Proud to support


Last week, our friends Alex and Sarah hosted a delicious dinner of homemade tamales in support of an important cause here in Washington.  Mid-July, nearly 200 berry pickers walked off the job in the Skagit Valley strawberry fields to demand higher wages, protection for their fellow workers, and an end to harassment and insults on the job.

I was glad Alex highlighted this issue by holding his impromptu fundraiser.  I find it too easy to become so engrossed in my own little world that I neglect to notice how others need my help or how I can affect justice in my community.  But it matters to me how workers who help to grow and harvest the food I buy are treated.  One of the reasons I buy organic produce is because I know that those who grew and handled it were not exposed to as many hazardous chemicals.  For me it's more than just about my family's health.

Unfortunately, I find it more difficult to learn how the workers who handle and harvest one's food are treated financially.  Although I could only make a small difference, I would like to be able spend my grocery budget to always support the farms that share my principles.  I'm able to do this in part by buying a CSA each year from this farm

Kudos to Alex for highlighting this local struggle and the important issues it raises.  I was glad to put some money into Alex's money jar -- support that was going to Community to Community Development -- a group in Bellingham that is providing local support to strikers.  You can read more about C2C and the workers continued struggle here.  A quick read might change your mind about which flat of berries you'll buy at the grocery store.


As for Alex's dinner, it featured THE pumpkin and chard tamales with rojas sauce that Sarah and Alex are known for (one of these days I'm hoping for a tamale tutorial from them).  Plus black beans, quinoa salad, and of course, great drinks such as the lime-rhubarb-vodka-bitters thingy Alex kept pouring over ice. 

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