eat locally

Louisville is going to be a great place to pursue this goal. In just the past four days I have shopped at two farmers’ markets. The first was on Wednesday at a small market just a couple of blocks from my house. The other, much larger, was today, and it looks like this one will extend well into the winter. Besides fresh produce, the Bardstown Road Farmers’ market has locally harvested meat, eggs, and cheese. So I will definitely be making these markets a part of my weekly routine. Today I bought eggs, ground chicken, cheese, corn, tomatoes, basil, garlic, peaches, green beans, and a hybrid zucchini-squash. Wednesday I bought cucumbers, tomatoes,zucchini, squash, and blackberries. How wonderful to have such abundance available to me.

I eat at local restaurants and try to shop at the mom & pop stores in New Paltz. ex – Dedricks Drug Store instead of Eckerds, Video Rental instead of Blockbuster, Healthfood Store, and so on. I also try to buy vegetables from the Farmers Market instead of at Stop and Shop…

Eating locally isn’t about just eating food that’s from around here for the hell of it. It’s about basic economic and human principles that industrial farming has destroyed.
Somewhere in the midst of subsidies, shipping industries, and mega-farms, we lost the link between people and their local farmers. Local and Slow food fix these problems by re-introducing people to their farms, and reducing their reliance on food that often travels 1000 miles or more to their plate. It brings people together, because if you’re going to go to all the trouble to change your consumption habits and take pride in cooking the food wouldn’t you be more tempted to share it with those you love?
It’s about carbon footprints, re-localizing economy, and family.
This is why I’m going for it.

...for local pasture-based farms: EatWild. I contacted one that’s a couple hours away from me, and am now on their email list so I can place an order when they next deliver in my area.