With love for all and food for all

Happy June, everyone! North Coast Food Web is negotiating significant milestones behind the scenes, and I want to give you a clear picture of what that looks like for our organization and what to expect when you order from our online market, pick up fresh food or drop off products with us at our Exchange Street hub. As we evolve to meet the needs of our growing community, we are realigning our efforts to increase our impact. These changes ensure we remain a sustainable, responsive, and reliable partner for our local producers, now and in the future.

First, the biggest news: North Coast Food Web and Food Roots (in Tillamook) have officially merged! Our friends at Food Roots described it perfectly—we have invited their organization into our home. By combining our resources, we will continue to build upon a local food system rooted right here in our north coast community. As part of this change, the former Executive Director of Food Roots, Lindsay Ward, is joining our staff as our new Producer Support Liaison. I encourage you to read her letter to the Food Roots network making the merger announcement here. We are thrilled about this merger, Lindsay’s new role with us, and the opportunities ahead.

At the same time, we are launching a major new initiative. Please join me in welcoming Keith Hagan, who has come on board to lead our new Health Related Social Needs program, which we are calling Neighbor’s Garden. This project is all about deepening fresh food access right here in our community. Our food equity programming still includes Free Food Boxes for those who don’t qualify for Neighbor’s Garden or SNAP. Speaking of SNAP, we are working hard on behalf of our community to participate again, but USDA is not making it easy. We are appealing our case, which has been assigned to an Administrative Review Officer to review the determination made about NCFW’s continued participation. Please be assured that we are doing everything we can to bring SNAP back. 

Thank you for reading, and for all of your support. See you in the market! 

In this newletter…

• Salad and Song fundraiser June 30th! 

• New producers to our online market

• New kitchens in the network

• Information about Neighbor’s Garden

• New volunteer opportunities

• New opportunities for vendors

Food Web News

Neighbor’s Garden Launch Announcement

NCFW is excited to announce the launch of our newest food equity program, Neighbor’s Garden, which will launch in July 2026. This program uses Medicaid money to buy local food and then provide it to eligible Oregon Health plan members in Clatsop county. The program will provide locally and regionally sourced weekly food boxes for 24 weeks (six months). We are viewing this as potentially a triple win for our local farmers, our local community and North Coast Food Web.

We are still building the program, so please share with anyone you know who may qualify. If you know of any community organizations that you think would be a good entity to present or partner with please email Food Equity Navigator Keith Hagan at keith@northcoastfoodweb.org

With the development of this program, additional volunteer opportunities will be available starting July 1. Please see these opportunities later in this newsletter.

Spring So Fair and Summer’s Solstice

We’re 20 days away from the longest day of the year, but it’s never too late to start a garden! In fact, on the coast it is just about the right time. We still have plenty of plant starts and seeds for your dream garden! Flowers for pollinators, herbs for chefs, and seeds for a wide variety of planted wonder and glory. If you are planning to garden outdoors, remember to acclimate your plants to the outdoor conditions before you begin planting.

Happy gardening everyone! 🌱

What’s Available Now?

Spring has sprung and we are both planting and reaping! Several producers of ours have brought in plant starts and seeds for herbs, teas and native flowers–it’s a great time to have a garden plot! For those who want to buy what's already grown, our usual suspects–chicken and duckeggs, fish, meat, mushrooms, milk, butter, bread, honey, hot sauce, granola, tea–are being joined by some seasonal produce! Rhubarb stalks, herbs, greens, carrots, spring onions, fresh garlic, kohlrabi and steamer clams are all goodies to watch out for in the coming weeks.

A warm welcome to our new vendors this month! Remember, order between Sunday and Tuesday online at northcoastfoodweb.org

Columbia Kiwi Growers–Green and gold kiwi fruit grown in greenhouses in South Bend, Washington.

Fed Up Produce–A new produce operation leasing land from 46 North Farm in Olney, Oregon, about 10 miles southeast of Astoria. 

Station House Oysters – An aquaculture operation in Chinook, WA that sells steamer clams and oysters. 

Sell with North Coast Food Web! 

Are you a farmer or producer looking to sell your products locally? We invite you to become a part of our ever-growing, local market community! 

Interested in Applying? Reach out to us via email at market@northcoastfoodweb.org or through our market phone at 971-326-0598. We look forward to hearing from you! 

Sign up for our weekly market newsletter for updates about what is available, who is popping up, weekly recipes and more.

We are kale-ing it, but as always, we could use some support! If you’d like to help us keep the good going, please consider making a donation to support NCFW projects and programs.

Starting July 1st, the Oregon Health Plan (OHP) is officially treating Food as Medicine!

NCFW is stepping up as the regional hub to accept Medicaid from eligible individuals as payment for locally grown and produced food, ensuring these state healthcare dollars stay in our community. This is a grant-funded pilot program, and we’ve named it Neighbor’s Garden.

What this means for your farm and/or food business.

1. Sell your excess produce.
2. Work towards a model that informs your crop planning to meet demand.
3. Help address any barriers to scaling your operations.

We’re looking for three types of partners:

1. You have surplus right now and want to sell it.
2. You want to expand your yield next year and want us to help you plan the rows.
3. You want to keep your production exactly where it is, but you’d like a more stable outlet for what you’re already growing.

NCFW is committed to working together with you, food recipients, and community partners to ensure this program is a success for all, and to nurture NCFW’s long-term strategic growth.

How to get started: Don't worry about the paperwork yet. Just contact Lindsay at Lindsay@northcoastfoodweb.org or (603) 689-4959 to let her know you're interested or to learn more.

Witness: Astoria Library of Things and the art of Tagliatelle using KitchenAid attachments

This month Chef Andy visited the Astoria Library to demonstrate how one might use the tools available at the library’s new Library of Things! Using KitchenAid attachments, Andy ground meat, chopped vegetables, and pressed noodles for a delicious Tagliatelle alla Bolognese dish for attendees to sample–it was a hit! We’re determined to get the word out on this community resource and to put on more cooking demonstrations soon, stay tuned.

Available: OSU Seafood Lab joins the Kitchen Network

OSU Seafood Lab has joined North Coast Food Web’s Kitchen Network, a growing list of commercial kitchens that are available to rent for reasonable rates. Two NCFW vendors are already participating! Spaces in the OSU Seafood Lab will be available to rent starting at  $10/hour. Contact Alex at alex.gerber@oregonstate.edu for more information.

Available: Liberty Theatre joins the Kitchen Network

Also joining our Kitchen Network is the historic Liberty Theatre. Their kitchen is now available to rent to commercial food producers. Contact Nancy at theaterdirector@libertyastoria.org for more information.

Needed: Volunteers to join our team!

If you care deeply about local food and want to help farmers and neighbors thrive, we’d love to have you on our team. NCFW is looking for reliable volunteers to help us keep our operations running smoothly. Most of our volunteer shifts take place throughout the day on Thursdays and Fridays. Volunteers would help with food box assembly, delivery driving (fuel mileage reimbursement provided), and onsite food pickup.

Contact info@northcoastfoodweb.org

Salad and Song - June 30th

Save the date for our next fundraiser! North Coast Food Web will be holding a Salad and Song event June 30th from 6-8pm at Obelisk Brewing in Astoria, OR.

Free to attend, there will be salads and other goodies for sale, musical performances from local musicians, and a small raffle. Come by and spend some time with your local food community at this summer edition of our biannual Soup and Song fundraiser.  We will continue our Soup and Song event this fall. 

We’ve partnered with BottleDrop Give, Oregon’s container deposit program! Every can, bottle, or glass container you return helps fund our mission of connecting farmers, fishers, and food makers with our community.

Pick up a blue bag today, or donate to North Coast Food Web from your personal BottleDrop account!

We're always seeking Thursday market volunteers to help receive, sort, and distribute weekly orders—everything from fresh produce and frozen fish to honey, flowers, and more. Interested? Email market@northcoastfoodweb.org to get started!

Get Involved!

Our work to cultivate a resilient and equitable food system on the North Coast wouldn't be possible without our community of volunteers, our wonderful Board of Directors, and the donors that fund our programs!

1450 Exchange St.

Astoria, OR 97103

Office: 503-468-0921

Market: 971-326-0598

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