Healthy food = healthy soil + clean water + sun + abundant beneficial critters (bacteria, fungi, pollinators, etc).
New: Check out the 2009 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides.
Healthy, mostly local food is one of the best ways to live the good life on Lummi Island. Lots of islanders grow some of their own fruit, 
vegetable and beef, chicken, eggs, lamb etc. Many islanders purchase produce and meat from local growers, either directly or at the Saturday market in summer. And we enjoy it with friends and family, as at the Lummi Island Heritage Trust dinner in 2007.
We are incredibly fortunate to have sufficient space to grow a great deal here on Lummi Island. We also have excellent soils, beneficial critters, sun in some places, especially on the north end of the island. We have farmers and ranchers, too, to make the best of these.
Healthy food production does face some challenges on Lummi Island:
- Rainfall is scarce most summers and in some areas, well water has high salt and/or arsenic levels, and some wells have low output (even becoming contaminated or going dry on occasion).
- Some islanders still use herbicides and pesticides that have now been documented to be associated with health problems for pollinators, frogs, and mammals – including people (especially children).
- Increases in the island’s human (and car) population are slowly but surely diminishing high-quality agricultural soils as well as the island’s capacity to recharge its aquifers and our wells.
Food security is a really big deal to me and many other islanders. Please, if you have ideas or links to add, please send them along to me.
