Nue-ne-pueh Mehl Kee Tey-nem’mo-nee ‘Oohl

(Comida para el pueblo)

de Taylor Thompson | fotografías de Louisa McCovey

Cocción de salmón al estilo tradicional en palitos de secuoya / crédito de la foto: Louisa McCovey

El pueblo Yurok ha permanecido existiendo sobre la  parte inferior del río Klamath y las aldeas que se encuentran a lo largo de la costa del Pacífico desde Noohl Hee-Kon (tiempo inmemorable). La tribu Yurok es la tribu indígena mas grande de California reconocida a nivel federal, con más de 6.290 miembros. La gente del pueblo Yurok continúa residiendo en aldeas y comunidades a lo largo del Territorio Ancestral, incluidas algunas partes de los condados  del Norte y Humboldt, y se extiende mucho más allá de los límites actuales de la Reserva India Yurok.

El borde costero del Territorio Ancestral Yurok se extiende desde la cuenca de drenaje del río Little en su frontera sur, incluyendo Trinidad y Orick, hasta Damnation Creek en el norte. El territorio se extiende a lo largo del río Klamath a través de la cuenca de drenaje de Bluff Creek, incluye una parte del río Trinity y secciones del Parque Nacional y Estatal Redwood y el Bosque Nacional Six Rivers.

Hoy en día, la Reserva India Yurok forma parte de tierras a una milla por cada lado de las 46 millas del río Klamat,  justo por encima de la confluencia del río Trinity en Weitchpec hasta la desembocadura del río en el Océano Pacífico, abarcando más de 55,000 hectáreas.

La gente de Yurok es conocida como buenos pescadores,  cazadores, tejedores de cestas, fabricantes de canoas, narradores de historias, cantantes, bailarines, curanderos y persona medicina . La gente del pueblo Yurok siempre ha confiado en las múltiples ofertas alimenticias  que ofrece el río Klamath, la costa del Pacífico y algunas áreas de su interior. Algunos ejemplos incluyen ney-puy (salmón), kaa-ka (esturión), kwor-ror (pez vela), pee-ee (mejillones), chey-gel ‘(algas), woo-mehl (bellotas), puuek (ciervos) , mey-weehl (alce), ley-chehl (bayas) y wey-yok-seep (tés).

Desde la llegada de los Europeos Americanos, en el pueblo Yurok su sistema alimentario tradicionales se han resentido. Los efectos del intento de genocidio, el cambio climático global, los sistemas agrícolas suplantados, y las prácticas tradicionales de gestión de la tierra fuera de regulación, la sobrepesca por parte de colonos no indígenas, la mala gestión de la naturaleza, la construcción de represas en canales fluviales y muchos otros problemas están teniendo efectos reales en la capacidad del pueblo Yurok para acceder a sus alimentos tradicionales. El USDA ha declarado la Reserva India Yurok como un desierto alimenticio, los residentes del pueblo tienen que conducir más de una hora para llegar al supermercado más cercano. Aquellos que no tienen un vehículo, tienen que buscar alguien que les haga las compras, dependen del sistema de transporte público local, a menudo impredecible, donde el viaje puede tomar un día entero.

Uno de los muchos enfoques para restaurar el acceso a los alimentos tradicionales es abordar la inseguridad alimentaria dentro de la Reserva, la Tribu Yurok creó la División de Soberanía Alimentaria, una subsección del Programa Ambiental de la Tribu Yurok. Aunque la División de Soberanía Alimentaria había estado en desarrollo durante un tiempo, en el momento de la pandemia de COVID-19, se expuso la fragilidad de los sistemas alimentarios, fueron aún mas claras las necesidad de un programa de alimentos centralizado dentro de la Tribu Yurok. Fundada oficialmente en agosto de 2020, la División de Soberanía Alimentaria ha establecido un objetivo general de lograr la soberanía alimentaria de la tribu Yurok. Para esta meta, la soberanía alimentaria del pueblo Yurok tienen necesidades alimentarias, tanto en el sentido nutricional como cultural, satisfacer a un nivel en el que se pueda prosperar sin depender de sistemas alimentarios externos.

Para restaurar la soberanía alimentaria en su totalidad de la tribu Yurok, la División de la Soberanía Alimentaria está trabajando para crear un sistema alimentario holístico mediante el desarrollo de aldeas alimentarias, llamadas Nue-ne-pueh Mehl Kee Tey-nem’mo-nee ‘Oohl (Alimentos para el Personas), en toda la Reserva y eventualmente en todo el Territorio Ancestral. Completamente actualizado, cada Nue-ne-pueh Mehl Kee Tey-nem’mo-nee ‘Oohl incluirá un edificio inspirado en las casas tradicionales del pueblo Yurok que proporcionará a la comunidad local y a los empleados de Soberanía Alimentaria un espacio para la enseñanza y el aprendizaje, preservación, procesamiento y técnicas de cocción para alimentos tradicionales. Tendrán espacios en jardínes, invernaderos y estructuras que permitirán que los miembros de la comunidad aprendan sobre la producción de alimentos en el lugar. Nue-ne-pueh Mehl Kee Tey-nem’mo-nee ‘Oohl incorporará agricultura regenerativa, energías renovables  y prácticas tradicionales de gestión de la tierra Yurok, incluidos la tradicional roza y quema.

Aunque hay mucho más trabajo por hacer para crear los primeros tres Nue-ne-pueh Mehl Kee Tey-nem’mo-nee ‘Oohl dentro de la Reserva, el proyecto ha recibido un respaldo significativo de la comunidad, el Consejo Tribal Yurok y fundadoreres de las regiones circundantes para  comenzar el desarrollo del proyecto.

La tribu Yurok recientemente compró una propiedad adyacente a la escuela primaria en Klamath que será el sitio de Nue-ne-pueh Mehl Kee Tey-nem’mo-nee ‘Oohl para esa comunidad. Se ha obtenido financiamiento externo para el personal que trabajará ahí y para comenzar a crear su espacio de producción de alimentos; el componente del jardín se llamará “O goo-hehl (jardín).

Aunque las asociaciones actuales con otros grupos centrados en programas alimentarios comunitarios ayudarán a desarrollar los componentes de producción de alimentos de los tres sitios planificados, existe la necesidad de apoyo adicionales, ya que el objetivo de la soberanía alimentaria requerirá esfuerzos significativos alrededor de la producción, procesamiento y distribución de alimentos. .

Más allá de establecer y expandir la producción de alimentos en los tres sitios Nue-ne-pueh Mehl Kee Tey-nem’mo-nee ‘Oohl, la División de Soberanía Alimentaria está trabajando para obtener fondos para la creación de estos edificios centralizados de forma tradicional. Los edificios permitirán la expansión de nuestra capacidad educativa actual, de la granja a la escuela y brindarán espacio para que la gente del pueblo Yurok aprenda la producción, conservación, procesamiento y cómo cocinar los alimentos tradicionales y contemporáneos, que ayudarán a fomentar la comunicación de conocimientos y tradiciones que han existido por generaciones y  que aumentarán la capacidad de la Tribu para autosustentarse.

Sopa de bellotas preparada tradicionalmente; cesta y cuchara hechos por Deborah McConnell / crédito de la foto: Louisa McCovey

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Taylor Thompson (el) Gerente de la División de Soberanía Alimentaria del Programa Ambiental de la Tribu Yurok.

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Louisa McCovey (ella) es la Directora del Programa Ambiental de la Tribu Yurok.

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Desarraigar el racismo: sembrar la soberanía

Nuestro sistema alimentario  se ha construido sobre tierras robadas y explotación de mano de obra.  

por Leah Penniman, Soul Fire Farms; reimpreso con permiso de Soul Fire Farm y Food Solutions New England

El racismo está insertado en el ADN del sistema alimentario de los Estados Unidos. Comenzó con el robo genocida de tierras de personas de las Primeras Naciones y continuó con el secuestro de nuestros ancestros​​en las costas de África occidental. Bajo la brutalidad del látigo y la ruptura de las familias, los africanos esclavizados cultivaron el tabaco y el algodón que enriquecieron a Estados Unidos.

Pero esta historia no se termina con la Proclamación de Emancipación. Más tarde comenzó la renta de convictos, una forma de legalizar la esclavitud, y que mantuvo a muchos esclavos del sur en las plantaciones, en algunos lugares hasta finales de 1920. Décadas después, el Congreso creó el programa para trabajadores huéspedes migrantes agricultores de México y otros países para trabajar en los campos con bajos salarios.

Todas estas historias han ayudado a producir el racismo que veo el día de hoy en mi trabajo como agricultor y activista en torno a la justicia alimentaria. Dirigir una granja es una de las profesiones mas blancas, mientras que las labores del campo predomina lo moreno y explotación. Mientras las personas de color tienen que sufrir problemas relacionados con la dieta como la diabetes, la obesidad, y vivir  apartados de la posibilidad de adquirir alimentos sanos en veciendarios donde predominta la comida rápida y tienditas de la esquina que carecen de alimentos nutritivos. Algunos autores mencionan estas áreas como desiertos de alimentos, yo prefiero llamarlos áreas apartadas de alimentos, porque se basa en un sistema de segregación humana sin considerar su naturaleza.

Nuestro sistema alimentario necesita un rediseño que nos alimente sin perpetuar el racismo y la opresión, nuestras madres entrelazaron en sus cabellos semillas de arroz y ocra pensando en una futura cosecha frente a la realidad brutal de abordar barcos de esclavos, menteniendo el coraje y la esperanza en tiempos tan oscuros.

Así como nuestras madres ancestrales trenzaron semillas de arroz y quimbombó en su cabello antes de abordar barcos de esclavos, creyendo en un futuro de cosecha frente a la brutalidad, así debemos mantener el coraje y la esperanza en estos tiempos aterradores.

Nos dirigimos hacia un sistema alimentario justo, abandonando la mentalidad racista y colonizadora. Las comunidades que se encuentran enfrentando esta problemática son principalente negros y latinos, así como gente indrígena, refugiados e inmigrantes, y son criminalizados por un sistema penal. Necesitamos escuchar antes de hablar, siguiendo la línea de los problemas que nos afectan actualmente. Aquí hay tres cosas que nos piden los granjeros negros, indígenas  y gente de color.

UNO. JUSTICIA AGRÍCOLA

Más de  tres cuartos de nuestros alimentos son cultivados por trabajadores nacidos en el extranjero, predominantemente latinos o hispanos. Sin embargo, los trabajadores de las granjas son excluidos de muchos derechos laborales basados en la Ley Nacional de Relaciones Laborales (NLRA) y la Ley de Normas Laborales Justas (FLSA), negociando derechos colectivamente, tomando en cuenta límitar horas extras, restringir el trabajo infantil y una compensación para asegurarse durante el trabajo. Muchos trabajadores agrícolas reciben salarios basados ​​en “tarifa por pieza”, p. Ej. 85 centavos por caja de naranjas de 90 libras. Bajo estas prácticas los trabajadores agrícolas son mal pagados, un tercio de los trabajodores agrícolas obtienen menos que el salario mínimo .  Grandes corporaciones ahora controlan el 50% de la producción alimentaria en este país y  presionan para mantener la mano de obra agrícola barata.

¿Qué podemos hacer? Apoyar la Ley de Equidad para los Trabajadores Agrícolas del 2019. Las personas que alimentan a nuestras familias merecen protección total bajo la NLRA y la FLSA, incluido el salario digno, vivienda y transporte seguros, descansos, pago de horas extras, compensación de trabajadores y seguro de desempleo, protección contra la exposición a pesticidas y el derecho a negociar colectivamente.

DOS. REDISTRIBUCIÓN DE TIERRAS Y RECURSOS

Los colonizadores europeos se apoderaron de 1.500 millones de acres de tierra de los nativos americanos y las Naciones Unidas dicen que Estados Unidos debería devolverlos. Los afroamericanos también son víctimas del abuso en el acaparamiento de tierras. En 1920, el 14% de todos los agricultores estadounidenses propietarios de tierras eran negros y hoy menos del 2% de las granjas están controladas por negros, una pérdida de más de 14 millones de acres. En 1982, la Comisión de Derechos Civiles de los Estados Unidos determinó que la discriminación del Departamento de Agricultura de los Estados Unidos (USDA) fue la razón principal por la que los granjeros negros fueron despojados de sus tierras. Las crecientes discrepancias entre los blancos y los negros sobre pertenecer la tierra en este país reflejan la creciente brecha de riqueza, aumentando 8: 1 en 2010 a 13: 1 en 2013. Ralph Paige, de la Federación de Cooperativas del Sur, expresó simplemente: “La Tierra es la única riqueza real en este país y si no poseemos ninguna, estaremos fuera de escena “.

¿Qué podemos hacer? Contribuir al trabajo de fideicomiso de tierras liderado por BIPOC de la Alianza Nacional Negra por la Justicia y la Comida, la Red de Agricultores Orgánicos Afroamericanos del Sureste y el Fideicomiso de Tierras de los Agricultores del Noreste de Color. Apoyar a los agricultores negros, de color e indígeneas, comprando sus productos y ofreciendo su tiempo como voluntario.

TRES. ACCESO A LOS ALIMENTOS DIGNOS

Aproximadamente 50 millones de estadounidenses padecen inseguridad alimentaria, y la mitad de esas personas viven en desiertos alimentarios, donde es difícil o imposible acceder a alimentos saludables y asequibles. Esta tendencia no es neutral desde el punto de vista racial. Los vecindarios blancos tienen un promedio de cuatro veces más supermercados que las comunidades predominantemente negras. Esta falta de acceso a alimentos digna tiene consecuencias terribles para nuestras comunidades. La incidencia de diabetes, obesidad y enfermedades cardíacas está aumentando en todas las poblaciones, pero los mayores aumentos se han producido entre las personas de color, especialmente las personas negras e indígenas. Estas enfermedades son alimentadas por dietas ricas en grasas como el colesterol y azúcares refinados, y bajas en frutas frescas, verduras y legumbres. En nuestras comunidades, los niños se han críado con alimentos procesados, y ahora más de un tercio de los niños tienen sobrepeso o son obesos, con un aumento de cuatro veces en los últimos 30 años. Esto pone en riesgo la próxima generación con la probabilidad de padecer enfermedades crónicas de por vida, incluidos varios tipos de cáncer.

¿Qué podemos hacer? La comida sana es un derecho humano básico, no un privilegio reservado para los ricos. Para honrar este derecho, debemos resistir todos y cada uno de los intentos de desintegrar el Programa de Asistencia Nutricional Suplementaria (SNAP).

Para obtener una lista completa de los pasos a seguir hacia un sistema alimentario justo y equitativo, consulte la plataforma de Soul Fire Farm. También puede unirse al reto de construir hábitos de equidad racial en  Food Solutions New England’s 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge.

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Leah Penniman es agricultora, educadora, administradora de suelos y activista por la justicia alimentaria. Es codirectora y gerente de programas de Soul Fire Farm en Grafton, Nueva York, y autora de Farming While Black: Guía práctica para la liberación de la tierra.
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Meeting Needs & Shifting Culture

At Cooperation Humboldt, we believe that access to nutritious and culturally appropriate food is a fundamental human right.

by Tamara McFarland, Cooperation Humboldt

At Cooperation Humboldt, we believe that access to nutritious and culturally appropriate food is a basic human right, and must not be denied to anyone regardless of income level.

We’re working to return this region to a regenerative and life-sustaining food forest capable of supporting every resident with the food that they need for a healthy and active life.

Our Food Sovereignty projects have been developed through a strategic process of exploring goals, strategies, and tactics. We’ve carefully evaluated what services already exist in our community and focused on creating new and innovative projects. Our work meets tangible needs while empowering residents with new tools and skills and strengthening community connections.

We aim to address hunger not through charity but rather by providing folks with the information and materials they need to meet more of their own needs – and the needs of their communities – while reducing (and ultimately eliminating) reliance on the highly destructive industrialized/globalized food system.

LITTLE FREE PANTRIES

Our first food project focused on establishing Little Free Pantries as neighborhood hubs for resource sharing and relationship building. We’ve installed 25 Pantries in the greater Humboldt Bay area. They operate similarly to the more well-known Little Free Libraries – anyone can donate nonperishable food or personal care items, and anyone can take what they need, 24 hours a day. These little blue boxes have been embraced wholeheartedly by community members, with each receiving daily use.

LAWN CONVERSIONS

Our volunteers have also helped to convert about 20 front lawns into productive gardens featuring food plants as well as natives and pollinator plants. Like our Pantries, these lawn conversions are aimed at shifting the way food is viewed in communities – as an asset that we can collectively grow and share, rather than just a commodity to be bought and sold.

COMMUNITY FRUIT TREES

For the past three years, we’ve offered free fruit trees to community members and organizations willing to make the fruit available to anyone who wants some. We expect to complete planting our 230th fruit tree by April 2021.

MINI GARDENS

In Spring 2020, as the pandemic struck, we realized the need to get food resources to those who needed them the most. This led to the launch of our Mini Gardens project, and within six months we had delivered and installed 260 complete small garden setups to low-income residents. This not only provides food in the short term – it also empowers participants to grow more of their own food well into the future.

ARCATA COMMUNITY GARDEN

In partnership with Centro del Pueblo, Open Door Community Health Centers, and the Arcata Presbyterian Church, Cooperation Humboldt is now managing the community garden on the corner of 11th and F Streets in Arcata. The garden is filled with edible perennials, annuals, herbs and native plants, all cultivated as a sanctuary and community resource for underserved residents. We strive to create a space of learning, empowerment, nutrition, and regeneration.

EDUCATION

We provide educational resources relating to growing food including videos, in-person workshops and garden tours, printed materials, and more.

COMMUNITY FOOD GUIDE

The magazine you’re reading now has recently become part of Cooperation Humboldt’s Food Sovereignty program. When a new publisher was needed, we stepped forward because we knew what an important resource this Guide is for our local community, and we saw great potential for increasing its value even further. We hope you enjoy what you learn here, and we invite you to connect with us to create a community where food is understood to be a human right.

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Tamara McFarland (she/her) is a lifelong resident of Wiyot territory and a mother to two kids. She serves as Board Treasurer and Food Team Anchor for Cooperation Humboldt.
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Satisfacer las necesidades y cambiar la cultura

En Cooperación Humboldt, creemos que el acceso a alimentos nutritivos y culturalmente apropiados es un derecho humano fundamental.

por Tamara McFarland, Cooperation Humboldt

En Cooperación Humboldt, creemos que el acceso a alimentos nutritivos y culturalmente apropiados es un derecho humano básico, y no se debe negar a nadie, independientemente de su nivel económico.

Estamos trabajando para devolver a este territorio la regeneración  de una vida sustentable con alimentos en un bosque, capaz de sostener a cada uno de los residentes con comida que ellos necesitan para su bienestar y sus actividades diarias.

Nuestros proyectos de soberanía alimentaria se ha desarrollado estratégicamente, explorando nuestras metas, estrategias y tácticas. Hemos evaluado cuidadosamente los servicios que ya existen en nuestra comunidad y nos hemos centrado en crear proyectos nuevos e innovadores. Nuestro trabajo satisface necesidades tangibles al tiempo que capacita a los residentes con nuevas herramientas y habilidades,  fortaleciendo la participación de la comunidad.

Nuestro objetivo es abordar el hambre no a través de la caridad, sino más bien proporcionando a las personas la información y los materiales que necesitan para satisfacer sus propias necesidades, y las necesidades de sus comunidades, al tiempo que reducimos (y finalmente eliminamos) la dependencia de los industrializados / globalizados altamente destructivos sistema alimentario.

Pequeñas Bodegas de despensas gratuitas

Nuestro primer proyecto de alimentos se centró en establecer Little Free Pantries (Pequeñas Bodegas de despensas gratuitas) como centros en vecindarios para compartir recursos y construir vínculos. Hemos instalado 25 despensas en el área metropolitana de Humboldt Bay. Operan de manera similar a las librerías abiertas, cualquiera puede donar alimentos no perecederos o artículos de cuidado personal, y cualquiera puede tomar lo que necesite, las 24 horas del día. Estas pequeñas cajas azules han sido acogidas con entusiasmo por los miembros de la comunidad, y cada una de ellas recibe un uso diario.

Sustituyendo los jardines de ornato

Nuestros voluntarios también han ayudado a convertir alrededor de 20 jardínes delanteros en huertos productivos con plantas comestibles, así como plantas nativas y polinizadoras. Al igual que nuestras despensas, la sustitución del jardín ornamental, tienen como objetivo cambiar el concepto de los alimentos en las comunidades, como un beneficio al poder cultivar y compartir colectivamente, en lugar de solo comprar y vender cómodamente nuestros alimentos.

Árboles frutales comunitarios

Durante los últimos tres años, hemos ofrecido árboles frutales gratis a miembros de la comunidad y organizaciones que deseen poner la fruta a disposición de cualquiera que quiera. Esperamos plantar 230 árboles frutales para abril del 2021.

Mini Jardines

En Primavera del 2020, cuando estalló la pandemia, nos dimos cuenta de la necesidad de llevar los recursos alimentarios a quienes más los necesitaban. Por ello comenzamos nuestro proyecto Mini Gardens, y en seis meses habíamos entregado e instalado 260 jardines pequeños para residentes de bajos ingresos. Con este programa se podrán proporcionar alimentos a corto plazo, y también permite a la comunidad cultivar más alimentos en un futuro.

Siembra comunitaria

En asociación con Centro del Pueblo, Open Door Community Health Centers y la Iglesia Presbiteriana de Arcata, Cooperation Humboldt ahora administra el jardín comunitario en la esquina de las calles 11 y F en Arcata. El jardín está lleno de plantas perennes comestibles, anuales, hierbas y plantas nativas, todas cultivadas como un santuario y recurso comunitario para los residentes desatendidos. Nos esforzamos por crear un espacio de aprendizaje, empoderamiento, nutrición y regeneración.

Educación

Brindamos recursos educativos relacionados con el cultivo de alimentos, incluidos videos, talleres personales y recorridos entre los jardín, materiales impresos y más.

Guía de comida comunitaria

La revista que está leyendo ahora se ha convertido recientemente en parte del programa de Soberanía Alimentaria por Cooperación Humboldt. Cuando se necesitaba un nuevo editor, dimos un paso adelante porque sabíamos lo importante que es esta Guía para nuestra comunidad local, sabiendo su gran potencial. Esperamos que disfrutes de la información que se puede aprender aquí y te invitamos a que te comuniques con nosotros para crear una comunidad donde la alimentación sea un derecho humano.

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Tamara McFarland (ella) es residente del territorio Wiyot y madre de dos hijos. Se desempeña como Tesorera de la Junta y Representante del Equipo de Alimentos para Cooperación Humboldt.

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What’s in a Social Justice Diet?

You can make whatever diet you’re currently eating even healthier.

by Ray Levy-Uyeda; reprinted with permission from Yes! Magazine

Photo credit: North Coast Growers’ Association

Billions of dollars are spent telling individuals how to eat healthy. But even if you follow EAT-Lancet’s planet-friendly diet to a T, and your dinner plate is filled with gluten-free nutrivore fare, vegan locavore leafy greens, and ovo-pescatarian (wild caught!) omega-3’s, it still might be missing something. America’s industrialized food production and the dire nature of our planetary health raise the question: How do we add climate and social justice to our diet?

This year, members of the federal Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee will convene to update their recommendations. But this effort to help guide Americans toward a “balanced” diet is also the product of lobbying by the dairy, grain, and meat industries, which have long been accused of pursuing dollars at the expense of health.

Considering the impact of environmental racism and the number of food deserts in the United States, it’s clear that food production and consumption are not just about personal decisions. It’s about politics and systems that determine who has healthy grocery options available and who does not. Existing guidelines not only ignore the needs of the climate and rely on intensive factory farming practices, but they assign blame for poor bodily health and quality of life based on “choices” that, for many people, simply do not exist.

What would it look like to be able to eat with justice—social, racial, economic, and climate—in mind?

HONOR TRIBAL TREATIES & FOOD SYSTEMS

Before we talk about eating, we have to talk about the land on which our food is grown. In contrast to the American colonial prioritization of extracting resources from the ground, rivers, and oceans, Indigenous food systems are built on a relationship with the land. But when Native peoples were forced to leave their lands—along with their soils and place-based expertise—they were robbed of the healthy diets they had developed over generations.

Genocide, forced assimilation, creation of reservation territories, and continuance of anti-Native policies have dispossessed Native people of two kinds of wealth: the ability to truly self-govern and manage their land, and the ability to build capital, which would enable individuals to make choices about how to live a healthy lifestyle.

“What we’ve noticed, and what I’ve aimed to do, is promote the simple enrichment of diets through our traditional foods, because we know that eating just one traditional food meal a week changes the blood,” says Valerie Segrest, a member of the Muckleshoot tribe and a director with the Native American Agriculture Fund. According to a 2019 U.N. report, Indigenous peoples steward 80 percent of the world’s biodiversity—plant and animal species that are essential to climate health.

But the U.S. government has an abysmal record of breaching treaties made with Native governments. And by replacing Native food systems with industrialized versions, Segrest says the U.S. harms the land and public health simultaneously. Native leaders, U.S. scientists, and public health officials say that chronic diseases, including diabetes, didn’t exist in Native communities until the mid-20th century. Now, Native people have the highest rate of diabetes of any racial and ethnic group in the U.S.
Segrest has worked with all of the tribes in Washington state to teach the importance of traditional ingredients and says that Native foods are the remedy to this health crisis: “What’s good for an Indian is good for everybody.”

GROW KNOWLEDGE & ANTI-RACIST PRACTICES

Ayanna Jones is a Black farmer, educator, and community organizer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She lives in a majority-Black community, which runs up against a number of institutionalized racist practices. “Food justice is huge for us,” Jones says, detailing how her community’s food options are limited to local grocery stores that often sell low-quality or spoiled produce.
Stores offering higher quality and healthier options are intentionally located in the wealthy White communities, where customers are thought to be more interested in and able to pay for them. For those who can afford to travel to these neighborhoods to shop, their dollars end up leaving their own communities.

With this in mind, Jones says she began to think about what it would look like to grow her own food, to become self-sufficient. She wanted to find a way to show young people in the community that their bodies were worthy of food that is not rotten or laden with sugar and salt.

In 2015, Jones started the Sankofa Village Community Garden to provide anti-food-apartheid education and community programs, including gardening for seniors and summer camps for youth. Here she teaches young people how to produce their own food and how their bodies feel when they eat food that’s good for them.

“I give them that mental food,” Jones says. “They’re discovering the myths they’ve been given about food and food justice.” But even when one learns that sugar-filled cereal won’t sustain a child throughout the school day, if parents aren’t paid a wage that allows them to purchase healthier options, it’s difficult to turn knowledge into action. Still, Jones believes that “information is power”—that knowing is better than not knowing. “I’m growing to educate,” she says.

SHIFT FOOD POLICY BY BUYING REGIONALLY

In nearly every corner of the country, it’s cheaper to purchase a liter of soda than it is to buy a head of broccoli; a 2013 study found that a “healthy” diet cost $550 more per person per year than an “unhealthy” one. For a family of four, that’s an extra $2,200 each year. “The system is set up to feed poor people more poorly,” says fifth-generation farmer Andy Dunham, who runs an organic vegetable operation in Grinnell, Iowa. “The only reason that soda is so cheap [is because] the United States government subsidizes the hell out of those crops: sugar cane and corn.” Billions of federal dollars are disbursed annually growing Big-Ag products: corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, and rice, and to industries like big beef and big pork rather than small family farmers.

“I don’t think people have any idea about how much we spend on policy that [is] environmentally degrading,” Dunham says. To combat today’s industrial production, he calls for establishing ecologically diverse farming systems and a managed grazing system that allows soil to sequester carbon. And empowering people to know the difference. If consumers and voters understand the environmental implications of what they’re purchasing and which businesses they’re supporting through their consumption, then food policy at the federal level might look different. “Having a food literate society allows for policy to be sane,” he says.

In terms of what that translates to on the plate, Dunham says climate justice eating is about having a region-based diet. That doesn’t always mean picking plants over meat; it means taking into consideration where your food was raised and what kinds of energy, chemicals, and transport went into that process. You may need to change your approach to menu planning to reflect what’s in season, rather than relying on production somewhere that’s enjoying summer during your winter. This approach supports local farmers and keeps the carbon footprint of your food relatively low.

SUPPORT COMMUNITY-RUN COLLECTIVES

All forms of structural inequalities are made visible in the industrialized food system—from production to consumption, says Victor Brazelton, a community activist and educator with Planting Justice, an Oakland, California-based grassroots organization that works to cultivate food sovereignty, economic justice, and community healing through individual and communal empowerment. Planting Justice hires organizers, farmers, and activists who were formerly incarcerated. Part of its work is to combat current-day colonization and community displacement by building access to organic food through community gardens and educating kids about what healthy food looks and tastes like. “Food is medicine,” Brazelton says. Sustainable farming practices heal people and the planet.

“Community first starts wherever you are,” Brazelton adds, which includes acknowledging and collaborating with the people who originally stewarded the land. In the East Bay of California, the state government forced Ohlone tribes from their land through violence, but despite this, they still live and practice Ohlone culture today in what’s now called Oakland. Planting Justice developed a partnership with the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, which works to repossess stolen Ohlone land. Planting Justice is currently working to pay off a 2-acre land parcel, and when it does, it will hand the deed over to the Land Trust.

“What’s really important is people having agency over their food,” says Molly Scalise of FRESHFARM, a D.C.-based food justice organization. FRESHFARM brings healthy food directly to communities through farmers markets, in-school programs, and gleaning programs, which distribute unsold produce to shelters. The organization also runs a farm-share through local schools, where parents can purchase produce at a subsidized rate using SNAP benefits. Scalise says this is necessarily a collaborative effort with D.C. residents to make sure it’s “not invasive or intrusive.” She says solutions arise from working with neighbors and communities.
The goal is making options more accessible to consumers in order to impact community health while ensuring that local farms remain profitable.

DEVELOP RELATIONSHIP-ORIENTED FOOD SYSTEMS

How can we begin to talk about justice when those most impacted have the least access to decision-making tools and systems? That question is at the center of Jamie Harvie’s work. Harvie is the executive director of the Institute for a Sustainable Future, which works to build solutions for ecological health through advocacy and research. A food justice diet, he says, must mitigate climate impact, reduce poverty, and ensure that decision-making processes include those most impacted.

Ultimately, Harvie says, what’s good for the climate will be good for people too. But White, Western, colonial systems have conditioned many of us out of the understanding that food systems and communal health are connected.

Food justice must return systems to communities, Harvie explains. Organizations like Oregon Rural Action tackle food injustice from a farming and policy perspective, by working to change state laws that allow farmers to sell directly to consumers, as well as collaborating with the state’s Department of Energy to provide low-interest loans to schools upgrading their energy systems, and building access to local farmers markets. Local food systems that are communally owned and operated allow for communal wealth creation. This means that food is not only eaten in the same region where it is produced, but the financial and public health benefits uplift the community as well.

Tying together food and climate justice isn’t an intellectual exercise, Harvie notes. Justice work, in any form, is about creating and sustaining relationships with one another, including the relationships with the Earth and our food systems. We have to do the hard work of moving from a transactional, colonial, and capitalist model of feeding ourselves to a relational model of feeding and caring for each other.

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Ray Levy-Uyeda is a Bay Area-based freelance writer who focuses on gender, politics, and activism.
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autor de la foto: North Coast Growers’ Association

¡Bienvenid@s!

El trabajo para crear esta publicación se llevó incesantemente a cabo en el territorio Wiyot. Somos afortunados de vivir, trabajar, jugar y crecer en este lugar, rodeados de belleza y abundancia, agradecidos con los habitantes originales de esta tierra por su guía, tenacidad y generosidad.

Querid@ lector@,

En nombre de las docenas de personas locales que colaboraron para dar vida a esta edición, ¡bienvenid@s a la Guía de alimentos de la Comunidad 2021!

La revista que tienes en tus manos presenta recientemente algunos cambios. Después de cuatro años de existencia como Local Food Guide de Locally Delicious, Cooperación Humboldt ha asumido con entusiasmo la publicación de la Guía.

Naturalmente, en Cooperación Humboldt creemos que el acceso a alimentos nutritivos y culturalmente apropiados son derecho humano fundamental que nunca debe depender de un estatus económico o de los ingresos.

Trabajamos arduamente para crear una revista que promueva el acceso, la equidad, la educación y el empoderamiento en nuestro sistema alimentario local a través de las siguientes prioridades:

• Honrar la historia, el conocimiento cultural y las experiencias de los pueblos indígenas locales , centrando sus voces.
• Crear una herramienta atractiva, accesible y útil, que pueda apoyar específicamente a los más necesitados.
• Apoyar a las empresas de alimentos locales, especialmente aquellas que históricamente han enfrentado desafíos para acceder a los recursos, incluidos aquellos que pertenecen y son operados por BIPOC y personas LGBTQ +.
• Promover la justicia y la localización de nuestro sistema alimentario.

Hemos aprendido mucho durante este primer año del proceso de publicación y estamos agradecidos por toda la paciencia y el apoyo que recibimos.

Esperamos que disfrute de la Guía, la compartan y nos hagan saber cómo la han utilizado apoyando la soberanía alimentaria local.

Hou ’(gracias),

Tamara McFarland

Editor;  Representante del Equipo de Alimentos

para Cooperación Humboldt

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Pathways to Healing

How herbal medicines – and the foods we eat – empower us to heal ourselves & our communities.

by Holly Hilgenberg, Cooperation Humboldt

Our current healthcare system with its dependence on for-profit health insurance has left millions of us with inadequate coverage, or no coverage at all. This expensive and unequal system has contributed to bankruptcy, homelessness, preventable disease and death.

As many among us work to create a better alternative – one that provides high-quality, cost-effective health care for all – a hunger for solutions that can be enacted at the personal and community level has also grown.

More and more of us have become aware of the relationship between what we eat and our overall health, and a growing awareness of herbal medicine has taken root. Locally, we are fortunate to have many individuals, organizations, and businesses working to provide us with locally grown health-enhancing foods and herbal medicines.

Isis Walls and Jacob Ferdman, Five Finger Farms / photo credit: Five Finger Farms

From Farm to Tincture: Five Finger Farms

For Isis Walls and Jacob Ferdman of Five Finger Farms, growing medicinal plants is about remembering our relationship with nature, and sharing it with others. They started their farm as “a way to connect with the seasons and rhythms of nature, and share those connections with our community.” Despite the increase in popularity of herbal medicine, Isis and Jacob noticed that many of the herbs in their favorite products were imported. This spurred their goal to provide individuals and herbal product makers with affordable, locally grown medicinal herbs.

Five Finger Farms began as a quarter-acre space in 2018, growing quickly to their current location, where they farm on nine acres in the Eel River delta. The duo was able to rent the land and buy the necessary supplies thanks to funds raised through Kickstarter, and they acknowledge how important community support has been from the beginning. “We are so thankful for those who gave us the space to farm,” they said, noting that, “the hardest part of farming is getting started, and it seems almost impossible to do so without the support of friends, family and the broader community.”

The farm grows crops such as calendula, chamomile, ashwagandha, lemon balm, marshmallow root, yarrow, Tulsi basil and milky oats, which they offer dried, fresh, tinctured, infused in oil or distilled. They are currently working on expanding these offerings by developing non-alcoholic extracts such as oxymel (made with vinegar and honey), with the aim of making herbal medicine more accessible and palatable for everyone.

Isis and Jacob are excited to see more folks studying healing traditions including Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda and many Indigenous practices. They hope this recognition of herbal medicine’s diverse history will be a step toward building a better world. “We believe that the thoughtful sharing of knowledge and wisdom of our collective relationship with plants can bring people together to heal ourselves and the planet.”

Nicole Gagliano, Wild & Wise Herbal CSA / photo credit: Wild & Wise

Community Supported Year Round: Wild & Wise

Nicole Gagliano of Wild and Wise Herbal CSA also sees herbal medicine as a key component to healing and moving toward a brighter future. Nicole began working in herbal medicine 12 years ago when she began meeting with a small group to brainstorm ways to bring herbal healing to the community. While there were many ideas the group explored, it was creating an herbal CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) that stuck with Nicole.

Today, the heart of Wild and Wise is its herbal CSA, which has been in operation for 10 years, and is the only herbal CSA in Humboldt County. Similar to a vegetable CSA, members sign up at the start of the year and receive a package each season full of goodies including tinctures, teas, and products for body and skin care. Nicole says the seasonality of the CSA is one way of connecting people to the plants growing seasonally in our bioregion.

In addition to providing the products themselves, Wild and Wise also helps educate CSA members on how various plants can aid in their health. As Nicole says, “Herbal medicine is empowering! Having the knowledge to maintain and restore good health to yourself and those around you is radical and life changing.” In each package, CSA members also get an educational newsletter that includes information about the herbs in each product and a guest article by a fellow herbalist.

While supporting local herbalists is one great way to bring herbal healing into your life, Nicole encourages people to try their hand at growing medicines themselves if they are able. “Growing herbs offers a connection to your land, to your medicine and to your community,” she says.

Casandra Kelly, Casandra Kelly Catering / photo credit: Casandra Kelly Catering

Food as Medicine: Casandra Kelly Catering

Healing is not limited to tinctures, salves and teas; humans have been experiencing healing through food for millennia. Many common plants in your backyard that help with various ailments can also be added to your diet for extra boosts of nutrients, vitamins and minerals (see page 48). It’s not a coincidence that many of the herbs you may find in your pantry (such as oregano, mint, thyme and rosemary) are useful for both flavor and for their healing properties.

Casandra Kelly (they/them) is a local chef who sees food as having potential to be both nutritious and healing. “I do think food is medicine,” they say, “It’s a conduit for how we ingest so many things and our first line of defense is having a healthy relationship with food. If we aren’t doing that, we aren’t getting the nutrients that we need. And if we aren’t getting the nutrients that we need, then none of the medicine we are taking in is going to be helpful.”

Casandra Kelly Catering provides meal services for all occasions – from large gatherings to private dinners and individual meals. For Casandra, the meals they prepare aren’t just about feeding their clients. “My basis for understanding meals and what I provide for people is more of an integrated health system,” they say. Though Casandra makes it clear that they are not an herbalist, their knowledge of herbal medicine and Ayurveda shape their meal offerings, along with their understanding of food’s healing potential. For Casandra, the food they make is about bringing health and joy into their clients’ lives, and helping them to heal from formative relationships that Casandra notes most people have in one way or another with food.

Like Isis, Jacob and Nicole, Casandra points to the importance of community support in enabling them to run their own business. Like many in the service industry, Casandra found themself without a job when COVID hit, and ultimately decided to take the leap and put their stimulus money toward making the business their full-time job. This came after working for over a decade in kitchens and catering large gatherings. Casandra points to the strong, supportive women who mentored them along their way, as well as this region’s farming community as being foundational to their journey.

Casandra’s experiences learning from local farmers brought them a whole new understanding of food. “Farming has given me a deep lesson into seasonality and microclimates,” they say, “Much like a farmer, I can tell when a green bean is just past its prime without even biting into it. That’s just not something you can learn in a kitchen.” Beyond the knowledge Casandra has gained from the farming community, “their practice and dedication stays with me every time I cook.”

This unprecedented time didn’t just prompt Casandra to focus on their catering business; it also inspired clarity about what kind of business they wanted to create. Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, they could no longer be apolitical as a business owner. As someone who identifies as queer, Jewish and a person of color, Casandra had had their share of experiences not feeling safe in previous workplaces.

When Casandra made the decision to make a statement through their business about the social unrest taking place, they lost about half of their followers, which they note is “a lot for a small business.” But Casandra persisted, believing that it is more important for them to run a business where their employees and clients feel safe and supported, particularly because the majority of the people they work with are queer and people of color.

“I want people who work with me to feel like they are accepted and I will back them up and stand behind them. I don’t want anyone to come into my business and feel like they are othered or that they have to live in fear. My number one priority for my staff is health and safety,” they say. According to Casandra, the past year has brought a lot of previously unaddressed inequality to the surface, including in the industry they work in. They point to how service industry folks are among those being hit the hardest by the pandemic, as many have lost their livelihoods, don’t have health insurance and have underlying health issues resulting from the high stress environments they’ve worked in.

While the pandemic has brought the inequalities and inadequacies of our healthcare system (and society in general) into the spotlight, it’s an even greater reminder of how important empowerment and accessibility in healing are. Plant medicine can be one path that can get us there, especially if we take care to support each other on the way.

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Holly Hilgenberg (she/her) is a writer, artist, and lover of nature, plants, vintage clothing, print publications and thrifting. Being part of Cooperation Humboldt has been her favorite way to combine social change work, creativity and community building since she moved to Humboldt from Minneapolis 2.5 years ago.
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Photo credit: Wild & Wise

Plant medicine is for everybody!

While there are many intricacies involved with making plant medicines, it can also be very simple! Take it one step at a time. Developing a relationship with just one plant can be life-changing, and you don’t need to be an expert to work with plant medicine.

Here are a few basic ways herbs can be used*:

• Tinctures: Dried or fresh herbs added to alcohol (or vegetable glycerine for a non-alcoholic option) to extract the plant’s healing properties.
• Oils: Similar to tinctures, using oil and typically dried plants.
  Balms and Salves: Uses an infused-oil base, with beeswax added to make the medicine more like a paste (for external use).
• Teas: Dried or fresh plants steeped in boiling water for a healing drink.
• Oxymel: Similar to a tincture, but with vinegar and honey instead of alcohol or vegetable glycerine.
• In your food: Try plants fresh in salads or add them to soups or pastas. Add dried herbs to everything you cook!

*Note: Typically, the plant material is removed from all of these options (with the exception of adding them to your food) before using.

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Completing the Cycle

New co-op ready to solve food waste problem, one pedal at a time.

by Karlee Jackson, Cooperation Humboldt

Humboldt County has a food waste problem. According to the Humboldt Waste Management Authority, over a third of our waste going to landfills is food or food-related. As it decomposes in landfills, food waste produces methane, a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. And trucking thousands of tons of food waste to landfills each year consumes fossil fuels and drives up disposal costs for everyone.

Landfills and the industrial waste disposal industry also disproportionately threaten the health, social and economic wellbeing of the low income and BIPOC communities that tend to disproportionately be located near these facilities. Meanwhile, local residents have very limited options for diverting their food waste. It can be especially hard for condo or apartment residents without access to a backyard composting set-up.

“What we call ‘food waste’ is actually a resource,” says Morgan King, one of the worker-owners of Full Cycle Compost, a new worker-owned cooperative dedicated to zero waste. “Society tacitly supports an industrial system that earns millions of dollars hauling away and then burying this resource in landfills. Instead, we should be using this resource to build our soils, store carbon, and grow food.”

Full Cycle Compost is a new business on a mission to provide residents with a convenient and affordable way to remove their food scraps from the waste industrial complex and to put that resource to use building soil and growing food. Starting this spring, the bicycle-powered collection service will haul food scraps from residential and small business subscribers to local composting sites.

I recently sat down with King and his fellow worker-owners – Isaac West, Rory Baker, Julian Palmisano and Tobin McKee – to learn more about their business and their vision for the future.

Why bikes?

“We are focused on sustainability,” says worker-owner Isaac. “One of our goals is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; it would be hard to do that if we’re relying on fossil fuels for our business. It also helps that we all are avid cyclists, so we appreciate the health benefits and the pure joy of riding bikes.”

Why a cooperative?

Tobin from Worker Owned Humboldt, a program of Cooperation Humboldt and the North Coast Small Business Development Center, initially brought the group together and facilitated its development into a worker owned and operated cooperative business. “Democratic self-governance and community building were big reasons for us becoming a cooperative,” says McKee. “We see Full Cycle Compost as a strong community partner. We want to eventually provide educational and workforce opportunities for HSU students, youth, and the community at large, and we want to help our local governments achieve their zero waste goals.”

Who are you trying to reach?

According to worker-owner Rory, Full Cycle Compost will start out by serving residents of Arcata. “We’re looking forward to serving single family and multifamily households, as well as small businesses,” says Baker. “Our climate here can make it hard for backyard composters to keep up with their piles, so our service may also be attractive to those who just don’t want the hassle of DIY composting.”

How does it work?

Worker-owner Julian explains, “We provide the customer one or more buckets, or they can use their own bucket if it meets our guidelines. For a monthly subscription, one of our riders will come each week to collect the compostables and leave the buckets empty and clean, ready to be filled up with the next week’s food scraps. Our riders will drop off the food scraps at one of our composting sites. We are currently working with the Jacoby Creek Land Trust farm, and with the Arcata Community Health and Wellness Garden, to help build their soil to grow healthy food. It’s the full cycle, realized!” According to Palmisano, the Full Cycle Compost crew might add additional sites in the future as they gain more subscribers. They also want to eventually give compost back to their subscribers.

Want more information?

Full Cycle Compost is currently accepting new subscribers in Arcata, Sunnybrae and Bayside. Visit www.fullcyclecompost.com to learn more and sign up.

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Crisis & Transformation in Food Retail

How altruism and solidarity are helping our community cope with economic crisis and lay a foundation for long-term resilience.

by Leila Roberts, North Coast Small Business Development Center

You and I are living through a brief moment in human history that our species may not survive intact. Add to this pandemic global climate disruption and a crisis of economic inequality and political upheaval and the future seems bleak.

Our human gifts of mass social cooperation and tool-using genius created the political economies that brought us to this point, but they won’t help us transcend them unless we leverage another survival strategy: altruism.

What can we learn from the ingenuity and generosity of local food businesses about how to anticipate, survive, and transcend our multiple crises?

Food Industry in Crisis

A mid 2020 McKinsey study projected that if our national response to the pandemic is effective we may start to see economic recovery in the food value chain in early 2021. But if our safety practices and vaccine roll-out aren’t enough to prevent another infection surge, the recovery could drag on for 3-4 years, and we’ll lose many precious local businesses along the way.

Governments are trying to put the people’s will to work with imperfect – but still desperately needed – financial assistance. At the time of writing we’re expecting up to $25 billion in new federal grants for restaurants and bars hard-hit by the pandemic, a tripling of the state relief grant program, liquor license fee waivers, and more local loan and grant programs.

These are all policy choices with an important positive impact on our local food business owners’ and workers’ day-to-day lives. But crisis response does not prepare us for the next emergency unless we’re strategic about it.

Adaptive Altruism: From Relief to Regeneration

In mid 2020 dozens of frontline economic, racial, and climate justice groups launched United Frontline Table. They agreed to work together toward 80+ policy solutions organized in fourteen planks for a Regenerative Economy and Green New Deal for shifting us toward regenerative economies (see overview at right).

Within this framework are food sovereignty proposals that put “the aspirations and needs of those who produce, distribute and consume food at the heart of food systems and policies rather than the demands of markets and corporations.”

Solidarity Entrepreneurship

Today on the North Coast our current reality sits somewhere between the beautiful vision articulated by United Frontline Table and the current crises. Some local food businesses are finding ways to adapt to the pandemic without losing their commitment to this community. They embody many of the principles outlined by United Frontline Table.

US Vets Deliver’s Jim Richards accepts the Eureka Chamber of Commerce 2020 Positive Community Impact Award

Delivery without exploitation: US Vets Deliver

App-based food delivery companies are leveraging more than 1.5 billion in venture capital to grow a business model that extracts wealth from communities for faraway shareholders. Their massive financial backing allows them to operate at a loss so they can blanket communities with advertising to grab market share, often underpay delivery workers, and charge fees that take a damaging cut of local restaurants’ narrow margins.

Jim Richards of Ferndale started delivering for Door Dash out of necessity. He quickly saw an opportunity to meet an unserved market when he realized how many local restaurants wisely refused to sign on to the delivery service apps with ruinous fees. He saw how badly compensated the hard-working delivery workers were. He noticed how many customers had disposable income going unspent because it was unsafe to dine-in and inconvenient to pick up.

So, mid-pandemic Jim launched US Vets Deliver – a business that competes effectively with the app-based firms sucking dollars out of local communities.

“My goal is to make a living and help local restaurants stay connected to customers. We hire drivers who can give our customers the attention to detail and customer service they want. Sometimes I sit and chat for fifteen minutes with some of our older customers. It’s a great way to build that relationship,” Jim says.

“We serve people who like good food and don’t mind tipping. The model I created is a win-win-win. We don’t charge restaurants. We set our rates so that our drivers can’t work themselves into a sub-minimum wage outcome. The delivery fee and tip go straight to the driver.”

You can find US Vets Deliver on Facebook, or reach them by text at 707-298-9595.

Meredith Maier and Talia Nachson Clare, Six Rivers Brewery

A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats: Six Rivers Brewery

In 2019 a national restaurant industry group announced that revenue from delivery sales was growing three times faster than on-site dining. With the arrival of a worldwide pandemic, any restaurant that doesn’t offer food delivery and pick-up won’t last long.

Mckinleyville’s Six Rivers Brewery – “The Brew with a View” – is a small batch craft brewery and restaurant that draws loyal customers who packed the space every evening and weekend for 16+ years. Six Rivers’ co-owners Meredith Maier and Talia Nachson Clare are a case study in excellent “Pandemic Pivoting.”

They engineered a lightning-fast shift to meal pick-up and outdoor dining and became locally famous for their funny, spicy social media posts showing them enforcing strict pandemic safety practices. Their shift to counter service and commitment to protecting customers and employees worked. “Like everyone else we took a loss for the year overall, but still managed to turn a profit during the summer high season,” Meredith explained.

Their most telling pandemic strategy was sharing the wealth with fellow business owners. Customers of Six Rivers Brewery can at the same time patronize two local food trucks invited to sell in the outdoor space and buy more than 50 local products on sale from the brewpub’s community marketplace: local beers and wines, liquors and kombucha, spices, hot sauces and dressings, chocolates, body care products, fresh fish, local honey, and various clothing and home merchandise.

“We used to sell a few hundred dollars in merchandise a month. This past summer it was up to $1,000 a day. I wave that Shop Local flag like crazy. Every six pack I sell helps our business and our staff. So I know that every jar of Diane’s Sweet Heat or Humboldt Hot Sauce does the same for them,” Meredith shared.

“What do we want to be remembered for? We think of our business as an extension of the community…In a small community we truly can keep each afloat and make a difference with small purchases.”

A Resilient Ownership Model

In 2018 a Humboldt business survey uncovered that 62% of seasoned owners were considering selling their business to their employees. We’re also seeing dozens of potential entrepreneurs percolating new business start-up ideas. Straddling both trends on the North Coast is a growing number of businesses that will be owned by the workers themselves.

This is good for workers’ asset- and skill-building, good for the tax base, and good for closing the racial wealth gap. Worker-ownership creates more resilience in an economic crisis. A 2017 study of ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Program) companies showed that employees built nearly twice as much net worth as other companies, stayed longer, and earned more. A 2020 follow up reaffirmed previous findings and then some. Employees with a stake in their company’s future retained four times more jobs in the pandemic crisis, were half as likely to cut hours and pay, and were more likely to quickly implement pandemic protective measures.

Right now, the North Coast Small Business Development Center, Cooperation Humboldt, and Project Equity are collaborating to support at least 10 new and a handful of converted worker-owned businesses in Humboldt. These range from solo enterprises to 50+ employees, across a variety of industries: food manufacturing and service, durable goods retail, energy, engineering, and more.

Re-thinking Ownership: Signature Coffee Company

Signature Coffee Company, based in Southern Humboldt, has been a pioneer in fair trade, organic coffee sourcing and roasting since the 1980s. They have long followed waste reduction and sustainability best practices. Now they’re breaking new ground again for the next phase of the business: an eventual conversion to worker ownership.

Signature’s founder and owner Karyn Lee-Thomas is determined to follow this exit strategy, saying “This really is the best way to mitigate corporate greed and create a new paradigm of corporate consciousness. It is a way for us to work together to create a stronger, healthier community, county, state and country.”

Here on the North Coast, creative solutions to the numerous interrelated crises we face abound. We’re proud to share these local examples of businesses responding with solutions based in altruism, solidarity, and regeneration, and we invite you to join us in supporting them.

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Leila Roberts serves as Director of the North Coast Small Business Development Center (SBDC), which helps small, local businesses start, grow, and thrive in Humboldt, Del Norte, and Adjacent Tribal Lands. She constantly asks, “Who has access and opportunity? Who benefits?”
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