Marlborough Local Food - Recently Updated Pages

Small Farm

LocalFood01752 — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:28:20 CDT

As far as I know, there is only one local farm within Marlborough (and it's closing), but there are quite a few in the surrounding area. This page will list all of them with contact info and web page links, when available.

This is simply a list of the farms, CSAs, and Farmer's Markets that I know about. Please - if you know if others, let me know. Or add them to this page yourself! When I, or another contributor, has actually visited one of these farms, the farm name will be a link to a web page with more information on that farm. That would be a good place to have discussions about that farm.

At the end of this page is a link to the map that shows all of these farms in GoogleMaps. Entries in Green also have an individual page devoted to them on this site.

Farm Name	Dist.	Contact Info
Apple Field Farm Stand	6.2	722 Great Rd Stow, MA, 01775 978.897.2699 www.applefieldfarm.com
Balance Rock Farm	6.1	104 Highland St Berlin, MA, 01503 978.838.2024 http://www.balancerockfarm.com
Berberian Farm		68 Otis St Northborough, MA 01532 508 393-8072
Berlin Orchards	4.4	200 Central St Berlin, MA, 01503 978.838.2400 www.berlinorchards.com
Blue Heron Organic Farm	13.3	Route 117 Lincoln, MA 781.254.3727 http://www.blueheronfarmlincoln.com
Bolton Orchards	7.7	125 Still River Road Bolton, MA, 01740 978.779.6631 http://www.boltonorchards.com
Capasso Farms Inc	2.4	118 Framingham Rd Southborough, MA, 01772 508.485.1680
Carlson Orchards	10.7	115 Oak Hill Rd Harvard, MA 978.456.3916 www.carlsonorchards.com
Carver Hill Orchards	6.5	133 Brookside Ave Stow, MA 978.897.6117 www.carverhill.com
Codman Farm	13.3	58 Codman Road, Lincoln, MA 01773 781.259.0456 http://www.codmanfarm.org
Cold Brook Farm	9.7	999 Concord Rd Sudbury MA 978.579.7915 http://www.cbfarm.com
Cutler Mill Herb Farm	7.5	171 Fountain St Ashland, MA, 01721 888.260.4372 www.cutlermillherbfarm.com
D & D Farms	6.1	32 Hudson Rd Stow, MA, 01775 978.897.7569
Davidian Brother's Farm	6.8	500 Church St Northborough, MA, 01532 508.393.3444 www.davidianbros.com
Ferjulian's Farm Stand	3.5	7 Lewis St Hudson, MA, 01749 978.562.3447
Hanson's Farm	4.2	20 Nixon Rd Framingham, MA, 01701 508.877.3058 http://www.hansonsfarm.50webs.com/
Harvard Farmers’ Market	10.8	27 Mass Ave Harvard, MA 01451 978.456.4144 http://www.harvardfarmersmarket.org
Heirloom Harvest Community Farm	9.7	30 Hopkinton Rd Westborough, MA 01581 508.497.9428 http://www.heirloomharvestcsa.com/
Highland Farm	10.5	635 Highland St Holliston MA 508.429.8370 www.highlandfarmorchard.net
Honey Pot Orchards	5.6	144 Sudbury Rd Stow, MA, 01775 978.562.5666 www.honeypothill.com
Hudson Country Farm	3.1	246 Main St Hudson, MA, 01749 978.568.0091
Idylwilde Farm Inc	10.3	366 Central St Acton Ma 978.263.5943 www.idylwildefarm.com
Indian Head Farm	5.3	232 Pleasant St Berlin, MA, 01503 978.838.2942 www.indianheadfarm.com
Marlborough Farmer's Market	0.0	240 Main St Marlborough, MA 0752
Maynard Community Farmers’ Market	9.5	Clock Tower Place Maynard, MA 01754 617.728.2425 http://web.maynard.ma.us/civic/farmers
Nourse Farm	8.2	70 Nourse St Westborough, MA, 01581 508.366.2644 http://oldenoursefarmgourmet.com/store/index.html
Out Post Farm	11	216 Prentice St Holliston, MA 508.429.5244 www.outpostfarm.net
Scott Bee Farm	8.1	51 Highland St Berlin, MA 01503
Shelburne Farm	7.5	106 W Acton Rd Stow, MA, 01775 978.897.9287 www.shelburnefarm.com
Siena Farms	8.1	113 Haynes Road Sudbury, MA 01776 978.479.0019 http://www.sienafarms.com/
Small Farm	7.4	184 Gleasondale Rd Stow MA 01775 978.897.5996 http://www.small-farm.org
Stearns Farm	3.1	862 Edmands Rd Framingham, MA 01701 508.371.4310 http://stearnsfarmcsa.org/
Sunshine Farm	10	41 Kendall Ave Sherborn, MA 508.655.5022 www.sunshinefarmMA.com
Sweet William Farm	9.8	153 North St Upton, MA 508.529.2000 www.sweetwilliamfarm.biz
Tougas Family Farm	6.5	246 Ball St Northborough, MA, 01532 508.393.6406 www.tougasfarm.com
Trombetta's Farm Road Gardens	0	655 Farm Rd Marlborough, MA 01752 508.485.6429 www.trombettasfarm.com
Verrill Farm Stand	10.6	11 Wheeler Rd Concord, MA 978.369.4494 www.verrillfarm.com
Wayland Community Gardens	8.1	Wayland Conservation Commission, 41 Cochichuate Rd, Wayland, MA 01778. 508.358.3669 http://www.wayland.ma.us/conservation/CG%20Home%20Page.html

Map:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=116972168170408463255.00044b9f3e3e20550d616&ll=42.382387,-71.435165&spn=0.461042,0.784836&z=11

Stearns Farm CSA

LocalFood01752 — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:31:11 CDT

Community Supported Agriculture is a system in which a farmer sells shares of her farm for the year. Members join well before the season starts and they pay a fixed amount when they join. In return, they get a share of the harvest. There are an increasing number of CSAs for good reason:

The farmer get money for the crops *before* the season, allowing a level of security that's not available in other farming systems.
The farmer gets a fixed amount - whether the crop is a poor one or a bumper crop.
The farmer gets *all* the money that the consumers pay - not just the less than 10% that other farmers get.
The consumer get local produce that is generally harvested the day they pick it up.
The sharer gets food that is in season and picked at the height of ripeness.
The consumer picks up the food at the place it is grown - this allows a level of transparency that is impossible in other farming systems.
Most CSAs require sharers to provide a few hours of labor throughout the season. You respect produce a lot more if you helped grow it.
The consumer is exposed to a wild range of produce they might never otherwise try.

For several years, I've belonged to the CSA closest to Marlborough - Stearns Farm. It is just over the Marlborough line in Sudbury - about a 7 minute drive from home for me.

Stearns Farm has been around since the 1700s when Timothy Stearn started farming here. Penelope Turton founded Stearns Organic Farm in the 1950s and farmed it until 1990. In that year she changed it to a CSA and it's been a non-profit since 1994.

My wife and I first joined 4 years ago. So far, we've only gotten the 1/2 Share (you only pick up produce every other week, instead of every week), but as our kids get bigger, we will certainly bump up to the full share. Being the anal retentive, Excel-junkie type of geek that I am, I kept careful records of what produce we got that first year, as much as how much it weighed, and how much it would have cost to purchase that same amount of produce at the grocery store. I've lost that spreadsheet, but I remember being surprised that it cost about the same. When you factor in all the 'intangibles' (buying local produce in season, buying sustainably produced food directly from the farmer, getting outside for fresh air, having a place for the kids to run around like crazy people outside at the same time they're being exposed to real food, et cetera et cetera), then belonging to a CSA is a no-brainer for us.

As I write this, we've just had our first pickup for the 2008 season. As before, I plan on weighing everything we get and comparing that to what it would cost to buy it at the grocery store (I shop at Price Chopper, but I imagine prices at the other grocery stores would be comparable). As the price of transporting produce thousands of miles continues to increase, the grocery stores will have to increase their prices as well. As some point, we'll reach a tipping point and local produce will just plain be cheaper - even without factoring in the intangibles. I'd like to chart that as time goes on.

For the 2008 season, an Alternate Week Share cost $315. I'm assuming a 20 week growing season - which comes out to a cost of $31.50 for every pickup.

For the first pickup date of 13 June 2008, here's what we got:

Item	lb	Grocery $/lb	Grocery Cost
Choi	1.0781	$1.49	$1.61
Chives	0.3594	$53.12	$19.09
Kale	0.3516	$1.49	$0.52
Lettuce	3.3516	$7.18	$24.06
Pea Vines	0.4922		$0.00
Radishes	0.6719	$1.29	$0.87
Rhubarb	0.2656		$0.00
Strawberries	0.5625	$2.99	$1.68

This is surprising to me. This means that it would have cost me $47.83 to buy this at the grocery store. It only cost $31.50 from the CSA - for a savings of $16.33. We usually don't see these kinds of numbers until the middle of the season.

Produce Totals During the Season
Every time we have a pickup, I weigh the produce and put it in a little spreadsheet. Here are the amounts so far:

	Overall	13-Jun	27-Jun	11-Jul	25-Jul	08-Aug	22-Aug	05-Sep	19-Sep	03-Oct
Total	165.73	7.13	10.11	12.51	17.34	10.62	55.24	18.11	18.97	15.70
Basil	2.38		0.17	0.20	0.44	0.18	0.42	0.42	0.55
Beans, Green	3.00			1.00	2.00
Beets	3.59		0.89	0.41	0.53			0.86	0.45	0.45
Blueberries	1.78			0.33	0.95	0.50
Bok Choi	1.84	1.08								0.77
Cabbage	7.03			1.80	2.36	1.45			1.41
Cabbage, Red	0.86						0.86
Cantaloupe	4.47						4.47
Carrots	3.48		0.51	0.91	1.16	0.91
Celery	4.97						1.45	1.11	1.02	1.39
Chard	7.70		1.20	1.31	1.31	1.95	1.92
Chives	0.46	0.36							0.10
Cilantro	0.05			0.04			0.02
Corn	4.42						2.52		1.91
Cucumbers	14.87			1.91	4.16	2.73	4.66	1.39
Eggplant	0.70							0.70
Dill	0.18				0.07	0.05	0.02	0.04
Fennel	0.52							0.52
Garlic	3.00				3.00
Garlic Scapes	0.61		0.22	0.39
Kale	4.73	0.35						1.63	1.23	1.52
Leeks	1.13							0.67	0.46
Lettuce	7.72	3.35	0.94	0.91	0.80	0.43		0.58	0.57	0.14
Lettuce, Spring Mix	1.34								0.33	1.02
Mint	0.24			0.05	0.04	0.03	0.03	0.03	0.04	0.02
Onion	1.51					0.96	0.55
Onion, Red	16.02						16.02
Parsley	0.05		0.01		0.02		0.02	0.02
Parsnip	1.49									1.49
Pea Vines	1.49	0.49
Pepper, Bell, Green	0.49					0.53	0.50			0.62
Pepper, Bell, Purple	1.65					0.47	0.30	0.58	0.33
Peppers, Hungarian	1.67				0.17					0.20
Peppers, Jalapeno	0.38						0.08	0.44	0.38	0.27
Potatoes	1.16						2.18	1.88	0.64
Potatoes, Sweet	4.70									2.20
Pumpkin	4.70								3.40
Radishes	2.20	0.67
Raspberries	3.40			0.33
Rhubarb	0.67	0.27
Rosemary	0.33				0.02
Scallions	0.27		0.48		0.32
Spinach	0.02		0.50
Squash	0.80		1.88	2.91					1.19	2.91
Strawberries	0.50	0.56	3.31
Tomatilloes	8.88								0.76	1.23
Tomatoes	3.87					0.42	5.39	2.06	4.03	1.48
Tomatoes, Cherry	1.98						1.00	2.31	0.17
Watermelon	13.39						12.84	2.87

I like graphs. Do you like graphs? I hope so, because here's a visual representation of the above chart:

But what about the costs? Well, a direct comparison is sometimes difficult - I've never found Garlic Scapes at the grocery store, for instance. In those cases, I've just not included a price. So, keep in mind that the following numbers are actually slanted to the benefit of the grocery stores:

	Overall	13-Jun	27-Jun	11-Jul	25-Jul	08-Aug	22-Aug	05-Sep	19-Sep	03-Oct
CSA Cost	$283.50	$31.50	$31.50	$31.50	$31.50	$31.50	$31.50	$31.50	$31.50	$31.50
Grocery Cost	$545.27	$47.83	$39.49	$47.64	$76.11	$44.51	$96.78	$75.69	$68.16	$49.07
"Profit"	$261.77	$16.33	$7.99	$16.14	$44.61	$13.01	$65.28	$44.19	$36.66	$17.57
CSA $/#	$0.89	$4.42	$3.12	$2.52	$1.82	$2.97	$0.57	$1.74	$1.66	$2.01
PC $/#	$1.71	$6.71	$3.91	$3.81	$4.39	$4.19	$1.75	$4.18	$3.59	$3.12

This year, 'buying' my produce at the CSA is much more cost effective than buying it at the grocery store.

Wow. It's actually cheaper to do the right thing. By a lot. Who'da thunk it?

Marlborough Local Food Home

LocalFood01752 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:33:51 CDT

Many people in America are starting to feel that current food production methods do not match their values. This movement is growing rapidly and contains many diverse views. However, one could summarize the major points that are agreed upon:

Food should be grown organically
Food should be grown sustainably
Food should be purchased locally
Food should be affordable

Obviously, there are very very few choices that meet all four of these points. This web site focuses on the one point that everyone has control over - buying food locally.

Massachusetts (and New England) is home to an enormous amount of local food. But it can be intimidating to start buying local. As a society, we are used to just buying the most economical choice, with little consideration for where it came from. So, changing your focus and trying to buy items that are produced locally can be overwhelming at first.

This wiki page is a resource to help you do just that. Anyone can post information about their favorite farms, or restaurants, or whatever as long as it is about local food in the Marlborough area.

If you are new to the concept of local food, here are a few places to get started:
What is local food?
Why buy local food?
Where can I find local food?
Web links
A subjective suggested reading list

Marlborough Farmer's Market

LocalFood01752 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:56:38 CDT

The Marlborough Farmer's Market is sponsored by the Community Development Authority. It is held at 240 Main St on Fridays from 1-5 PM.

It just started last week (August 15th) and I haven't been there yet, so I don't have any more info than that. I will visit this Friday and will post pictures and info as soon as possible.

Codman Farm

LocalFood01752 — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 07:23:52 CDT

Codman Farm has been a farm since at least the 1800s. In 1973, Dorothy Codman's will left it to the town of Lincoln. It has been known as Codman Community Farms ever since and is a non-profit agricultural enterprise that practices susstainable and experimental farming methods.

It is largely a Community Farm - there are about 100 plots available for people to rent. But they also raise many heritage breeds of animals - chickens, pigs, turkeys, even a water buffalo. Eggs and meat are available in the self-serve store. And, during the summer, there is a Farmer's Market held at the farm.

Scott Bee Farm

teekup — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 07:40:51 CDT

I passed the small house many times before I even noticed the small "Honey For Sale" sign next to it. And it took a few more weeks before I actually went in to see what it was all about. Boy, am I glad I did.

Local food doesn't get much more local than this. You knock on the door and the Scotts greet you. They welcome you into their home, take you into the dining room, and open up a cabinet full of honey for you to peruse. The honey comes from bees just visible from the house. It comes in two varieties - light colored Spring honey, and darker Fall honey.

The first time I visited, I was trying to do too many things during lunch. So, I did not have time to socialize, take a tour of the hives, take pictures, or anything like that. I just asked them about the honey, bought the 2 pounds, and left. But I definitely got the impression that socializing would be quite welcome, and I intend to rectify my haste during future visits.

And I will go back - the honey itself is spectacular. The Spring honey is truly light flavored, but it has a spiciness to it. Cinnamon-y. The Fall honey tastes more...full. Both of them are amazingly good. I don't generally savor store-bought honey - it's sweet, it's got a kind of natural taste to it, and that's about it. But this stuff has subtleties and nuances and flavor. I could probably eat a whole pound of it just trying describe all the different flavors. And, at only $5 a pound, I might just do that sometime...

Indianhead Farm

daedalusworld — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:12:39 CDT

Located in Berlin, this farm has been around for about 200 years and has grown everything from hops to horse hay. Right now, they grow a mixture of fruit and vegetables. Strawberries, blueberries, asparagus, even pick your own flowers.

In addition to being local, they also practice Integrated Pest Management - which means they try to not use pesticides, but they will if the alternative is losing a crop. Instead, their first efforts go towards ensuring the plants are healthy. They encourage good insects. They thin out the bad insects. And, if all else fails, then they go for the poison. I haven't asked them about this, but I suspect they don't have to spray very often. When you raise healthy plants, they don't usually need much help.

My first visit was right in the beginning of Strawberry season. I went during my lunch break and, even though I only spent 10 minutes picking, I still ended up with 2 1/2 pounds of yummy fresh berries (only 2 of those pounds actually made it home...). If you've only ever had grocery store strawberries, you definitely owe it to yourself to pick your own. Once you taste one fresh from the vine, you'll be a Convert to the Locavore Movement.

You'll also learn why you can't get strawberries that delicious at the grocery store. When I picked my berries, they were absolutely perfect. Bright red, juicy, firm. But, by the time they took a 10 minute ride in my car, a lot of them were bruised. That's just the way it is - you can pick them for portability (which means you pick them *before* they're ripe, *before* they are delicious), or you pick them for Deliciousness (which means they're very delicate).

Which is more important to you? Look perfect or taste perfect? (And, in case you're in doubt, let me remind you that you can close your eyes when you eat, but you can't close your tastebuds...)

Your own garden

teekup — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 09:44:19 CDT

This page will include information and links to help you grow your own food in whatever space you have available.

Where can I find local food?

daedalusworld — Tue, 20 May 2008 09:57:33 CDT

There are actually a lot of options for buying local food. They break down into a few major sources:

Your own garden

It's literally impossible to get more local than food you grow yourself. This doesn't have to be a major production - it can be as simple as having a planter with herbs by the window in your kitchen. This page explores some of the options available for people living in Marlborough.

Local farms

Local farms are what most people think of when they hear the words "Local Food". There are several varieties of farm in this area.
Small Farm/ Farm stand
This is the quinessential local food - a locally owned farm the sells its produce on the farm itself, or nearby.
Farmer's Market
Local farmers often transport their product to a central location on specific days.
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
In some areas, you can buy a membership to a local farm. By paying a membership fee up front, the farmer is assured of a livable income. In return, you get a share of all the food grown.

Locally owned restaurants

Nothing says that you have to cook your local food yourself. Most restaurants buy their food through national distributors such as Sysco, so you do lose the connection to the people who grew the ingredients. But you are supporting the restaurant owner, and you do have the ability to influence their decisions.

Local food in your grocery store

Yeah. It may be surprising, but you really can get some local food from your grocery store. I tend to shop at the Price Chopper, so this page is somewhat biased in that regard, but I am sure that other store feature similar items.

Local Food Coop

Some areas have a Coop which coordinates purchasing food from local farms and distributing that to coop members.

Map

I've collected all the farms I know of within 10 miles of Marlborough (and few outside that area) and put them all on a Google Map. Check it out at this link:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=116972168170408463255.00044b9f3e3e20550d616&ll=42.33972,-71.463296&spn=0.171803,0.300751&z=12
Please let me know of any discrepancies on this map.

Web Links

teekup — Thu, 08 May 2008 10:58:29 CDT

There is a lot of information out there on the web. In addition to the web pages of the farms themselves (go to the "Where Can I find Local Food?" page for those), there are other sources of infomation. Here are just a few that I've found to be useful:

Stillman's at The Turkey Farm Meat CSA This is a Massachusetts meat CSA. Their motto: " Our farm offers conscientiously raised, grass-fed and pastured, hormone-free meats and poultry. We believe in raising our animals in a manner that is humane and respectful, a respect that extends not only to our animals but to our land as well. Our sustainable, more holistic approach to animal husbandry yields better tasting, safer, and more nutritious meats and poultry.
This is our Conscientiously Grown philosophy." http://www.stillmansfarm.com/meatcsa.html

The 100 Mile Diet
This couple started it all for a lot of people. For a year they only ate food that was made/grown within 100 miles of where they lived in Vancouver.
http://www.100milediet.org/

Eat Wild.
A great source of information on Grass Fed meat.
http://www.eatwild.com/products/massachusetts.html

New England Small Farm Insitute
A great source of info for and about samll farmes in New England.
http://www.smallfarm.org/

Local Harvest
Dedicated to making is easier for you to find local food.
http://www.localharvest.org/

Massachusetts Association of Roadside Stands and Pick Your Own
Another good source for info on local food producers.
http://www.massfarmstands.com/

The Food Project
A great project - showing that sustainable agriculture is accessible to everyone.
http://www.thefoodproject.org/

Seeds of Change
A fantastic source of heirloom variety seeds.
http://www.seedsofchange.com/

Green Marlborough
This site strives to bring a bright Green future to all of Marlborough.
http://www.greenmarlborough.org/

Balance Rock Farm

daedalusworld — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:57:41 CDT

Balance Rock Farm is located in Berlin, Mass, a few minutes off of Rt 62. They offer meat from their own cows, pigs, chickens, and lambs. The meat is grass fed (when possible) and bovine growth hormone free.

They also offer a selection of local food from other sources:

Milk from Oakhurst Dairy in Maine
Honey from Bees -'N - Me in Bowdoinham Maine.
Hogan brothers coffee

They also have a few goats that the kids can look at at:

Books

daedalusworld — Fri, 02 May 2008 11:23:31 CDT

Not all the information on Local Food is accesible on the web. Sometimes you just have to log off, go outside and read a book. Here are a few suggestions of books that helped me. I give the Amazon link for them, but the Malrborough Public Library has access to most of them as well.

Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmer's Markets
Deborah Madison
http://www.amazon.com/Local-Flavors-Cooking-Americas-Farmers/dp/0767929497/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209743764&sr=1-4
She visited Farmer's Markets around the country and tells little stories about a lot of them. Plus a ton of great recipes using fresh produce.

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
Michael Pollan
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0143038583/ref=reg_hu-wl_mrai-recs
Fantastic! He deconstructs four different kinds of meals back to their origins: a fast food meal, Big Business Organic, Sustainable, and Self Harvested.

One-Straw Revolution
Masanobu Fukuoka
http://www.amazon.com/One-straw-Revolution-Masanobu-Fukuoka/dp/8185569312/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209745012&sr=1-1
This Japanese farmer decided that growing rice was too complicated and decided to deconstruct the process. Over the next few decades he perfected an agricultural system he calls the Do Nothing method. It doesn't really involve doing nothing, but it does involve just doing the minimum to help nature do what she does best. Oh, and he gets yields equivalent to the guys who used pesticides and flood their fields and are constantly doing something.

Fast Food Nation
Eric Schlosser
http://www.amazon.com/Fast-Food-Nation-Eric-Schlosser/dp/0060838582/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209743557&sr=1-1
Horrifying. He investigated exactly what it takes to give you a cheap burger and fries.

Don't Eat This Book: Fast Food and The Supersizing of America
Morgan Spurlock
http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Eat-This-Book-Supersizing/dp/B000NO1CPA/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209743879&sr=1-2
Another anti-fast food polemic. Written by the guy who made the movie Supersize Me (he ate nothing but fast food for a month and filmed the results).

Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century
Alex Steffen
http://www.amazon.com/Worldchanging-Users-Guide-21st-Century/dp/0810970856/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209743649&sr=1-1
Not strictly about Local Food. This book shows a lot of ways that regular people can get involved in making a Bright Green future for us all.

The Sustainability Revolution: Portrait of a Paradigm Shift
Andres Edwards
http://www.amazon.com/Sustainability-Revolution-Portrait-Paradigm-Shift/dp/0865715319/ref=pd_sim_b_img_4
This book talks about what an entire sustainable economy would look like. Guess what? Local food is a critical part of that...

Biomimicry: Innovation Ispired By Nature
Janine M Benyus
http://www.amazon.com/Biomimicry-Innovation-Inspired-Janine-Benyus/dp/0060533226/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209744126&sr=8-1
OK, this one is not even a little bit about local food. But the attitude of this book fits perfectly - Nature knows what she's doing and we'll do a lot better if we figure out how to work with her, rather than against her.

Hey!! Do you have a favorite book about local food or some related subject? Tell me about it!

Why buy local food?

daedalusworld — Fri, 02 May 2008 10:21:36 CDT

There are a lot of reasons to buy local food. Here are a highly subjective list:

It's fresh.
The average item of food bought in the US has travelled about 1,500 miles. That's a long way to travel and it takes time. In order to ensure that produce doesn't spoil before it reaches the store, it is picked before it's ripe. But that still doesn't mean that it's 'fresh' when you get it. Local food, on the other hand, has a much better chance of being picked the day you buy it.
You support your community.
When you buy most food at the store, money is leaving your community. When you buy local food, money stays within your community. You are giving it to your neighbors.
You know where it's been
When food travels 1,500 miles to get to you, you have no idea how it was grown or raised, and you have no way to give feedback to the people who made it. When you buy local food, though, you are often buying it from the people who made it. You can ask them questions about how it was produced. You can often actually visit the location and see the conditions. And you can express your concerns directly to the people responsible for it.
Save fuel.
(1,500 miles) times (whatever poor gas mileage trucks get) times ($3.50 per gallon) = a lot of extra gasoline used to haul this stuff around. Buying it locally saves that gas, and that money.
More money goes to the farmer
When you buy food at the store, some of the money goes to the store, some of the money goes to the people who transported the food, some of the money goes to the company that owns the farm, and whatever is leftover goes to the people who actually grew the food. Buying it locally cuts out a lot of the middlemen and ensures that the people who made it can make a decent living at it.
Better quality.
A company raising 5,000,000 cattle is more concerned about uniformity and consistency then they are about high quality. A local farmer raising beef knows that his livelihood depends on that beef's quality. Not every item of locally produced food is going to be better than non-local. But the incentive is much more direct - if he doesn't produce good quality, people will go somewhere else.

What is Local Food?
Where can I find Local Food?
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What is Local Food?

daedalusworld — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:32:43 CDT

"Local" is a vague term. Food grown in California is local, when compared to food that was grown in another hemisphere. But one definition that is commonly used is that Local Food is any food that has been grown, raised, or cooked within 100 miles of where you live. For those of us in Marlborough, that includes any food from Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, southern Maine, and even parts of New York state.

There is another aspect of Local Food that is important to its proponents: locally owned. Buying milk that was produced on a farm here in Massachusetts is nice. But if that farm is owned by a petrochemical company, then buying from that farm is not really buying local.

That's it, really. "Local Food" means buying from your neighbors. It's a rule of thumb, rather than a brutally stringent regimen. It's about choosing to buy your food from close to your home when possible.

Why buy Local Food?
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