LocalHarvest Newsletter, May 29, 2009
Welcome back to the LocalHarvest newsletter.
A year or so ago I heard a story that keeps coming back to me this spring. It
was told by a cheesemaker who lives and farms a few miles out of town. He and
his family make a number of beautiful sheep cheeses that are sold at select
stores around the country. The story goes that this cheesemaker used to travel
around, introducing his wares at new cheese shops. One day, he was offering
samples at a store in Vermont, and talking with a customer who asked where he
was from. “Minnesota,” he told her. They chatted for a minute more, and as she
left she put a big piece of cheese in her cart, saying, “I just love to support
local farmers!”
Steven had to shake his head for a minute. Vermont and Minnesota aren’t exactly
in the same neighborhood. But he knew what the woman meant. She appreciates the
real thing. She recognizes it when she sees it, and Steven and his cheeses were
it.
For a while now, many of us have used the word ‘local’ as shorthand for food
that meets a certain, somewhat ineffable quality standard. In this context,
‘local’ means something like this: This food is grown near here, on a human
scale, by people who care deeply about the land and make thoughtful,
conscientious choices for its stewardship. It is nutritionally intact and
fantastic tasting. It thrives here, unpropped by excessive resources or
technology. Its history is knowable and unsullied.
In other words, local goes way beyond geography. It is food we know in our
bellies we can trust. Michael Pollan calls it “real food.” The LocalHarvest
motto does too, by the way. “Real Food. Real Farmers. Real community.”
The day is coming when ‘local’ won’t be a reasonable shorthand for everything
we mean when we say it. Already this month a subsidiary of one of the world’s
largest multinational companies began marketing its conventionally grown and
processed potato chips as
"local". I suspect
we’ll see more such imposters in the future. Where there’s money to be made,
charlatans will gather.
Local is becoming too small a word, just as organic has. Probably any label
will eventually be taken over or outgrown. Fortunately, words don’t mean as
much as direct experience. When the guy behind the sample table hands you a
chunk of blue cheese on a toothpick and says, “Here, try this. My wife and I
made it from our sheep’s milk,” pay attention. If everything in you says,
“Yes!” pick up a big hunk and take it home with you.
As always, take good care and eat well,
Erin Barnett
Director
LocalHarvest
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Our favorite statistic of the month: about 30% more Americans are planting
gardens this year, according to the National Gardening Association. What a
growth spurt! We love it. Our seed sales are jumping too – so far this year
we’ve sold over twice as many seeds as this time last year. Got a patch of
sunny ground? It’s not too late to
tuck a few more seeds into the ground. Have
plenty for your family, and your green thumb is still twitching? You can plant
a row for the hungry: learn more here.
We spoke with Tim Arheit of Honey Run Apiaries
in Delphos, OH this morning, and he said the honey bees are working hard,
bringing in nectar from the locust trees. We’re proud of the wide
selection of honeys we offer.
They’re all different, and every one will all make your toast – and your morning – a little sweeter!
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Last month we launched a friendly competition
with the goal of locating every CSA in the country and inviting all of them to join LocalHarvest. To
date newsletter readers have submitted the names of 170 new CSA farms! We’ll be researching and contactinga
these farms soon. Meanwhile, the contest runs through the end of the summer, so if you know of any CSAs
that aren’t yet listed with LocalHarvest, please tell us!
And if you’re looking for a CSA to call your own, start here.
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