Save money. Find fresh items locally

[Horse with no Name]

This is way cool.

http://www.localharvest.org/

http://www.herald-democrat.com/articles/2008/04/21/local_news/doc480cba8c9c439661338062.txt

>>>snip
One of those ideas is Local Harvest. The idea marries the high-tech world of the Internet with a sense of community agriculture. It’s part of a growing trend of consumers seeking foods that are fresher, produced with fewer chemicals. The local harvest concept helps farmers cut costs and capture a larger portion of the food dollar. It also keeps food dollars at home.

Localharvest.org has a search engine that finds local food producers within a certain radius of a zip code. A search brings a list of producers with descriptions of the crops and other products a farm or ranch offers. Grayson, Fannin and Collin county shoppers can find local sources of products including chickens, turkeys, lamb, beef, goats, pork, almost any seasonal vegetable and herb, honey and mushrooms and food-based products like goat milk soap and lavender sachets.

Local Harvest also promotes another concept: Community supported agriculture. Some of the local producers participate in CSA as well. In this plan, consumers pay an up-front cost, and some producers charge an additional fee throughout the growing season. Some spread out all the costs across the growing season.

This gives farmers money to buy seed and for other planting expenses and guarantees participants a portion of the harvest. They share the risk and bounty. The advantages are cheaper, fresher food in good years and less pollution from crop transit. The disadvantages are that the share is a portion of what’s harvested that week and the crops could fail.

[niyad]

1. great idea in the summer--we have a very short growing season here.

[kestrel91316]

5. You probably have a much longer growing season than you realize.

Even if commercial growers don't use it, if you have a patch of land you can.

Eliot Coleman's book The Four-Season Harvest is an excellent starter manual.....
Carla Emery's Encyclopedia of Country Living is great also, just for general food production and processing.

[klook]

2. This is incredibly great

I like not only the ability to find CSA farmers in my area, but also to look up healthy restaurants before traveling to another city. Excellent. Thanks for posting.

[kestrel91316]

6. We have farmers' markets here in LA but no CSAs.

:cry:

[End Of The Road]

3. Hubby and I belong to a CSA and we love it.

But I'm not sure I agree with the premise that it saves money. It's wonderful for getting locally grown organic veggies from smaller growers, which in turn supports genetic diversity -- since the produce doesn't have to be geared for long-range shipping. But belonging to a CSA is not always cheap. I've also seen locally-grown produce in stores that has been more expensive than some of the South American imports on sale.

Still, I'm an advocate for buying locally, even when it costs more.

[MuseRider]

4. Very very nice!

This is just what we all need. Thank you so much for posting this. I need it less now than I did since I have moved out to the country, local crops are just down the road but it is still nice to find stuff I can't get here. Wow, this is wonderful.

[Terry in Austin]

7. Next up: farm your local golf course

Just the thing for when the semis aren't rolling any more!

[NightWatcher]

12. the squash from the 14th fairway is excellent this season

the homeless can camp out there and tend the gardens and sell the veggies at their markets

[Richard Steele]

8. K&R

[pinto]

9. Kick. They take recommendations for additional sources, as well.

I sent in some local ones they didn't have listed - mainly farmers' markets and one organic u-pick place nearby.

Thanks for the post. :thumbsup:

[nam78_two]

11. Jinx

;)
(At least the kick part :D).

[nam78_two]

10. kick-thanks for posting that.nt

[Lex]

13. another rec.

:thumbsup:

[nichomachus]

14. Tried it -- nothing within 60 miles of me

We have lots and lots of agriculture here, but it's all corporate and everything is sent 100 miles away before it comes back here. However, the best stuff doesn't come back here. It gets shipped elsewhere. And what does come back is expensive.

[tavalon]

15. With one link,

you just made any goofing off I might do on DU today worth every moment. Thank you, thank you. That is a fantastic website!

[tavalon]

16. Damn, it just got better!

Turns out, the Country Village (a cute, cute, cute little collection of local artisans), which happens to be within walking distance from here, has a Farmer's Market starting next month.

You are my favorite person of the day.

[Horse with no Name]

18. Flattery will get you EVERYWHERE

:blush:

[Blue_In_AK]

17. We have excellent locally grown produce in the summer

and you can get carrots and potatoes from Alaska throughout the winter, but we don't have much fruit except berries. I've got all my little baby veggies growing under lights as we speak. We can't plant out for another three or four weeks.