Local Food Is All About Links, and This Post Has Lots of 'Em!

A comment on John Heneghan's blog the other day asked what the effect of a farmers market in Dunwoody would be on our local supermarkets, and this got me thinking yet again about what it takes to build a secure foodshed. Here's my "concentric circles" post about this from FoodShed Planet, plus I found this document illuminating, specifically in relation to the economic impact of farmers markets on local businesess (in short, farmers markets have a documented positive economic impact on area businesses). Specifically in regards to our supermarkets, the farmers market enhances the supermarket offerings since the farmers markets carry locally-grown and produced food and artisan items and the supermarkets have practically none of this but do carry many other items of need. In short, they work together.

However, be forewarned. Federal officials announced on February 20 that they may not be able to provide the agricultural water supply to more than 200 water districts in the Central Valley of California for the upcoming growing season unless drought conditions improve. As reported in the Los Angeles Times:

It marks the first time in 17 years that the Federal Bureau of Reclamation has announced that it does not have enough water to fulfill its agricultural contracts to parts of the Central Valley, including about 3 million acres of farmland typically irrigated by the agency.

Virtually all non-tropical crops are grown in the Central Valley, which is the primary source for a number of food products throughout the United States, including tomatoes, almonds, grapes, cotton, apricots, and asparagus. Four of the top five counties in agricultural sales in the U.S. are in the Central Valley. This means we are most likely going to see either less supply or higher costs at our local supermarkets.

Building a diverse local food supply system is a proven strategy for not only maintaining some control over costs but also ensuring the continuity of our food supply, controlling quality, building local relationships, keeping money circulating close to home, and connecting our children with the people who grow their food.

Here are some ways to do this right now:

Home Gardening: Want a feel for how much you can really grow on a small piece of land? Take a look at Roger Doiron's recent email (pasted below) from a community gardening listserv to which I belong. Roger runs Kitchen Gardeners International and he is the one behind the move for a Victory Garden on the White House lawn (and did you hear that just last week Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack "broke pavement" on the inaugural USDA The People's Garden on the grounds of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)? He plans to put a People's Garden at every USDA site). Most important for you to know? Roger grows all this in Maine.

My wife and I kept track of this last year, weighing every thing that came out of our garden over the course of our growing season. We totaled it up and calculated what it would have cost us to buy the same items using three different sets of prices: conventional grocery store, farmers’ market and organic grocery store (Whole Foods, in our case). The total value came to $2200, $2400, and $2500 respectively. We had about $200 in out-of-pocket costs for seeds and supplies. The costs of our labor are not included because we enjoy gardening and the physical work involved. If I am to include my labor costs, I feel I should also include the costs of the gym membership or country club membership I didn’t have to buy.

Clearly, this data is just for one family (of five), one yard (.3 acre), one garden (roughly 1600 square feet), and one climate (Maine, zone 5b/6), but it gives you some sense of what’s possible. If you consider that there are roughly 90 million households in the US that have some sort of yard, this really could add up. Our savings allowed us to do different things including investing in some weatherization work for our house last fall that is making us a greener household in another way, buying more expensive, yet better quality meat from a local farmer, etc.

If you really want to play around with the data, you can calculate how much a home garden like ours produces on a per acre basis. If you use the $2400 figure and consider that our garden is roughly 1/25th of an acre, then it means that home gardens like ours can gross $60,000/acre. You can also calculate it on a square foot basis which in our case works out to be roughly $1.50/ft2. That would mean that a smaller garden of say 400ft2 would produce $600 of produce. Keep in mind that these are averages and that certain crops are more profitable and space efficient than others. A small garden planted primarily with salad greens and trellised tomatoes, for example, is going to produce more economic value per square foot more than one planted with potatoes and squash. We plant a bit of everything because that’s the way we like to garden and eat.

Ready to dig in? Oakhurst Community Garden has seasonally-appropriate organic transplants for sale right now. If you have not been to this place yet, you are in for a treat. Walk around, check it out, and imagine something like that here in Dunwoody someday. Also, I love the fact that you simply leave your cash or check in a box. That's the kind of community place it is.

Also, if you like to plant from seed, check out Seeds of Change and Seedsavers Exchange. The farmers seem to really like Johnny's and High Mowing Seeds as well. The best planting guide specifically for Atlanta is available for free at Hastings Garden Center in Brookhaven (it's a one-page list of crops and planting dates for spring, summer and fall). I'll see if they will let me post a PDF of it.

Community Gardening: These are sprouting up all over the Atlanta metro region. I'll be visiting some more soon (Berkeley Lake, Buckhead, and some affiliated with the Atlanta Community Food Bank) and will report back to you on them. In the meantime, don't miss the beautiful veggie garden at Temple Emanuel on Spalding Drive. Thinking of suggesting a community garden here in Dunwoody? Check out these ten tips to getting started from the American Community Gardening Association.

CSAs: That stands for the awkward name Community Supported Agriculture and it means you pay up front to a farmer and then get a box of fresh produce every week. Data collected in 2007 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture indicates that 12,549 farms in the United States reported marketing products through a CSA arrangement. I have participated for the last seven years and it has changed my life in more ways than I can tell you. It is, frankly, how I got so involved with all this sustainability stuff.

CSAs near us include Riverview Farms (Peachtree Corners, Morningside), TaylOrganics (Chamblee, Buckhead), Cane Creek Farm (Alpharetta, Cumming), and Moore Farms and Friends (Sandy Springs, Buckhead). Riverview used to deliver at Parsley's Catering but Parsley's has moved to Marietta so the only CSA deliveries in Dunwoody are through our farmers market, which offers a weekly box of assorted items from the participating vendors. (Here's a FoodShed Planet post about the CSA-focused documentary Growing Awareness.)

Farmers Markets: Interested in finding out more about our farmers market (previously named the Spruill Farmers Market) and the people who have been growing our food for the last five years? See here for market standards and here for the faces of our farmers and other local food providers. Interested in keeping this farmers market in Dunwoody? Please let your council members know. We are currently trying to make it legal in our new City of Dunwoody for there to be a farmers market. Current zoning does not allow it. If need be, we can travel to communities that do allow farmers markets, including Norcross (new this year!), Roswell, Alpharetta and Buckhead, and of course the mother of them all, Morningside, but having one (or more!) right here in our city is a true asset.

Classes: The first class in the new Sustainable Living series is being offered at the Dunwoody Nature Center Saturday, March 28 from 10 AM-noon. Titled The Sustainable Pantry, it is being taught by my good friend Robin from Sustainable Peachtree Corners and I am sure it is going to be fantastic. Here's the class description:

What's in YOUR pantry? Fill it with foods that are good for you and good for the earth. Eat what's in season and locally available; plan ahead for last-minute meals and hard-to-find items. Robin Montri Fosdick, founder of the Sustainable Peachtree Corners website website, will lead this class for anyone interested in living the "green life" from the pantry out. Robin is a member of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful, and Georgia Organics. She helps to coordinate the Peachtree Corners CSA (community supported agriculture) program and is an active member of the Norcross Freecycle Group.

The Dunwoody Nature Center is also offering square foot gardening and chicken-keeping classes. Also, see the Oakhurst Garden's always-excellent lineup of classes.

Additional local foodshed sources include Local Harvest and The Eat Well Guide. Also, I know The 48th Street Market right here in Dunwoody buys some produce from a local farm. 5 Seasons Brewing Company (Sandy Springs, Alpharetta) and World Peace Cafe (Sandy Springs) are big supporters of local farms as well.

If you haven't been involved in the local food movement yet, it's a whole other world, right here at home. Welcome.