Going local, part II

“The three basic components of responsible eating are to favor
food grown in an environmentally responsible way,
delivered with minimal petroleum use,
in a manner that doesn’t exploit the farmers.” -Steven L. Hopp

Following are some suggestions Steven Hopp gives for going local (mind you, not going loco, but for buying local):

- Begin by visiting a nearby farmer’s market to see what’s available. Ask questions: likely you will learn about locality, the size of farms, whether organic (even if not certified, many small market growers have assumed sustainability as part of their identity).
Buy a good supply of what you can use.

- Visit the grocery store with these few general rules that may help:

* If items are available regionally, and are in season, get them from a farmer or ask a grocer to obtain them from a local source.

* Do as much as possible of your own cooking or preparation. Make meal plans for the seasons, rather than starting with a recipe and having a treasure hunt for its ingredients.

* Food processing uses energy in two main ways; (1) extracting, dicing, mixing, and cooking the ingredients; (2) transporting each individual ingredient. Products with fewer ingredients have probably burned less gas….

* For fresh fruits and vegetables, consider travel distance. On an autumn trip to our grocery I found apples grown in a neighboring state (North Carolina), Washington State, and New Zealand. That choice is easy. If we lived in Oregon, that would be a different easy choice.

* Consider how you feel about using energy to move water. All fresh produce contains a lot of it. Apparent differences between more and less juicy items can be deceiving; watermelon is 92% water; cucumbers 96%; tomatoes 95%, while on the firmer side, carrots are 92%; peppers 94%; and broccoli 91%. All watery. If you care about this, when considering world travelers, favor dried fruits or vegetables, dried spices, nuts, coffee beans, dry beans, and grains.

* If produce or a processed item needs to be refrigerated (or frozen), energy was used to keep it cool from its point of origin to you. How can you tell? It’s refrigerated (or frozen) in the store!

*Should you buy industrial organics? By shifting to organic methods, corporate farms are reducing the pesticide loads in our soil and water, in a big way. This should be one of many considerations, along with everything listed above. - Steven L. Hopp, p 348-249 Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

I'm off to the local farmer's market.
[pictures are from Northfield's own farmer's market]