WHAT WE DO

The West Marin Food Systems Group works collaboratively with schools, climate action groups, agriculture stakeholders, non-profits, government entities, health care practitioners, and safety net providers to increase access to healthy food for low-income residents and older adults in West Marin to create sustainable community food resilience within our unique foodshed. Our goal is to enhance policy, systems, and environmental changes by identifying available resources, leveraging the expertise of partnerships, and showcasing best practices. 

Our key focus areas are School Wellness (Farm to School Programs and School Wellness Committees), Community Food (Older Adults: Medically Tailored Meals and Socio-entrepreneurial Support), and Farms and Gardens (West Marin Glean Team, Community Gardens, and a Foodshed Mapping Project). Check out our interactive foodshed map with farms, food pantries, and participating organizations.

Overview 

Congratulations to our West Marin Regional School Wellness Leadership Team for receiving another CDFA Farm to School Incubator Grant. This grant will “kick start” a Food Services Director position co-shared among the 4 West Marin districts. This will provide the opportunity to work more holistically across the region on procurement, menu planning, and farm-to-school meal services.  This role will also help streamline operations and administrative tasks. Most importantly, the position will continue to build partnerships with local organic farms, dairies, and ranches to improve the quality of school meals and our West Marin students' overall health and wellness.  

In addition, we want to congratulate our Conscious Kitchen and Lagunitas partners, whose collaboration sparked our wellness leadership team meetings. 112 students are eating school lunch this year, compared to 25 last year. In addition, 68 students arrive at school on time to eat breakfast, compared to 10 last year. The change in school meals has impacted student attendance and improved the school culture. The buzz from the students, teachers, and community has been amazing! Check out the Point Reyes Light article for more information.  

Looking Back

Farm-to-School Feasibility Assessment 

With help from Innovative Health Solutions, our members at all four school districts participated in a farm-to-school feasibility study. The assessment provided a road map for the region on steps to establish a region-wide farm-to-school program. As a result of the ongoing collaboration and the regional partners' focus on making changes to school meals, the districts applied for California Department of Education (CDE) funding that can support local food purchases and best practice work to improve scratch cooking. These funds ($178K), in addition to a California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Farm to School Grant that Shoreline received $150K, will be used to help improve the food service programming in the region. 

Captain Planet School Garden Production Project

Under the leadership of Innovative Health Solutions, during the summer of 2021, our partners participated in a summer growing program with the support of UC Cooperative Extension—Master Gardeners, Grow an Extra Row, and the Captain Planet Foundation. Our efforts supported Lagunitas and Bolinas-Stinson School gardens in growing food for community food pantry donations. The program harvested over 3,797 pounds of produce from school and community gardens across Marin County and then donated the food to local food pantries and community meal programs.

Ceres Medically Tailored Meals for Older Adults

In partnership with Ceres Community Project, we bring medically tailored meals to seniors and residents with chronic conditions. The recipients benefit from eating foods designed explicitly for their diagnosis and the additional complications that come with that illness (i.e., treatment side effects and comorbidities). Medically tailored meals help the most vulnerable in our West Marin communities. The program functions in the healthcare space as a part of a patient’s treatment plan. The ingredients for the meals are 100% organic and locally sourced. Our team has supported the program's rollout in West Marin through the following phased approach. Our medically tailored meals team is finally launching our West Marin rollout phase three. This includes strengthening the referral network between Ceres and Petaluma Health Center. In early September, the Ceres team was invited to a clinician staff meeting to provide training on the referral process for the Ceres CalAim medically tailored meal program. Thanks to the San Geronimo Valley Community Center for serving as a food hub to support meal distribution. It truly takes a village!

We look forward to serving more and expanding the program in other areas of the region. 

• Phase 1 : Ceres: EAH-Walnut Place in Point Reyes Station pilot program
• Phase 2: Ceres: San Geronimo Valley Community Center started in late March
• Phase 3: Bolinas Community Center (Fall/Winter 2024-25)

Sembrando Vida

The Sembrando Vida Project is making strides with Blue Marble Acres, where an irrigation system and fencing are being installed at cost. Jorge is actively identifying farmers, and next month’s groundbreaking marks an exciting milestone. The Sembrando Vida group is also interested in exploring carbon farming opportunities with community partners and has engaged the interest of both Marin RCD and UC Extension. Marin RCD has grants for funding compost, which we intend to pursue.

Aligned with the West Marin Food Systems Community Power Grant through the Marin Community Foundation, our team promotes access to healthy, fresh local foods. Collaborating with Sembrando Vida, West Marin Climate Action, the West Marin Lions Club, and the West Marin Food Systems Group, we are following the lead of Latino farmers who are guiding the “sowing life” process. This will bring culturally relevant foods to families living and working in West Marin. Our farm and garden initiative fosters sustainability, community growth, and long-standing agricultural traditions by planting and nurturing these seeds. If you're interested in joining, please reach out!

Eco Sorting Stations, Reusable Foodware, and SB1383

West Marin Food Systems continues to support the fabrication of the West Marin Climate Action’s Eco-Sorting Stations. This year, we will pair our youth and young adult support with older adults who have the time and expertise to support the fabrication of the eco-starting stations. This work is central to the Community Meals that we have facilitated with place-based partners who reserve the use of the Events Library, which was established in 2011 and is still used to produce Zero Waste Events with plates, cups, flatware, cloth napkins, and more. As reuse is promoted, we still use the eco-sorting stations to provide direction to the consumer to create clean compost, clean recycling, and no landfill. 

We continue to provide technical assistance for place-based partners who need to update their food and beverage policies to comply with SB 1383. We invite our members to contact our WMFS team to reserve the Events Library materials for community meals you will produce in the year ahead. Please get in touch with our team if you want to conduct a waste audit and find solutions for your organization. 

West Marin Glean Team

The West Marin Glean Team is a West Marin Food Systems Group project in partnership with ExtraFood, UC Cooperative Extension, San Geronimo Valley Community Center, and West Marin Climate Action. The Team works with food pantries, schools, and older adult housing sites to donate gleaned produce and products. We combined our farm-gleaning efforts with Share the Bounty residential gleaning efforts aimed at picking up and harvesting surplus produce from farms and residential gardens. The food is then directed to older adult housing sites, food pantries, and local schools that serve community members in need. Contact us if you are interested in volunteering or having us support you with a residential and/or farm glean.

We are thrilled to strengthen our partnership with Dr. Melinda Stone from Commonweal/ University of San Francisco (USF)and Rebecca from Fibershed to explore ways to expand and enhance the current features and functions of the West Marin Food Systems Foodshed Map. We aim to create a shared vision for a long-term sustainability plan, identify the tools needed to sustain it and obtain the resources to bring it to fruition. We look forward to working with this team to integrate our efforts and interest in mapping the West Marin Foodshed.

The West Marin Glean Team is seeking Glean Team Leads! If you’re already volunteering with us, consider joining this leadership team to help expand our impact. This season has been especially active, with our dedicated Glean Team Leads working hard to respond to harvest requests across the region. With more leaders, we can better cover the area and distribute outreach cards encouraging residents to contact us for harvesting. We extend our gratitude to ExtraFood and Share the Bounty for their continued partnership in making this a sustainable, climate-conscious effort to address food insecurity in our county. Please print and share our flyers and our new residential outreach cards with your network.

As of September 2024, our efforts resulted in the following:

• 40+ Members or Interested Volunteers
• 5,400 Pounds of Produce Gleaned
• 10+ Farms Sites Onboarded 

Marin Healthy Eating, Active Living (HEAL): West Marin Community Action Team (CAT) and  Food Production 

The three West Marin-Community Action Team(CAT) Projects are at Nicasio School, West Marin School, Ecumenical Affordable Housing-Walnut Place, and Point Reyes Affordable Housing. Nicasio Garden Restoration has transformed and is ready for planting, with a plan to plant every two weeks from November through May. This year will focus on creating a "snacking and herb" garden featuring 2-3 beds of berries, herbs, seasonal veggies, and a pollinator garden. There’s also potential for cooking and salve/tea-making if instructors are available. Ecumenical Affordable Housing- Walnut Place and Point Reyes Affordable Housing are working on collecting three bids for garden boxes to be rebuilt and are scheduling a field trip to Marin City to look at how the galvanized tubs work for planting food. Lastly, Shoreline Unified School District-West Main School has hired a garden coordinator for their District.

West Marin Food Systems Group looks forward to supporting the school gardens and their capacity for producing food for school meals and/or to be brought home by parents, community partners, or food pantries.

In the News

• California Farm to School is Bringing Business and Climate-Friendly Practices to Farms 
• More Schools Serving Vegan Meals

Congratulations to our partners who received FARE funding. We appreciate your partnership and look forward to working on your projects. 

• Agricultural Institute of Marin
• Audubon Canyon Ranch
• Bolinas Community Center
• Dance Palace Community and Cultural Center
• Fibershed
• Interfaith Sustainable Food Collaborative
• Kitchen Table Advisors
• Lagunitas Community School
• Marin Childcare Council
• Marin Museum of the American Indian Indigenous Culinary Educational Workshop*
• Sanzuma
• UC Cooperative Extension
  

*Refer to this organization for confirmation of the grant award.

The West Marin Food Systems Group is an Innovative Health Solutions project established in 2020. Third I Communications backs the group, and the leadership team is led by Launch for Hire Consultants in partnership with San Geronimo Valley Community Center and the Marin Child Care Council. 

Grants from the Marin Community Foundation, Marin County Public Health Department, Healthy Eating Active Living, and the West Marin Fund support this program.