It's always mystified me that people who can afford health insurance and Whole Foods have access to clean and safe food, while those who can't afford a doctor's visit are left to buy cheaper processed food lacking nutritional value, which increases their chances of obesity, heart disease, diabetes and a plethora of other debilitating diseases. What dimwit created this unjust food system? That guy is so fired!!

Then one rainy day, Lisa Ludwigsen, resource development coordinator of Petaluma Bounty, took me on a private tour of the organic Bounty Farm. Petaluma Bounty is a nonprofit organization working to address hunger and improve local food options. Not only does the group grow fresh food on a 2-acre farm in downtown Petaluma, but it also redistributes surplus food and provides affordable fresh, organic food to low-income families, schools and seniors. "Our mission is to provide a healthier food system in Petaluma," says Grayson James, the organization's executive director. A growing number of seniors in Petaluma live on fixed incomes and are unable to afford healthy, fresh food, while almost one in three children in Petaluma city schools lives in family that cannot afford to put healthy food on the table on a daily basis.

The farm received the initial seed funding from the Hub of Petaluma Foundation. Elim Lutheran Church is the fiscal sponsor. "I gave a presentation at the church a few years ago," says James. "After the meeting, the daughter of Mr. Stonitsch, a longtime Petaluma resident, graciously convinced her dad to let us use his property on Shasta Road to grow this community farm." Gottfried Stonitsch is generously leasing the land where he raised his family to Bounty Farm for five years. Along with support from Clover Stornetta Farms, North Bay Construction, Whole Foods, GreenWaste Recovery, Exchange Bank and Kaiser Permanente, the vision soon became a reality. "We envisioned this as the visual focal point for a healthy Petaluma food system. People can come here and experience food growing in the ground, look at it, taste it, get their hands dirty and learn. This is an educational forum," says James.

"The property was once a thriving lumber yard. I can't thank the volunteers enough," says farm manager Amy Rice-Jones. "They've done the cleaning and preparing of the land and recently 25 brave, strong volunteers built a large greenhouse on the property in practically one day. The community support has just been incredible."

Fields of cover crops of vetch, fava beans, peas and oats were all thriving happily on the day I visited in March. They'll soon be chopped down and worked into the soil as a nutritious fertilizer and amendment before the flower and vegetable seedlings growing in the glorious greenhouse are planted in the ground.

"During the summer months, I bring Mr. Stonitsch a flower bouquet every week. He lives here on the property. Periodically he'll come around. He's a big fan of the flower garden," says Rice-Jones. "Numerous restaurants in Petaluma cook with our crops; Café Zazzle, Dempsey's, the Tea Room Café and Central Market are a few. Our produce and flowers are also available at the local farmers market. In the growing season, we have a flower subscription business where local businesses can sign up to purchase a fresh weekly bouquet of locally grown, organic flowers."

"Amy showed up here and just plugged into this and started growing flowers. This program is bringing so many people together, thanks to her," says Ludwigsen. "The volunteers are instrumental. Every bit of Petaluma Bounty is volunteers. We have kids from age 3 to age 80 coming here to help out!"

Besides the 2-acre farm, Petaluma Bounty has three other remarkable programs:

• Bounty Hunters collects surplus fruits and vegetables from the local community. All those peaches you left sitting on the ground inviting pests and fungus—because you're busy tweeting on Twitter—can now be doing what they're supposed to being doing: feeding people. There's even a "food posse" who will be sent to pick up food at your home if you're unable to drop it off at one of Bounty Hunters' collection sites. These brave bounty hunters have collected 100,000 pounds of surplus food since August 2006!

• The Bounty Box Food Club delivers a weekly box of healthy, fresh produce to low-income households at wholesale prices (subsidized by retail Bounty Box sales and corporate sponsorships).

• Petaluma Bounty has also created community gardens at McDowell Elementary School and McKinley Elementary school and a third garden is located at La Tercera Park. Many families who live in apartments now have a place to grow their own food.

"Our mission is to make healthy food available to everyone in Petaluma. To change a food system, it can't be done with just one program. You have to take a broader view. We're connecting with others locally to see how we can all team together so we can really start to shift an entire system," says James.

To volunteer time or equipment or to make financial donations, contact Rice-Jones or James through http://www.petalumabounty.org or call 707/775-3663. Consider adopting a fruit tree for $100. Bounty Farm will plant it on the farm and provide irrigation, pruning, feeding, pest control and luv. All you do is come by to put your nametag on it and visit it if you want, or just send it a comforting text message from time to time.

Organic Heirloom and Hybrid Tomato Plant Sale in Marin

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