Building Community and Local Food Networks

I truly believe that, given the chance, most people would prefer to eat fruits and vegetables that grew in their neighborhood or at least their own town or state, as opposed to produce that was trucked in from somewhere half way across the country or around the world. There is a lot of great local food out there, but how do you find it? Frequently produce in stores may only say product of USA. You may not know if it was grown in Maine or California. You can start with your grocer. Tell them that it is important to you to know where your food comes from. Ask them to clearly indicate where produce is from. It doesn't have to be difficult for them and they will likely see their sales increase. 

Here's an example. This evening on my way home from a Meetup event (more on that later) I stopped at my local grocer in South Berwick. Hubby pointed out to me that there was a little placard clipped to the front of one of the displays. It was the size of a name tag and was simply hand printed "Locally Grown" and then had the name of the farm and the town in which it was located. This was brilliant and I certainly would have bought a couple of bags of those cranberries if I hadn't already stocked the larder with my needed supply for Thanksgiving. But now as I'm sitting here thinking about it.... Why not pick up a couple more bags on the way home tomorrow and I can can a big batch of cranberry sauce and have enough to last all winter. It is truly lovely as a relish and its bright color and tangy bite definitely brighten the cold dark months. 

Nature's Way Market also has a sign posted over the cash register that reminds us "we are what we eat". 

There is another in the deli that identifies the various local vendors and where they are from. I'm sure that you can recognize the shape of the great state of Maine on several of these placards. Nature's Way is located in the south west corner of the state just across the border from Rollingsford, NH, so you'll see a few New Hampshire outlines there as well. I think this is a great way to let folks know where their food is coming from. These are simply printed on a standard office printer and slipped into inexpensive sheet protectors before being hung on the wall. I've also noticed a couple of restaurants and another small market in the area taking up the practice. 

Another great source of local food would be local farm stands. Many of them are open from Memorial Day through Halloween selling everything from seedlings to pumpkins and corn stocks. A few even hold out through Christmas and offer trees, wreaths and other natural and local decorations. Local farmers markets and CSA's and co-ops are also great sources of local foods. Most of these are pretty traditional, but there are some less common sources, some that take advantage of the age of social media in order to bring local foodies together. 

And now we've come back to  the meetup group that I mentioned earlier. This evening the Seacoast Permaculture Meetup had its annual swap and share. Members all got together and brought their excess. 

Just a very small selection of the wonderful assortment of foods to share.

For this late fall meetup we focused on preserved foods and other items that could be stored over the winter; canned foods, dried foods, root vegetables and the like. It works roughly like this: There are times when your garden suddenly, for no apparent reason, produces six bushels of green peppers and your entire freezer is full of froze green pepper strips, or you canned half a dozen more jars of salsa than you can ever possibly get through before the tomatoes are in full swing again next year. So you've got all these peppers and salsa, but no pears, or apples, or grain or dried beans. You bring your peppers and salsa and any other items you have that you know is just more than your family is going to consume over the next 3 months and pray for someone to bring the sweet fruits and other things you are looking for. All the stuff is laid out on big tables and everyone takes turns explaining what they brought and then we barter with other members to trade for the stuff we would like to bring home. Hubby and I brought several jars of salsa, both green and red, some herbal vinegar, a large canning jar of apples and some green tomato relish. We scored some hand made tea tree soap, fresh pears, canned peaches, pesto, mustard seed, chives, black walnuts..... I think there might have been a couple more items as well. We had a great time sharing ideas with like minded people and met some new folks as well. We learned, laughed and share healthy food. No-one spent a penny and everyone left happy. All in all a great experience and a good way to get your hands on some rocking local food. 

If there isn't a Meetup like this in your area, start one. Go to the Meetups website and you're on your way.  You could also use this tool to set up a neighborhood or area food shed project. We are only limited by the scope of our imagination. Until next time, enjoy your local food search adventures.