Real People Eat Local

While the holidays are always about family and food, for me the season has an extra emphasis on friends this year. So many of you have thanks and good wishes since the announcement that I'll no longer be publishing Edible Chesapeake. I've tried to respond to everyone, but if I've missed you, please know that I have read or listened to every message I've received via email, Facebook, Twitter, mail, phone and in person, and I truly appreciate every word.

 

But what happens now? As I said before, I'm not walking away from the local food community, so here's what I know now:

Local Mix Goes On - This email newsletter is where Kristi and I began our "mission" of sharing info about local food back in 2006. (That's a picture of us from the January 2007 meeting of the Maryland Organic Food and Farming Association - one of the first places we spoke about connecting consumers with sources of local food.) Although we combined this effort with Edible Chesapeake for the past year or so, we will return to the roots of Local Mix, which we see as a vehicle for timely news and hands-on tips for locavore living. If you DO NOT WISH to continue receiving this email newsletter, you can click the Unsubscribe button at the bottom to be instantly removed from our mailing list.

Real People Still Eat Local - While I was focused on Edible Chesapeake, Kristi has done an incredible job maintaining our website, realpeopleeatlocal.com, as a resource for archived issues of Local Mix, recipes and feature stories, and lots of other local food resources. There is a lot of great content (see below). Going forward, we look to add even more features as well aggregation of the many other listings and resources that folks are creating out there in cyberspace. So watch that space!

 

Edible Chesapeake Goes Offline - The magazine's website, ediblechesapeake.com, will go offline at the end of the year. These next few weeks are the last chance to buy copies of any back issues you missed or might want to give as gifts. I'll be fulfilling back issue orders for subscribers through the end of the year as well. Please be patient if you've already sent your order in!

 

Facebook and Twitter Transitions - We've built such a great community on both Facebook and Twitter, but I've been neglectful of those media recently while working through all these changes. It's likely we'll maintain the Twitter account under a new name - if you're a follower, you'll hear from us and can decide if you want to remain part of the group. We'll also have the info on the website. No decision yet regarding Facebook, but we'll let all our friends know by the end of the year.

Still Out and About - I'll still be doing my favorite thing, talking about local food and community connections, at several meetings and conferences this winter. The January and February schedule is below.

 

Both Kristi and I are looking forward to the new year and to new opportunities to learn and to share within our local food community!

 

Renee

 

One of the most often-repeated myths of local eating is that you can't eat local in winter. You may be surprised how much you can pick up at the farmers market in winter. On top of special, ad hoc markets planned all over the region ahead of the holidays, several farmers markets remain open all year round. Bundle up and head out to gather your dairy products, condiments, eggs, meats, tree fruit, breads and bakery items, root vegetables, nuts, greens and more. For an updated listing of winter markets, click here.

 

To see some of the most inspiring local food and farmers we have found at local markets, click here.

 

Here's Renee's speaking schedule for January and February:

 

Jan 16 - Future Harvest-CASA Conference, Shepherdstown, WV

Farm to Press: Media Relations 101

Co-presenting with Pat Lute, principal of PLPR

 

Jan 26 - Wildfire Restaurant, Tysons Corner, VA

Virginia Farm and Wine Dinner

Guest speaker along with James Roth of Red, White and Bleu

 

Feb 18 - Women in Leadership Conference, Charlottesville, VA

Sustainable Food Panel

Panelist with moderator Tanya Deckla Cobb of Virginia Food Systems Council

 

Feb 26 - Brookside Gardens, Wheaton, MD

Green Matters Symposium

Panel moderator, panelists TBA

 

Feb 27 - Les Dames d'Escoffier Salute to Women in Gastronomy, Gaithersburg, MD

Slow and Sustainable Food Panel

Panel moderator, panelists TBA