Passion for the Garden

The time of year has finally arrived when farmer’s markets and roadside stands are bursting with the mid-summer’s harvest: corn on the cob, green beans, beets, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, blueberries, and so on. I have a neighbor with a stand that sits off the main road, with little signage other than a small sandwich board by the driveway. Yesterday I stopped to pick up a few items for dinner and as I walked up to the stand I realized that I was shopping at a stand that went beyond the functional requirements of retailing vegetables and flowers… it was a manifestation of a person’s love for working their land, growing food, and beautifying their town. Produce was laid in napkin-lined baskets, flower pots accompanied the stand on each side, pre-weighed packages were parsed and bagged impeccably. In fact my bundle of beets were bound by a simple, but thoughtful length of yellow yarn. 

My time spent shopping was short and to the point compared to the time spent photographing this stand from a variety of perspectives. Oh, and by the way, the veggies were fabulous.

Buy Local

Looking the person in the eye who grew your food is powerful experience.

I posted  a few links to blogs in my blogroll related to eating local and organic farming. I’ll be perfectly honest with you  - I’m not an organic farming/anti-industrial food agribusiness zealot. What I am is a person who has seen the light of eating local and am working it into my life in a way that makes sense for me. Organic is important, no doubt - there’s a comfort gained knowing that what you see is what you eat, and many times you can taste the difference.

But what’s really sparked my interest is the local food scene. When you buy from a local grower you’re putting food on your plate that was raised by a neighbor, not 2,500-miles (food miles) the typical food product travels to get to your kitchen. Some folks will argue for buying local in order to reduce the impact global transportation has on energy consumption - a debatable argument at best as I’m willing to bet the super cargo ship traveling across the pacific ocean is a more efficient means of transportation than one person’s pick up truck.

For me the real deal is meeting the grower either at your local farmer’s market or the farm,  and having that person look you in tbe eye and say “I give you my word. If you don’t agree then I’ll make good on it.” Occasionally I’ll shop at a farm where beef and lamb is grass fed and the pork raised on organic feed. I, like any other customer, has an open invitation to walk the pastures and meet the herd or flock. In a day when one meat processor can spread a food-borne illness across the globe I feel a like I can sleep a little easier at night buying from a person who I know on a first name basis.

Like I said at the top, I’m not dogmatic about buy local-buy organic. A part of me enjoys the event of driving  the less-traveled road between these Finger Lakes to do a little business with my neighbor. In future posts I’ll share sources, cooking techniques, recipies, etc. for local foods and maybe you too will see more on the plate than just the food in front of you.