i am locavore...

so, i am not a big ranter... overall, i tend to avoid conflict whenever possible - i mostly just want everyone to get along...

that said, this is a rant - and not surprisingly it involves one of my two great passions: food... it was inspired by little tatooed girl - our conversation made me realize how seldom i talk about some of the things i really believe in... so you all get a rant...

i am an advocate of local food - or as much as possible in a place like BV city... i believe quite passionately in the importance - to all levels of society - of buying your food locally... it is one of the most important food choices you can make - and it effects all other dietary choices... this does not mean that you have to give up all foods that don't grow within a 100 miles of where you live, which is good, 'cause i would starve here, it just means buying locally whenever you can - let's be real, i am not going to be giving up good dark chocolate anytime soon, and everyone is better off for that decision... but i can get my tomatoes and squash locally, eggs and beef, too.

there are so many good great reasons to eat local...

eating local means more for the local economy - dollars spent locally support the local community twice three times as much as business owned by outsiders...
locally grown produce is fresher... and as a result, local food just flat out tastes better...
locally grown fruits and vegetables have longer to ripen - less spoilage - less waste...
eating local is better for air quality and pollution than eating organic - organic food is often shipped hundreds and sometimes thousand of miles, using so much more fuel and energy to get to you, and thus polluting more...
buying local food keeps us in touch with the seasons - you eat what is fresh when it is harvested, instead of imported out-of-season food...
eating local protects us from bio-terrorism - you know where it came from and who had access to it before it when on your plate - and the opportunities for tampering just aren't feasible in a market which is so much smaller...
local food connects you to your community - you get to know the people who grew your tomatoes and baked your bread...
local food equals more variety - smaller farms can try crops that you would not normally see in your local agri-business run supermarket, and things like zebra tomatoes and purple string beans become available for anyone to try...
supporting local providers supports responsible land development - land being used in a sustainable manner for farming will not be sold to developers to build McMansions - and the variety of crops helps to keep the land continuously productive and in use, without damaging it or leaving it fallow...
and if you do eat meat, you know how the animals were treated before they were killed, what, if any, chemicals and hormones went into their diet, and how fresh the meat actually is...

one of the best resource (for the US readers), no matter what your diet choices are, to find locally produced food is an organization called Local Harvest... you can find all sorts of sources for locally produced food, including CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) - which are kinda like a subsidy - but instead of the government paying farmers to grow (or not) what they think should be on the market, the consumer pays the farm directly for the food, ensuring that they make a fair amount for their products without government intervention - a fresher and more varied product than what is available in most stores... the one that i am looking at is Grant Family Farms, which is just across the border into colorado...

i really could go on for quite some time, but as i stated at the beginning, i am not big on rants and this one covers most of the main points...

it is really just a logical iteration of the maxim that to effect change you have to think globally and act locally...