About Fork & Shovel

Eat the View

Fork and Shovel is a food community committed to building a strong local food network & economy. Our initial program is helping to foster relationships between chefs, & other food buyers with farmers, ranchers & artisan food producers. This is done through a very dynamic website that allows food producers to share their products 24/7 with the food buying community.

Fork & Shovel grew out of a simple desire to use the Internet to bring farmers and chefs in our community together, now is headed to a more comprehensive network that will eventually touch all segments of are community. We wanted to facilitate increased sales to forever-struggling sustainable farmers. We wanted to encourage the public to patronize restaurants lead by chefs who consistently face economic and logistical challenges in order to serve only the highest quality ingredients to their customers, grown, whenever possible, in their local food shed.

Once upon a time, in small rural communities like ours, farmers gathered in a town hall or Grange to discuss the issues of the day. The Internet is our virtual Grange, allowing early bird farmers to talk with night owl chefs. Our collaborative aims to allow us to support one another financially, as we dialogue across a broad range of issues that, ultimately, have the power to affect all of us who eat.

If you live or will be traveling to Sonoma County, we encourage you to patronize our member restaurants. If your interest extends beyond the table, we encourage you to shop our local farmers markets and visit those farms that are open to the public.

Our “Links to Learning” includes organizations we believe in, and rely upon, as we continue to educate ourselves about the future of food ~ here in America, and in the rest of the world, where even our smallest choices can have the power to ripple out with profound effect.

Wherever you live, wherever you travel, we encourage you to

Eat the View!