Intro & Locally Grown/Raised Food Question

JDSRunner

Hi! I'm Jen and I've been "lurking" around the board quite a bit so I figured I'd introduce myself. I definitely try to live greenly but also have lots of areas where I know I can improve. I look forward to picking up information from all of you!

I have some questions about finding locally grown foods. We have a few markets around here that source locally grown or raised foods, which definitely helps. I see a lot of posts about getting dairy and eggs from local farmers. How do you figure out which farms do this?

Also, what about veggies in the winter? I'm in Wisconsin, so it seems most everything would be out of season right now.

Thanks!

Jen

azcatsfan

Localharvest.org is a great resource to find local food in your area. I also just found this site that shows what's in season. There may be a better site that another nestie may have. I've seen a few different lists in the past but can't remember where they came from.

GRKaters

Welcome! We get a lot of our food, especially eggs, from a local food co-op. A quick Web search (you can even find farmers on Craigslist) can yield a ton of results. Some other Nesties are also members of the co-op we use, so I heard some first person experiences from them before we signed up.

 

barbnsteve

www.eatwild.org is also another great website.  It's how I found out that there's a grass fed beef farm about 20 minutes from me that I never knew about!!  In terms of veggies, I'm struggling with that myself right now and still searching for a co-op of some sort.  Welcome and GL!!

amz05

azcatsfan:

Localharvest.org is a great resource to find local food in your area. I also just found this site that shows what's in season. There may be a better site that another nestie may have. I've seen a few different lists in the past but can't remember where they came from.

I find it funny that the in season site shows "Christmas Trees" for Nov-Dec in MI. You can't eat those! haha

other then that I find the list helpful

WendyGR

In places like MI (and I'm guessing WI), "in-season" would be root vegetables and apples that have been stored. Sometimes greens (like collards, kale) that can be overwintered. There are also a few places that grow things hydroponically. I'm a member of a winter CSA for the first time this year and it's been interesting trying to figure out what to do with all the turnips and rutabagas.

Alisha_A

Yes... in winter, not much is in season. But that's really what winter is about! In some ways its been a little challenging, and I admit I broke down and got some citrus, but in a lot of ways, I am really enjoying eating seasonally, and its made it seem weird to have asparagus or avocado in January.

So a lot of greens (my favorite are actually beet greens), root veggies, mushrooms.

JDSRunner

Thanks for all the suggestions! I had never thought about looking on Craigslist, but there are actually some eggs listed near me.

SuperGreen

Alisha_A:

 I am really enjoying eating seasonally, and its made it seem weird to have asparagus or avocado in January.

Second this!  Once you've eaten fresh, local food for awhile, Asparagus and avocado in January taste like cardboard.  I'm lucky enough to have a Farmer's Market year-round where I can get eggs year-round.  Egg-laying is daylight-sensitive, so hens lay less eggs in the winter or some stop altogether, so I have to get to the market early to score some.  The websites from the PP should help you find a nearby farm.  We get cheese and butter from our Farmer's Market, but VA has some sh!tbat crazy milk laws, apparently I cannot buy milk from that same farmer, trust me I've asked.  So I get local milk from Whole Foods.  The dairy is about 2 hours away.

What DH and have starting doing is buying in bulk from the Farmer's Market when produce is in season and freezing or storing it.  We didn't start that until December, so frozen we have broccoli, turnips, and pumpkin (i pureed it to make soup, yummy!). Stored we have butternut squash, sweet and redskin potatoes, and garlic.  We have one onion left.  We had kale and chard for a long time through the fall, the market would probably have chard now if 2+ feet of snowed hadn't collapsed all the farmer's row covers .