Petaluma Profile: Petaluma Bounty keeps on growing

This is the third in a series profiling vendors at Petaluma’s farmers markets, from the growers and sellers of produce to craftspeople and other artists.

In addition to its work in the community serving the food insecure through a variety of programs, Petaluma Bounty Farm has been running a booth at the Petaluma Farmers market on Saturday afternoons, 2-5 p.m., in Walnut Park, at the corner of Fourth and D streets. The Saturday market operates through mid-November.

A decade ago, Petaluma Bounty became a program of Petaluma People Services Center. PPSC focuses on improving the social and economic health of our community by offering programs that strengthen the dignity and self-sufficiency of locals. Bounty’s own mission is providing healthy food for everyone through collaboration, education and promoting self-reliance.

Its 3-acre farm at the east end of Shasta Avenue, near the Petaluma Lucky grocery store, grows a wide variety of colorful, sustainably-grown produce, work that includes managing an orchard of fruit trees. A nontraditional workforce comprised of people of all ages helps with seeding and cultivating, weeding and harvesting — all the steps of the farming process.

Petaluma Bounty is closely allied with CalFresh, which assists low-income people who meet federal income eligibility rules and want to add to their budget to put healthy and nutritious food on their table. In addition to CalFresh, there is the Market Match program, which helps CalFresh customers get more nutritional foods while enhancing the local food economy. It’s an important goal of Petaluma Bounty which runs Market Match so CalFresh customers can get extra spending bucks for fruits and vegetables at participating farmers markets in Sonoma and Marin counties.

What should people know about Petaluma Bounty?

Bounty’s Program Director, Suzi Grady, explained that it’s a “farm-based, community food security project.” She became involved with the program a dozen years ago, beginning as a farm intern.

What drew you to the organization?

“The mission of growing ecologically sustainable food,” Grady responded quickly, “for people who can’t afford to participate in the local food system.”

She explained that Bounty offers produce at the Saturday Walnut Park market at a regular retail price, “to be able to keep the operation running. What’s special about what we do is the sliding scale farm stand. And we administer the Market Match at the farmers market.”

What’s the most enjoyable thing about the Saturday market?

Again, her answer comes quickly. "It’s local. It’s held in nice park and based in the community. And customers and vendors have been coming for decades.”

If you can’t make it to the Saturday afternoon market, youn can give Wednesdays a try. Petaluma Bounty’s farm stand, which officially opened on July 13 and runs from 2-5 p.m. on Wednesdays through November, is located at the farm on 55 Shasta Ave. Again, there are sliding scale discounts for those with limited incomes and/or CalFresh customers.

Follow Petaluma Bounty at PetalumaBounty.org or on the nonprofit’s Facebook page.