Puente’s commitment to providing fresh, local produce to the people who can least afford it has always been contingent on the cooperation of local farmers and ranchers – passionate food advocates who donate produce or sell it at Puente’s Pescadero Grown! Farmer’s Markets. And nowhere has that vision found more bedrock support than with Potrero Nuevo Farm and Blue House Farm, two small farms a short drive from Puente’s headquarters in Pescadero. This year, Potrero Nuevo Farm (which means “new pastures”) will donate a staggering 6,000 pounds of fresh-picked farm produce to Puente (and another 6,000 pounds to Catholic Worker House of Half Moon Bay) – food that Puente uses at program events and distributes to individual Program participants. “They’re basically growing food so that other people can eat healthfully,” says Puente Executive Director Kerry Lobel. Bay Area philanthropists Bill Laven and Christine Pielenz founded Potrero Nuevo Farm in 2008 in the spirit of the social justice work they’d done together for many years. They wanted to feed struggling South Coast families and educate children about the value of farming. Today, the farm donates 85 percent of the food it grows. “It’s great to feed people who can’t even afford food from Safeway sometimes,” says Laven. Founded in 2005, Blue House Farm was at the vanguard of a group of small, organic … Continue reading Why we give to Puente: Potrero Nuevo Farm and Blue House Farm