Real People Eat Local

Stop by Heyser Farms in Colesville, Maryland and you'll find yourself at one of the few old-style markets around metropolitan Washington, DC. After his grandfather started farming the land in 1946, Mike Heyser notes his father bought it in 1948, and today the business involves several members of the family, including his nephew, wife and kids - the youngest of whom is just 11 months. The Heysers still grow apples and cut flowers right at the farm, on the corner of New Hampshire Avenue and Bonifant Road. They also have 18 acres in Howard County, Maryland, where they tend peaches and vegetables, and a 40-acre farm in Pennsylvania, including 20 acres of fruit trees.

At the Heysers' market, you'll find lots of local treats aside from their own fruits and vegetables, including homemade pies; milk and cheese from Trickling Springs Creamery, of Chambersburg, PA; free-range eggs from Weikerts in Gettysburg, PA; as well as jams and other homemade items such as Little Barn Noodles, from Honey Brook, PA; and Heyser's own Spencerville Red applesauce.

For more information, go to www.heyserfarms.net.

Renee's alumni pride was stirred recently when she heard that the University of Virginia Cavalier football team took up Governor Kaine's challenge to "Eat Local For A Day."  Pasta with Virginia basil pesto or marinara sauce from Virginia tomatoes, and locally raised free-range chicken were on the buffet in Charlottesville for the team's meals on August 7. U.Va. Dining Executive Chef Tim Saul said they are wroking to incorporate more local foods into the dining halls for all students. Wahoo-wa!

 

Read more here.

 

Alan Cohen, president and owner of Bio-Logical Pest Management, a low-risk pest management company in Washington, DC, has this to say about local food and how his religious beliefs relate to it:

"I like local food because the produce usually has less pesticides and fungicides on it, since it hasn't been transported from far away. Fungicides are the most likely post-harvest chemical applied, and they can be more easily avoided if the fruits and vegetables can be sold right away. The key is to try to buy in season, buy local, and try to buy organic.

"I started thinking about pesticides and the food supply even before college, when my high school biology teacher read us Silent Spring (by Rachel Carson). It definitely was a powerful message to hear at a young age, before there was even a big organic movement.

"Local food tastes better too! It's going to be fresher. I've been a member of Mike Tabor's Licking Creek Bend Farm CSA for three years now, and I really like it.

 

"Growing up in a Jewish home makes one aware of where food comes from and how pure it is. This leads naturally to organic food, and eco-kashrut, which applies principles of justice to food production. If a farm product is produced, but the workers or the animals are exploited, how can that be considered proper to eat? These are the questions I think about now. I'm also a supporter of Hazon (www.hazon.org), a group focused on creating a healthier more sustainable Jewish community, including through food. For example, Hazon fosters CSAs and hosts the blog 'Jew and the Carrot,' which describes itself as 'the epicenter of Jews, food, and sustainability on the web'."

To contact Alan Cohen, email biopestman@gmail.com or go to www.biologicalpestmanagement.com.

The folks at the University of Maryland who developed Agtrader.org to connect folks within the agriculture community, have now launched Foodtrader.org for farmers and consumers of locally grown foods. It features listings of items that are available for sale, for trade or free, as well as requests from folks looking for specific foods in certain areas. Billed as a way for folks to find local foods outside of farmers markets, this could be a great resource for folks who don't live near a good market or who want to establish direct, on-farm connections, especially as more folks sign on. Check it out at www.foodtrader.org.

The enterprise arm of Appalachian Sustainable Development (ASD), a southern Virginia-based non-profit working on strengthening the local food system through organic and sustainable agriculture, has been selected as one of twelve U.S.-based local food enterprises to be profiled as part of a new broad project supporting local food. Entitled "Community Food Enterprise: Local Success in a Global Marketplace,"  the project will develop case studies - including of ASD's Appalachian Harvest - and highlight them in a book due to be published this winter, as well as on a website and in podcasts.

 

The project was conceived as more and more people see the advantages of local food production, for a variety of reasons. "Evidence is mounting worldwide that a powerful path to prosperity for communities across the globe may be local ownership of enterprises that meet food needs," according to the Community Food Enterprise website. "Various meta trends, such as rising oil prices and new models of small-scale organization, are changing the economics of food. These changes are fostering a new generation of community-based enterprises as farmers and other local entrepreneurs begin to take greater ownership roles," it says. The project is being jointly funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

 

Appalachian Harvest describes itself as "a network of certified organic family farmers in southwest Virginia and northeast Tennessee who have come together to make locally grown, organic produce available in area supermarkets." For more about ASD, click here, and about Appalachian Harvest specifically, click here; for info on the Community Food Enterprise project, click here.

We do it not only to alert those who participate in our groups, but to remind all our readers that this is an increasingly popular and convenient way to access local food. If you organize a drop in your neighborhood and are open to new participants, send us a note. Depending on how many responses we get, we may list available buying groups in a future issue of Local Mix, or make the information available on our website. 

 

Springfield Farm Meat Order - Renee will be placing a new order with Springfield Farm from Baltimore County on Monday, August 18 for delivery to Renee's house on Friday, August 29. If you are already a member of this group, you should have received an ordering email earlier today. Contact Renee if you want to be included.

 

Two Oceans Seafood - Orders will also be due on Monday, August 18 for sustainably caught seafood from Two Oceans Seafood, run by Gaylord Clark out of Baltimore. The delivery will be to Renee's house on Friday, August 22. Again, if you're on the list, you got a separate email, or contact Renee.

 

Garden Mountain Meat Order - Orders are due to Garden Mountain by Tuesday, August 26 for delivery to Kristi's house on Saturday, August 30. This will be the last opportunity for pork and chicken in 2008. For details contact farmer Rebecca Hubbard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Garden Cycles Bike Tour: New Faces from the Farm," a film about a bike tour from Washington DC to Montreal by three local women documenting food-producing garden projects along the way, will premiere at an all-day event Sept. 20. Involving various local bands and other entertainment, the event will be held in Purcelville, Virginia, at the more-than-eight-hundred-acre Blue Ridge Center.

 

Note that RSVPs by Sept. 8 are required so the organizers can prepare the grounds properly. A $25 donation is requested.

 

For more information, email gardencycles@gmail.com or call (757) 615-5911. To go to the project's blog or read a recent Washington Post article about the women and their project, click here.