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Statistics I Like to Hear

October 19th, 2008

Today in America there is soaring demand for local and regional food; farmers’ markets, of which the U.S.D.A. estimates there are now 4,700, have become one of the fastest-growing segments of the food market. Community-supported agriculture is booming as well: there are now nearly 1,500 community-supported farms, to which consumers pay an annual fee in exchange for a weekly box of produce through the season.

I’m doing my part to increase demand for local food. This year Mr Chiots and I started buying 80% of our food locally. We’re hoping to buy even more, some things like grains are difficult to find locally, but we do purchase them from small local bulk food stores so they’re fresher. We buy our chicken, eggs, beef and milk from Robert’s Farm (they also sell potatoes in the fall). We buy all of our produce at the farmer’s market and we try to preserve as much as we can to limit the need for buying from the grocery.

We grow some of our own veggies to further cut down on the traveling miles and environmental impact of our food. In future years we hope to grow even more of our own food as we add more and more edible plants & trees into our landscape.

What are you going to strengthen you local food supply?

2 Comments to “Statistics I Like to Hear”
  1. Joe on October 20, 2008 at 12:45 am

    I usually try to grow produce to reduce my need for buying. Just out of curiosity, where do you get your produce during the winter?

    Reply to Joe's comment

  2. Susy on October 20, 2008 at 7:52 am

    We try to preserve a lot of fruits & veggies during the summer months with canning, drying and freezing. In the winter we focus on eating winter squashes, cabbages, potatoes, sweet potatoes and winter greens. We’re trying to learn to eat more seasonally instead of eating the same things all year long.

    Reply to Susy's comment

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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