Did you know that food travels an average of 1,500 miles to get to your dinner plate? This wastes resources, contributes to global warming, and leaves you with food that is not as fresh as it could be. The longer food sits on a shelf, the more nutrients are lost.

What can you do? Buy local! You might be surprised to learn how many farms are in your area. If you’re not sure how to find them, just enter your zip code into the Eat Well Guide. You can also find out what foods are seasonal in your area by checking out our state-by-state listing of seasonal food.

Below are several ideas on how you can eat food raised in your area. And, remember, the goal is to eat as locally as possible – sometimes it’s not possible to find certain products (like coffee or possibly citrus) grown locally, so look for other sustainable indicators, like fair trade certified or organic.

Community Supported Agriculture
Farmers markets
Buy Local challenge
Adopt a farmer
Grow your own

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program
CSA provides a direct link between local farmers and consumers. Each season, members purchase a share of a farmer's crop before it's planted. This allows the farmer to pay for seed, water, equipment, etc, upfront, so s/he is less reliant on banks and loans. Each week, usually during June through October, the farmer delivers great tasting, healthy food to pre-determined locations. In some instances, members pick up the share directly from the farm.

By purchasing a share in a farmer’s crop, you share in the bounty. In good years, you will get more; in not-so-good years, you won’t get as much. It’s a great way to try vegetables you might not normally eat – or might have never heard of before! Most CSA programs provide vegetables and fruit, though more and more are offering, meat, dairy, eggs and fish.

To find a CSA program in your area, visit the Alternative Farming Systems Information Center.

If you can’t find a CSA program in your area, start one! Just Food, a nonprofit based in New York City, helps start CSA programs in all five boroughs. Visit their site for more information on what they do. They also offer a CSA Toolkit which details how to start a CSA program in NYC. Price is $35.

If you do start up a CSA program, journal about your experiences and share them with others. We’d be happy to post up a how-to on CSA that you put together.

To learn more about CSA, visit Sustainable Table’s Shop Sustainable page on CSA.

Farmers markets
A great way to buy local is to shop at farmers markets. There, you can ask the farmer questions about how the food was raised and produced. Use our Questions to Ask handouts for sample questions (and answers!)

If you can’t find a farmers market in your area, start one yourself, or get a group of people together to help you! If you decide to take this on, let us know!

For more information on starting a market, visit:

• Southland Farmers Market Association (Southern California) – How to Start a Farmer’s Market
• Minnesota Farmers Market Association – Starting Your Own Farmers Market
• Butterfield Organic Growers (New Hampshire) – Start a Farmers Market in Your Own Area. (They ask for a donation – no amount specified - if you print out the guide.)

Buy Local Challenge
The Buy Local Challenge is simply a pact you make with friends, family members or co-workers to eat locally. You can be as lenient or as strict as you like – from asking others to simply cook one meal with local ingredients to eating all food for one month from local sources (now that’s a challenge!)

The key is to engage others in a conversation about eating locally, and what better way is there than to try it yourself? Share your experiences, swap recipes, discover new foods! We encourage you to try this, and to visit the Buy Local section of The Parlour to talk about your experiences.

If you would like to use this as an opportunity to educate others about local, sustainable food, this would also be a chance to show others The Meatrix films, or to visit the Sustainable Table web site for information that you can print out for others taking the challenge with you.

Vanguard Communications, a public relations firm in Washington DC, developed their own Buy Local Challenge. Visit their Buy Local Challenge 2005 for ideas on what you can do.

Adopt a local farmer
You can use the Eat Well Guide to find a farmer near you, or start frequenting a farmers market in your area. If you find a farmer you like, “adopt” him or her. Not only can you buy your food from him/her, you can:

• Encourage your friends and neighbors to buy the farm’s products.
• Invite the farmer over for a sustainable dinner party and have them talk to your family and friends about what they do.
• Get your local supermarket to start carrying their products.
• Help get word out about what good farmers they are!

Be creative and think of other ways you can help promote a local sustainable farmer in your area. And don’t forget to share your stories with us!

Grow your own
Whether it's a plot in your backyard or a small window herb garden, growing your own food is a richly rewarding experience. Many towns have gardening classes, but it's easy to simply buy some seeds and experiment. You can even consider raising your own chickens for meat or eggs. The National Gardening Association has tips on how to get started.

If you live in an urban area and don't have land to plant on, you can often find community gardens that offer plots in exchange for some volunteer time. Visit the American Community Gardening Association for more information.

And once you grow all that great food, learn how to preserve, can, pickle and smoke them. Try the Ohio State University Extension's fact sheet "Canning Basics" for information on how to can foods.