Yellowbird Foodshed

The term foodshed is used to describe a region of food flows, from the area where it is produced to the place where it is consumed, including the land it grows on, the route it travels, the markets it passes through, and the tables it ends up on. Central Ohio is shrinking its foodshed – and that’s a good thing. 

We all know that of the money we spend at the grocery store or in a restaurant, very little of that reaches the person who grew that food.  When our foodshed is small, there are fewer people who need to make a profit in order to get the food from field to fork. A smaller foodshed flips our current system upside down, putting the majority of the money back into the pockets of the people who deserve it the most – those that are actually growing the food!  

By eating what is grown in our own soils, we are able to access to the microbial diversity* right beneath our feet.  The midwest, and specifically Ohio, grows a huge amount of food, loaded with microbial diversity from our local soils.  We need that diversity in our own foodshed – not flown, shipped, or trucked in from someplace else. 

Over the years, we have divorced the social agreements from our food systems. We no longer know the people growing our food, therefore, we no longer understand in whose hands we place our lives.  We are no longer able to hold any single farm or farmer accountable for the health of our food and, by extension, the health of our planet.  Most importantly, we are no longer held accountable for buying what local farmers provide.    

As a species, our first foodshet was tiny because we were earthing only what we could forage. Eventually, we were able to plan and cultivate our own gardens.  Today, our foodshed consists of the entire planet as we import more food than we export as a country, and for better or worse, we must either learn to live with those consequences or change the way we eat.  

The Yellowbird Foodshed started with the mission to decentralize the food system one customer at a time.  Today, 11 years and thousands of customers served later, we hold to that mission.  Our motto from day one was “Who Grew Your Food?” Asking this question continues to take us in the direction we need to go for healing our bodies and our communities.  Whether growing it ourselves, shopping for groceries, ready-to-eat meals, or eating out, this is the standard to which we must hold ourselves, as well as anyone else who is trying to cook or sell us food.

Your first comment is probably, “It’s too expensive!” – but is it?

In America, we are losing soil 10 times faster than we are replenishing it, and China and India are losing it at a rate of 30-40 times faster. With what we know about soil and gut microbiome diversity, it will then come as no surprise that we are statistically one of the unhealthiest countries in the world.  On the Global Health Index, the United States ranks 66th.  This is a measure of overall health, including factors such as: life expectancy, blood pressure, blood glucose, obesity, depression, happiness, alcohol and tobacco use, and inactivity.  (Jones, 2024) What if we could change our thinking, leading to different spending, and create a paradigm shift that would alter these outcomes?

What if we measured our food spending budget each month by how many equity boxes our money checked? Boxes such as flavor, nutrients, gut health, brain health, soil health, community health, ethical spending, and decrease of emissions. With that mindset, we would presumably be casting a vote three times a day, seven days a week.

Circling back, Central Ohio is shrinking its foodshed – and that is a good thing. I know the foodshed personally because I’ve built a microcosm of one by directly connecting our food growers to our consumers. Our drivers hand a check (your money) directly to the growers, shake their hands, and then bring it to you each week through the platform of an online grocery store (shameless plug).  We have chefs who create “heat-n-eat” meals each week using our own foodshed’s ingredients.  We have home deliveries and community pickups where we get to see our customers each week.  An actual human  oversees customer service and responds to every question, comment, or complaint. Until now, the missing component from our end was the ability to service restaurants.  However, we are now in the wholesale delivery business. We deliver our mushrooms to your favorite local independent grocery markets and restaurants.

All that’s left is to ask the simple question, “Who Grew Your Food?,” and then be ready to put your money where your mouth is.

Website: yellowbirdfs.com

Instagram: @yellowbirdfoodshed