Vegetable farming takes root in Seattle-area food desert

Even more important, her fresh-picked harvest feeds her, her husband and three children. As her mother taught her to farm in Kenya, she is teaching her children to farm in Kent.

By Michelle Hiskey
The Columbian – American Heart Association News
July 5, 2021

Excerpt:

Karanja farms within one of those communities, which are known as food deserts.

“Our mission is to have a healthier community,” said Xavier Wurttele-Brissolesi of Living Well Kent, an immigrant-led nonprofit working to create a healthier, more equitable food system in the community of 132,000, among which 13 percent live in poverty and 1 in 3 were born outside the U.S., according to 2019 census data.

“The grocery store may be 2 miles away,” Wurttele-Brissolesi said, describing what shopping can be like in a food desert. “But to get there, they might have to walk to take the bus, and if they have four to six kids, how are they supposed to bring home enough food on the bus? It’s easier to get a frozen pizza from the corner store.”

Living Well Kent sells the farmers’ produce through a community-supported agriculture program, giving customers access to a range of products based on a subscription or membership fee; and it sets up the weekly market, where shoppers can pay for the vegetables with federal nutritional subsidy benefits like SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

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