Buying Locally

I try to buy everything, not just food, locally. Unfortunately when it comes to food there just isn't much produced locally. Our farmers market closed down and never had much participation. When it was in operation most of the produce was brought in from elsewhere. Of course when squash was in season and our garden was busting with it that's what they had at the farmers market.

This area is a lower income lower education area, it loves and worships big corporate stores and restaurants. Price is king and followed by the latest gimmick.

__________________
"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self confidence"
Robert Frost

That sounds pretty crazy!

One nice thing is that a lot of us farmers out here work together on all sorts of things and we do a lot of swapping so that does help. I know a lot of farmers are more open to swapping or batering or even lower prices if you visit their farm, farmer's markets tend to have a lot of rules.

We have a wonderful veggi barter system working here. I grow squash and chickens and turkeys. I have traded turkeys for raw milk, squash and eggs for blueberries, honey for raw milk, and for several bags of vegetables my sisters and I get to go pick at the blueberry farm for free.

__________________
Life is uncertain, eat dessert first

We prefer food from our own gardens. But, I otherwise buy what else I need first from roadside stands or the farmer's market (one of the roadside stands buys their produces from the Detroit Farmer's Market, I prefer locally grown local), or the Mennonite store which often has locally grown produce. My next step down is the Independent Grocer.

I buy my meat right from the pasture from local farmers, sometimes my own. I get my milk from a local dairy, fresh unpasturized. The milk costs more than at a grocery store, but I don't care. The meat is much less than buying from the grocery store, even after figuring in the cost of the freezer and electricity.

I don't have much of a Garden this year , so I buy what is grown organically and local both Veg and meat.

Meat comes from a long time family Farm couple of Towns over and the local produce I can get from many different sources.

__________________
Shari

We grow most of our own veggies and raise our own meat. For things we can't produce ourselves we buy locally whenever possible. We believe it's important to our neighbors & the community at large to support local businesses and farms as often as possible. It is also far more environmentally sound.

Someday the current trend of shipping everything from half way round the world is no longer going to work. The current method by which goods are produced and delivered was built upon the presence of cheap oil and cheap electricity. When gas was $1 a gallon it didn't matter much how far you had to ship it. But when gas gets back up to $5 a gallon it's going to have a huge impact. When that happens local goods should be more affordable than stuff shipped in from China.

So we're doing our best now to support the local economy knowing full well that when times get tough we're going to need those local producers and businesses.

I'm also tired of sending money out of this country to places that are downright hostile towards the US. That just doesn't make any sense to me. We do business with friendly and honest folk first.

If it's a choice between cheap, well-traveled veggies or my fellow Americans' well being and prosperity... there's not really much to think about, is there?

__________________
Patrick Harris
http://ByExample.com

I'm starting to sell some stuff at the farmer's market here in my town, I'll be going this weekend and was there a few weeks ago. I sell knit and crocheted stuff(hats, scarves, mittens, wristwarmers), and sewn embellished bags and my sister makes leather stuff--journals, checkbook covers with burnt illustrations, flashlight holsters, ipod/phone cozies, and little wooden planters etc. I have traded in the past with other vendors at markets, and hope to do more of that as I get to know the other vendors at this market. Luckily my stuff fits in with the hippy type, and the wool hats are big with the guys(ha! seriously they fondle them). I LOVE trading. I do it straight across, dollar value on the price tag.

My sister has a friend at church who has a gourmet type peach orchard(which is a hobby for the friend) the most perfect peaches are sold for a pretty penny(they ARE gorgeous things!), and my sister(or other people in the church) can go get the blemished ones for free.

Boy, Oregon just sounds better every day! They're even big on native plants, someday I hope to sell some(which are all over on my land--wildflowers and baby shrubs etc). Then there's the native or not blackberries--if you are a good picker and can pick the good tasting ones, you can sell lots of blackberries here(even tho they grow everywhere).

__________________
THE BEGINNING IS NEAR
5-star double-rated astronavagatrix earth girl

This is making me want to move to Oregon - problem is, land's too expensive. Around here, organics are scoffed at.

__________________
I'm an environmentalist, left wing, Ron Paul loving Prius driver with a farm. If you have a problem with that, kindly go take a leap.

Believe or not, land in Western Oregon in this area isn't that spendy. Land is just about at give away prices right now. Which of course is making it hard to sell this place.
Down side,there are no jobs, one reason we have to leave Oregon.
Other wise I love it here.

At some point I will be moving to King George/Essex/or the Eastern half of Caroline County's in VA.
Have no idea if they have organic meat and Veggies for sale over there?
Anyone know?

__________________
Shari

We buy a lot of local but there are things that just don't grow locally.

We just had a nice pineapple the other day. Same for avocados. We also like to eat bananas and oranges. I'm not going to give them up (unless forced through economics) unless we are forced to.

We will also buy some fruits and veggies that aren't local out of season - eating canned veggies through the winter can be a bit much. We are experimenting with 4 season growing ourselves.

All in all we eat a lot more local (including what we grow ourselves) than many people out there. I guess it depends on how far an individual wants to take it.

Mike

Organics are booming down here in Arkansas!

There is nothing I love better than a fresh perfect peach! I am convinced it was not an apple that tempted Eve but a peach.

Most definitely.

The locally grown, and organic food avialable in Virignia is plentiful, and pretty much everywhere. The closest I've ever lived to that particular area is Henrico County (Richmond area) and most of our meat came from Goochland County (immediately west of us), and our produce was usually from Henrico, Goochland, or Hanover County.

We live in Frederick County now and the food situation is even better.

__________________
"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist"- Archbishop Camara

The Mad Luddite

I am all for it, and try to do what I can. Some of the "excuses" I would have why I did NOT buy locally are;

- Didn't know where to get "it".
- Needed "it" when "they" were not open.
- Buying "local" heavily off-set the benefits. Burned $10 in gas to buy one tomato, don't think so.

I DID however try to shop local as much as possible. Living on an island(s) it was a very close-nit group of residents. I would do my best to shop at the local hardware store, instead of driving 20 minutes to HD. I felt paying the higher price to the local store was more then worth it, over the price of gas, and the service I got from the Ma and Pa shop. I also knew that my dollar didn't have to travel far to make it into the local pockets.

But, there were some items that were so over-prices or some stores that were not as "Local" as they make it out to be, so then I would shop at Wally-World or some other store off the island.

That is good news, Thanks!

Now if I can just get this place sold!!

__________________
Shari

I did "other". Local isn't as easy to find, here, as I would hope. I did just learn of 2 different Saturday morning Farmers Markets, so I hope to get there to do some buying. We currently go to the flea market and buy our produce at much higher quality and lower prices then the stores. I also go to the green market about 8 miles away. Some of it's local, but not all. So far, everything we have bought has been US at least (with the exception of a few bananas - are these even grown in the US - not counting Hawaii?).

I can get local meat at the "flea market" (has some stores, not just junk vendors). There is a butcher's market that's there that grows their own, with a bit of exceptions. But they are very picky on who's meat they buy when not their own (I know they buy other farmers pork...but only from those that grow-um like they do).....they are no antibiotics, no hormones, grass fed, etc... people.

__________________
Jen
If my typo's bother you, come on over and take a chair. We can discuss it over some "ham and swill calzones"
Follow us at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimisod/

I'm sure there's a lot of websites available to find local foods, but I have found two that seem to be useful.

http://www.localharvest.org/

http://www.pickyourown.org/

Also
http://www.sustainabletable.com

__________________
I'm an environmentalist, left wing, Ron Paul loving Prius driver with a farm. If you have a problem with that, kindly go take a leap.

I have raised all our meat for the last three or more years. My gardening skills are improving, and I am having very good luck so far this year with a wide variety of veggies and fruits - will probably have a fair amount for canning, drying and freezing too, which will take care of most of our winter needs when added to brussels sprounts, brocolli, spinach, etc., which I can keep going most of the winter in my hoop house.

We have a small farmer's market at the small town 4 miles away, with a larger market 10 miles away. Both only allow stuff actually produced by the farmer or family selling it, so it is all generally from less than 50 miles radius is my guess.

If both my own efforts and those of the very local farmers fail, there is an excellent Food Co-opertive program here in OK the goal of which is to promote local farms and produce. Orders are taken once a month and one picks up one's order at a relatively local drop-off point. There is a huge variety of goods available. Not only foods, but clothing, jewelry, soaps and toiletries, woodworked items, decorative goods, etc..

Prices: Food I raise myself is cheapest (though I would guess that my meat costs me about the same as that in the local Wally World, maybe a bit more, but the taste is soooo much better) The nearest farmer's market generally consists of people who have grown a bit more than they need for themselves, so the produce they have may not be very abundant, with not a huge variety, but it is usually of very good quality, almost all heirloom varieties, very fresh and very reasonably priced - competitive with Wally World, more or less.
The larger farmer's market is more for market gardeners who grow with a view to market sales. Their produce is also very good, with more variety as a rule. Generally more commercial varieties. Prices are usually around 50%-100% greater than supermarket prices.
The Food Co-operative has tremendous variety of meats and produce, baked goods, canned goods, cheeses, grains, plant starts, as well as other things. Almost all locally produced. Some things such as coffee and tea are obviously not - but are certified fair-trade. Prices are the highest of the options - probably averaging 200-300% higher than Wal Mart - but the variety is the greatest. There are some things I buy there such as herb plants (I still have a brown thumb where herbs are concerned) and a particular salsa that I love, and exquisite bulgur made from local wheat, which I suppose I could make but it is relatively inexpensive for the amount we eat, so why would I bother?

I get the hay for my sheep and goats locally but need to buy them grain. My chickens eat some grains though they mostly free range.

I am trying to be as local-conscious as I can. I know I still have a ways to go, but I am doing better as time goes on. As there is more interest generated by the "Buy Fresh, Buy Local" campaign so there arises more supply to meet that demand...

Mary

We have a local Mennonite community, in fact, across Missouri there are several of them. I include the Amish here because I am not fully aware of the differences and we have members of both groups. They have a number of agricultural and wood-crafting industries along with a number of bulk-food type stores. I trade with them often, and travel about 20 miles to have my saw blades sharpened in a Mennonite shop because of their superior job.

Everyone should know, however, that they (as a group) are major importer of Chinese goods. For instance, there is one fellow here who imports directly oil lamp parts. He supplies most of the burners, chimneys, etc that most of the
Amish/Mennonite folks sell in the Midwest. I am not saying this is bad, simply saying that most things they are not making themselves come from China.
There is a fellow south of here that assembles Oak dinning chairs. The spokes and the bent back loops are all made in China. He makes chairs that are sold in Amish stores all over the country.

I think as a group they are a fine people.....but one shouldn't assume that everything they sell is fully crafted here in the US.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/...n4227280.shtml
I wonder about the viability of Walmart going local??

__________________
I'm an environmentalist, left wing, Ron Paul loving Prius driver with a farm. If you have a problem with that, kindly go take a leap.