So I get emails from a great site that I wanted to share with you. It is foodindependenceday.org. They are trying to get everyone to commit to buying the food for their 4th of July celebrations from the most local and environmentally friendly sources possible. We here in Ohio have it made! With so many farmers markets, and so many great local farms and CSAs, it should be easy. They are forming a petition to send to local government officials to encourage them to support their local economies as well by also buying local. There is an interactive map of the US that shows the locations of those who want to be on it. I was flabbergasted to see that there were no Clevelanders on the map! I know that many of you are probably growing most of your own July 4th meals yourselves, so please take a moment to sign up! Supporting local growers is a great way to vote with your dollars. Not only is your food fresher, and thus usually tastier, you are supporting your neighbors. But it is biggger than that. Locally produced food means less stress on the environment. Tomatoes trucked from California, fruits from Chile, apples from New Zealand, these things all add tons of CO2 to the air to get onto your plate. Why not stick to what is fresh, local, and seasonal. Local farmers are in general smaller entities. We need to support them, or they could go away, being bought up by corporate giants. Now I have nothing against corporations in general, but I like my food produced by the family farm, where they are more likely to care about quality of the product and quality of life for the workers and the consumers. So go and declare your food independence and lets make this map packed with little markers for Cleveland!
Those of you with kids, who are growing your own “victory gardens” should check out the whole site. Pull out your video camera, and help your kids make a video about “Why I Am A Victory Grower.” There is a great contest and your kids can get a free membership and seeds from Seed Savers Exchange. They are a group that tries to preserve and propogate rarer species of plants. The top 5 videos will also be featured a conference in Washington DC. What fun! Help bring awareness to Cleveland as a local growing hotspot and have fun with your kids while you are at it! You might even teach them something while they are not in school-you clever parent you! There are examples here.
Tags: buy local, children, Cleveland, food, gardening, Go Green
I’m on the map now!
Yeah!