You’ve heard of a watershed, but did you realize that you also live in a foodshed? In the same way that the community you live in produces (or has to import) the water you need, a foodshed describes all the steps of the path that your food takes between when it was produced and when you eat it.

Even though many rural Oregon communities are covered in farmland, that farmland may not be contributing much to feeding local families.

Take Linn and Benton counties, which have substantial farmland devoted to growing grass seed and Christmas trees. Currently, only 2% of the food consumed in these counties is produced locally.

Ten Rivers Food Web is organizing people in Linn, Benton and Lincoln counties -- including food producers, processors and eaters -- to increase the amount of food that is produced and eaten locally.

They’re starting with a project that will bring more local food into their “emergency food” network. From there, they’re working on longer term changes so that their foodshed is providing more food for the tables of local families.

The eventual goal: go from the current 2% locally-produced food to 30%. An ambitious goal, but reachable for an agricultural community in the heart of Oregon.

Their extensive website has some great features:

• A searchable list of local food growers and producers
• A calendar of their upcoming educational events
• A guide to agricultural food labels

And you can also see which ten Oregon rivers they are named for: www.tenriversfoodweb.org

Photo: Nancy Rosenberger, Ten Rivers Food Web board member