Eating Local

Eating local is an extremely important part of living sustainably in the modern world. When you choose locally grown/raised/harvested food, you are dramatically reducing the carbon footprint you take on when you by food that has been shipped long distances (gasoline and diesel needed for that), kept cool or frozen (loads of energy required for either of those). Plus, buying local stimulates the local economy. Not to mention that food grown on smaller establishments are more likely to be organic/less pesticide-laden.

Luckily, it's getting easier and easier to do so. People living in the rural US have always been able to grow some of their own food and probably get some from neighbors too. In the suburbs, the amount of people planting fruits and vegetables in their yards or on their porches is growing every week. Many suburbs have monthly or weekly farmers markets. And people with larger tracts of land within the suburbs are calling on friends and colleagues to do some collective farming on their acres. Meanwhile, in the city, community-based farms are spreading like wildfire. There are more and more of those special places where you can rent or volunteer to tend a small patch of land within the city to grow your own food. And new skyscrapers are currently being designed that incorporate growing spaces for each apartment/flat. It truly is an exciting time to move toward eating local.

There are, however, unique challenges of eating local. Certain foods just can't grow in certain places because of the climate/growing zone. In Florida, for example, no apples. Most apples need to grow in zones 8 and below. No luck here in zones 9/10. So we have to look for other options.

On the other hand, okra grows like crazy. It's the only crop we've had huge success in this year, and we didn't even work for it at all. But we haven't the slightest idea what to DO with the okra. Fried okra? Check. Then what? Growing your own food and eating locally grown food in general requires that we get a little creative. We have to look outside our favorite three vegetables, for instance, and learn to enjoy the foods that grow naturally and happily in our areas. This is a good thing! Fed this way from childhood, our kids will be less picky eaters. And we adults will manage to consume a more balanced and nutritious diet if you can focus on what's local. Fresh food right off the vine is the most nutritious; some foods actually lose nutrients when they are frozen.

Try some local fruits and vegetables. Unless you live in the Midwest, those foods may be quite different from what your forefathers (or even your parents!) made the staples of their meals. But branching out into the foods that grow locally to where you currently live is better for the environment, for your health, and for your sense to connection to your sustenance.