Eating locally grown food is good for the environment and the community.
Here are ten reasons why:

#1 - Locally grown food is fresher and tastes better
There is nothing like biting into a juicy garden-ripe tomato. The juice dribbles down your chin and the burst of intense flavor is out of this world. However, most tomatoes sold in America aren’t especially juicy or flavorful. Bred for durability not flavor, they are picked while still green and often shipped thousands of miles. To make them appear ripe when offered for sale, they are treated with ethylene gas to help them turn red quickly. And the nutrients aren’t there either — since 1950, riboflavin levels in grocery store produce have declined 38%!

Riboflavin is an essential micronutrient important for cell health! How about the taste of a just-harvested peach or strawberry? If you’ve ever tasted ripe fruit picked at its peak, you know how much better it tastes. It is impossible for fruit and vegetables that are picked, boxed, stored, and shipped long distances to tastes as good as those just harvested on local farms.

#2 - Small Family Farms help protect the environment!
In Most cases, farm families live where they farm. They see themselves as stewards of the land and are more likely to use environmentally sound methods to manage pests and fertility.

Large agribusiness concerns have limited ties to the land and communities where they operate. These large corporations invest in agriculture solely as a means to satisfy shareholder demands for profitability. (FYI: One large factory hog farm produces as much sewage as a city of 100,000 people!)

Farmers who live where they farm often use sustainable approaches to managing pests and fertility. Considering it a precious resource, they take care of the land before passing it on to the next generation.

Many of these family farms are working towards organic production, giving you an assurance of safe food produced without the use of synthetic pesticides, hormones, or chemical fertilizers. Remember, it was small-scale farmers that started the rapidly growing organic agriculture movement.

#3 - Buying local conserves precious resources
Buying your food direct from local farm helps conserve natural resources. Corporate agribusiness conglomerates rely on a global transportation system that consumers millions of barrels of oil every year. American industrialized agriculture is the least efficient on the planet, often consuming up to ten times more energy for production and transport than it yields.

The average grocery store item travels more than 1,500 miles to your table; produce at the Canton Farmers’ Market originates less than 40 miles away from the Market! When your buy food grown closer to home, you’re helping reduce dependency on precious fossil fuels and helping put more food-buying dollars in the hands of regional farmers. Local food doesn’t have to travel far. This reduces carbon dioxide emissions and the need for costly packing material. Buying local food also helps to make farming profitable and selling farmland for development less attractive.

#4 - Thriving family farms build rural economies
Dollars generated in local communities change hands three or four times before they leave. When agribusiness corporations come to town, most dollars leave the community by close of the business day. In rural communities, economic well-being and social vitality are inextricably linked to the type of farms in the region. Family farmers buy from merchants in their own communities, helping support diverse local jobs and small businesses. Today’s farmers earn less than 8 cents of every food dollar spent by consumers.

A study comparing two rural communities found that the family farm-dominated community hand an overall higher standard of living—more retail trade and independent businesses as well as more parks, schools, churches, and community involvement than the community surrounded by large, corporate agribusiness-type farms.

Increasing the number of viable family farms helps rebuild the economic and social health of rural communities.

#5 - Buying local helps you learn how your food was grown
Buying from regional family farms helps ensure you find safe, wholesome food for your family. When you visit local farms, farmers’ markets, roadside stands, and food co-ops, you gain the opportunity to talk with the farmers your food. Farmers supplying nearby markets are more accountable to their buyers. Since consumers can learn who these farmers are and what practices they use, they have more confidence in the safety of the foods being grown.

Studies show that most consumers question the motivation of global agribusiness to produce safe, wholesome food. The studies go on to show American maintain great confidence in family farmers to produce wholesome food using environmentally sound methods and inputs. Knowing where your food comes from and how it was grown can help you choose healthy, nutritious food for your family.

#6 - Family farms help children learn healthy values
Like other family-owned businesses, family farms are models for children to learn values such as cooperation and responsibility. Farm children learn to contribute by doing chores such as gathering eggs and helping with harvest. Their parents’ example helps shape their attitudes toward the land and value of food.

Many children have no idea where food comes from before it reaches the grocer’s shelves. Many have never experienced how flavorful truly ripe fruits and vegetables can be. Family farms often welcome people to visit and learn valuable lessons abut food and nature. Taking children to visit a farm is a fun learning experience.

Many elementary schools arrange field trips to nearby family farms to help students learn about their food. They’ve discovered that introducing children to fresh, wholesome food helps improved children’s health and educational performance. Participation in school lunch programs rises when farm-fresh food is on the menu!

Likewise, bringing children to the market and setting an early example to support local businesses and have friendly conversation with your local farmers, teaches city kids where all the food comes from.

#7 - Local food protects genetic diversity
Diverse family farms around the world, growing for nearby markets, raise thousands of unique varieties and heritage breeds—varieties and breeds selected for their flavor and ability to thrive in unique environments.

Agribusiness shippers demand today’s produce item have a tough skin that can survive harvest, packing, and transport as well as have a long shelf life in the store. Only a handful of developed varieties meet these global marketing requirements, sot here is little genetic diversity amount the keep food plants and animals grown for mainstream markets. 95% of all commercial production dairy cows are from a single breed.

In contrast, diverse farms grow a broad range of produce varieties and animal breeds selected for flavor, high nutrition, and regional adaptability.

Many of these varieties and breeds have been passed down for generations and contain genetic material from hundreds of years of regional selection. These broad variations may someday provide the genetic resources necessary to adapt to changing conditions.
Buying locally grown produce encourages robust, genetic diversity in our foods.
For more information, or to seek out heirloom varieties for next year, check out http://www.seedsavers.org

#8 - Many family farms grow a feast for the senses
Nearby family farmers provide consumers with a broad variety of produce throughout the season. When you buy from local farms, you have the opportunity to try foods that aren’t available in grocery stores. This is especially true when you buy directly though on-farm sales, farmers’ markets, or Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs. Farmers often have recipes available with great ideas for using these unique varieties.

Our farmers grow a variety of peppers, tomatoes, squash, pumpkin, sweet corn, onion, and garlic, all with unique flavors, colors, and shapes — offering a fascinating link with history. Imagine eating the same tomato variety grown and eaten by Thomas Jefferson at Monticello.

Local farmers provide you and your family with an ever-changing food palate of rich colors and flavors. Consider the autumn produce available now at the Market. Not only is it available for you, but our friendly vendors would love to share ideas about the best ways to prepare these different foods. They are a real resource!

#9 - Local farms help keep your taxes in check
Local farms contribute more in taxes than they require in service. Unfortunately, with a trend that turns existing farmland into suburban and industrial developments at a rapid clip; current attitudes towards farmland preservation ensure our taxes will rise even faster in the near future. According to several studies, for every $1 in revenue raised by residential development, governments must spend #1.17 on services, thus requiring higher taxes of all taxpayers.

However, for each $1 in revenue raised by farms, forest, and open space, governments only spend about $0.34 on services, a net gain to the government of $0.66 on every dollar collected. When you support local farms with your food-buying dollars, you help keep government spending on services lower.

#10 - Diverse family farms means food security
Supporting local family farms helps protect our ability to feed ourselves. Without thousands of thriving farms around the region, we lose the land security needed to ensure each ‘foodshed’ maintains the ability to feed itself.

Food from far-off places is now the norm. International food trade ahs tripled since 1961, and corporate agribusiness profits have nearly doubled since 1990. Apples sold in grocery stores may come from Argentina, while potatoes solid in Lima, Peru may come for the U.S., even though Peru boasts more potato varieties than any other region. Four agribusiness corporations control 80% of U.S. beef and port production.

However, we nee do think about what happens if something disrupts that constant flow of food products across continents and oceans. We must act now to guarantee the survival of diverse family farms. If we don’t, the inevitable disruption of global agribusiness networks will become a serious hardship to our communities.

Supporting regional family farms helps ensure we can feed our families not just now, but well into the future.

Plastic grocery bags multiply in drawers and closets, pantries and cars - which is why you need these new ways to reuse plastic grocery bags.

Hopefully, you’ve already made the switch to reusable shopping bags! But even if you have, you may still have some of these pesky disposable bags clogging your kitchen. Here are some smart ways to reuse the pantry and drawer hoggers:

#1 Plastic Bags as Knee Pads
Need to kneel in your garden to pull weeds, or on the street to change a tire, but don’t want to preserve the memory eternally on your pant legs? Grab a couple of plastic bags and tie one around each knee, covering the entire area that will be exposed to dirt and grime.

#2 Plastic Bags as Hand Protectors
Fact: There are some things you’d just as soon not touch with your bare hands. Use bags as gloves to handle what’s messy (say, chicken carcasses) or just plain gross (like the little “presents” the dog leaves in the front yard), then turn them inside out to trap the offending matter inside for easy disposal.

#3 Plastic Bags as Paint Preservers
You’re painting the kitchen when an emergency (kid’s sick at school; Brad Pitt is Ellen’s special guest) calls you off the job. To keep brushes and rollers from drying out, place them in bags and tie them or wrap them with rubber bands to keep air out. The tools will stay moist and protected for a day or so.

#4 Plastic Bags as Makeshift Rain Hats
A 30 percent chance of rain…hmm. Do you tote around an umbrella (maybe for nothing) or head out sans protection (and risk getting drenched)? Third option: Tuck a plastic bag into your pocket or purse. Then, if you’re caught in a downpour, you can use it as a makeshift rain hat to protect your do.

#5 Plastic Bags for Easy Kitchen Clean-Ups
For no-fuss cleanup, instead of peeling fruits and vegetables over a cutting board or into the sink, do it over a plastic bag. When you’re done, flip the peelings into the garbage and rinse the bag to reuse another day, or simply toss the whole shebang into the trash.

#6 Plastic Bags as Wrapping Paper
No time to make an emergency pre-party run for wrapping paper? Riffle through your bags to find the prettiest and most colorful — or just ones without writing. Triple-bag the gift, then tie all three sets of handles into a knot. Cut the tops of the loops and fan the pieces out to make a plume.

#7 Plastic Bags as Wet Umbrella Holders
To avoid dripping water all over your (or anyone else’s) house on a rainy day, pop your wet umbrella into a bag as you cross the threshold. You can even tie the handles snugly and throw it back into your purse — unless, of course, your bumbershoot is of Mary Poppins proportions but your carpetbag isn’t.

#8 Plastic Bags as Shoe Protectors
It will never be a fashion trend, but tying bags over your shoes can keep you from tracking mud into the house when you come in, or protect slippers from dirt, snow, or rain when you run out to fetch the paper from the front lawn. (Be careful when walking on smooth surfaces, as the plastic won’t give you any traction.)

#9 Plastic Bags as Cookbook Protectors
To keep the cookbook clean while attempting that “easy to follow” seven-layer-cake recipe, wrap a bag around everything but the page you’re using. Although it won’t keep you from (inevitably) spattering the list of ingredients with vanilla extract, the rest of the book, at least, will remain pristine.

#10 Plastic Bags as Planter Fillers
Crumple bags to fill the bottom of a large pot that’s too deep for your plant (but be sure not to cover the drainage hole, if it has one). You can cut down on the amount of potting soil needed, and since plastic packs less heft than dirt, you’ll be able to move a big planter around with a bit less grunting.

For more household-friendly tips, visit www.RealSimple.com.
Article reprinted from RealSimple Magazine, © 2008 Time Inc.

Environmentally friendly design is within your reach. Check out these suggestions:

• SAVE Choose ENERGY STAR products, from light bulbs and kitchen appliances to ceiling fans and dehumidifiers, to help you save energy and help the environment. An added benefit – you could save up to 30% on utility bills.
• REUSE Salvage items large and small that are in good shape and simply could use a face-lift. If you need to get rid of old sinks or appliances, give them to charity or sell them in a yard sale (instead of hauling them to the landfill).
• CONSERVE To conserve water, turn off the tap while brushing your teeth in the morning and at bedtime, which save up to 8 gallons of water per day. It’s also important to promptly fix any drips or leaks; a leaky toilet can waste about 200 gallons of water per day. To conserve energy, establish the habit of turning off the lights when you leave a room.
• RECYCLE Keep a recycling bin in or near your kitchen so that you can easily designate items for recycling.
• COMPOST Suitable kitchen scraps, such as coffee grounds and apple cores, can be made into compost. Composting can reduce household waste and supply organic material for your garden.
• SELECT For your household cleaning, look for naturally derived cleaning supplies, or opt for age-old solutions, such as baking soda and vinegar.
• RENEW Seek out items made from rapidly renewable, sustainably harvested, or recycled materials. Options for flooring include cork and bamboo, as well as recycled or recyclable carpet or linoleum made from natural linseed oil.
• IMAGINE Think about accessible design as a part of green design. You’ll help ensure the longevity of your home and conserve resources that would be spent on changes down the road.

Lowe’s Creative Ideas
September/October 2007