{"id":1522,"date":"2009-04-08T13:54:39","date_gmt":"2009-04-08T18:54:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/?p=1522"},"modified":"2013-02-11T20:37:25","modified_gmt":"2013-02-12T01:37:25","slug":"farm-to-market-raleigh-locavore-pathways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/featured\/2009\/04\/08\/farm-to-market-raleigh-locavore-pathways\/","title":{"rendered":"Farm to Market \u2013 Raleigh Locavore Pathways"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"tomatillos-and-friends_1_1\"<\/a>“Eating is an agricultural act.”\u00a0 So says Wendell Berry in the current issue of edible Piedmont<\/em>. \u00a0He contrasts an “industrial eater,” \u00a0whose palate is abused by poor, paltry fare, with an engaged and informed consumer whose strong connection to food sources enriches the food-buying relationship as well as the menu.\u00a0 Raleigh displays many of the national trends toward eating local, and usually this implies a more sustainable form of agriculture.\u00a0 The enlightened omnivores, vegetarians, and lovers of fresh food in Raleigh have quite a few choices.\u00a0 With planting season at hand, growing your own food should be option number one.\u00a0 But beyond the greens, tomatoes and peppers that almost all of us can manage, the range of foods and purchasing venues available seems to be spreading like dandelions.<\/p>\n

North Raleigh is set to get a new farmer’s market May 2.\u00a0 The N & O reported March 18th that the private group putting it together decided on Falls River Center on Durant Road as the location.\u00a0 At least seven farmers will participate in the initial offerings.\u00a0 The Midtown Farmers’ Market<\/a> at North Hills will operate Saturday mornings from April 11 til November 14. \u00a0South Raleigh is blessed with the State Farmers’ Market<\/a>, a huge enterprise which is now open every day of the year.\u00a0 Downtown, the City Market vegetable vendors keep on keeping on after more than fifty years – but just Thursday-Saturday.\u00a0 On Wednesdays, starting April 15, shoppers can also check out the Moore Square Farmer’s Market<\/a>, which takes place under tents and features a variable selection of local produce, meats and finished baked and prepared foods from local farms.<\/p>\n

Community supported farms, or CSAs, are a popular way<\/a> of distributing food in many parts of the country, and Raleigh is coming into the fold.\u00a0 The Carolina Farm Stewardship<\/a>‘s Farm Tour, which takes place April 25-26, 1-6 PM, is a great way to see the farms and set up your subscription for a set amount of harvested food over a season.\u00a0 The Cooperative Extension<\/a>‘s list of CSA farms includes over 50 listings for the Piedmont area, but when I explored the Tour<\/a> last fall, its list of a dozen or so was far more than I could handle in a weekend.\u00a0 Most of the CSA farms have websites, and many sell at other venues.\u00a0 Check out one of those markets and ask around!<\/p>\n

The grocery store can be a great source of high quality local fresh food.\u00a0 Whole Foods<\/a> is a leader in buying local organic produce, but most stores feature seasonal local offerings and are beginning to recognize and market the organic aspect of much locally produced food.\u00a0 One real advantage of an organic grocery store like Whole Foods is that you can trust you are getting certified organically grown food.\u00a0 Don’t get me wrong – I think buying from local farmers is a good thing, whether or not they qualify as organic.\u00a0 I stop at roadside stands, and have fond memories of the vegetable truck making its way through east Raleigh, selling the housewives good old Southern truck produce, which is anything but organic.\u00a0 But as we all shift our sights toward a better relationship with the planet, grocery stores that seek out local organic produce are doing a favor for the entire food system.<\/p>\n

\"covenant-community-garden_1_1\"<\/a>Surely the most admirable venue for local food is the community garden<\/a>. \u00a0Many are church-run, and have the additional goal of feeding those in need.\u00a0 Community gardens can be therapy for just about any age or demographic, and can be operated at a wide range of sizes and locations.\u00a0 In our area, the Covenant Community Garden <\/a>at Fuquay-Varina United Methodist Church is a nationally known model of a faith-based, action-centered agricultural project.\u00a0 We can renew our own lives and literally rejuvenate the planet by making not only healthy but ecologically sound decisions when we choose how to obtain our food.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Dancy-Jones is beginning an occasional column on Raleigh nature and the environment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24014,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,44],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24014"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}