Sail Transport Network
From Sustainable Ballard
Contents |
Natural transport for the local economy and community.
As part of the Sail Transport Network concept, Sustainable Ballard has an informal partnership with the Sail Transport Company, which is now underway. After a brief winter break, the company plans to re-start the CSA in June 2009, with biweekly deliveries.
What we offer:
- Fossil-fuel free transport, creating petro-independent local supply chains
- Pollution-free transport
- A great living (green job opportunities)
- Buy local opportunities (sustainable market for small farmers)
- Food security
- Natural transport for the people of Puget Sound
Partner farms
- Nash's Organics (Sequim) http://www.nashsorganicproduce.com/
- Potatoes, beets, green cabbage, carrots, some brassicas, kale, and (maybe) parsley
- Rainbow Farm (Sequim) http://www.rainbowfarm.net/
- Potatoes and grains
- Buck Hollow Farm (Kitsap Peninsula)
- Organic honey
Press and Media
KEXP Radio Interview Dave Reid, Sail Transport Company, speaks with Diane Horn about petroleum-free delivery of local organic produce in the Puget Sound area (April 25, 2009)
Editorial note: This is an excellent, comprehensive overview of STC's goals and partnerships.
The Sustainability Segment presents one-on-one interviews with inspiring leaders and grass roots activists on a variety of environmental, social, and economic issues affecting life and the future of our planet.
KUOW Radio Interview: Fuel-Free Produce Delivery, (April 18, 2009)
Washington state's unemployment rate has rocketed up to 9.2%. So it's not the best time to give up a steady job or start a new business. David Reid knows this, but in January he quit his job as an ultrasound engineer anyway to work full–time on his dream business. It's called Sail Transport Company. Dave and his crew pick up locally grown, organic produce and honey from farmers on the Kitsap and Olympic Peninsulas and sail them back to waiting customers at Ballard's Shilshole Bay. Dave talked with KUOW's Jeannie Yandel about why he took such a big risk in a bad economy.
Jan Lundberg's Culture Change:
Sail Transport Network: Interview with Puget Sound sailor David Reid, (January 2, 2008)
Sail Transport Network Hauls Food Across the Sea, (December 29, 2008)
Bart, the editor for The Energy Bulletin, has also picked up and published these two articles on their site, which has a much larger, international readership: Sail Transport Network Hauls Food Across the Sea, and Sail Transport Network: Interview with Puget Sound sailor David Reid.
Sail transport and Puget Sound's SCALLOPS network, (August 6, 2007)
It's not a bird, or a plane, but a boat! The Sail Transport Network brings oil-free, organic food to the Ballard community! (December 23, 2008)
Gourmet chef, friend, and Ballard neighbor Patricia ventures out in the November cold and darkness to meet the intrepid Whisper as it returns to Shilshole on its third trip, and writes up her encounter. Her lens is not a sailor's but rather a dedicated locavore's, and you'll learn more about how STN ties in with the Buy Local movement. Patricia's blog article also covers local female trike builder extraordinaire, Segue, and her Frankentrikes, http://www.frankentrikes.com/. Her all-electric trikes close that last crucial mile for our CSA subscribers who prefer home delivery.
Buy organic produce delivered by sailboat (December 15, 2008)
MyBallard blog, http://www.myballard.com/, is a rarity: a non-corporate, high-quality site that provides both local color and insight as neighboring Ballardians add their own comments (and indeed, some are quite, er, colorful as people misunderstand why we started STN. Hint: It's NOT fresh produce for yuppies only.) Special thanks to the "Geeky Swedes", Cory & Kate Bergman, for their support of both Sustainable Ballard and Sail Transport Network. Check out their amazing photo collection of our December 2008 snowstorms (yes, that's plural!).
WE HAVE 4 SAILBOATS IN SUSTAINABLE BALLARD
STN Coordinators
- Fulvio Casali
- fulvio AT sustainableballard DOT org
- Dave Reid
- sailtransportcompany AT gmail DOT com
- Vic Opperman
- vic AT sustainableballard DOT org
- Kathy Pelish
- kpelish AT gmail DOT com
Backgrounder
Seattle Neighborhood Leads the Sustainability Charge (Vic Opperman is interviewed)
"The idea is to re-create a trade network between communities on Puget Sound, using sailboats and non-motorized vehicles. The idea is not new; up until the 1930s, all goods were moved by water transport, and every community on the water had some sort of dock for loading and unloading trade items. Quantities exchanged under the new system would be small, so as not to fall under the purview of maritime laws and taxes, says Opperman. Products could include locally-produced beer, wine, cheese, and bicycles."
Sail Transport Network, by Jan Lundberg
The New Age of Sail, by Dmitri Orlov