We all need to start eating closer to home, and with all due respect, I don’t mean down at the corner KFC.

I’m talking about finding fresh, locally grown produce for home cooking. Do we even need to list the reasons? Buying local food cuts down on polluting “food miles”, bypasses refrigeration trucks, supports local farmers and puts nutrient-rich foods on our plates.

But unless you grow a lot of your own food, how can you distinguish what came from your friendly local farmer in Illinois (or Texas or California) from what came from a rain forest-encroaching big-Ag operation 2,000 miles away?

Increasingly, grocery stores are helping us get smarter about food. They are labeling produce as local, organic and “conventionally grown”. Recently, I found myself bathed in info at a large Whole Foods Market. There I gaped before a mouth-watering, six-foot-high tower of neatly sorted cruciferous and root vegetables, squash and herbs stacked and organized according to the Dewey Decimal system. There were many signs. Some of the food was local, some was organic, and some, but only some, was local and organic. And because experts say that choosing organic is important, and also that choosing local is vital, I thought my head might explode.

That same week, I found myself at a farmer’s market being handed green beans that were supposed to be local. But it didn’t seem quite possible that they actually could be…unless they’d been planted very early…in a greenhouse. Maybe they meant loco?

It’s not always so easy, greenies. So how do you nail down what’s local?

Obviously, you can grow some of your own — it’s guaranteed local. You can join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) network. You could lurk at your farmer’s market and eavesdrop on people who appear knowledgeable and drug-free. And you can learn the seasons. It needs to be in season to be local, and if it’s local it is certainly in season. See a tautology! This will only trip you up when someone ships apples from Washington to sell in New York, which harvests apples at the same time. Because of our complex food system, this sort of thing happens regularly. At least you can compare apples to apples.

If you want to skip the Farmer’s Almanac portion of this learning process, go straight to this great resource: The Natural Resource Defense Council’s Local Food database. There you can type in your state and the month and pop up a list of produce that a shopper could reasonably expect to see harvested somewhere in that state at that time.

In Illinois, by late May, for instance, you could expect to find: Asparagus,Cabbage,Cherries, Greens, Leeks, Lettuce, Onions, Peas, Radishes, Rhubarb, Spinach, Sprouts, Squash, Strawberries.

But in Texas, in late May, look for a fruitier selection: Blackberries, Blueberries, Cabbage, Cantaloupes, Carrots, Cucumber, Grapefruit, Herbs, Honeydew Melon, Lettuce, Mushrooms, Nectarines, Onions, Oranges, Peaches, Pears, Peppers, Potatoes, Summer squash, Sweet Potatoes, Tomatoes, Turnips, Watermelon

And so on. Happy May.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

It’s been brought to my attention that my earlier references to the Clampetts ages me terribly and may be sailing over the heads of some of our younger readers.

Apparently, the person flagging this didn’t realize that I’ve seen the Beverly Hillbillies ONLY on TVLand in recent reruns and never in person in real time (during the 1960s and 70s, God forbid).

Of course, I failed to watch TV in the 1980s, and I only remember two shows from the 1990s, which are rather a blur. Those would be Seinfeld and Everybody Loves Raymond. But no one had gardens on those shows. I mean, Jerry, gardening? Maybe if the garden were in his refrigerator. So we may be stuck with Jed, Jethro and Daisy May and Elly May. We’ll see.

More importantly, the garden now has plants. Cool huh?

A seed hidden in the heart of an apple is an orchard invisible

– Welsh proverb

The recession-fueled increase in home gardening of vegetables, herbs, fruit and berries is creating another boom: seed sales.

Seven million more households are planning to grow food for themselves this year than in 2008, a 19 percent increase, according to a recent National Gardening Association report. That’s a pretty significant number, given the fact that 31 percent of all American households already garden for food. And it is likely that their 19 percent estimate is growing every day.

Of that 7 million, 21 percent will be gardening newbies, the report says. That translates into a lot of seeds, for a lot of plants, for a lot of people who are buying right now.

Seed sellers are seeing an overwhelming demand. The country’s largest seed retailer, Burpee & Co., has said that sales in January were up 20 percent compared with last year. Another report says that organic seed sales are up 46 percent from 2008.

Burpee’s CEO, George Ball, has been quoted in various publications saying his company is selling out of vegetable seeds . Other large seed retailers say their vegetable seed sales are up anywhere from 40 percent to 80 percent.

Smaller, regional seed sellers, many of whom produce heirloom and organic seeds, also are overwhelmed with demand.

Jim and Megan Gerritsen, owners of 55-acre Wood Prairie Farm in northern Maine, sell  Irish potatoes and many varieties of organic seed potatoes. They’ve been farming organically for 33 years, selling by mail order for 20 years and on the web for about a decade. Jim Gerritson estimates their sales are up 30 percent over last year, but frankly, they’re too busy to study the numbers.

“We’re working seven days a week to keep up with orders,” he said.

Organic and heirloom seed sales have grown by as much as 60 percent in the last two years, estimates Cricket Rakita, a board member for the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association. Rakita is also working on a Save Our Seed project to create an organic heirloom seed bank for the southeastern states. (So that those tried-and-true varieties that produced some succulent and tasty fruits and veggies are not lost in the march of progress.)

Credit the economic crunch, as well as consumers’ growing desire for natural – and locally produced – food for the increase. “Lots of people are just wanting to grow their own food. It’s a function of the economy. They don’t want to have to worry as much about” the cost and quality of what they eat, Rakita said.

Regionally grown seeds make more sense for gardeners, because every region has its own climate, insects, diseases and other growing factors. The big seed sellers produce seeds that tend to do well in the Midwest, the Northeast and the Northwest, Rakita said, but areas in the South and Southern Midwest are somewhat ignored. “Those varieties were starting to disappear and people were having to plant inferior seeds,” he said. Thus, around 2000, more small seed companies started springing up and the effort to preserve regional seeds gained momentum.

Jeff Moyer waxes eloquent on the power of a single seed. The farm director of the Rodale Institute (a research, educational and outreach organization with its organic roots reaching back to J.I Rodale’s push to grow organic back in the late 1930s), Moyer sees what can grow from a seed.

“As the economy changes, people need therapy, positive therapy,” he said, “and there’s therapy in planting a seed. There’s a sense of renewal that’s very powerful. People need that. . . . There’s a renewing of spirit.”

He emphasized the power of growing food. “If you can only grow one tomato in a flowerpot on the sill, it gives you a personal relationship with that plant. When you harvest your first tomato, you’ll inevitably say it’s the best-tasting tomato you have ever had,” Moyer said. “That starts to force people to ask the right questions at the point of purchase: ‘If I can grow the best tomato in the world, first-time out, why can’t you?’ ”

That single tomato seed can enhance a person’s maturity in relationship with what he eats. They get more involved and interested in how the food they eat was produced. “The power of a seed will do that for you,” he added. “It grows into something more.”

For beginning gardeners, it’s not hard to plant seeds in the ground and sprout them, just giving it 10 minutes a day. Some vegetables, berries and herbs are easier to grow if they’ve already been sprouted at the local garden center or farmer’s market, where buyers can ask about the origins of that transplant to ensure its roots are clean and organic.

The National Gardening Association is all about helping beginning gardeners. “A lot of new gardeners are calling us, asking how to make a raised bed, what they can grow, what’s the easy stuff and how do get started,” said Charlie Nardozzi, the association’s senior horticulturist.

He offered some simple suggestions: don’t over-commit to a big garden at the beginning. Lots of new and urban gardeners can stick to container gardening.”

The hardest part of starting gardening is just that: getting started. “The space can be as small as 3-by-6 feet. Keep it close to the house or a walkway. . . select something you want to eat. Don’t plant lots of beans if you don’t like beans.

Heirloom seeds are a subset of seed sales that can bring history to your garden. Holding onto seeds, trading them with neighbors and family members was common many decades ago. In addition to preserving strains of vegetables with old roots, the food from heirloom seeds is unique. “It’s not the same run-of-the-mill tomato. The flavor, shape, color is different. . . the flavor is better than with brand new seeds,” Nardozzi said.

Saving seeds from generation to generation is a way for a family to find history in a tomato seed, said the Rodale Institute’s Moyer. One group, Seed Savers Exchange, has been helping gardeners to save and share heirloom seeds since 1975. They offer a broad selection of heirloom seeds for purchase, as well as instructions on how to save seeds.

“There are a lot of very positive aspects (of home gardening) and it all starts from the power of a seed. “This economic downturn has pointed out to our generation that when you base your value and your worth solely on your job and money, that can be very temporary. . . . Most people aren’t going to plant a garden to live on, but there is a sense of ‘I can do this on my own, and I can rebuild my life,’ and it comes from gardening. . . and it can literally all start with the power of a few seeds.”

Gerritsen of Wood Prairie Farm says it a little differently: “I think we went off on a tangent on being overly materialistic and focused on money. As people’s pensions and retirement funds have evaporated, they’ve realized there’s something more, something that’s more real.”

There is a spiritual side of planting a seed and watching it grow, he added. “Even if they don’t talk about it, it’s absolutely amazing to plant a seed in the spring and see it come to fruition. There is a lot of empty striving in our society, and in the opposite end you’ve got gardening, good outdoor work. It results in bountiful goodness and is the most fulfilling activity,” Gerritsen said.

“It’s good all around from a societal standpoint. We’re better off as a nation of family farmers.”

OTHER RESOURCES:

A detailed seed resource guide is available on Rakita’s site, along with a healthy list of organic seed dealers.

The Organic Seed Alliance is an advocacy, educational and research organization aimed at preserving and maintaining restore and develop organic seed varieties, as well as keeping these unique genetic resources available for the future.

Another robust outlet for finding a variety of organic seeds is Local Harvest, a non-profit organization that promotes information about local and organically grown food across the country. They have a lengthy list of seeds that can be purchased on their Web site.

Green People is a directory of eco-friendly products, and they have a large selection of organic seed-producing companies on their Web site. The list is broken down by region and state.

PHOTO CREDITS:

Top photo of rack of seeds: © Atman | Dreamstime.com

Photo of hands holding seeds: Great Harvest Organics

Photo of sprouts: Johnny’s Selected Seeds

Bottom photo of pumpkin seeds: © Bayaryasar | Dreamstime.com

Copyright © 2008 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

You’ve probably heard that efforts to persuade the Obamas to turn over some turf to a veggie garden have been victorious: the first family will be planting a “Victory Garden” on the South Lawn.

Technically, it won’t be a “Victory” garden per se, but will be the first food-producing garden to grace the White House compound since Eleanor Roosevelt oversaw a real Victory Garden during WWII.

Still, it’s a victory for local foodies and specifically Eat the View, the prime perpetrator of this movement to turn back the grass and turn up the turnips, which is now asking folks to thank the Obamas via a form at their website.

Eat the View had organized a year-long campaign and petition drive (signed by more than 100,000 people) asking for a White House edible landscape project that could serve as a high profile demo. The group’s mission is to plant the idea of planting produce in highly visible places, so the White House announcement this week that it would install a garden was a coup de grace.

Apparently gardeners know how to grow a good viral campaign. The Eat the View project, which has been featured in dozens of media outlets since it began in early 2008, was the brainchild of Roger Doiron, a local food advocate in Maine and the group he helped found, Kitchen Gardeners International, a non-profit association of more than 10,000 gardeners. Their motto “promoting the ‘localest’ food of all, globally” rather says it all.

“It’s a wonderful day,” Doiron said Friday after receiving confirmation of the White House plans. “It’s a wonderful day for gardeners. It’s a wonderful day for Americans. For everybody I think. It’s a very hopeful news.”

“There’s part of me that says, ‘What do we do next?’ ” But all subsequent projects — in schoolyards, on city hall and suburban lawns — should be easier with the First Family setting an example, he said.

“There are many different places where new gardens need to go in.”

The White House planting begins next week when Michelle Obama and a crew of volunteer elementary school students will break ground. Reports are that it will include 55 varieties of produce.

Need inspiration for putting in your own veggie garden? See Doiron’s charming video of his front lawn garden. When he first installed it, his wife visited with neighbors to alert them to what they were doing in their suburban Portland, Maine, neighborhood. The neighbors response was “overwhelmingly supportive” and as the garden took root, so did new social ties. “We know our neighbors better now because of that.”

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Advertisement

It’s already mid-March and that means the snows will melt and if the ground’s not too saturated farmers will soon be planting seeds for the food that will feed us this year.

Since time immemorial farmer’s markets have been with us: farmers harvest, bakers bake, dairy farmers milk their cows and they all meet at a central location where there’s lots of foot traffic … and they sell. The common theme: the food is fresh.

In addition to the standard organic fruits, vegetables and eggs, farmer’s markets offer items you wouldn’t usually consider: hand-made brooms, herbs, bath and body care products, lobster rolls, wine, organic teas and “traditional handcrafted leather goods and repair”, rabbits, natural and dyed yarn and spinning supplies, photographs of local scenes, elk and moose meat, organic spice blends and increasingly, fresh fish.

1. It’s locally grown

Most but not all Farmer’s Markets in the US require vendors to have grown, produced or crafted what they sell at the market. Most vendors are small, one- or two-person operations and they grow only what they can manage. They grow what’s in season and it’s local. Ask the farmer if they grew what they’re selling, ask if it’s organic. Don’t buy until you’re satisfied with their answers.

2. You know the farmer personally

You know where the farm family lives; you’ve seen their farm, your children go to school with their children, you see each other at church or at Little League games or at a movie. You know the farmer and you trust him. He’s a neighbor.

3. It’s where the chefs and restaurateurs shop for fresh produce and baked goods

Patrick Soucy, chef at a Portsmouth, N.H. restaurant that specializes in New American cuisine, buys at the local farmer’s markets because of the “better health, better quality” of the food.

“And the produce defines ‘tree-ripened’. It’s fresh. ”

Raj, chef at an Indian restaurant in southern Maine, buys there “because it’s local, within a 20-mile radius. It didn’t come here from California. Also, I support the local community.”

4. Prices are often cheaper than supermarkets

… but not always. Organically-grown and the small-operation produce is very labor-intensive. Individually planted by hand, individually nurtured during the growing process and then individually harvested by hand obviously takes a tremendous amount of time. But the local farmer doesn’t have the tremendous labor, mortgage, transportation and other expenses of a supermarket, so cost comparisons show that all-in-all the farmer’s market sells food for less than a supermarket.

5. There’s less of a carbon footprint: field to farm

What about the bananas at a supermarket in America that come from El Salvador, the berries from Chile, and the kiwis from Australia … how can they possibly be their freshest when they were harvested so early in their growth process and they grew older on their journey? Local produce usually travels less than 10 miles from field to market. Take a bite from a store-bought peach and then take a bite from a locally-grown peach. As chef Patrick Soucy says, “I needed five napkins to wipe my mouth after biting the locally-grown peach”.

It seems that the iconic American wide, grassy lawn, which has lately been encroached upon by rock beds and strips of native flowers designed to cut down on watering, is undergoing more surgery. It is now giving up real estate to another pursuit: Homeowners are claiming portions of their lawns for produce production.

Landscapers have noted the emergence of these small scale agricultural endeavors, with a new survey by the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) finding that about 20 percent of residential landscape architects report they are replacing part or all of traditional grass lawns with food/vegetable gardens.

“Not only do you benefit from fresh produce, but these gardens offer lower maintenance time and utility costs compared to turf grass while substantially increasing the sustainability of a home,” said ASLA President Angela Dye in a news release. “Plus, there’s nothing more convenient or sustainable than home-grown food.”

Actually, it’s not so sustainable once it gets inside. Munchkins and others gobble it up.

Thinking of digging in? The ASLA advises that you “don’t spend a dime on mulch when you can reuse your leftover leaves from the fall” and suggests using nitrogen-rich grass clippings as a mulch and weed suppressant atop the veggie bed.

The trend tracks with earlier findings by the National Gardening Association that growing food is a growing enterprise.

For more info on sustainable garden design see the ASLA website.
Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Food gardening in the United States is rising rapidly with 7 million more households planning to grow their own fruits, vegetables, herbs or berries in 2009, according to a new report.

The National Gardening Association’s new survey, “The Impact of Home and Community Gardening in America,” finds a 19 percent increase from 2008 in the number of Americans planning to grow their own food.

In addition to cost savings, the survey found that Americans are looking for better taste and safer foods.

In 2008, gardeners spent $2.5 billion to purchase seeds, plants, fertilizer, tools and other gardening supplies to grow their own food. According to NGA estimates, a well-maintained food garden yields a $500 average return per garden when considering a typical gardener’s investment and the market price of produce.

The NGA hasn’t updated its survey of the number of organic gardeners since 2005, when it found that 5 million households use natural methods. The association sais it plans to update that research soon.

Highlights from “The Impact of Home and Community Gardening Survey” include:

• 43 million U.S. households plan to grow their own fruits, vegetables, herbs and berries in 2009, up 19 percent from 36 million households in 2008
• 21 percent of households said they plan to start a food garden in 2009
• 11 percent of households already active in food gardening plan to increase both the amount and variety of vegetables they will grow in 2009; 10 percent also said they will spend more time food gardening this year

“As in previous recessions, we’ve seen increased participation in and spending on food gardening as people look for ways to economize,” Bruce Butterfield, research director for the NGA, said in a statement. “That said, these results suggest the interest in food gardening may continue to increase, even after the economy improves.”

Among the reasons respondents gave as to why their households are growing their own food:

• 58 percent said for better-tasting food
• 54 percent said to save money on food bills
• 51 percent said for better quality food
• 48 percent said to grow food they know is safe

The survey findings were announced this week at the 5th Annual Garden Writers Teleconference, co-sponsored by The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company and the Garden Writers Association, which discussed recent trends in Americans’ gardening behaviors. Scotts is among the lawn products companies that has been increasing the number of available organic products in recent years.

A white paper detailing the complete findings of the survey will be available in early March 2009 on the National Gardening Association web site. The survey, conducted in January 2009 by the NGA, polled a representative sample of over 2,500 households nationwide on their gardening activities last year and future plans.

Looking for a mid-winter activity that costs little and reaps big benefits for families who are trying to grow more of their own organic food (or flowers)?

Consider starting seeds indoors to plant outside when the weather warms up in your region of the country. Even for experienced gardeners, the sight of little green sprouts emerging from seeds when little else is growing is always a thrill. Not so thrilling is the disappointment that comes if your perky little seedlings start to droop.

Though seed-starting isn’t difficult, it’s not foolproof. There are lots of different ways to do it, and you can buy accessories like covered trays and plug-in warming pads to help the process along. But why not keep things simple, and make this an off-the-grid, green activity that takes advantage of recycled items?

First, the basics:

You need small containers to grow seedlings. Old yogurt cups, egg cartons or seedling pots you’ve kept from previous nursery purchases work well, though any previously used pot should be disinfected. This can be done by soaking in hydrogen peroxide. Or, wash the pots well in warm, sudsy water, then rinse in two cups white vinegar diluted with four to six gallons of water and then allow to air dry. We also love the method of using newspaper to make your own biodegradable pots, an easy project described at ehow.com.

Experts recommend using a soil-less medium for seeds. Most are made primarily from sphagnum peat moss, which is harvested from Canadian peat bogs amid concerns about sustainability. Alternative potting mixes such as coir fiber are coming on the market, but may be difficult to find. Garden soil tends to contain disease organisms, weed seeds and drains poorly, but some people have success with using backyard soil that’s been baked (180 degrees, a few hours), to sterilize. Vermiculite is another easily accessible option.

Fill containers three-fourths of the way full with whatever growing medium you’ve selected. Follow the directions on your seed packet when it comes to planting seeds – tiny ones are often sprinkled just beneath a light layer of potting mix, while larger seeds may need to be buried deeper. (Use a pencil or your finger to get it submerged). Tamp down the soil – but not too much – and use a spray bottle to water until moist, but not dripping wet. (A stronger stream of water might displace your seeds at this point).

Note what the seed package says about germination – some seeds need light, while others need darkness. Most seeds will germinate more quickly if you cover loosely with plastic and set them somewhere slightly warm, like the top of a refrigerator. Once seedlings emerge, they need light from a brightly lit window to grow healthy.

Continue to keep the soil moist, neither letting it get dry or too water-logged.  The first two “leaves” are actually food storage cells, called cotyledons. When your seedling has the second set of “true” leaves, it is big enough to begin fertilizing with a weak organic solution.

The seedlings can be transplanted to separate pots when they are an inch or two high. Then follow the directions on your seed packet when it comes to knowing when it’s time to set them outside. In any case, make the transition outside a gradual one – a few hours outside the first day, a bit more the next and so on – allowing them to acclimate.

The last steps:

Choose a cloudy day to transplant. Dig a hole twice as big as the root ball, water the soil to prevent transplant shock, and settle your plant into its new home.

Copyright © 2008 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

The world is scrutinizing every shred of news from the Obama camp these days, trying to guess who’ll have an office in the West Wing. But a group of gardeners based in Maine are more focused on what’s going to happen just outside the White House — on the lawn, in fact.

Eat the View is the name of a petition encouraging the Obamas to plant an organic garden on the White House lawn, using the produce both for the residents of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. and to feed the hungry at area food pantries.

Organizers at Kitchen Gardeners International (KGI) realize that the idea isn’t new. They’re careful to use the word “replant” in their message to the President-elect, noting that “the White House has had fruit and vegetable gardens before”; they’ve dug up the photo above to show just how farm-friendly the seat of power once was.

So just as Eleanor Roosevelt led by example during wartime, KGI hopes the Obamas will use a plot of highly symbolic soil to demonstrate a commitment to healthy eating, show how easily financially-strapped Americans can help support themselves, and chip away at the pollution that comes with shipping food hundreds of miles from farm to store to dining table. It may not be as dramatic as the prospect of a former foe becoming Secretary of State, but it would cost practically nothing while sending a clear, positive message to the nation’s potential locavores.

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media

As more and more individuals and groups set out to re-introduce gardens to urban areas — often citing WWII’s “Victory Gardens” as proof that a large percentage of our food can come from our back yards and vacant lots — the Detroit-headquartered Urban Farming wants to push edible plants into new spaces — like walls.

The Urban Farming Food Chain is a “vertical farming” project that retrofits the sides of buildings with irrigated panels capable of growing all sorts of produce. Intent on making this food useful instead of a mere eco-novelty, the group has put its first four installations in Los Angeles locations where fresh, healthy food can be scarce: places like Skid Row, for instance.

“These are in protected/courtyard locations,” program developer Joyce Lapinsky clarifies.

Though the group first targeted purely public spaces, she says, “once we realized that the vegetable/fruit plants would grow out approximately one foot/foot and a half from the wall panels, it was clear to us that we wouldn’t likely find appropriate locations in the environments that we wanted. It would have required us to have unrealistic and inconsiderate expectations of the people we wanted to serve.” Lapinsky explains that, in areas with large homeless populations, you can’t really ask people “Please don’t lean on the wall,” or “Please don’t sit on the sidewalk.”

What you can ask is that those who benefit from a project like this learn how to keep it going. So while “anyone can in fact go up and pull a fruit/vegetable off of the wall” in these four test sites, local residents are expected to take organizers’ expertise (and the pre-grown plant panels, which are organically cultivated at Cal Poly’s Sustainable Agriculture Resource Consortium) and learn how to implement it as a group.

As a story in the Los Angeles Times pointed out in August, formerly homeless people on Skid Row had seen mixed results with their own earlier attempts at farming; but Lapinsky says that these walls of food “have fared very well.”

People from around the country have contacted Urban Farming about the project, she adds, “and we’re hopeful that with our efforts to highlight vertical farming that people will do this in their communities, whether as an Urban Farming partner and ‘link’ in the Urban Farming Food Chain, or on their own.”

Copyright © 2008 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Photo: Brenton Johnson

philosophy is to live in harmony with the land and bring back the sustainable ways. Naturally (no pun intended), he advocates buying local food.

In between tending his turnips and perusing the potatoes, Brenton penned this wise, authoritative list, which he agreed to share with us. (We couldn’t write it any better.)

This isn’t just about helping the local farmer, it’s about preserving our planet (and eatin’ better, too!).

Why Buy Local?

1. Locally grown food tastes better. Food grown in your own community is usually picked within the past day or two. It’s crisp, sweet, and loaded with flavor. Produce flown or trucked in from Florida, Chile, Mexico, or Holland is, quite understandably, much older. Several studies have shown that the average distance food travels from farm to plate is 1,500 miles. In a weeklong delay from harvest to dinner plate, sugars turn to starches, plant cells shrink, and produce loses its vitality
2. Local produce is better for you. Studies showed that fresh produce loses nutrients quickly. Locally grown food, purchased soon after harvest, retains its nutrients.
3. Local food preserves genetic diversity. In the modern industrial agricultural system, varieties are chosen for their ability to ripen simultaneously and withstand harvesting equipment; for a tough skin that can survive packing and shipping; and for an ability to have a long shelf life in the store. Only a handful of hybrid varieties of each fruit and vegetable meet those rigorous demands, so there is little genetic diversity in the plants grown. Local farms, in contrast, grow a huge number of varieties to provide a long season of harvest, an array of eye-catching colors, and the best flavors. Many varieties are heirlooms, passed down from generation to generation, because they taste good.These old varieties contain genetic material from hundreds or even thousands of years of human selection; they may someday provide the genes needed to create varieties that will thrive in a changing climate. Local food preserves genetic diversity.
4. Local food is GMO-free. Although biotechnology companies have been trying to commercialize genetically modified fruits and vegetables, they are currently licensing them only to large factory-style farms. Local farmers don’t have access to genetically modified seed, and most of them wouldn’t use it even if they could. A June 2001 survey by ABC News showed that 93% of Americans want labels on genetically modified food – most so that they can avoid it. If you are opposed to eating bio-engineered food, you can rest assured that locally grown produce was bred the old-fashioned way, as nature intended.
5. Local food supports local farm families. With fewer than 1 million Americans now listing farming as their primary occupation, farmers are a vanishing breed. Local farmers who sell direct to consumers cut out the middle man and get full retail price for their crops – which means farm families can afford to stay on the farm, doing what they love.
6. Local food builds a stronger community. When you buy direct from the farmer, you are re-establishing a time-honored connection between the eater and the grower. Knowing the farmers gives you insight into the seasons, the weather, and the miracle of raising food. In many cases, it gives you access to a farm where your children and grandchildren can go to learn about nature and agriculture. Relationships built on understanding and trust can thrive.
7. Local food preserves open space. As the value of direct-marketed fruits and vegetables increases, selling farmland for development becomes less likely. You have probably enjoyed driving out into the country and appreciated the lush fields of crops, the meadows full of wildflowers, the picturesque red barns. That landscape will survive only as long as farms are financially viable. When you buy locally grown food, you are doing something proactive about preserving the agricultural landscape.
8. Local food helps to keep your taxes in check. Farms contribute more in taxes than they require in services, whereas suburban development costs more than it generates in taxes, according to several studies.
9. Local food supports a clean environment and benefits wildlife. A well-managed family farm is a place where the resources of fertile soil and clean water are valued. Good stewards of the land grow cover crops to prevent erosion and replace nutrients used by their crops. Cover crops also capture carbon emissions and help combat global warming. According to some estimates, farmers who practice conservation tillage could sequester 12-14% of the carbon emitted by vehicles and industry. In addition, the habitat of a farm – the patchwork of fields, meadows, woods, ponds, and buildings – is the perfect environment for the many species of wildlife including owls, hawks, blue herons, bats, and rabbits, and foxes.
10. Local food is about the future. By supporting local farmers today, you can help ensure that there will be farms in your community tomorrow so that future generations will have access to nourishing, flavorful, and abundant food.

It waits, patiently, in a corner of the pantry. It knows that it goes out on Tuesdays, doing its good work with a load of diet Coke cans, glass bottles, newspapers and plastics #1 and #2. Salad bar containers make guest appearances, and once in a while a Tide bottle livens things up with its vivid orange and blue, but that’s about as exciting as it gets for the recycling bin.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. It’s the mantra of environmentally concerned people everywhere. Maybe you’ve gotten the third part of the equation conquered: If it’s glass, plastic, metal or paper, it goes in the bin. It saves space in the garbage and it saves resources for the planet. But what about the rest? Are you reducing your carbon footprint? Can you reuse more things than you do?

You can, easily, and here’s the best part: It will also save you money. Frugality gets its own cult-like devotion these days. In economically questionable times, anything that keeps a little more cash in our pocket is welcome. And while we’d all like to go out and buy hybrid vehicles and solar water heaters, it may be more practical right now to concentrate on small things that add up to make a difference. The key is, don’t think you have to overhaul your life. Look around your house, be conscious of your routines, and find small changes that work for you.

“I think the important thing to remember, when trying to go green to save green, is that you shouldn’t try to change too many habits too soon,” said author Leah Ingram, who writes The Lean Green Family, a blog that tells how she (pictured left), her husband and their two pre-teen daughters have adopted a green lifestyle and saved money at the same time.

“Take it slowly, doing one thing at a time, kind of like when you might go on a diet or start a new exercise program,” Ingram said. “Take baby steps. Soon enough it will all seem like second nature.”

How small can a baby step be? Here’s how small: Milk in your cereal. When you’ve finished your cereal, do you drink the milk from the bottom of the bowl, or do you throw it down the drain? If you’re the latter, cut the amount of milk on your cereal tomorrow by about half. Make it a goal to have the cereal and milk end at exactly the same time. Just a fourth of a cup of milk saved daily adds up to close to six gallons of milk in a year. That’s six gallons’ worth of containers that don’t have to be out in the world, and a nifty $20-$30 in your pocket.

Find other little things that save you that much in a year, and you can save hundreds of dollars. Reading through Ingram’s blogs, it’s clear there’s not a lean stone unturned. She finds uses for extra rubber bands (good for helping secure decorations on a front porch), saves wrapping paper from year to year, uses credit-card offer envelopes for her grocery lists (slipping her coupons inside), hangs clothes to dry in the laundry room instead of using the dryer.

She even pulls through parking spaces that are empty on the other side so she can face outward when she leaves. Just that saves half the gas of leaving a parking space. Talk about due diligence driving!

“I would recommend choosing one thing that you want to do differently, try it for a few weeks and then see how you feel. For example, if a family decides to invest in CFLs (compact fluorescent light bulbs), sure it might cost more than traditional bulbs, but I’m confident they will see the payoff pretty quickly. First of all, the bulbs won’t burn out as quickly as the incandescent kind, meaning they’ll spend less in the long run buying replacement bulbs. And secondly, if their experience is anything like mine, they will see their electricity bills go down.”

Here are some other areas where it might be easy to be green and frugal at the same time:

Daily living

• Let’s have a cup of coffee. Do you use paper coffee filters? A permanent coffee filter will cost you about $8 to $10. A common kind of paper filters costs about $2 for 40, so if you drink coffee daily the permanent filter will pay for itself in six months. After that, it’ll save you $18-$20 a year. And while we’re talking about coffee, do you throw out the grounds? They’re useful even if you haven’t (yet!) started a compost pile. Make saving coffee grounds easy on yourself. Put a container in your fridge where you keep used grounds, and then once a week take them out and work them into the soil around rose bushes, hydrangeas (especially if you want them blue!), azaleas, blueberries, laurels, rhododendrons or other acid-loving plants; you can also sprinkle them in bare spots in the lawn, but if you have pets, be sure to work them down into the dirt. Fast-growing vegetables like tomatoes thrive with coffee grounds used as mulch. And a ring of coffee grounds around a tree will deter ants (apparently they don’t crave caffeine like we do!). Not a coffee drinker? You can take home grounds from the office coffee pot. And many coffee houses will give them to you for free. (Like some Starbucks, pictured right.)

• Turn off the computer. “Enable the power management features on your computers,” said Denise Durrett of Communications Support with the EPA’s Energy Star program. Letting a computer hibernate during the hours you aren’t using it can save $12 to $90 a year, Durrett said. When you aren’t using your television or other electronics, unplug them or turn off the power strips. “Your electronics – computer, TV, VCR, even your phone chargers – use energy even when they’re turned off,” says the EPA’s Environment, Health and Safety Online website. “Stand-by power can account for as much as 20% of home energy use.” If you plug your television and other components into a power strip, turning them off just requires one switch, and a good one provides surge protection as well. Power strips aren’t inexpensive, but neither is your electric bill.

• Unplug the cell phone charger. “There are more than 5 power adapters for every person in the United States,” Durrett said. “That’s over 2 billion total. People have a habit of not unplugging the charger from the wall after the phone’s charged.” If every charger was an Energy Star approved charger, or was unplugged when not in use, it would mean a savings nationally of more than 5 billion kilowatt hours a year.

• Can you reuse instead of recycle? You’ve got the habit of tossing recyclables in the bin. Cheers! But are there items you could make better use of? Baby food jars or spice jars, for example, can be washed and reused as containers in school lunches (unless you have a klutz for a kid, in which case re-usable plastic is still probably your best friend). Round plastic plates that came with microwavable entrees can be used as water trays under flowerpots. Old prescription bottles are great change-holders in the car. And if you’ve got a dog, the sacks that newspapers are delivered in can be your constant companion on walks. The point is, take a second and look at what’s in your hand before it goes in the bin. Is it the size or shape of something useful? Can it store something? Stand in for something you would need to buy?

• Bottled water: We love bottled water. We unabashedly adore it. We are especially grateful for it when we’re in a convenience store and don’t want soda. But those bottles add up, both in the landfill and in the budget. Say you buy a case of bottled water once a week for $5. That’s $260 a year. Say you buy a refillable water bottle (be sure to get one labeled BPA-free) and use it. That’s $260 in your pocket.

• Dryer sheets: If you use dryer sheets, most of them will easily work for two loads of laundry; you’ll end up buying half the boxes of dryer sheets you used to buy. And after you’ve dried clothes with them, put the dryer sheet in a container near your cleaning supplies. They make great dust cloths for everything from furniture to computer screens, they hold up to cleaning products, and they’ll even clean glass without smears.

• While we’re in the laundry room: Set the washing machine for the lowest water level you need for each load, or do only full loads as some greenies advise, and wash your clothes in cold. “The best thing anyone could do to start living like a lean, green family would be to stop washing clothes in hot water,” Ingram said. “Your clothes will get just as clean when you wash them in cold water, and you won’t be spending money (or using energy) to heat your water.”

• Green cleaners: We’re lucky today. There have always been green cleaners you can make from scratch, but now there are also manufactured green cleaners on the shelves at the store besides traditional cleaning products. Regular cleaners cost from $3 to $4 each, and you need separate products for tubs, windows, furniture and floors. Most green cleaners are comparably priced, but can clean a variety of areas. However, if you invest in a gallon of white vinegar ($1.50), a pound of baking soda (.75) and a quart of Murphy’s Oil Soap concentrate ($3.45), you’ve got the makings to clean just about every surface in your house, whether wood, tile, granite, porcelain, laminate or vinyl. If this saves you the purchase of just one $4 bottle of cleaner a month, that’s a $48 savings over the year.

• At the store: When you buy a disposable product, ask yourself if a reusable product would work for you too. Paper towels have become ubiquitous in most households, especially those with kids or pets, but cloth kitchen towels will cut down on the volume you use. Keep one or two out on the counter and grab the one that makes the most sense for the job at hand.

• In the car: We’re all happy at the trend of idle-free zones around schools; it keeps a cloud of exhaust from building up where parents are picking up their children, and it keeps extra carbon emissions out of the air. Be sure to realize, though, that you’re saving money at the same time! Try to be conscious of your idling when you are in long drive-through lanes, bank teller lanes, or parking lots after sporting events. Many times the fast-food drive-through is many cars long while there’s no line inside. And while we’re talking about the car, be sure you’ve got it tuned up and the tires inflated correctly. If conscious driving and good maintenance saves you just a gallon of gas a month, that’s more than $50 by the end of a year. And if you could take a bus, ride with a coworker or find an alternate way to work just once a week, you’d save a fifth of your commuting costs.

“When it comes to your car, I realize that not everyone can walk to do errands or leave the car at home on a regular basis,” Ingram said. “But that doesn’t mean that you have to drive to Point A to Point B and Point C, and so on. Figure out a way in your daily life how you can drive less. When you have errands to run, can you park in a central place and walk to the stores? Could you plan a trip to the supermarket or the mall with a friend, so only one of you has to drive? I still use my car and I still have to fill up with gas, but I’m doing both a lot less now that I’ve adapted to my walking lifestyle.”