Conservation Guardians of Northwest Illinois

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Transition to Local Grown Foods
Tastes Great and Is Good for the Earth

Spring 2002 Newsletter

Are the follwoing buzz words familiar to you?

• Consumer choice.
• Local grown foods.
• Breaking the fast-food, long-distance habit.
• Sustainable agriculture.
• Biodynamic farming, green or greener farming, organic farming.
• Land stewardship and direct local interactions between farmers and consumers.

Whether you've devoured Eric Schlosser's best-selling Fast Food Nation or not; whether you're a farmer, a gardener or just someone who loves to eat good, fresh food; whether you're a local resident, a weekender or an occasional visitor — if you're not familiar with the concepts these phrases represent, you should be.

Research shows that locals and visitors alike treasure our area's scenic beauty and our mix of agricultural and natural landscapes. But it's becoming clearer and clearer that if we are careless with these treasures, sprawl will erase them forever.

It's simple economics that our beloved rural landscape will disappear, if farmers can't earn a living from their land or don't follow sound conservation practices. That's what sustainable agriculture is all about.

Sustainable agriculture depends on consumer demand. So it's up to us consumers both to demand and to seek out local grown produce, meat, fowl and fish.

Not only will this help preserve our beautiful farmland, but knowing where our food was produced also enhances our quality of life.

For one thing, it gives us more confidence in the quality and safety of our food. And by cutting out shipping time — and the distributor's time, too, if we buy unprocessed foods direct from the farm — we get fresher, better tasting food.

If you don't think freshness matters, think about the comparison between just-picked corn and ears that have sat on a shelf for a few days.

O.K., you're convinced it'd be nice to substitute more local grown food for items shipped from far away. Yet how can you make the transition?

"Start with just one thing..."

That's the advice of Terri Clark of the Northwest Illinois Audubon Society, whose annual Food for Thought Workshops tackle such practical topics as how to become an informed eater and how to cook quick, simple meals using fresh ingredients.

She says individuals should start with small changes rather than overwhelming their families with too much change all at once. Looking ahead to the next workshop, scheduled for Feb. 15, 2003, she suggests,

"When you're planning meals or refreshments for groups or meetings, plan to use local foods."

How and where can you practice this "just one thing" approach? Most local supermarkets offer organic produce sections and post notices that other foodstuffs — such as cheese, honey and jam — are locally produced. And when the growing season rolls around, seek out farmers markets and farm stands (see sidebar).

Buying direct from farmers takes on a whole new dimension with Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), where consumers essentially pay before the planting season (to help farmers with their costs) for produce they won't get until the growing season, during which they usually receive weekly produce packages. (See MOSES, side bar above, for more on CSA).

"There's a spiritual and ethical dimension to this..."

That's the view of John Hall, director of the Wisconsin-based Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, which works to educate farmers in ecologically sound practices and to help farmers and consumers become partners in sustainable agriculture.

"Whether we live in a city, whether or not we derive an income from the land, few of us pause to consider how vital to us are such matters as how our food is grown, and by whom, whether growing food is a profitable enterprise, the fertility of the soil, the purity of water, the conservation of Earth's resources, and the sustainability of agriculture."

Transitioning to local grown foods also connects us with the Earth's cycles by forcing us to eat what's in season. And when we begin to give up out-of-season produce shipped to the Midwest from far away, we may realize that compared to local grown seasonal fare, long-distance food doesn't have much flavor.

A reason so many people who visit Europe rave about the food is that Europeans traditionally choose seasonal ingredients because that's what's available. In a recent Onlinechef interview, famed chef Alice Waters said her original culinary inspiration came from student days in France, when she daily walked through a farmer's market to get to her classes.

Waters, whose Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, recently celebrated its first quarter century, encourages Americans to know "where their food comes from" and "to respect both the food and the land that produced it."

The side bar above has resources to help you do just that. The Guardians will work to expand this list on our web, and we encourage readers to share their resources and booklists, as well.

— Liz Mitchell Laubhan