A few days ago Kendra at A Sonoma Garden smartly listed 11 ways to eat locally in her town of Sonoma. I'm considering my own list for San Anselmo.
How about you? Wouldn't it be great if every town had their own list at the Chamber of Commerce, Town Hall or posted in a public place? Or found on line at the town's local food blogger? And then we could all eat local and save so much fossil fuel we'd have world peace forever. What have we got to loose? Nothing else has worked.
Or, how about posting 11 ways to eat locally because it would be fun to share with friends, provide a resource for people thinking about eating locally and it would support local business. In any event, it's a smart idea.
My first way to eat local would be a secret. It would be the persimmon trees at Robson Harrington Park. The park hosts a riot of community garden plots but the persimmon trees are unfenced and loaded with fruit this year. It's far too soon to consider eating them but not too soon to admire. Their leaves are still hanging on and the fruit looks as if their pointed bottoms were dipped in an early sunset. Already delicious.
Let me know if you post 11 ways to eat locally in your community or, shh, what your one local secret is.
And let's keep working on that solution for world peace.
2 days ago
9 comments:
I keep a page on my blog updated with local resources:
http://simple-green-frugal.blogspot.com/2008/06/bcs-buy-it-local.html
Brilliant idea, Katrina. One I just might steal for my next city newsletter.
There's a health food store that stocks locally milled flour downtown.
There's the mothers' club listserve where people respond when I ask for free fruit. ;-)
There's a couple local year round farmers' markets.
The list goes one. I need to sit down and write it out.
Thank you for the mention, Katrina. I just love that park where you get the persimmons. When we were dating, we used to have picnic lunches there, it's so secret and romantic in that garden. I seem to remember there are a few quince trees there too.
Great idea. I'm coming up on one year of blogging and maybe I'll do this as a summary post.
heather - That's a great list of local resources. Here's a live link for anyone wanting a great example or anyone living in Bryan-College Station, Texas.
green bean - I'm glad you kept your name at the new phone booth. But you can't steal this idea because it's already everybody's idea. Plus I borrowed it from Kendra Using it for the city newsletter is brilliant! You'll have to tell us about how the list is recieved.
kendra - Too funny. I wondered what those fuzzy looking pear shaped fruits were. But you've named them, they must be the quince. Ummm. I wonder if they're still there? Thanks all go to you. The list idea is a good one. You'll have to take your kids to the park now. We took a couple of the cute guys grandkids a few weeks ago and they loved running up and down the paths and finding the secret paths to lose each other and then find us. It was good fun.
audrey - Whatever you do will be elegant. Your blog always is.
I raid all the fruiting trees at the Huntington Library and Gardens in San Marino. Membership has its privileges, after all.
Katrina what a great idea! Funny - I've just written a huge post about how to eat locally! Please stop by and let me know what you think, and if there are other resources you know about.
Interesting, though... I haven't added any secrets to my list. I'll think about that. I'm not sure I have any secret places, which means I haven't looked hard enough! ; )
Though there is a nice little restaurant tucked away in an alley about a block from us, with an amazing local cheese plate served with pears cured in a homemade pear brandy... Maybe that's one!
I'm in the process of sharing what I've identified as nine ways to buy locally (I'm in San Francisco) to help my friends and family start considering to eat local. Within each way, I highlight some specific farms, brands and companies. It's a slightly different approach than the one Kendra is taking. FYI, the nine ways I've identified are: 1) grow it at home; 2) grow it in a community garden; 3) buy from a CSA; 4) buy from a non-farm delivery service; 5) buy from a farmer's market; 6) buy from a small grocery store that focuses on local suppliers; 7) buy from a meal assembly service that buys locally; 8) eat at a restaurant; and 9) national chain that is able to label its food origins as local.
I wish I had a local secret source. I'll have to add it to my exploration list. :)
christina - The raiding aspect does make it fun, doesn't it?!
melinda - That's the one. A restaurant in an alley. With pears soaked in brandy. Local cheese. If I ever make it to Seattle that's where I'm going!
I skimmed your eat local post from work, yeah, I'm busted, and it's terrific. I'll go back with the challenge of adding something but I suspect that will be a difficult task I'll likely fail. You think of everything.
gary - I'm glad you took the time to include your list. We are so spoiled in N. CA with so much access to farms and to a city where the restaurants use local food. I'm a little skeptical about a national chain that could identify anything on it's menu as local but I'd happily like to be made wrong. Have you found one? Make me wrong. Please.
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