ABOUT US AND OUR BEGINNINGS

It takes a universe of effort to change a local food system to one that’s more locally based and secure.  We all come to this work because of a deep feeling of commitment to what we are doing.  The Network has come a long way since March 2020 and we continue to grow by leaps and bounds, even in the midst of COVID, fires and growing pains. We are currently undergoing an upgrade and inviting more of our community into our fold to help our community become more food sovereign.  Please join us!

Our ORIGIN STORY ~ Maria Giovanni and Pamm Larry came together in 2017 to write a Local Food Assessment (LFA). At that time, Maria was a professor at CSU Chico (see her bio below). Pamm had worked on food policy issues from the state to the global level. Both felt that a LFA was a first step to bring together all the sectors of our local food system so we could start working together toward more food sovereignty.   The small group that formed had a few meetings but did not have the capacity to focus on such a huge endeavor at that time. So, Pamm and Maria decided to switch the focus of their efforts to a more fun, grassroots, on-the-ground level effort and formed the Butte County Good Food Network. Together with Donna Garrison and a few others, they did a few events but, again, due to other jobs and focus, nothing much came of it.

In 2018, Pamm was still working on national food issues via her organization The Good Food Brigade. The mission was to get folks growing more of their own food via a Victory Garden campaign.  During that period, she also did a very deep dive into the climate situation. Much of the data she read, pointed to our region being one that had the capacity to support a reasonable population, if the worst scenario became reality.

Then on November 8, 2018, the Camp Fire burned our community down. It was a huge wake-up call to all in our county and impacted all of our psyches, if not our living situations. Pamm decided to abandon all other work and focus 100% of her efforts on the local food system right here in Butte County.  She took a year to get to know her community again, after working outside the area for so many years.  Then in October 2019, she changed the name of the organization to the Butte County Local Food Network to be more reflective of our mission and relaunched the organization with its own 501c3.  By March of 2020, we had our first Garden Blitz and have been growing ever since.

Our Core Team is still small and mighty, but our love for our community and our passion for food fuels all our programs. We invite you to meet our team and hear directly from them about why they are here. Feel free to contact any of them via our contact form and we will get you to the person you want to talk with.

Pamm Larry ~Founder ~ Initial Instigator, Chief Rabble Rouser ~ Retired

I believe that working on food system issues enables me to work on all social issues from food security, to water issues, taking care of the planet, social justice, and building bridges in our divided culture.

Maria Giovanni ~ Founder ~ Advisor ~ Retired

I saw how incredibly hard farmers work to get food to us and have worked in a variety of jobs for large and small food companies. My experiences give me an understanding and a concern about our global food system and the importance of food sovereignty.