Eating only what grows around you

[Alicia Leonard]

I really liked this article. With the recent food scares, I'm thinking of doing something like this on a local level. If anyone wants to chime in about where to buy produce, meats, or anything else edible in Walton County post it here and I will post the article as soon as it's published in the Herald.

Once the purview of foodies and hippies, 'locavorism' is going mainstream


When Katherine Gray takes her kids to the grocery store, they can pick out as many apples and pears as their hearts desire. But bananas? Pineapples? Mangoes? Sorry kids, if they weren?t grown within 100 miles of Gray?s house in Portland, Ore., chances are they won?t make it into the grocery cart.For years, the idea of eating only food grown locally and in season was reserved for upscale chefs like Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., or serious hippies living off the grid, while the rest of us didn?t think twice about gulping down blueberries from Chile or avocadoes from Mexico.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24994028/

 

[Minnie]

I love supporting our local Farmer's Market.

 

[Miss Critter]

I saw that article today, and was wondering if there's a local co-op we can join. I'd love to have a steady supply of freshly grown fruits and vegetables, and maybe a local farmer or two would appreciate the guaranteed investment. Any takers?

 

[Matt J]

Toni's Farmers Market in North Grayton.

Look for the little cart on 283 just north of Mystic Porte shopping center. Keep in mind it's not Publix so sometimes the pickings are slim, but what you do get is top quality local grown produce.

Toni also supplies some of the local restaurants. I had never had a blue berry sorbet until Sunday and it was incredible.

 

[elgordoboy]

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[30A Skunkape]

We will always have an ample bounty of organic, eco-friendly, cheap, local, minimally carbon footprint stomping, Salmonella free, fair trade, nutritious seaweed here. Does anything else grow in sand besides St Joe pinions?

 

[Miss Critter]

We will always have an ample bounty of organic, eco-friendly, cheap, local, minimally carbon footprint stomping, Salmonella free, fair trade, nutritious seaweed here. Does anything else grow in sand besides St Joe pinions?

Isn't seaweed one of the healthiest things you can eat? Instead of paying for supplements, I'll just head on down to the beach.

 

[scooterbug44]

We had an amazing Farmer's Market every Saturday and a small one every Wednesday where I grew up. The array of food and products was amazing - baked goods & sweets, honeys & preserves, fruits and vegetables, meats and cheeses, plants & flowers, it was at one of the 100-200 different booths.

I am hoping that as demand grows, Toni and others will continue to offer more items. My motivation isn't so much saving the planet as getting flavorful and non-conveyor belt fruits and veggies.

Are there any nearby pick your own produce places? Would be a fun activity.

 

[Smiling JOe]

Every Saturday, from 8am - noon, you will find a local farmer's market in Seaside (yes, Seaside), next to Raw & Juicy. There are some good people involved in getting this thing off the ground, so go check it out, and buy local when possible.

In St Andrews (Panama City), at the south end of Beck Ave where the dock is located, there is a farmers market set up on Saturday mornings. I have yet to go, but I understand that there are several fisherman selling freshly caught fish, in addition to a few other produce and fruit growers. If anyone goes, report back to us.

aleonard, you cannot write that story without making reference to Guy Clark's song about "Home-grown Tomatoes." Google it for the lyrics.

one line from the song --
"I know what this Country needs, it's a home-grown tomato in every yard you see."

If we each had a home grown tomato, we wouldn't be having a poopy tomato problem in the US right now. Not only that, it would get us back in touch with the Earth, re-focusing us on the important things in life. There are many bits of knowledge to be gained from growing your own tomato plant, and I don't think you could explore them all in the length of one book. There are life lessons to be learned, and life lessons to be taught to other generations, connecting grandpas to grand-daughters, and so much more.

Go plant a tomato seed.

 

[scooterbug44]

Are there multiple vendors at the Seaside Saturday Market? I thought it was just Toni and I already go to her shop weekly, so I didn't check it out.

I tried growing tomatoes 5 different times last summer, so my contribution to the local harvest has been changed to lettuce, herbs, rhubarb (1/6 plants has survived), cucumbers, and beans.