Sitting at her picnic table in a compact backyard garden filled with herbs and plants, Mary Ellen Carter sips on a steaming cup of jasmine tea as she flips through her cookbook, "At Joe’s Garden: Harvest Recipes from the Pacific Northwest."
"Food is more than just substance. It’s a community event. It’s a cultural event, and we need to start having more fun with it," Carter said. "We are losing our culture. We are losing our old recipes. We need to start being more aware by looking at our plates and asking, ‘Where did this come from?’"
The recipes in Carter’s cookbook call for seasonal ingredients from Whatcom County agriculture. Carter, a 30-year Bellingham resident, said it was important to write a cookbook that emphasized the environmental and social benefits of supporting sustainable agriculture.
Sustainable agriculture is a way of growing food that seeks to protect the environment, support local economies and encourage social and economic equity.
Carter said resources such as farmers markets, cooking classes and food education also contribute to community support for local farms.
"We have to have people like Joe’s and the farmers market. If we don’t start supporting them, all the local farmers will disappear," Carter said.
According to the Washington State Department of Agriculture, Whatcom County ranks sixth in the state for agricultural production and still has many small, family-owned farms. Although their numbers have decreased by 12 percent — to 1,485 farms — in the past five years, these farms still provide sustainable options for county residents.
Joe’s Garden, the backdrop for Carter’s cookbook, is a local grower of vegetables, flowers, herbs and other plants. Since opening in 1933, this Bellingham farm has provided produce while surviving increased competition from larger, industrial farms. Owner and manager Jason Weston said this was largely due to the role the garden plays and the staff’s desire to keep it going.
"It’s tough to make a living in this industry. We have made our niche by customer service and growing things better than the larger farms," Weston said. "We are big enough where we can make it but small enough where we don’t have to compete."
Joe’s Garden doesn’t use pesticides on its soil or crops. Staff members pay close attention to the nutrient levels in the soil to have a successful harvest.
"We are a blend of scientific and traditional farming," Weston said. "By knowing exactly what your soil is doing, you can adjust where your plants go and have the healthiest plants possible, avoiding disease and insects."
While the staff at Joe’s keeps a close eye on the soil and crops, larger-scale farmers with more acreage struggle with growing produce without pesticides.
"Industrial farming is not only ruining the environment, it’s ruining our health, our children’s health and our family culture," said Elizabeth Smith, a Bellingham Community Food Co-op member. "People really need to understand what food is. It’s not the things that come out of a box. What most people put in their mouths is not food; it’s crap. We need to get back to some of the basic premises of what food really is."
Mary Ellen Carter’s cookbook does just that.
"It’s about shopping for what’s in season — using whatever veggies are happening at the time," Carter said. "When you get a good vegetable, it doesn’t take long to make something easy and great."
Consistent with her passion for community food education and sustainable agriculture, Carter teache s monthly cooking classes for both Whatcom Community College and the co-op. She also writes a monthly food column for The Bellingham Herald and has written three cookbooks.
"Behind every good cook is a good farmer," she said.