Clean Greens bringing organic produce to the inner city | Community Spirit

The problem with maintaining a healthy diet is that it’s often cheaper and more convenient to down a Big Mac and a supersized soda than it is to buy fresh, organic produce.

The challenge becomes even greater when you’re a city dweller without the luxury of space to cultivate a garden. In the end, you’re left with the choice of spending big bucks at a high-end grocery store or buying cheaper, inferior food.

After years of seeing too many of their friends and neighbors develop high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes as a result of poor eating habits, a group of people from the Central District decided it was time to do something.

Clean Greens Farm & Market was created three years ago with the goal of growing organic produce and selling it at a reasonable price to inner city families who might otherwise not be able to afford it.

But the organization’s goal is actually much bigger than that, according to Clean Greens’ Lillie Brinker.

“We’re teaching the community how to be stewards of the earth. We’re not just growing food, we’re educating the community,” she said.  “We are reconnecting the community and bringing people back together. People sometimes have these images and stereotypes about the inner city, but we’re doing something about it, and we’re doing it with food.”

The food Clean Greens sells comes from a 22-acre farm in Duvall. Among dozens of other vegetables, Clean Greens grows organic, pesticide-free beans, spinach, leeks, carrots and cucumbers. Starting in early summer and running through October, organizers operate six small markets throughout the Central District, where they sell the produce to the surrounding community.

While everyone involved with Clean Greens calls the organization and its mission an resounding success, there have been setbacks.

As anyone who perspired their way through the dog days of last summer surely remembers, there was a stretch of time when the temperature was regularly flirting with triple digits. Sun worshipers might find that climate comfortable, but vegetables do not.

Without proper refrigeration, Clean Greens lost more than 20 percent of its crops to spoilage.

That’s where United Way comes into the picture. With money raised during Hunger Action Week, United Way is going to buy Clean Greens a refrigeration system in Duvall that will help cut down on the amount of wasted food.

United Way’s Lauren Mcgowan said it was easy to choose Clean Greens as a Hunger Action Week recipient because the organization is already offering a unique and much-needed product, and with a few tweaks, she and her coworkers believe it could help even more people in the Central District.

“One of the challenges of hunger is that it’s so hard to see. Sometimes it looks like obesity and sometimes it looks like somebody’s skipping a meal,” she said. “The beautiful thing about Clean Greens is that it’s focused in the Central District and making sure that people who need it the most have access to healthy and nutritious food.”

Rev. Robert Jeffrey is the Executive Director of Clean Greens. He said getting the refrigeration system will mean even more local families will be able to eat healthy.

“Last summer was a very hot summer, so we lost a lot of food,” he said. “So this is major, because we’re losing food for no reason except we can’t protect it against the weather.”

Keeping their veggies cool and comfortable isn’t the only project Clean Greens is working on. The organization is already planning a new youth center and café across the street from its headquarters. Among other functions, the proposed center would give locals an opportunity to learn what to do with all that fresh produce now that they have the means to buy it.

So far, Jeffrey is putting every penny Clean Greens makes back into the organization, but he’s already planning for a time when the program starts making money.

“If we ever get to the point where we’re making profits, then those profits will go into a community store,” he said. “Our ultimate goal is to create a community marketplace where people can come in and buy produce (year round).”

Join KOMO all this week in participating in United Way of King County's Hunger Action Week: 5 Days and 5 Ways to make a difference. One out of every six adults and nearly one out of four children struggle with hunger, including a growing number of people right here in the Puget Sound. You can learn more about Hunger Action Week or make a donation online.

Also, check out Martha Kang's blog as she attempts to eat on $7 per day as part of the Hunger Action Week challenge.