Local Produce is Everywhere!

My learning curve on buying local is extremely steep! I thought it would be easy: just shop at the farmers markets. But what about when you need something mid-week? Or buying a food that isn't produced locally? (Don't buy it some would say, but I'm not quite there yet. I love my pineapples!)

Well, I'd go broke running to Whole Foods every day (and they don't use a lot of local growers), so I'm looking for other resources. First, I am planting a garden—a big one—for this summer. Tim is a great gardener and together we plan to grow and pick enough vegetables to take us into winter either through canning or freezing. But we aren't quite ready to grow all of our vegetables (we won't grow mushrooms, corn, broccoli, cauliflower or Brussels sprouts, for example).

Well, I can go to Williamson Street Coop, but the problem there is that all of the vegetables, etc. aren't from local growers. Some are, some aren't. But it's a good backup plan. Fortunately for me, there's Paoli Local Foods, just a couple miles from my house. I could ride my horse there (and I might try it some day.) They have a wonderful, wide variety of grass-fed, locally grown meats from Ruegsegger Farms (Ken and Sherrie Ruegsegger operate it). They also have locally grown honey, organic essentials and a farmers market every Saturday.

There are also many CSA's in the area, including Ruegseggers who run a meat CSA. To find them, go to the Web site for Madison Area Community Support Agriculture Coalition. Many are already full for the year, but there are still some really fun places accepting orders. Each has their own specialty. We are planting a lot of heirloom vegetables in our garden, but if we didn't we'd specifically look for a CSA that offered heirloom vegetables.

Finally, it seems to me the the key to having plenty of locally grown fruit and vegetables year round is canning and freezing. I'm not a huge lover of canned vegetables, but I do like canned tomatoes and pickles. My friend Sue always has a lot of frozen blueberries and I love it when she shares. My mom always has raspberry and strawberry freezer jam, another favorite and Tim's mom saved the day when she froze a ton of rhubarb for us last year. We've had rhubarb custard pie at least once a month all year (Tim's fave). You don't have to grow your own to can and freeze. Buy tons when it's in season or during pick your own time and then get to it. The Farmgal's Web site provides you with instructions on both if it's new to you, as does this one for Pick Your Own.