Local Vegetable Subscription Boxes Available to Western Students and Staff

 Western students and employees can subscribe to a “Local Choice Food Box,” filled with local vegetables and other farmed goods on campus starting now through October.

 The box subscription prices will range from $19.50 all the way to $51.75 per week. Members can pick from a variety of box sizes and add on depending on need. The two options are “The Local Box,” which lets subscribers customize their weekly box, or the “Farmers Choice Box,” where the farmers decide what to put in the box based on crop availability.

Due to campus construction, weekly box pick up has been changed to outside Haggard Hall, instead of the former Performing Arts Center pick up location. Registration ends June 1, and those who hope to sign up after the deadline will be placed on a waitlist due to crop limitations from the farmers.

Carol Berry, Western’s Campus Conservation and Sustainable Transportation Program manager, helps coordinate Western's participation in the Grow Washington program.  

 “The veggies are awesome and the funds go directly to the farmer and even to some veteran farmer programs,” Berry said.

Along with vegetables, Berry, who is retiring from her position this year, said the boxes can provide other local farm products like jam, cheese, bread and even meat.  

Provided through the Grow Washington program, an effort to assist Whatcom and Skagit farmers through the Community Supported Agriculture project, it provides farmers money to start the next year’s crop while the subscriptions are paid off during the end of their harvest season. WWU’s affiliation with the program was started by a student in 2014 through a grant to add a Community Supported Agriculture location to campus. The goal was to provide fresh vegetables to students who may not have access to them outside of campus.

Since the program mainly runs in the summer, when the majority of students are not on campus, it is heavily utilized by staff and faculty. But, Berry said for students here in the summer, it is a great way to get local veggies and seasonal goods.

Participants can sign up online visit www.growingwashington.org/food-box and click “Sign up now.” Then simply select Western Washington University as the pickup location.

Western students and faculty receive a $25 discount with any subscription by entering the discount “WWU” when ordering a Community Supported Agriculture membership.

For more information about the Local Choice Food Box program, contact Gabrielle Santerre at (206) 458-0264.