Happy Holidays! We wish you a wonderful start to winter and a great New Year's celebration as well. We hope our musings about gift-giving and upcoming food/ag conferences in this issue will ease your planning burdens this time of year. And we look forward to sharing more news with you again in 2008 after we take a few weeks off. Have fun in the snow!
The Gift of Local Food & Ag Products
When planning this year's holiday gifts, don't forget local food and ag products! Delicious local food items, even small ones, make welcome gifts for everyone from your bosses or children's teachers to your difficult-to-buy-for relatives. Ideas include: wine, cheese, maple syrup, honey, jelly, nuts, wreaths, and soaps. And don't forget gift certificates to restaurants serving local specialities! One of the easiest ways to find these local items is to run by one of the year-round farmers' markets in the area (and click hereto see a list of some of the major ones). Visiting a local winery or shop works, too, or click here to see a list of our suggestions.
Edible Chesapeake's Winter Issue is Here!
Keep on the lookout for the winter issue of Edible Chesapeake, starting to hit stores like Whole Foods and My Organic Market, and restaurants like Equinox and Coppi's next week. This quarter's issue of the magazine, of which Renee is the publisher and editor-in-chief, is chock full of new, original articles about the Chesapeke's best foods and places to get them in the region.
These include stories about local chocolate treats, a destination restaurant in Norfolk and tips on root cellaring. Renee co-wrote an update on two farmers markets in the area that are trying to reach lower income populations, and don't miss Kristi's round-up about community supported agriculture (CSA), so you can plan for the coming season.
In her own words, here's why Sara, a 17-year-old high school senior in Maryland, loves local food:
"I just like knowing it has no pesticides or chemicals. It's fresh and safe to eat. I'm kind of like a health nut. I play soccer, run track and swim. I want to be a dietician and help people who have disorders, or who want to focus on their diet and calorie intake for sports. I know what foods are going to give me energy.
"The tomatoes are my favorite. We make a lot of salads. My mom is very experimental with food. For example, she tried a lot of new recipes with eggplant this summer. It's fun to try out new things. I know this sounds weird 'cause I'm 17, but I love vegetables!
"My mom is now obsessed with pesto. We have 25 jars in our freezer! It's my new obsession too. It tastes so much better when you compare it with the store- bought kind, which is sticky and awful.
We are privileged to have several great associations that bring together folks interested in local, organic and sustainable food in the area. We also happen to know that the annual gathering of the Maryland Organic Food and Farming Association (MOFFA) is one of the best kept secrets in the state. Held in Annapolis, just off Route 50, it's worth the quick and easy drive from the DC area.
This year's speakers at the MOFFA meeting will include a number of intriguing folks, such as:
Carlos Amaya, co-owner of and chef at Coppi's Organic in Washington, DC, who in the keynote address will discuss his dedication to organic food, local community and sustainable business practices. Well-known supporter of both sustainable business and sustainable agriculture practices, Amaya will share information about sourcing organic food from local farms and managing Coppi's using a sustainable restaurant model;
Maryland artist and homesteader Christina Allen, who will discuss her work tending sheep organically, spinning, weaving, knitting, and painting, while living off the land near Lexington Park, MD;
Julie Bolton, farmer and co-owner of Groff's Content Farm in Rocky Ridge, MD, who will discuss selling into the booming market for Kosher meat; and
Louise Mitchell, sustainable foods coordinator for the Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment project of the University of Maryland School of Nursing, a farm-to-hospital program that brings local food directly into hospitals.
Feel free to attend just part of the MOFFA meeting, if you can't attend the whole thing. Or, if you can't make the date, or are simply interested in attending another one, here are some further details to make your planning easier (in chronological order):
Maryland Organic Food and Farming Association (MOFFA) 17th Annual Conference: Jan. 5 in Annaoplis, MD. For more information, go to www.marylandorganic.org or contact Mike Klein at mkleinm@msn.com.
Future Harvest - Chesapeake Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture (CASA) 9th Annual Conference: Jan. 18-19 in Hagerstown, MD, featuring keynote speaker Cynthia Barstow, author of the 2002 book The Eco-Foods Guide: What's Good for the Earth is Good for You! , president of Seed to Shelf: Marketing for Sustainability, and adjunct faculty member at the University of Massachusetts, where she teaches food and natural products marketing. Check out www.futureharvestcasa.orgfor details.
Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) 17th Annual Conference: Feb. 7-9 in State College, PA, featuring three days of an incredibly action-packed conference schedule with an unbelievable assortment of sessions and speakers for absolutely anyone and everyone interested in any aspect of sustainable and organic food and farming. This is one of the largest such conferences on the East Coast, and it encompasses both sustainable and organic. Go to www.pasafarming.orgfor more.
Virginia Association for Biological Farming (VABF) 9th Annual Conference: Feb. 15-16 in Richmond, VA, featuring keynote speaker Dr. Elaine Ingham, President and Director of Research at Soil Foodweb Inc. For more info., go to www.vabf.org.
Check Out This "Cook's Garden"
Barbara Damrosch writes one of those newspaper columns you can really look forward to -- the ones that contain valuable information and are always finely crafted too. Last Thursday, in her column entitled "A Cook's Garden" in the Washington Post, she hit the mark with respect to local food. Briefly summarizing the piles of research that get sent her away, she notes how much more we can know about our food if we grow it ourselves or buy it from the farmer down the road. Check out her practical, amusing, well-researched words in this succinct and valuable column, "Before You Eat Up, Read Up," by clicking here.
As always, thanks for reading and spreading the news about local food.
All content of the Real People Eat Local website and the Local Mix email newsletter is original and the property of Renee Brooks Catacalos and Kristi Bahrenburg Janzen. We welcome your comments at feedback@realpeopleeatlocal.com.
