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When Katherine Gray takes her kids to the grocery store, they can pick out as many apples and pears as their hearts desire. But bananas? Pineapples? Mangoes? Sorry kids, if they weren’t grown within 100 miles of Gray’s house in Portland, Ore., chances are they won’t make it into the grocery cart.
For years, the idea of eating only food grown locally and in season was reserved for upscale chefs like Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., or serious hippies living off the grid, while the rest of us didn’t think twice about gulping down blueberries from Chile or avocadoes from Mexico.
Recently, however, a small but devoted number of Americans have started to think a lot more about the origin of the food going into their grocery cart. Worried about the environmental impact of shipping food hundreds of miles, plus the dwindling fate of local farmers – and obsessed with the idea of eating really good food – these extreme eaters try to only buy food that is grown within a 100-mile radius of their own home.
“When we first started talking about it, at the beginning, people thought we were a little bit off our rockers, and now it’s become part of this mainstream discussion,” says Jennifer Maiser, one of a group of San Francisco “locavores” who pioneered an effort to eat locally a few years ago.
Around the same time, a couple in Vancouver, British Columbia, became alarmed after hearing about a study by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, which showed that the average distance a piece of produce travels from U.S. farms to households in the upper Midwest is 1,500 miles.
They made the decision to spend a year trying to live only on food grown within 100 miles of their Canada home.
An engaging book about their effort, “Plenty,” spawned a devoted international following, and now co-author Alisa Smith says activities related to eating locally, such as speaking engagements, are pretty much a full-time job. The fact that eating locally has touched such a nerve still surprises her.
“When we first started writing it, it was a personal experiment for us,” she says. “But we started to hear from people in England, France, Australia, and it just took off from there.”
The movement has grown popular enough to spawn serious research into how much eating locally could reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with at least one researcher arguing that, other benefits aside, it may not be the environmental savior some are hoping for.
Gray, who is 34 and runs her own business in addition to raising two small children, doesn’t consider herself a gourmet chef, but she does like to eat healthy. About two years ago, she started reading more about industrialized food production, and it got her thinking about what her family could do to make a difference. Then she came across the book “Plenty” and found her solution.
“I like a plan,” she says.
Soon, the family was eating a lot more eggs and potatoes and trying vegetables they had never heard of, including one that looked like a white carrot and tasted, inexplicably, like an oyster. They became regulars at the farmers market and the natural food store, and Gray purchased some new cookbooks. Now she says about 80 percent of the fresh food they eat is grown locally.
“I didn’t feel like we’d be able to do it, and then I realized how, when you start looking, there are a lot of resources out there,” she says.
Nevertheless, she says she remains an anomaly even in liberal-minded Portland: “I still am the freaky one here.”
The Rev. Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows would not seem like an obvious candidate for the eating local movement. Growing up, she didn’t eat many vegetables and those that were on the table were “always cooked within an inch of their lives.”
“I grew up in an African-American household,” she says. “Celery root was not part of our tradition.”
Her husband also did not come to the idea naturally: a native of the Bahamas, he considered vegetables to be more of a plate decoration than an actual part of the meal.
But Baskerville-Burrows, 41, had always liked to cook, and she started shopping at farmers markets beginning around 1999. A few years later, she started reading books including “Fast Food Nation,” which includes segments about the farm practices that go into mass-produced food. It prompted a closer look at how she could find healthier and tastier food.
“I started really looking at my diet,’” says Baskerville-Burrows, who is an Episcopal priest.
These days, Baskerville-Burrows says she buys about 85 percent of her food from producers in the Syracuse, N.Y., area, where she lives. She also grows tomatoes, herbs and other vegetables at home, and this year she worked with church members to plant a garden on church grounds that they hope will eventually supply a local food pantry with fresh produce.
Among locavore proponents, one popular pastime is the “eat local challenge,” in which participants try, usually for one month, to eat only food that comes from within their community. The rest of the year, many locavores are more realistic about the limits of their devotion.
Maiser drinks coffee and has a soft spot for Greek yogurt and Italian pasta. Gray’s family eats salsa and pesto and pasta, even though she suspects that some of the ingredients have traveled remarkably long distances. Even Smith has allowed things such as rice and olive oil into her home since ending the year of eating locally chronicled in “Plenty.”
But that doesn’t mean that a locavore’s kitchen looks anything like most Americans’. In order to eat locally through the winter without getting scurvy or facing a family revolt, locavores are forced to take on domestic efforts that most families haven’t tackled for generations. Gray’s extra freezer is stuffed with frozen summer foods plus half a cow she purchased from a local rancher, and she has aspirations to learn more about canning.
Baskerville-Burrows has a root cellar to keep food fresh through the winter. She freezes fresh produce and has been canning strawberries and tomatoes since 2006. Like a lot of people trying to learn long-forgotten food preservation skills, she admits she has approached it with a bit of trepidation.
“I can’t think of anything that’s gone horribly awry. I’ll tell you, though, when I opened up my first jar of tomato sauce, I went to the computer and looked up botulism,” she says.
Smith, the “Plenty” author, recalls frantic calls to her mother and grandmother as she tried to figure out how to do things like make jam.
One piece of advice she has to offer: Get started early in the day, because it takes longer than you might think.
The same could be said for eating locally in general, since doing so often involves spending more time tracking down food and finding ways to cook things you might normally buy ready-made, like bread. Not surprisingly, in most communities it’s hard to find processed food that is made exclusively from local ingredients.
Also, expect to see a spike in your food bill.
“I am keenly aware that my grocery budget – it gives me heart attacks – and so I know that there are a lot of people that can’t do that,” Gray says.Baskerville-Burrows believes the extra cost is worth the tradeoffs, and she also feels she is paying a fair price for foods that keep local farmers in business.
“I’d rather spend my money putting good stuff in my body than worrying about what’s on it,” she says.
Locavores also report other, perhaps unexpected, benefits to eating food produced near their homes. Maiser said it gives you a better understanding not just of where food comes from, but when it is freshest.
“I would say the normal American who goes to Safeway or something like that doesn’t really have a good idea of when asparagus is in season,” she says.
Some find themselves making healthier eating choices because eating locally tends to mean eating more fruits and vegetables, rather than processed foods. Others, like Gray, aren’t sure they’ve made their diet any healthier, but they like the other benefits.
For example, once you’ve eaten food that was just picked from the farm, many say it’s hard to go back to the refrigerated, shipped variety. Baskerville-Burrows hated tomatoes until she had some fresh ones from a produce market in Berkeley, Calif., and realized what they really taste like.
Still, people who are trying to eat locally concede that it is easier if you live in an area, like San Francisco, where a wide variety of food is grown nearby and there are like-minded people. Also, the added time and money can make it harder for people who are juggling family and work responsibilities.
“As a single person in San Francisco, I feel like I can’t say to someone with a family, this is something that is worth it to do or that you should do,” Maiser says. “I definitely know many (families) who are doing it, but I would say it’s definitely more something that single people are doing.”
There are plenty of good reasons to eat locally grown food, says Christopher Weber, assistant research professor of civil and environmental engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. But, he argues in a recent research paper, the most commonly cited reason — reducing the environmental impact of transporting food hundreds of miles — may not be all it’s cracked up to be.
Weber and co-author H. Scott Matthews concluded that transportation only accounts for 11 percent of the environmentally destructive greenhouse gas emissions associated with producing food. He says families could more drastically, and perhaps more easily, reduce their carbon footprint by cutting back on or eliminating the red meat and dairy in their diets. That’s because those foods take an inordinate amount of resources to produce compared with fruits, vegetables, eggs, chicken and fish.
But once you start parsing food choices more closely, it gets more complicated. For example, you could reduce your carbon footprint and still eat red meat by choosing grass-fed beef from a local rancher, because it takes a lot more energy to produce grain for conventionally raised cattle. On the other hand, eating fish is generally the better environmental choice for protein, but not if it’s not being flown in from some exotic locale.
Also, eating locally by actually growing your own food is a better environmental choice than buying food, for a variety of reasons. But, he says, just buying organic food from anywhere in the country does not do much to help reduce the threat of global warming, although some would argue there are other environmental benefits.
Finally, for a person like Weber, who describes himself as “somewhere between vegetarian and vegan,” eating locally could have a big proportional impact since he has already cut back on meat and dairy consumption.
Weber worries that he’s been misinterpreted.
“We’re not trying to say that eating local is bad,” he says. “Eating local is definitely good, and there’s a lot of good reasons to do it.”
It just may not save the planet.
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 | Food banks ask gardeners to grow extra for hungry | Associated Press | Sun Jun 8 | 0 |
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{"commentId":1935601,"authorDomain":"cswharton2001"}
Can't wait until some of these people start getting diseases like scurvey, potassium deficiencies, etc. I don't think they realize they are digging their own graves.
{"commentId":1935601,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"cswharton2001"}
#26 - Tue Jun 10, 2008 8:21 PM EDT{"commentId":1937984,"authorDomain":"orb"}
Why would eating locally lead to any kind of vitamin deficiencies?
{"commentId":1937984,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"orb"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":1971126,"authorDomain":"getahome"}
its ok we will bury them locally.
{"commentId":1971126,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"getahome"}
{"commentId":1935681,"authorDomain":"larryjoe"}
I hate to take some of the air out of all of these nice green feelings. However, the benefits that are mentioned in the article are not all as rosy as they sound. The fact is, the vast majority of the energy that goes into the things we buy are in the last few miles. This explains why a bottle of wine can be produced in Australia, shipped to the US and be sold in Chicago for under $10 (very efficient) but you can easily spend $5-$10 in gas and wear and tear on your car driving home from the store (not so efficient). This can often make the source of the product irrelevant from a environmentalist/energy consumption perspective. In other words, these folks have it backwards. It makes very little difference where the produce is grown, what matters is where you are shopping and the vehicle you are using to get there. If you are walking or riding your bike to the store, buying local may make some small difference. If you are making extra trips or driving across town to hit the local market in your SUV, not so much. Buy a hybrid, take mass transit, walk, ride your bike and plant a garden for yourself. Don't worry so much about buying produce from our friends in Chile or Australia.
{"commentId":1935681,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"larryjoe"}
#27 - Tue Jun 10, 2008 8:37 PM EDT{"commentId":1935704,"authorDomain":"aormaza"}
It would be wonderful to be a locavore, but when you live 200+ miles from the nearest farm and you live in an area where the growing season is from MAYBE the begining of June to the middle of September then being a locavore is quite difficult. I do try to buy as much organics as my local grocer carries, but even that can be difficult....esecially for fresh produce. So not everyone in this country has the opportunity of being a locavore, access to public transport, or the ability to curb their fossil fuel consumption.
{"commentId":1935704,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"aormaza"}
#28 - Tue Jun 10, 2008 8:42 PM EDT{"commentId":1955375,"authorDomain":"gwenny"}
But everyone chooses where they live, sock puppet. And you have more options than you think, if you just chose to make better choices.
{"commentId":1955375,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"gwenny"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":1936073,"authorDomain":"despard1"}
Why does everyone assume that "locavore" is a new idea? And who came up with that word?! I wonder how long it will last. Six months, a year maybe.
My husband's family (which consisted of five young kids to feed), had a small farm in Upstate NY back in the 40s through the 60s. All of their produce came from their garden. When Mom said, "Go outside and get the lettuce, tomatoes, baby carrots and scallions, etc., they were picked, washed, and served that day. And it WAS all seasonal. In winter, they had root vegetables made into stews and soups, plus summer vegetables that Mom had canned for use over the winter. (A canavore!). They were not "poor", they were smart.
My husband's mom also baked her own bread. Any of you guys ready for that, or is it a little too extreme?
And even though I grew up in a New England city, my dad grew tomatoes, green peppers, onions, and sweet corn in our backyard. I still remember them as being the best I've ever had. My mom made the best spaghetti sauce in the world with the fresh ingredients harvested from our little garden.
Europeans have been doing this for centuries.
So now it's a got a cute new name and everyone under 40 thinks it's so very cool. It IS a great thing, but please, give us baby boomers and our parents some credit. "Locavore"? It's plain old gardening and canning, and it's nothing new, so try not to congratulate yourselves overmuch.
And we don't have a garden anymore, but buy from local farmers. It's the next best thing.
{"commentId":1936073,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"despard1"}
- 1 vote
#29 - Tue Jun 10, 2008 9:56 PM EDT{"commentId":1936278,"authorDomain":"elrosequeen"}
Hello. I live in the heart of New York City and am very interested in adopting a locavore diet--as much organic as possible, but local seems more important than organic. I'm vegetarian and increasingly vegan. HELP! How do I do this? I know it's possible. I don't need to do it 100%. I do need to do a lot more of it. Would be very eager for a coach or two to help. Seriously. If you're interested in coaching this NYC-er, would like to connect. Please reply here and I will figure out a way for one-on-one e-contact.
{"commentId":1936278,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"elrosequeen"}
#30 - Tue Jun 10, 2008 10:37 PM EDT{"commentId":1964837,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
At the risk of learning more than you want to know about foods, I'll volunteer for the job of helping you figure it out. All you need to do is promise to write one article about what you learned so that others starting where you are can make the next leap too. I've got a good bit of NYC living and food experience under my belt, so promise you're in good hands. Use my Newsvine contact author.
{"commentId":1964837,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1936317,"authorDomain":"jpeters680"}
I live in the city of Minneapolis. Just for fun I tilled up my front yard and plant veggies and flowers. Most of the veggies I give away free to my neighbors and family. As far as I know I have the only front yard garden in the city. Last year I received an award from the city for one of the prettiest yards in the city. I have also made friends with most of my neighbors by giving them fresh veggies and teaching them how to cook their own food, bake bread, make their own medicine from local herbs, grow veggies, and flowers. I do not go around bragging about what I do. If anyone wants to know they have to ask me and I will gladly tell them and lots of people do. I also grind my own grain for flour and make my own bread. I do not do this to save money or to live longer. I do it because I'm retired and it gives me something to do that I can enjoy. I also harvest my own herbs locally for home made medicines and salves. I don't know if this life style is better but I am 74 years old and do not take any kind of preciption medicine.
{"commentId":1936317,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"jpeters680"}
- 2 votes
#31 - Tue Jun 10, 2008 10:49 PM EDT{"commentId":1964860,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
That is fabulous and I wish we had folks like you working with schools to help teach the children how to feed themselves. What a wonderful way to share life's sweetest harvests! Go you!! :~)
{"commentId":1964860,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":1936334,"authorDomain":"mesudahac"}
I have just finished a course in environmental science,and thought that getting acquainted, is perhaps a positve move in the right direction.I have in the past helped senior citizens with growing vegetables with growing boxes that were donated to me from Gardeners Supply in Burlington Vermount,about eight years ago.They are still being used this year for strawberries.I would like to have some one donate earth boxes to me.The senior citizens are not allowed to grow there own vegetables in Roosevelt .So,I hope with Gods will I can help out again,and I happen to be handicapped in both of my legs, so they will be getting tender loving care ,thank you,Fred.
{"commentId":1936334,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"mesudahac"}
- 1 vote
#32 - Tue Jun 10, 2008 10:52 PM EDT{"commentId":1936443,"authorDomain":"rosejord"}
Does anyone think about the effects of NOT HAVING CHILDREN? This seems to have become a MOST politically incorrect thing to talk about over the last 30 or so years.....
You can do more to mitigate global warming by not procreating than by ANYTHING else you could possibly do.
Just think about it.....
{"commentId":1936443,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"rosejord"}
- 1 vote
#33 - Tue Jun 10, 2008 11:18 PM EDT{"commentId":1936509,"authorDomain":"gwenny"}
Clipping this to my group Localvore. I'm not fond of the front page sock puppet scene. Feel free to ask for an invite.
{"commentId":1936509,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"gwenny"}
- 3 votes
#34 - Tue Jun 10, 2008 11:32 PM EDT{"commentId":1936893,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
I'm not fond of the front page sock puppet scene.
Not enough tequila on the planet, eh?
{"commentId":1936893,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1936899,"authorDomain":"gwenny"}
LOL Yep . .or rum. Mmmm, rum. Alas, they do not make rum in California. I am forced to drink any of a number of excellent wines or beer. :D And not so fine one. A lot of the box wine is made here as well.
{"commentId":1936899,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"gwenny"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1964881,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
A lot of the box wine is made here as well.
I love the boxes, can't beat it for economical storage and easy packing, hits the road well too!
{"commentId":1964881,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1936543,"authorDomain":"FerretGuy"}
That sounds real good, on the surface. But most people eat more than just fresh produce. Most of us eat the majority of our foods from cans and packages. So how do you know if, say. Portland brand canned peaches were grown witin 100 miles.?The canning plant might be there, but the peaches could be from Chile or Georgia. And suppose I live in Portland (I live in Oregon but about 300 miles away). With the fruits and vegetables you're going to have to get everything fresh in winter greenhouse grown. Yes, I like the concept of PREFERRING locally grown and produced items. But I don't care to be fanatical about it and pay very much higher prices or lack availabilty.
{"commentId":1936543,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"FerretGuy"}
- 1 vote
#35 - Tue Jun 10, 2008 11:41 PM EDT{"commentId":1937312,"authorDomain":"jmalcolm422"}
I just wanted to address something. This is a quote from the woman on the first page of the article:
Nevertheless, she says she remains an anomaly even in liberal-minded Portland: "I still am the freaky one here."
I think she either just wants people to think she's a freak or a trendsetter or she never goes out or talks to anyone, because she is most certainly not an anomaly in Portland. Portland is very much a foodie town, and local food (as well as microbrews, coffee roasters, etc.) is a big deal to a very large number of people. If she's really not aware of that she must be new. That is all.
{"commentId":1937312,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"jmalcolm422"}
#36 - Wed Jun 11, 2008 4:52 AM EDT{"commentId":1937623,"authorDomain":"wesmenno"}
Locavorism should welcome hunting.
This useful humane practice protects habitat, sponsors multiple use access to public lands, and provides undeniably locally based foods.
{"commentId":1937623,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"wesmenno"}
#37 - Wed Jun 11, 2008 7:42 AM EDT{"commentId":1937702,"authorDomain":"catiscontigre"}
Locavorism... would be interesting considering I live in the desert... locally grown food... then apples would not be part of my diet unless I could get an apple tree to grow.. but that takes years and plenty of what which the desert and semi-desert does not provide.... water unless you are near a dry riverbed
{"commentId":1937702,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"catiscontigre"}
#38 - Wed Jun 11, 2008 8:00 AM EDT{"commentId":1938771,"authorDomain":"weepngwillo2"}
For those of us on a smaller budget, locavorism can actually be a cost saver. Now I am not a vegetarian/vegan, some might call me a hippie (or just plain hippy lol), but I am not off the grid and I am a married mother with 2 children in the house (8 and 2). Both kids LOVE fruits and veggies. We are not wealthy by any means, and so far we have not been able to make enough money to even rise out of the "poverty" bracket. Hubby works construction so money is not consistent through the year. Last winter, with rising gas prices, rising food costs, and construction being beyond dead (I stuck a fork in it and the fork broke) it was a definite struggle to put fruit and veggies on the table. I decided that I was going to find a way to break our dependence on store bought fruits and veggies through the cold winters.
I started doing research on organic gardening (like I can afford to buy all the fancy fertilizers n such) and companion planting for small spaces, and found a group connected with the local food bank that provides home garden tilling services, seeds and starter plants, and community gardening space. I reserved a 25x25 ft space in the community garden, and had an 18x18ft space tilled in the yard. I spoke with my family about the things I would need to preserve my crops (food vacuum sealer, cans and lids, pressure cooker, deep freeze) and was able to work out getting the pressure cooker as an early birthday present from my mother, an agreement with my mother to trade veggies for freezer space. Come to find out the organization that I am working with for the community gardening also provides canning supplies and holds canning workshops frequently during the harvesting season so I may not need to buy any of the cans and lids either.
I have been doing research on canning methods as I have never done it before, and started planning out just how much food I was going to need for 6 mos. This guided my choices for what plants to put into the garden. I found that vertical gardening was the way to go when it came to small space gardening, so I started reclaiming items and building trellises and plant supports. So far the only things I have spent any money on were a packet of sage seeds, a ball of string, and a paint roller as I volunteered to paint the shed in the community garden.
The end goal here in the beginning was to reduce the shopping list to (some) potatoes, meat, dairy, bread and pasta, juice and the staples...sugar, flour, cooking oil, salt, black pepper, and coffee. It has grown into more of a locavorian perspective. I have access to locally grass fed beef, plus there are numerous farms with pigs, chickens and fresh eggs. We have farmers markets in the area and I have a small produce stand across the street from me that only carries fruit grown here. Plus I have access to sugar from beets that are grown and processed here in Michigan. I cannot commit totally to the locavore lifestyle, I plan on eating/serving oranges, cranberries, bananas...the stuff I can't grow here, but I think that I can significantly reduce my families dependence on food that is grown and processed by someone else, as well as reducing our grocery bill.
I know it might not save the planet, but I also think that it is a start. The one thing that I have really noticed since I began this adventure (only a few months ago now, but it seems like more) is that we can not only grow our food but grow our community connections too. Wouldn't it be nice if there were still canning parties where everyone on the block got together for a day of good food, hard work, and companionship? What about just knowing our neighbors, or being able to see the faces of the people that are benefiting from the "extra" food that is grown? For me it is more of a lifestyle and a back to basics kind of approach.
{"commentId":1938771,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"weepngwillo2"}
- 2 votes
#39 - Wed Jun 11, 2008 11:16 AM EDT{"commentId":1939270,"authorDomain":"peacegarden-gg"}
weepngwillo2, I agree whole heartily. Community is the key word. Meeting people, developing relationships and sharing resources and ideas is a big part of the draw for me. Local economies may spring up as gas prices soar...we may have to be hurting to try this old (new) idea, but I welcome it.
{"commentId":1939270,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"peacegarden-gg"}
- 2 votes
#40 - Wed Jun 11, 2008 12:29 PM EDT{"commentId":1944211,"authorDomain":"weightcoaching"}
Eating food grown locally is just great, unless you happen to live in a cancer corridor or a place laden with toxic contaminants in the soil or water....
{"commentId":1944211,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"weightcoaching"}
#41 - Thu Jun 12, 2008 2:25 AM EDT{"commentId":1944909,"authorDomain":"raven939"}
I would love to be able to eat locally grown food. But, more important to me is to eat organic. We went to the farmer's market here in Dallas to check out the locally grown produce. NO organic produce!
{"commentId":1944909,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"raven939"}
#42 - Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:32 AM EDT{"commentId":1945641,"authorDomain":"gwenny"}
Organic is over rated since the FDA took the guts out of what it means. You can read an article from your local news, Is Organic the Real Deal? If organic is that important, I suggest you just look around. Start with the link Pamela gave for Local Harvest. I searched for Dallas, TX and found a few.
Wow, I Googled and there's a lot in your area, including some fish farms. Mmmm, tilapia. I bet if you look a bit you can find tons of folks who at least pretend to be organic.
{"commentId":1945641,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"gwenny"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":1945850,"authorDomain":"JimmyMac"}
Has everyone forgotten that until about 120 years ago that this is how every single person in America lived? We used to be a community-based culture, where you got all your shopping done at the local general store, which you walked to, and local farmers literally fed their communities. It's not so crazy. With the prices of crude oil continually on the rise, watch for these silly little "movements" with their trendy names... They are the harbingers of our inevitible return to that community-based culture. People will eventually have to choose between gas or food, and that will mean walking or biking or borrowing a horse to get to the market. The mean income of the US is not going to catch up with these price hikes, so people will have no choice but to abandon our current social system of driving all over the damn place for everything, "local food" included. And who came up with the idea that 100 miles is local???
{"commentId":1945850,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"JimmyMac"}
#43 - Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:00 AM EDT{"commentId":1946671,"authorDomain":"gwenny"}
You are quite right. Some time in the 20th century our communities started falling apart. Humans are tribal in nature and have a limited capacity to function well in large, faceless cities. We have become dysfunctional because of our lack of identity within these huge masses. We make churches and clubs and affiliate with teams, but none of those can take the place of a physical community to which we have strong ties . . a community that supports and nurtures us. I believe Toffler talked about some of this in his book, The Third Wave, where he predicted the de-centralization of society. And he was only envisioning it based on television and phones.
{"commentId":1946671,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"gwenny"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":1945865,"authorDomain":"philipmonroe"}
Once again, the ridiculed-to-death ideals and ideas of the hippies are making a comeback. Too bad more people didn't listen to the messenger, rather than judging his appearance.
{"commentId":1945865,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"philipmonroe"}
#44 - Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:02 AM EDT{"commentId":1946690,"authorDomain":"bcollins76"}
Americans have always driven all over for food and other reasons. The difference is that you had to spend the night when you got there so that the horse could rest.
{"commentId":1946690,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"bcollins76"}
#45 - Thu Jun 12, 2008 12:44 PM EDT{"commentId":1954570,"authorDomain":"mariancontrarian"}
What silly people to make eating about ideology. People who don't know where their next meal is coming from would find you all insufferably hypocritical and more than a little insane. The plain truth is that Americans just have way too much food and too many choices. They have the luxury of being food snobs and food ideologues. Instead of worrying about your food choice carbon footprint, or supporting your local farmer, why not band together and ship some of the incredible excess to people who really need it? Trust me, they will not turn up their noses at non-organic tomatoes or mass-produced noodles. While you're at it, send them your last year's Birkenstocks after you pick up your new ones.
{"commentId":1954570,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"mariancontrarian"}
- 1 vote
#46 - Fri Jun 13, 2008 9:37 AM EDT{"commentId":1963671,"authorDomain":"njb"}
While I fully support and prefer to grow what I can or otherwise support my local farmers market; it is just not a realistic possibility for some. Many actually.
We are having food riots across the world folks--lets get some perspective. First things first. We gotta feed'em 1st--then we can talk about carbon foot prints.
{"commentId":1963671,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"njb"}
#47 - Fri Jun 13, 2008 9:52 PM EDT{"commentId":1971092,"authorDomain":"getahome"}
maybe we should only buy books written by local authors. You guys are silly. Im not going to get any meaner than that but I like bananas pesticides and oil companies.
{"commentId":1971092,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"getahome"}
- 1 vote
#48 - Sun Jun 15, 2008 2:11 AM EDT{"commentId":1978961,"authorDomain":"sandydo"}
hey! i hope i am not too late to comment. the article is very interesting, and it's amazing how folks are revisiting growing their own food, just like their grandparents did.
Anyway, I noticed several folks expressed concern about storage of their harvest. Most County Cooperative Extension Services and 4H groups offer excellent classes in canning and preserving, as well as information on how to plan and maintain a successful garden. Your local Master Gardneners can help as well!
You can find your county's agent by querying on either your states name and "cooperative extension" , your county, state and "cooperative extension".
thanks!
{"commentId":1978961,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"sandydo"}
#49 - Mon Jun 16, 2008 1:53 PM EDT{"commentId":1979241,"authorDomain":"gwenny"}
That's one of the best things about California. Stuff grows all year. I love it here. We had tomatoes still in January. I finally cut it back and the same one is fruiting again. It won't last the entire season, in my experience. But I have set out new ones for this fall.
{"commentId":1979241,"threadId":"284131","contentId":"1557918","authorDomain":"gwenny"}
{"commentId":10433433,"authorDomain":"brianalampton"}
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