Do you know of any local farmers or co-operatives in our area? Have looked but have not been able to find anything.
Lots of local farmers! And a group active right now (ACT) is looking for ways to connect the farmers, mainly north of Bay, with the restaurants, stores, and individuals who'd like to buy local (preferably organic) produce, mainly south of the Bay. There is the wonderful Farmers Market at Seaside on Saturdays, which gets better every time (we noticed a need for live music last weekend -- anyone wanna bring out a guitar?). Lately we've had Chandra's amazing delicious sprouts and groovy handmade hula hoops, Toni's produce (last week the Alabama sweet onions were fabulous), Renee's organic preserves and pastured eggs from Twin Oaks Farm, fun breakfast specials from Raw & Juicy, herb and veggie plants from a gentleman from Freeport (I don't remember his name), and more.
Additionally, the ACT Walton group, working under the auspices of the Extension Service, has brought together some farmers and a venue so there will be Saturday markets at Owl's Head starting in early May. The idea was to make it less of a trek for the growers, but close enough to South End that buyers from the South would want to make the trip.
Here's contact info for Kendra Zamojski, who's leading the ACT initiatives.
hughson@ufl.edu
You can get local produce from Toni's at Grayton (some is organic); organic produce at For The Health of It in BMB (some of it local). Amazingly, even our Florida grocery store chain Publix is catching on about the market for local produce, and has started prominiently marking produce grown in Florida.
I'd love to participate in a CSA until my own backyard garden is more reliably productive...
