Local Food, Big Impact: Your Garden Makes a Difference

Local food has benefits to our health, as well as the health of our environment. Master Gardeners help our communities learn how to grow and nurture their own gardens so that we can all benefit from high quality, nutrient-dense food.

In part four of our Program Priority Series host Erin Hoover goes over local food. In this episode, Erin covers:

• How Master Gardeners support local food in Washington State
• The benefits of local food
• How different Master Gardeners Program Priorities overlap
• Tips on how to start growing your food
• WSU workshops for growing food
• Selecting the right plants for success in your area
• Other ways Master Gardeners get involved in their communities
• A special ask—Erin asks listeners to send in their stories about growing their own food to hello@theevergreenthumb.org
  

As a homesteader, Erin has turned her own property into a small, thriving farm. She grows veggies, tends to fruit trees and shrubs, and raises livestock, all while following permaculture principles to keep things as sustainable as possible. Her focus these days is on finding new uses for native plants, figuring out ways to feed her animals from her land, and growing her own food.

When she’s not working on the homestead or recording The Evergreen Thumb, you’ll find Erin out exploring Washington’s mountains, forests, and beaches—always looking for ideas and inspiration to bring back to her garden.

• Local Food Tips
• MG Impact on Local Food
• Other Episodes about Local Food
• Educational Events
• Digging Into the Basics of Soil Biology – Episode 12
• Pests, Predators, and Prevention: Integrated Pest Management for Vegetable Gardens – Episode 17
• Plant Sales

[00:00:00] Welcome to The Evergreen Thumb, your go-to podcast for up-to-date research-based horticulture and environmental stewardship knowledge to help you grow and manage your garden. Produced by Washington State University Extension Master Gardener Volunteers and brought to you by the Master Gardener Foundation of Washington State.

[00:00:16] I’m your host, Erin Hoover, a WSU Extension Master Gardener since 2015 and a certified permaculture designer and modern homesteader.

WSU Master Gardener volunteers are university-trained community educators who have been cultivating plants, people, and communities since 1973. Are you ready to grow? Let’s dig into today’s episode.

[00:00:44] Welcome to episode 47 of The Evergreen Thumb.

WSU Extension Master Gardener Program Priority #4: Local Food

This is part four of the nine-part series we’re doing on the WSU Extension Master Gardener Program Priorities, and this month’s priority is local food.

The WSU Extension Master Gardener Program improves food access and individual and community health and wellness for a resilient Washington.

How Do Master Gardeners Support Local Food in Washington State?

[00:01:07] The Extension Master Garden Program in Washington State directly impacted food growing and security practice among 29,042 individuals in 2023. This led to increased engagement of community members in growing food and donating produce to local food banks and pantries. The program donated 96,800 pounds of produce and 5,000 vegetable seedlings valued at $135,000.

[00:01:33] This made nutrient-dense food easily accessible locally, feeding 160 households for a year. Between 27–49%, or up to 1.5 million Washington households experienced food insecurity in 2020–2023. Food insecurity disproportionately impacts traditionally marginalized audiences, households with children, and impoverished households, putting them at greater risk for decreased academic success, chronic physical health conditions like diabetes and obesity, and mental health disorders.

[00:02:10] Food insecurity causes an economic and mental health burden across Washington and the United States costing the US Healthcare System nearly $481 billion annually. Diabetes costs the Washington State Healthcare system $6.7 billion per year, and obesity costs the Washington State Healthcare system, $2 billion per year.

[00:02:33] These numbers come from the CDC and the Washington Department of Health. Engaging in local food production diminishes the economic and environmental repercussions associated with the cultivation, processing, packaging, and transportation of food. Individuals with direct access to local food, whether through farmer’s markets, community gardens, or personal cultivation, tend to consume more fresh fruits and vegetables compared to those without such access.

[00:02:58] Consequently, these communities exhibit healthier body mass index levels and reduced risk of diabetes. The establishment of community, home, and school gardens serves to connect people more closely to their food and to one another. This collective effort fosters a heightened awareness of food insecurity, empowering communities to make informed decisions about ensuring consistent access to healthy foods for their families, friends, and neighbors.

[00:03:25] Master gardeners promote using sustainable techniques for growing local food to improve health and wellness. In 2023, master gardeners across Washington shared information on growing local food via 164 classes, 64 demonstrations, 98 workshops, and field days, offered guidance and mentorship in 97 community gardens, and also collaborated with young learners in 26 school gardens.

The Benefits of Local Food

[00:03:51] Locally grown produce has a number of health benefits, including higher nutritional value and freshness. Whether you buy it at a farmer’s market or grow it yourself, the distance from the garden to the table is significantly diminished, and that helps reduce the carbon footprint.

[00:04:13] Most of the food you’d get in the grocery store travels hundreds if not thousands of miles, and oftentimes is imported from foreign countries. The time it takes just to make that trip not only has a huge carbon footprint but also impacts the quality and the nutritional content as it diminishes, uh, as the produce ages.

If you’re not able to grow your own food, there are plenty of ways you can get fresh local produce that is healthier and more nutrient-dense, including farmer’s markets, a CSA, or even your small neighborhood farm stand.

[00:04:49] If you don’t have a space for a garden or aren’t ready to take on that big of a responsibility, there are community gardens where you can um, have a smaller space to manage to get you started. And oftentimes, as I mentioned, community gardens, master gardeners are often in community gardens, mentoring and teaching.

[00:05:07] So there is usually help available, um, in many community gardens to keep you on the right track if you’re just learning. Additionally, because of the number of people who grow their own food and they may grow a surplus, they donate that food to food banks. So many food banks are often able to offer in-season produce.

How the Different Master Gardeners Program Priorities Overlap

[00:05:33] There are some sustainable gardening practices promoted by the Master Gardener Program that we teach throughout the year, uh, in our demonstration gardens, in workshops, and in other programs throughout the state. And, these are actually all part of the other program priorities that are integrated into local food.

[00:05:56] And one of them, um, which is a piece of the clean water priority is integrated pest management, and this is minimizing the use of chemicals to protect clean water and promote biodiversity. Some of the key elements of integrated pest management are not treating unless you are sure a pest or disease is present, as well as increasing your level of tolerance.

An Example of the Integrated Pest Management Technique  

[00:06:20] For example, I think I’ve mentioned this in another episode before, but cabbage worms and little green worms that turn into a little whitish moth, they, um, they love brassicas, cabbage, broccoli, that family of vegetables, and the moths lay their eggs on the leaves and then when they hatch, they eat large amounts, they’ll decimate a giant cabbage leaf in a day

[00:06:48]. So for me, I go out there and I hand pick any of them that I can find. They’re usually on the backside of the leaves. I pick off what I can find by hand and feed ‘em to my chickens. And the chickens love them. It allows me to not have to use chemicals in my garden, and I’m able to tolerate an occasional hole in my cabbage leaf or in a broccoli leaf.

[00:07:13] If they do go left unchecked, they will eventually get inside the head of cabbage and can make a mess of it. So it is important to check it every few days, but this is just one example of integrated pest management that I happen to use in my own garden.

An Example of the Water Conservation Program Priority

[00:07:33] Another example of a sustainable gardening practice that can easily be implemented into a vegetable garden or a food garden is waterwise gardening. This is part of our water conservation program priority. And basically, it’s implementing efficient irrigation methods to conserve water resources.

[00:07:54] So things like, not watering during the heat of the day because you get much more evaporation, so that makes the watering less efficient. And then using watering methods like timers or drip irrigation, you know, underground sprinklers that are sprayers that are smaller so the water stays closer to the soil are more efficient than say, large sprinklers and overhead watering.

[00:08:22] Depending on the scale of your garden and your access to water, you’re gonna have to make the decision that’s best for you. But for our vegetable garden, we installed a system that is drip irrigation. Since I have 12 beds, we just put a valve on each bed and I set a timer, a manual timer, and I go out and I turn ‘em on for whatever period of time, and then turn ‘em off and turn on the next bed.

[00:08:48] Now you can get really fancy. There are ones that’ll actually have a rain gauge that has a timer, and they will adjust the timer based on the amount of rain you receive. And those are pretty sophisticated, and it’s my understanding you probably need a professional to be able to, uh, implement a system that efficient, but that is an option as well.

An Example of the Soil Health Management Program Priority

[00:09:09] Finally, the last sustainable gardening practice that I’m gonna talk about today in relation to local food growing is soil health management. And this is the idea of using compost and organic matter to enrich soil, and, um, observing the primary principles of soil health, which include keeping the soil covered and disturbing the soil as little as possible.

[00:09:35] Keeping the soil covered can be with plants or with mulch that helps to suppress the weeds. It helps to hold the soil, uh, moisture in the soil. Organic matter is also what helps hold moisture in the soil. So that’s where you can use an organic mulch, but also organic matter in your soil, uh, improves the water holding capacity.

[00:09:56] By not disturbing the soil, you know, instead of raking a whole bed or rototilling, things like that. When you rototill it breaks down the soil structure and so you lose a lot of that aeration, but also it turns the fresh organic matter to the sun. It seems like a good idea because you get a good boost of growth when you turn the soil with, like with a tiller, or even if you’re turning it by hand.

[00:10:21] What it’s doing is it’s breaking down that organic matter faster because it’s been exposed to light and such, and it means you leave your soil with no organic matter.

So those are just three key ways to help manage your vegetable garden to maximize your yield and minimize your inputs.

WSU Extension Master Gardener Plant Sale Reminder

I wanted to take a quick break to remind you that spring is just around the corner, and this means that it’s time for the WSU Extension Master Gardener Plant Sales across Washington.

[00:10:49] These plant sales are the perfect place to find healthy, locally grown plants, including vegetables, perennials, natives, and more, all while supporting research-based gardening education in your community.

Not sure where to find a sale near you? Visit your local WSU Extension Master Gardener website or check out the statewide event calendar at www.mastergardenerfoundation.org/overview/plant-sales. Whether you’re looking for the perfect addition to your garden or just wanna chat with knowledgeable gardeners, don’t miss out.

Support your local master gardeners and grow something great this season.

Starting Small When Producing Local Food

Some other things to consider. If you feel like gardening is expensive or buying local food is expensive, I’d encourage you to start small.

[00:11:34] You don’t need a bunch of big, fancy tools or kits with raised beds or things like that. You can just start with a pot. You can pick ‘em up at thrift stores a lot of times. And many libraries now have seed libraries in them as well. I know where I’m at is the Timberland Library system and there are at least four or five libraries that now offer seeds. So that is another option.

[00:11:59] Some ways to cut costs and make sure that you grow what you’d like to eat. Um, it doesn’t do any good to grow okra if you’ve never tried it and you don’t know if it’ll grow in your area. Hint, it doesn’t grow well in Western Washington. It’s not warm and dry enough, so you’ll end up with all this okra that you don’t know what to do with.

[00:12:23] If you have children, get them involved. Grow what they like to eat. Broccoli or little cherry tomatoes, things like that, that kids enjoy. Keep them engaged in the garden. Let ‘em dig. Let ‘em play. And a lot of children who, once they see that they did that, they grew that tomato, they grew that broccoli, they will be more inclined to want to eat it even, especially if they’re reluctant vegetable eaters, to begin with.

WSU Workshops for Growing Food

[00:12:54] So now I wanna talk a little bit about some of the things I mentioned earlier, the WSU Extension Master Gardener Program offers a number of programs and workshops throughout the year to educate and empower people to grow their own food. So I would encourage you to seek out, uh, some of those offerings.

[00:13:16] There are two key ways you can do that. There is an events page for WSU Master Gardner offerings (and I will put a link to that in the show notes), or you can call your local extension office or find the local office’s website, WSU website, and they often have a lot of the classes and programs available there as well.

[00:13:39] But really, I would just encourage you to get out there and just learn. For me, I didn’t like tomatoes when I was younger. Even though my mom had a garden and we raised a lot of our own food, I just didn’t like tomatoes until I grew one myself. And that was the best tomato I had ever tasted. And now I grow tomatoes in our garden every year. I preserve them. We eat them fresh. We love tomatoes all summer long.

Right Plant, Right Place for Successfully Growing Local Food

[00:14:02] Now, part of the key to understanding local food is to know what you can and can’t grow. There are some areas in Washington where you just cannot grow tomatoes without a lot of infrastructure, like hoop houses or greenhouses.

[00:14:25] A lot of people, especially, um, along the coast and on the west side of the Olympic Peninsula struggled to grow tomatoes. It’s sandy soil that drains very quickly. It tends to be windy and it doesn’t get particularly warm. Tomatoes like pretty warm weather or like I mentioned with okra.

[00:14:55] Okra also likes really hot weather, and I know it doesn’t grow well in Western Washington. You might be able to grow it in parts of Eastern Washington, but it’s also not a food that is really commonly, at least in my experience, isn’t commonly eaten in our area. Probably because culturally, it was kind of phased out because we couldn’t grow it in this region.

[00:15:12] But there are new varieties and new subspecies of these plants coming out all the time.

Eggplant is an example that usually requires a warmer climate, and they’ve created varieties that have a shorter growing season and can tolerate cooler temperatures so you can have eggplants in your garden.

Those are just some of my ideas off the top of my head, but I also wanna talk a little bit about some of the other ways, specific ways that Master Gardeners have impacted their communities.

Other Ways Master Gardeners Get Involved in Their Communities

[00:15:44] One of the places where master gardeners volunteer in several counties is in juvenile justice centers. They teach youth horticulture skills, how to grow their own food, and how to become valuable contributors to their communities. In one county, uh, recipients of Habitat for Humanity Homes take part in a gardening mentoring program.

[00:16:06] It allows the residents to cultivate culturally significant and hard-to-find foods in their own gardens under the guidance of extension master gardener volunteers. I’ve mentioned in other episodes, and I’ll say again, there often are events related to seed saving in the demonstration gardens and you can come home with free seeds that you can use to grow in your own garden the following year. So that’s a great way to get some free seeds as well.

[00:16:33] As I was mentioning, if you’re trying to save money, master gardeners also often collaborate with SNAP-Ed and various food banks to ensure that community members utilizing food banks understand how to incorporate fresh produce into healthy meals.

[00:16:51] And a lot of times now they will offer seedlings at these food banks as well. So they are able to teach community members how to grow that tomato plant or grow that lettuce start or parsley start, or whatever it is that they had at the food bag that week. Um, so that’s another option to really save on your startup costs to get a garden.

[00:17:16] And then you end up with a lot more than just one tomato from the food bank. You end up with a plant that could potentially be loaded with tomatoes, and you get to learn how to grow healthy, nutrient-dense tomatoes.

All right, so this kind of wraps up our local food episode, and I just want to kind of recap how important local food is to foster healthier individuals and healthier communities.

Final Thoughts on Growing Local Food and How to Find Resources

[00:17:52] As Master Gardeners our goal is to recognize food deserts and similar areas that have problems with access to healthy local food teach in those communities and empower people to become gardeners and grow their own food. And I would encourage you to think about the techniques that I talked about, the um, about soil health and clean water and water conservation.

[00:18:23] There are a number of episodes coming soon about watering. We’ve done soil health episodes, and I’ve done a couple of clean water episodes too, so I will put links in the show notes to more information about our local food program priority, to the events page where you can find events across the state, as well as links for podcast episodes that are specific to the local food program priority.

An Ask for the Listeners: Send Us Your Stories

[00:18:53] So I have an ask. If you have a great story about the first time you grew something or a good memory about local food and uh, how it brought family or communities together, I’d love to hear about it and you can email me at hello@theevergreenthumb.org. I’d love to hear all about it.

Thanks for listening, and if you’re just getting started, I’d love to hear what you did this year to move towards growing your own food.

[00:19:23] Thank you for joining us on this episode of the Evergreen Thumb, brought to you by the WSU Extension Master Gardner Program volunteers, and sponsored by the Master Gardner Foundation of Washington State.

We hope that today’s discussion has inspired and equipped you with valuable insights to nurture your garden.

[00:19:41] The Master Gardener Foundation of Washington State is a nonprofit organization whose primary purpose is to provide unifying support and advocacy for WSU Extension Master Gardener programs throughout Washington State.

To support the Master Gardener Foundation of Washington State, visit www.mastergardenerfoundation.org/donate.

Whether you’re an experienced Master Gardener or just starting out, the WSU Extension Master Gardener program is here to support you every step of the way. WSU Extension Master Gardeners empower and sustain diverse communities with relevant, unbiased, research-based horticulture education.

Reach out to your local WSU Extension office to connect with master gardeners and tap into a wealth of resources that can help you achieve gardening success.

[00:20:27] To learn more about the program or how to become a Master Gardener, visit www.mastergardener.wsu.edu/get-involved.

If you enjoyed today’s episode and want to stay connected with us, be sure to subscribe to future episodes filled with expert tips, fascinating stories, and practical advice.

Don’t forget to leave a review and share it with fellow gardeners to spread the joy of gardening.

Questions or comments to be addressed in future episodes can be sent to hello@theevergreenthumb.org.

[00:20:58] The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed by guests of this podcast are their own and do not imply endorsement by Washington State University or the Master Gardener Foundation of Washington State.