An Oasis in a Food Desert
Farmers in East Whatcom County organize food access after local stores close
A boarded up building in Nugents Corner, Washington. Nugents Corner has limited access to grocery stores and empty buildings with boarded windows have become too common of a sight. // Amaya Coblentz
Story by Kenji Carskaddan
March 17, 2023
Just beyond the shoreline of the Nooksack River, the residents of Deming, Washington line up at Twin Sister Farmers Markets ready to pick out fruits and vegetables. This food stand was born out of a vision that any small community should be able to consume healthy and local food, said Cat Sieh, market manager for the Twins Sisters Farmers Market.
Sieh has helped build a more sustainable source of produce in East Whatcom County. The farmer’s market has expanded into three small-scale markets across the county. The market provides fresh fruits and vegetables, local meat and eggs, and dry goods such as the popular BeeWorks Honey for communities in Deming, Kendall and Birchwood.
Unlike the variety of large-scale farmer's markets in Bellingham, Washington, Twin Sisters Markets is the only cooperative stand that provides fresh foods in East Whatcom.
Small-scale farming is inconsistent due to its seasonal nature, said Margaret Gerard, co-owner of Sunseed Farms, located in the South Fork Valley.
“At the market, we struggle to strike a balance between paying our farmers a living wage and paying them enough to cover the cost of growing this beautiful food, while also keeping prices affordable for the folks that we’re serving,” Sieh said. “That’s a really challenging goal, and that’s not unique to us.”
Nugent’s Corner Market is the closest location to buy simple groceries for many residents of Eastern Whatcom county. Shoppers have access to both grocery and hardware products here. // Amaya Coblentz
Farm stands such as Twin Sisters Markets are trying to alleviate rural food inequality as access to their local stores has diminished over time. Market staff and farmers take turns running the market from June to October. Over a dozen local farms supply produce for the market that operates in Deming, Birchwood and Kendall.
The rural towns of Kendall, Maple Falls and Peaceful Valley, dubbed the Foothills community, are tucked in the valleys near Bald Mountain. Here, approximately one in three people have low or no access to a nearby grocery store.
Closer options are convenience stores, which lack the space to sell large amounts of produce and meat. The cost of buying this food, compared to conventional grocers, is much higher as a result.
East Whatcom occupies over half of the land in the county. While favorable to hikers and skiers for its mountainous terrain, the geography makes it difficult and costly for grocery stores to operate.
“There’s not some secret mission to keep people in rural communities away from food, but one of the challenges is getting delivery trucks out to a community that is essentially at the end of the road. That is a tremendous infrastructural ask,” said Kate Darby, a Western Washington University professor who studies sustainable food systems.
Residents of Kendall must drive at least 35 minutes one-way to get to grocery chains such as WinCo or Safeway in Bellingham. While the cost of food at these grocery stores is lower, the cost of gas, time and accessibility to transportation limits residents in East Whatcom to a small selection of food options.
A shelf with limited canned goods. Residents shopping in smaller grocery stores experience high prices and limited selection and if something is out of stock, shoppers are out of luck. // Amaya Coblentz
“We exist in a USDA-recognized rural food desert, which means that over one-third of our community lives below the poverty line and further than 10 miles from a large grocery store,” said Sam Norris in an email.
Norris has been serving the Foothills community for nearly a year and a half as executive director of the Foothills Food Bank in Maple Falls. The food bank provides its residents with canned goods and fresh produce at no charge.
Generally, rural communities in East Whatcom are sparse; long highways stretch miles through undeveloped terrain, making the commute to buy groceries much more than a simple outing.
Three staple stores in the East Whatcom community closed their doors in the past decade. Nugent’s Corner, located near Deming, and Sumas saw the loss of Bromley’s and Dodson’s independent grocers in 2017. A few miles south, Everybody’s Store in Van Zandt closed in 2018.
In Columbia Valley, residents without a car must ride Whatcom Transportation Authority (WTA) buses for about two hours and 17 minutes to reach Bellingham, according to a 2014 Foothills Food Summit Report. The total travel time on a WTA bus can be up to 4 hours and 34 minutes excluding the additional time it takes to wait for the buses. Carrying groceries, often with time-sensitive perishables, further incentivizes people to rely on cars to travel outside their communities.
The sign outside of the Rome Store. The sign reads “Little Store Big Heart,” and shows the ideals of the small, but tight knit community. // Amaya Coblentz
The Foothills Food Bank is partnered with Food Lifeline and Northwest Harvest. These nonprofits distribute recovered food and commodities to food pantries, said Norris.
“Lately, we've seen declines in the volume and variety of goods we receive from these partnerships and programs, which have led us to increase the amount of food we purchase by over one thousand percent per month,” Norris said.
Whatcom County has plans to increase food access in East Whatcom County through the recently updated 2023 Whatcom County Food System Plan.
Kenji Carskaddan is a junior at Western who is majoring in biology and wishes to explore the benefits of sustainable food systems.
Amaya Coblentz is an environmental studies and GIS student at Western. She enjoys portrait photography and is passionate about making environmental information accessible through visual art.