Friday, May 16, 2008

The Localvore Challenge

Last week I sent my sister in Peru, NY an article by Bill McKibben about the year he spent eating only food grown in the Champlain Valley. I saw the article in a local magazine called The Organic Mom. I thought she would appreciate this article as she lives in the Champlain Valley and would be familiar with many of the farms and towns.

Well, today I hear from her that she is only going to eat food produced in the Champlain Valley for the month of June. Then my sister in Vermont responds and mentions how she is not going to enter a grocery store this summer and will buy all of her food from farmers markets and farm stands. Now the pressure is on. How can I match up to this? I have a reputation to hold here. After all, I am the environmental scientist in the family.

I spent the morning cruising the internet looking for my options. The local eating culture is growing rapidly and there actually are quite a few options for my family. We could join a CSA which now include meat and produce but we will probably travel too much this summer to make that a good option. There is the option of going to Lionette's in Boston but that is a bit inconvenient. I could travel out to farm stands and pick up my meat, eggs, and produce. Places like Codman Farm, Newton Angino Community Farm and Chip-In Farm do a great job of continuing local agriculture in the Boston area. But still, this costs me about 20 mile of driving.

Then I stumbled upon a buyers club that might be the perfect option for my family. The buyers club works as an organizer takes weekly orders, picks up the goods from local farms, and delivers to a set pick-up location. Members don't have to order every week and the organizer of the club obtains the meat, eggs, milk, and produce from local farms. The group I found is called inseason.us and they are about to start delivering to Porter Square in Cambridge. With this option, coupled with the farmers markets in Cambridgeport, Harvard Square, Davis Square, Harvard Yard, and Central Square I may also be able to avoid grocery stores and the corporate industrial food complex completely. And I may even gain bragging rights over my sisters because I can get all my food without having to get in a car.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Michael,

This is Chris from inseason.us. Glad to hear you are trying to source more food locally. It looks like we'll be starting deliveries in Davis Square towards the end of June. Right now we are delivering in Salem, Ma on Saturdays and the response so far has been excellent.

I'd love to help you out with your local food challenge so feel free to ask any questions about where the food comes from, etc.

Chris@inseason.us