Conservation Guardians of Northwest Illinois

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Eating Locally Produced Foods
Guardian members explore options.

Spring 2008 Newsletter

Our Eating Local group is growing. Our last meeting was at 111 Main in Galena, where we enjoyed meals that came from local producers. Jack Coulter and Ryan Boulton, his chef, spoke with the group about the concept of emphasizing locally grown food and the process of arranging with roughly 25 local suppliers.

Jim Mantey has agreed to set up the next Eating Local get-together for March. Jim will be arranging for a guided tour of a local grocery store (which potentially may get the store more interested in selling locally grown foods). Following the tour, people who are interested can adjourn for a meal at a nearby restaurant.

People have expressed an interest in an Eating Local newsletter, so we will be soliciting input for the first newsletter in the near future.

Lisa Schoenrock sent along this idea about an interactive website for connecting farmers with consumers. According to an article in the latest issue of Hobby Farms, the people of Plymouth, New Hampshire are logging on for local food. The idea was born out of a meeting of the Plymouth Area Renewable Energy Initiative, whose members meet monthly to discuss energy conservation.

It was decided that the majority of home-energy use is spent on trucking in food from faraway locations. The program is called Local Foods Plymouth (www.lfp.dacres.org). Participating farmers tell program coordinators what they have available that week, everything from dairy products and produce, to maple syrup and baked goods. They also tell the coordinators how much they would like to charge for the products.

The coordinators indicate online what is available. Consumers go online and make purchases with a credit card. The food is delivered to the Local Foods Plymouth booth at the weekly farmers’ market and consumers pick up their prepackaged, already paid for, orders.

According to the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, the average food item travels 1500 miles from where it’s grown to someone’s table. Efforts are being made in many communities to organize and create more local eating opportunities. For more information, type in "eating local food" on the worldwide web.

If you are not yet on the email list for the Eating Local group and would like to get involved, please email Rich Mattas.

— Rich Mattas