As the Buy Local Challenge is about to begin this Saturday (July 21st), it might be good to reflect on the importance of buying locally grown food. Of course, vegetables and fruits raised and harvested within a few miles of your door tend to be fresher and taste...
Last June, I retired from my job of 32 years and took the summer off to enjoy gardening. As a “foodie” and charter member of Calvert Eats Local, I decided to take the Buy Local Challenge in July. However, I took a radical approach to the Challenge! The Buy Local...
Last week, my wife mentioned that we should go to the North Beach Farmers Market. She reminded me again on Friday when I got home from work, which meant this was something she really wanted to do. I enjoy farmers markets, but it is hard to get me out of the garden on...
Last week, we discussed who will be our new farmers. In short, we concluded that they will be a more diverse group than those retiring. There will be more women. They will operate smaller farms. More will have off-farm employment. Most will not have grown up on a...
Never have we experienced this situation before- a shortage of farmers! In a 1787 letter to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will, in the end, contribute most to real wealth, good morals and...
When I grew up on our family farm in Southern Maryland in the 1950s and 1960’s, a large portion of our food was locally sourced. Our garden supplied vegetables. In the winter months, we ate the surplus goods canned the previous growing season. Most of our protein came...
