Overview & Focus
The Farms & Gardens Initiative advances two interconnected goals: increasing access to healthy, fresh, locally produced food and strengthening the economic resilience of West Marin’s agricultural community.
What We Do
Connecting local farmers with school districts to establish long-term purchasing agreements, align crop planning with menu cycles, and develop vendor buying guides.
Provide technical assistance for kitchen staff and school administrators on Farm to School scratch cooking, upgrading equipment, securing state and local funding and establishing interdistrict partnerships for shared meal preparation.
Partnering with ExtraFood and Share the Bounty to harvest surplus produce from local farms and gardens for distribution to food pantries, schools, and senior housing.
Latino-led community agriculture and mentorship program operating in partnership with West Marin Lions Club, West Marin Climate Action, and Blue Marble Acres.
Partnering with USF to map regional farms, farm stands, distribution points, commercial kitchens, and place-based producer stories.
Supporting SB 1383 organic waste reduction, soil health, compost expansion, and zero-waste practices across local working lands.
Coordinating garden harvests from school production sites to supply school meal programs and local food pantries.
Our Impacts
$62,000+ directed to local small farms for school meal procurement (CDFA Farm to School Incubator Grant).
$700,000+ secured across federal, state, and local sources for regional farm-to-school initiatives.
12,291+ pounds of fresh surplus produce recovered for local families over 2 years (5 trained glean leads, 40+ volunteers).
460+ pounds of fresh produce harvested from school production gardens for school meals and local food pantries.
Children are trying new foods, building cooking and gardening skills, and bringing healthy food knowledge home to their families.
Created a network of farms, gardens, schools, community centers, older adult sites, volunteers, and food-distribution partners that can help West Marin respond more effectively during emergencies, power outages, transportation disruptions, or other events that affect food access.
Success Story
The West Marin Glean Team is a community food-recovery initiative in partnership with West Marin Climate Action (WMCA) and ExtraFood/Share the Bounty. The Glean Team harvests surplus produce and donates it to local food distribution networks to advance local food resilience and equitable access to fresh fruits and vegetables while reducing food waste. Our Glean Team works with program partners to recruit and train volunteers and provide outreach to donors from West Marin’s villages. The goal of this initiative was to create sustainable systems change by leveraging ExtraFood’s administrative and logistical support and expanding on their Share the Bounty infrastructure.
As key partners, Share the Bounty takes the lead in organizing harvest requests and recruiting from among the registered glean leads and volunteers to pick up and deliver each glean of fruit or vegetables. We have drawn more actively on the Share the Bounty volunteer list and cultivated repeat donors who contact us annually for harvests. Donations are delivered locally to food pantries, schools, and senior centers. In the past two years we have expanded the number of glean leads from three to five and engaged over 40 volunteers. To help educate the community about local food resilience, West Marin Climate Action (WMCA) authored a series of six articles for the Point Reyes Light spotlighting the glean team, among other programs. WMCA has also sponsored social events, edible garden tours, and seedling exchanges where community members can learn about climate action opportunities such as the glean team. Our Glean Team has connected its efforts to our School Wellness Initiative through apple cider making demonstrations and tastings at two Shoreline School Harvest Festivals. To date, this project has gleaned over 12,291 lbs of produce for West Marin families to enjoy the delicious fruits and vegetables of the Glean Team’s labor.