Today’s Tribune headline “Support your local farmer” caught my eye.
It’s always good to scan the local paper and see something about farming or healthy food initiatives.
I had to read past the jump to see that local Farmgirl Nina Interlandi Bell, from our old Rogers Park stomping grounds no less, has started a group called Chicago Locavores.
Being a locavore or localvore, which essentially means you get all or as much of your food as possible from within a 100-mile radius, is actually pretty difficult in Chicago.
That’s why, as the story also notes, we see so many farmers market vendors from Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin. I love that regional diversity at our markets and feel like it’s yet another benefit of living in a centrally located big city.
But I’m also supportive of what folks in Michigan and Iowa, and now Illinois, are doing to try to encourage more local farmers to grow for the local population.
Have any of you, like Betsy Zinser of Batavia, noticed a frozen veggie label indicating your produce has been shipped from oversees? That’s a major drawback of stores such as Aldi and Trader Joe’s.
The more these states do to support food-producing farmers (small and large scale), the happier and healthier we’ll all be.
I took the photo at the Daley Center FM a couple weeks ago. Note that this farmer – Lehman’s Orchard, selling strawberries that week, is from Niles, Mich., which is 101 miles from Chicago.
Virtual Farmgirl 