Eating Locally and Seasonally

There appears to be an increasing trend towards eating what is produced in one's locality and eating that food while it's in season. This might appear to be a tangent from growing heirlooms, but the distance really isn't so great. In fact, as much fun as we had picking out which heirlooms we would like in our garden and watching them grow, the large decision of keeping an heirloom garden was also dependent, I think, on the fact that we wanted to eat products that were grown as close to home as possible. Even now when the garden is finished, if I want to purchase some kind of produce, I do my absolute best to make sure I am buying an Ontario product. So, you may ask what are the benefits of eating locally and seasonally?

Money - I have often heard from people that buying fresh vegetables is really expensive. In my experience, however, this has not been the case. My sister and I were both attending University in Waterloo for the previous four years, had our own apartment, and were responsible for buying our own groceries. It was the times when we filled our cart up with canned soups, pasta, sauce, and other food items one would find in the aisle of their supermarket, when our grocery bills were most expensive. Interestingly, if we purchased a package of Ontario-grown carrots, a rutabaga, some parsnips, and onions, as well as a roasting chicken, all for around $20-30, we could make a chicken with roasted vegetables one night, eat the leftovers another night, and make a soup the third night that would last us an extra day on top of that. That is four meals in the week that we were able to use those ingredients for and eat very very comfortably. On the other hand, if we purchased a can of soup for approximately $2-4, that would only last us one meal, not be nearly as healthy, or leave us nearly as full.

Shopping from local Farmer's Markets is not nearly so different, because even if the price is a little bit higher, the quality is greater and the item goes further. Living in Waterloo, we often shopped at St. Jacob's Market which sold meat, cheese, and vegetables all produced in Ontario. We would often buy chicken legs at a dollar or two a leg, and these legs were so big that I often couldn't finish eating one in one sitting. In the summer, you could often buy a basket of sweet Bell Peppers from there for $5, whereas in the grocery store, peppers often go for $2 or 3 a pound.

Another Farmer's Market I've been to has been the one at Pingle's Farm which carries terrific corn on the cob in the summer. We were able to pick up a dozen corn on the cob for $5, which might sound like a lot compared to the grocery store which often sells a cob for $1, but they are usually of much higher quality being fresher and sweeter, and not being tampered with by other customers in the store. At Pingle's, when produce is a little more mature, they put them on sale. My sister and I managed to buy some peppers for only 60-70 cents each.

To conclude, based on my experience, even if you think you are spending more money buying local vegetables, usually you are paying for a product that will go much further.

Ecological Footprint - Eating locally reduces your impact on the environment. I haven't done much research on the topic, but what I have is from some limited reading and pure logic. If you choose to eat products not produced in your vicinity, those items require shipment, and by logic, impacts the environment. If you instead eat items produced locally, they obviously won't require that transportation. Not to mention, there are a bunch of other benefits to not having your vegetables sent to you; mainly that you'll be able to pick your vegetables at their peak and they'll be fresher and tastier.

Supporting local farmers - "Farmers Feed Cities" is an excellent opening phrase, because it's the truth. Except that farmers really aren't making the living required for them to keep their farms, and in Ontario, many are selling up their lands to developers. Therefore, if you buy locally, you might also be helping to save local farm land and help a few people out.

Knowing where your food is coming from - The film Food Inc. certainly demonstrated the issues of meat production and the dangers of eating meat produced a certain way. I think that there is a movement, even in grocery stores, to improve this situation, because meat items are starting say things like 'grain fed' or 'no antibiotics'. I think the safest bet would be to find a local farm to pick up your meat, because there you would be sure of where your meat is coming from. I personally haven't made this effort yet, but I have been looking at farms in my vicinity to weigh options. In the next year I would like to at least join a CSA (Culturally Supported Agriculture) to at least get a dozen eggs from a farm weekly throughout the summer. There, I've said it! Now I have to do it.

Taste - Yes, you can buy frozen vegetables and it's said the nutrition level is as high, if not higher, as fresh vegetables. This is because, unlike fresh vegetables, they are harvested at their peak, and then frozen. I don't find them as tasty though, even though this has to be a main option through the winter if we're thinking about eating seasonally too. If you do buy a vegetable locally and seasonally though, it does tend to be much tastier. As I mentioned before, when vegetables are shipped from place-to-place, they are picked just before they ripen so they don't rot along the way. As such, the nutrition level is not nearly as high, and the vegetable is not nearly as tasty as it would have been if it were fresh off the vine, plant, or whatever.

I might preach all of this, but I certainly don't practice it all. I think it's always going to be a work in progress to make all these changes. Megan and I certainly have been growing our own vegetables, visiting local Farmer's Markets when we can, and buying Ontario-grown veggies from our grocery store. Additionally, we do buy our honey locally. It certainly is the area of animal products that we need to work, however, and gradually buy more of our meat, milk, eggs, or butter from local producers.

Jennifer