Bringing affordable healthy food to El Paso

On my recent visit to El Paso, Mary Margaret Murphy introduced me to Patsy Stallworth, a longtime friend of Villa Maria, the home that Loretto sisters founded to support immigrant women. We met for brunch at El Serape, where the huevos a la Mexicana were spicy and delicious — as was our animated conversation.

I was eager to learn more about the Desert Spoon Food Hub that Patsy and her daughters Vanessa Brady and Adriana Clowe founded in 2015.

I was in town to seek out connections with locals whose work reflects the Loretto Land Ethic. We have committed ourselves “to raise our bioregional consciousness and continue restorative processes on the land in our care so as to maintain healthy and diverse ecosystems.” I wanted to know how Desert Spoon was nurturing local ecosystems, including the human!

Patsy was full of information and enthusiasm on that question. Desert Spoon connects regional organic farmers with the humans who need the food they grow and who appreciate their labor. Maintaining livable wages for farmers and reasonable prices for families is their priority. To do this, they mobilize workers to move the produce from farms through processing, storage and distribution systems that keep fresh food moving to those eager for tasty, nutritious meals.

Mary Margaret and I had shopped at Spoon Flower Grocery, a delightful collection of local fresh organic vegetables and fruits in the midst of what would otherwise be an El Paso food desert. We found coolers and shelves lined with fresh eggs, tortillas, rice, snacks, desserts, beverages and more — everything a family would need for healthy meals all week. As with most organic groceries, prices tend to be a little higher. But for families on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, a double-up program provides their fruits and vegetables at half-price!

In addition to networking with regional farmers and making Spoon Flower Grocery available to all, the Food Hub has other programs. Food boxes are distributed locally at $30 per box ($15 for those on SNAP). An innovative children’s program, Taster’s Space, engages children with fresh fruits and vegetables through scavenger hunts, crafts, recipes and fun. Another program, Fresh Rx, provides food as medicine for a six-week prescribed diet through a local medical clinic.

Desert Spoon is a family affair, a mother and daughters fulfilling their separate roles as they lovingly tend the local ecosystem of organic farmers and humans. What a wonderful inspiration they are to all those who would embrace the Loretto Land Ethic!