local food
Want to Beef Up Your Local Chops? Try Meat-Sharing
Published November 21, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT
Does the locally raised, grass-fed meat you find at the farmers market trump your budget? The cost of sustainable meat is high, which is good since it means we might view it as a little more precious and occasional than many Americans do. But is there some way to directly support local farmers and get meat a little cheaper?
Why not try meat-sharing? The concept isn't new — it's basically a community-supported agriculture program for meat — but its popularity is picking up steam as interest in local food soars. The Oakland Local introduces readers to the Bay Area Meat CSA, which advertises itself with the straightforward tagline "buy good, healthy meat directly from local ranchers."
Mark Markovich, a satisfied customer who had bought 70 pounds of meat with some friends from Morris Grassfed Beef, ticked off a list of benefits: keeping money local, helping ranchers support themselves, reducing your carbon footprint. "You’re helping support the entire ecosystem," he told Oakland Local. "People talk about eating within a 100-mile radius of their homes. We can do that here. From field to fork, I know exactly what is going on with the food I’m eating.”
The Website Local Harvest lists CSAs by zip code, including many that provide meat.
Photo courtesy of tvol via flickr
Kellogg Foundation Funds Local Food
Published November 17, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT
When you think of local food, Kellogg is not the first name that springs to mind. No, instead it's sugary cereals (okay, and some non-sugary ones), which are some of the most iconic products of our industrial, processed food system.
So it may come as somewhat of a surprise to hear that the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, a foundation started by cereal maven Will Keith Kellogg in 1930 and still funded by an endowment formed by his money in 1934, has announced $32.5 million in grants to support local food systems, according to the Washington Post.
This news points to the fact that the conversation on local and sustainable foods is starting to make headway. If a foundation that enjoys a close relationship with a mainstream industry player is putting its money on local food -- urban agriculture and local-produce-heavy school lunches no less -- then we know the ground is shifting.
My $80 Thanksgiving Turkey
Published November 13, 2009 @ 11:08AM PT
The argument can be made that paying $80 for a turkey this Thanksgiving is just a typical example of elitism in the sustainable food movement. And that might be somewhat true.
However, I say that it is an example of paying for what's important to you, and for me, that's knowing not only who raised the bird on my table but how it was raised as well.
This Thanksgiving, I'll be serving a 10-12 pound heritage breed turkey from EcoFriendly Foods, a cooperative that sources sustainably produced meat from small farms throughout the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia; and here's why.
Somewhere around 99% of the turkeys consumed in America every year are the genetically engineered "Broadbreasted White" variety. These turkeys, the ones you find in the grocery store, are raised in (I omit "on" for a reason) factory farms, and have been manipulated to the point that they cannot even stand on their own most of time.
Vote for Your Local Food Heroes
Published November 11, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT
Edible Communities Publications, which publishes a range of free magazines on local and sustainable food and eating in communities across the nation, is calling all food enthusiasts to vote on their own favorite local heroes.
You have until December 11 to have your say in the fourth annual Local Hero Awards. Visit the Edible Communities Website to cast your ballot for your favorites in the following categories:
- Farm/Farmer
- Chef/Restaurant
- Food Artisan
- Beverage Artisan
- Non-profit Organization
I particularly like the term "beverage artisan." I wonder if my top-notch gin-and-tonic mixing skills might qualify me for that particular title. Hey, I'm local. To my house.
The winners of this year's contest will be announced in January at the annual Edible Communities publishers' dinner in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Then each community publication will announce its own local heroes in its spring 2010 issue.
Celebrating our local food heroes and activists is a great way to support the future of sustainable, community-oriented food production. Cast your vote today to let them know you care.
Today: Live Chat with USDA Official on Farm to School Program
Published November 05, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT
Sign on to the USDA's live-chat Website at 3 p.m. EST today to join the conversation with US Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan about the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative. According to an agency press release, in this, her second chat, she will be addressing the topic of "farm to school," a program centered around serving fresh local produce and other farm products in schools.
The program connects local agriculturalists with new markets for their goods while simultaneously teaching children about regional food systems and healthy eating. "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food," which has a neat Website I previously raved about on this blog, is an effort by the USDA to repair the alienating disconnect between food producers and consumers. The effort is a result of the 2008 farm bill's increasing the agency's ability to promote local food.
You can submit a question or comment in advance of the chat on the Website www.usda.gov/live. Or, if you just want to give the agency a shout-out for all these great local-food-supporting efforts, friend USDA on Facebook at www.facebook.com/USDA.
Photo courtesy of stock.xchng
Local Food Initiatives Earn Accolades
Published November 04, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT
Everyone likes a winner (except, perhaps, the losers), so it is wonderful to see that some local-food efforts have been recognized with prizes in non-food-oriented competitions. The more friends and admirers the local food movement accrues, the more attention local food systems will receive and the more progress we can make in encouraging local consumption and developing the infrastructure to enable it.
I bring news of three exciting victories:
- Urban Farming, a Detroit-based NGO that commandeers unused urban land to grow food, has received second place in the Drucker Awards for Nonprofit Innovation. This plucky, green-thumbed organization plants things in unlikely places such as rooftops and in vertical gardens on "edible green walls." The group also won a MySpace IMPACT AWARD, and founder Taja Sevelle was named Grand Prize winner in the 2009 Garden Crusaders Awards from Gardener's Supply Company.
- Tim Will, 61, a retired telecommunications executive from Rutherfordton, North Carolina, was named one of the winners of the 2009 Purpose Prize, which recognizes the efforts of seniors who use the second chapters of their lives to help their communities in inspiring and ambitious ways. Will is honored for establishing a Web-based service that allows local farmers to sell produce directly to the restaurants of Charlotte.
- Joel Salatin of Omnivore's Dilemma fame has been named a winner of the prestigious Heinz Award in recognition of his success in demonstrating to the nation that sustainable, organic farming practices can be effective and lucrative. His 550-acre Polyface Farm in Virginia employs a complex rotational system involving beef, sheep, chickens, pigs, rabbits, turkeys and, most importantly, grass.
In Ohio, Local Food Is In Business
Published October 28, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT
In an abandoned building in Wooster, Ohio, the future of local food is taking shape. Thirteen intrepid souls have formed a board to direct the Wooster Local Foods Cooperative, which will operate Local Roots Market and Café in what used to be, appropriately, a CorningWare store, according to Farm and Dairy.
The idea is to create a year-round onsite and Internet farmers market based on a cooperative model. “Our goals,” the Local Roots blog states, “are to encourage healthy eating, expand local economic development, promote community involvement, and sustainable living.” Hurrah!
With a $60,000 Specialty Crop Promotion grant from the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service, the venture is slowly taking shape — the organizers are busily procuring refrigerators, cash registers and sorting bins, and plan to start opening on Saturdays in November.
Will customers knock down the door?
