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InsideBayArea.com
By Laura Casey, staff writer
January 29, 2007
Eating to save the world
You've heard of green grocers, but pioneering Three Stone Hearth takes green to a new level
IT IS MINUTES before 5 p.m. on a Wednesday evening in Berkeley and already a line is forming in front of a white plastic table at Three Stone Hearth, a community-supported kitchen near the city's waterfront.
The kitchen's five worker-owners and about a dozen volunteers are busy, really busy.
In fact, they are too busy to chat as they prepare to dole out the kitchen's broth-based soups and stews, homemade cheeses and pies to a dedicated group of customers, some of whom travel as far as 50 miles to pick up their weekly supply of the kitchen's nutrient-dense food.
The line grows longer at 5 p.m. when the kitchen opens, but no one seems too concerned. Moms bounce babies on their hips as they chat with one another about the week's menu.
Men and women, most of whom are carrying their own shopping bags, hold multiple lists in their hands. One list is their own weekly order.
The others are orders placed by their neighbors.
Once the orders are filled, these customers will take the food to their hometowns — Walnut Creek, Marin, San Francisco, Alameda — and deliver the goods to the other Three Stone Hearth customers who live near them. Next week, those customers who stayed home will repeat the process for them.
These people are building a community around the food they enjoy and around Three Stone Hearth. This community cares about its neighbors, the environment and nutrition, says Three Stone Hearth worker-owner Larry Wisch.
"I go to the grocery store maybe once a week now," says San Francisco resident Sherry Morse as she picks up her order and the orders of three others who live near her in the city's Richmond district. She says she used to shop for fresh, nutritional foods five days a week, driving to the store each time.
Next week, Morse will stay home and her neighbor will go to Three Stone Hearth for her, further reducing her number of shopping trips. And while Morse reduces her need to go to the store, she is also cutting back on car trips, saving gas and doing her little part to save the environment.
"This is really convenient, that's the secret," she says as Three Stone Hearth workers pile glass jars full of food into a bin for her to take home.
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