUTIONARY GRAINS, which is “amplifying the diverse voices of those who traditionally and ethically produce grain products, yet whose voices are often left out of the market narrative.”
NEIGHBOR LOAVES
The Neighbor Loaves initiative (launched by Artisan Grain Collaborative), is a food access project that "connects farmers, millers, bakers, and communities, and supports the regional grain value chain and community access to bread." We created a local version of Neighbor Loaves here in Jefferson County in 2020, to get nourishing whole grain bread to neighbors facing food insecurity or financial barriers. We believe everyone should be fed well and the Neighbor Loaves initiative gives community members an opportunity to share the love with loaves! Chimacum Valley Grainery continues to offer a Neighbor Loaves option at our webstore and you can learn more and participate HERE.
NATIVE LAND
Chimacum Valley Grainery recognizes that we live and farm on Native land inhabited by the many indigenous communities and nations of the Olympic Peninsula since Time Immemorial— and that immeasurable cultural and personal loss and cruelty resulted from the unjust and inhumane European colonization of these places. As recent settlers to Chimacum, we are committed to learning this history, understanding the ongoing impacts and acknowledging our responsibility to act with care, for repair. We are grateful for opportunities to grow relationships with local indigenous people, including local Native-led efforts for Longhouse for the People and the Chemakum families.
NOURISHING BELOVED COMMUNITY
Nourishing Beloved Community emerged from a growing commitment to practice interdependence and develop resilience among People of the Global Majority on the Olympic Peninsula in the state of Washington. The Grainery is inspired and energized by the NBC model and supplies bread and other goods as requested and available.
“Our mission is to use sustainable models for addressing food access and other forms of well-being while also building a socially and economically cohesive thriving community for the people of the global majority (PGM) in semi-rural Jefferson county. NBC has emerged from a growing commitment to practice interdependence and to develop resilience. It is inspired by the ongoing movement for racial justice and the lessons learned during the pandemic. We are experimenting with new forms of community and sustaining ourselves as we do.”
LEARN MORE AT: www.nourishingbelovedcommunity.com