Farm and Flourish Local Food Business

Have you ever wished that Lewis County had an all-local grocery? A place where you can shop for locally grown produce, grains, meats, and delicacies that only our regional producers can offer?

The Lewis County farmers markets are excellent, but they’re only open four or five hours a week and frequently on weekdays. It’s difficult to schedule your shopping trip within such a narrow window.

This is also hard on the producer. They transport their product, which is often perishable, to market hoping to sell enough within that window to support their business. After market, whatever is left may not make it until the next market day.

Farm and Flourish will be the solution for local-vores. A cooperative-style grocery store that networks with food producers to gather the best that we have to offer in one place. Farmers and producers can schedule drop-offs of their products, or swing by after a market to unload produce and diminish food waste.

Another element of the project is a certified commercial kitchen. This tool will be available to help elevate and incubate small food processing businesses. Businesses can rent time and space in the kitchen for creating value-added products like preserves and ferments. Not only will the kitchen serve businesses, it also diversifies the products offered to regional shoppers at Farm and Flourish.

Let’s celebrate and strengthen our local food system by investing in it. We envision an extension of our already vibrant farmers markets, a bustling community hub, a tool for learning via classes, and a great place to shop.

Alliyah is a local farmer, market vendor, board member, and consultant. She and her husband have been working non-stop on this vision and recently were able to rent a space in downtown Centralia. She has networked with dozens of producers, renovated the space, certified the kitchen, and created a plan for the grocery store which allows even the smallest producer to access space in the store.

We are in the final stretch, but we need a few things to avoid putting Alliyah into debt. This fundraiser is an effort to raise a bit of capital to purchase additional produce and display coolers. We need to keep veggies cool and crisp! We also need to display baked goods, and ready-to-eat foods.

By donating to our fundraiser, you become part of the local food network on a greater scale than just as a consumer. This project is an investment in what the future of Lewis County may look like. We are growing fast, we want local farmers to be our rock stars, local businesses to be where it’s at, and our local economy to thrive as we face more commercial and industrial challenges in the years to come.