local foods

California is stepping up its production of olive oil and Americans should consider purchasing their oil a little closer to home.

Every year there are 1.2 million acres of farmland lost in America, mostly those that are closest to population centers. Farmland is one of America's greatest national treasures. The American Farmland Trust works to preserve these lands...the land that sustains us all. Please check out their site, and maybe get yourself a bumper sticker or environmentally friendly tote bag for your next trip to the Farmers' Market.

The article will be geared towards answering the following two questions: does buying locally promote green lifestyle and most importantly, will it save me money over buying produce from the grocery store?

Wild greens are everywhere. They don’t need you to water them, and they grow like crazy in most man-made environments. Many of the plants that are now considered weeds were once food and medicine for us. They can still feed and heal us, but we gotta get over that weed vs. food idea.

The first step is just to notice that greens are growing everywhere, free for the taking.

Walmart just so happens to be one of those companies. Yesterday, the retail giant announced that they would continue their commitment to establishing relationships with local farmers in order to source more fresh fruits and vegetables to stores across the country. By attempting to buy as much produce as possible from within the state where it will eventually be sold, Walmart reduces the amount of ‘food miles’ they rack up by millions every year.

So much money is wasted on food. Keep it simple. Keep it local. Keep it cheap.

The idea is simple and based upon the problem that most of the fruit that makes it into our grocery stores is transported great distances (1,000+ miles on average). All this energy, while a large percentage of fruit in people’s backyard simply goes to waste because most homeowners lack the time and interest to properly share or store this food.

Meals with fresh meat, milk, eggs, artisanal breads and cheeses, grain, fruits and vegetables prepared using locally grown or produced ingredients use from four to seventeen times less petroleum to transport than one compiled from the typical grocery store.

What does it mean when the way we build our cities makes it impossible to live sustainably?

The Flexitarian Table's Peter Berley discusses the many challenges of creating a local menu for a New York City-based restaurant.

Local food systems have been left to languish for decades and now serve us much more poorly than they could. The challenges are forces for change.

Chef, author and Flexitarian Peter Berley blogs about recovering enough of our land, waters and natural resources to bring about a viable local economy.