Wow, what a wonderful trip to San Francisco we had! If you have been there, you know. It was a real pick me up too. It got all the little brain cells (I have left) back into how important it is for all of us to eat local foods. We traveled the radius of cities around the San Francisco area and strolled the markets, talked to the farmers and the same thing happened everywhere. Their eyes were bright, with anticipation of the crops they have and are raising. All of the farmers allowed us a taste, this is something we will incorporate more often. One farmer  makes a wonderful Basque Piperade Sauce, please check out her website to learn more about this Basque delight www.piperadesauce.com. Everyone spoke with such enthusiasm about the quality of the food in the area. They also enlightened us on the immense cooperation between the local government and bureaucratic agencies that allow these farmers and markets to survive and flourish. The support of the community is so great. The restaurants are all on board with buying local, fresh foods. What we have encountered in our area, is not the same.  The limits that governments place on small farmers is ridiculous to say the least. The only way this will change is for all of us to seek out the local farmer and markets, support them and ask in your local restaurant if they buy local food. It is impossible to always have local, because of the seasons, but what can be purchased locally, or heck grow it yourself, is always the best choice for us.

This locavore movement is all over the world. I copied some great info from the Vermont movement below. They are called Localvore, but the same philosophy.

 

A Localvore is a person dedicated to eating food grown and produced locally.  There are a lot of good reasons to eat locally grown and produced food.

 

 

 

Did you know...

• One pound of prewashed lettuce contains 80 calories of food energy.  According to Cornell ecologist David Pimental, growing, chilling, washing, packaging, and transporting that box of organic salad to a plate on the east coast takes more than 4,600 calories of fossil fuel energy, or 57 calories of fossil fuel energy for every calorie of food. source:  Ominvores Dilemma by Michael Pollan
• The food industry burns nearly a fifth of all the petroleum consumed in the US (about as much as automoblies do).  And, only a fifth of the total energy used to feed us is consumed on the farm; the rest is spent processint and moving food around.  source:  Ominvores Dilemma by Michael Pollan
• The average 400 calorie breakfast consumes 2800 calories of fossil fuel energy. source
• The average meal uses 17 times more petroleum products then an entirely local meal.  source
• On average, food items travel 1500 miles before arriving at your table.  source
• 3% of all farms produce 62% of all agricultural production (talk about putting all of your eggs in one basket!). source
• 70% of processed foods in US grocery stores contain bioengineered ingredients.  source
• Almost 96% of the commercial vegetable varieties that existed in 1903 are now extinct. source
• 91 cents of each dollar spent in a traditional food market goes to suppliers, processors, middlemen, and marketers and only 9 cents goes to the farmer while farm markets enable farmers to keep 80 to 90 cents of every dollar.  source  another source
• 3000 acres of US farmland is lost to development (suburban sprawl) every day. source
• During the 1950's the average American household spent 30% of their income on food.  Today we now spend on 15% of our income on food.  source
• Vermont lost nearly 90 percent of its remaining farmland between the 1950's and today.  source
• Even in the early 1980s, Vermont was importing 70% to 80% of its carrots and apples.  source
• Only 10% to 15% of our food budgets are spent on locally grown products.  source
• Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson, upon leaving his post in 2004 said, "I, for the life of me, cannot understand why the terrorists have not, you know, attacked our food supply, because it is so easy to do, and we are importing a lot of food from the Middle East, and it would be easy to tamper with that."   source
• The U.S. government has awarded $130 billion in farm subsidies since 1995, with 70% to the top 10% largest producers. Over half the industry, predominately small- and medium-sized farms, receive nothing. source
• If Vermont substituted local products for only 10 percent of the food we import, it would result in $376 million in new economic output, including $69 million in personal earnings from 3,616 jobs.  source
• The food system accounts for almost 16 percent of total U.S. energy consumption, which includes production, processing and distribution (statistic from June 2001). source
• It is estimated that 6 to 12 cents of every dollar spent on food consumed in the home represents transportation costs.  source

Thanks For Picking Us!,
John and Terrie Lawson
Hydro Harvest Farms 

CLICK ON PEPPER FOR LOCAVORE MOVIE