Eating locally – 10 Steps to Becoming a Locavore
Written by Rocky Mountain Woman on June 20, 2012 – 12:02 pm -This post is in honor of the letter “E” and part of Jenny Matlock’s Alphabet Thursday. For more excellent “E” posts, please click here http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/
Hey all you wanna be locavores out there, listen up!
A locavore is someone who is involved in the movement towards encouraging the use of sustainable, locally grown food.
Here is Rocky Mountain Woman’s guide to becoming a locavore in 10 easy peasy steps:
1. Locate your local “Slow Food” website for a list of markets, restaurants and local artisans who support local agriculture http://slowfoodusa.org/
2. Find and start shopping at your local Farmer’s Market
3. Learn how to preserve food so when you have an overload of vegetables they won’t go to waste http://nchfp.uga.edu//
4. Grow a garden! http://organicgardening.com/
5. Educate yourself! Learn about what foods are in season when and concentrate your diet around those foods http://fieldtoplate.com/
6. Find out who your local farmers are and support them http://localharvest.com/
7. Develop your cooking skills so you can take advantage of the broad range of local foods that are available http://learinghowtocook.com/
8. Join a CSA – Community Supported Agriculture – you prepay for a basket of produce that is delivered or your pick up every week http://localharvest.com/
9. Buy locally produced foods from local vendors. Locally made jellies, roasted coffee, oils, cheeses etc. http://eatwellguide.com/
10. Don’t try to do it all at once. Start slowly, maybe choosing five foods each season that you attempt to source locally. Don’t make it a chore and you will be more likely to stick with it.
Your health and the planet will both be better off…
xxoo,
RMW
Posted in She Loves | 28 Comments »
June 20th, 2012 at 12:14 pm
Thank you for all the links to wonderful sites! I love it, and I have been shopping from local markets. We have one about 5 miles away.
June 20th, 2012 at 12:36 pm
awesome suggestions — if only the tomatoes around Chicago looked that good
June 20th, 2012 at 1:00 pm
My sweet friend,
I love veggies and anything that is healthy. You know the saying…food is what makes us sick. Your pictures look very good for anyone to welcome your suggestions.
Good job with this my friend.
June 20th, 2012 at 1:08 pm
I try to be LOAF
Local
Organic
Airmile minimal or
Fairtrade
It can be hard but I’ve found some amazing local producers which has been fantastic.
June 20th, 2012 at 1:42 pm
I am blessed to have a health food store 2 miles away that carries vegetables from all the local organic farms. i love it and do all my shopping there. They are very careful what they sell…no GMO’s, etc. I sure hope it always stays owned by a man who lives nearby and is actively involved in it.
June 20th, 2012 at 1:44 pm
Emma,
I have never heard of LOAF before. I love it! What a great idea!!
It sort of sums the whole thing up…
Thanks for telling me about it…
xxoo,
RMW
June 20th, 2012 at 1:59 pm
Wonderful photos, yes, I tambiéntrato of local foods, are the highest quality.
June 20th, 2012 at 1:59 pm
Wonderful photos, yes, I also try to eat local foods are better quality.
June 20th, 2012 at 3:02 pm
This is a great post! I love fresh local foods. It makes me so sad that I just couldn’t get a garden planted today.
June 20th, 2012 at 7:05 pm
Very efficiently written! I sure like your choice of posts today! I always buy as much local product as I can! Have a great week!
June 21st, 2012 at 1:50 am
We had a vegetable garden for a couple of years a long time ago. It took a lot of time to keep up with and, of course, the payload came all at once! I canned many, many quarts of tomatoes, and froze lots of other veggies too. These days gardening is not possible, though I might one day get back to a 2-person version of just a few things we like. The other thing I’d like to grow is a few herbs–they taste great in food but are terribly expensive, especially when I end up throwing a lot of it away before I can use it.
You might be interested in an article in this month’s Southwest Airlines “Spirit” magazine (http://www.spiritmag.com/features/article/power_of_one/) about a large and successful community/urban gardening effort in Cleveland.
June 21st, 2012 at 7:16 am
We love going to our local farmer’s market. The veggies taste so much better when they are from there.
June 21st, 2012 at 8:55 am
This is a great list! The hubs’ cousin owns Beehive Cheese…small world.
Short of having your own garden, locally grown/produced food definitely tastes better and it’s so much better for you.
June 21st, 2012 at 10:53 am
Anita:
I am obsessed with Barely Buzzed! Beehive has the best cheese I’ve ever eaten…
xxoo,
RMW
June 21st, 2012 at 12:46 pm
We have a farmer’s market every Saturday outside our city hall in Oro Valley. The produce is so fresh and delicious! There is also a guy who comes once a month to sharpen knives and scissors. There are soap makers and plant sellers as well. One woman has fresh, home-made tamales. We love it!!!
June 21st, 2012 at 3:21 pm
the community supported agriculture and slow food website sounds real interesting. I’ll have to look around for that! Thanks for the info. {:-Deb
June 21st, 2012 at 4:29 pm
I am very lucky to have local farmer’s markets where organic produce and cheese products from upstate New york are sold. There is nothing better than fresh!
June 21st, 2012 at 5:30 pm
I want to…it’s just nothing grows here but cactus.
June 21st, 2012 at 8:14 pm
You would think living where I do that we would have a big local farmer’s market but not to be. I would love to have one near by.
Great suggestions and I will start small as you suggested.
I am trying so hard to eat healthier and I have noticed I feel somewhat better.
Now I am off to catch up with you honey. I miss you
Love ya
Maggie
June 21st, 2012 at 8:49 pm
So much is around on the eat local movement it was nice to see something so informative yet succinct.
June 21st, 2012 at 9:20 pm
I like your “E” today, RM. Next week my “F” word post will start with a big banner touting local farm grown produce that I found in our local grocery story.
Until then you will have to do with my Eggs and Elephant Ears. (That is if you will visit, please do, please?)
..
June 22nd, 2012 at 6:41 am
We are definitely locavores over here, and we get some great produce!
=)
June 22nd, 2012 at 3:39 pm
All very good tips!~Ames
June 22nd, 2012 at 9:30 pm
Good tips, all of them. We are lucky enough to live near an area of farms with lots of farm stands and a couple of farmers’ markets. Sometimes, weirdly, it’s easier to eat locally when one lives in a larger centre, and more difficult in ‘the hinterland’.
June 23rd, 2012 at 1:56 am
wonderful post with great links!
I belong to a CSA where I get a certain amount of money for a season and get to choose the food I buy.
Last year, I froze some of the produce. It was great to have such delicious food through the Winter months.
June 23rd, 2012 at 10:23 am
Just want to say this new way of consuming is international. In france, we’re in the same kind of thinking : to eat the local food is better for our money and better for the planet.
Sometimes it’s even better to eat local vegetables, even if it’s not totally totally organic, than eating organic bananas which come from the other side of the planet.
June 24th, 2012 at 4:06 am
More and more communities are offering farmer’s markets for locally grown produce. It is like a little adventure each week to see what is looking especially good – to offer inspiration for meal ideas! Wonderful post, as always.
June 26th, 2012 at 4:07 pm
I read a great book once about eating food raised within 100 miles of your locale. It was fascinating.
I wonder how that would work if you live in a desert?
I’m looking forward to heading up to Oregon next week to attend some REAL farmers markets.
Thanks for an excellent link to the letter “E”.
A+