By Ken Phillips
Local food and food sharing is important to GreeningRozzie because buying local supports the local economy, lowers our carbon load from less transportation required, and the food gets to us sooner after it's picked - it's fresher.
Kate Cannery of Needham’s Neighborhood Farms says, “Once you have good food, you’ll never go back.”
Local, sustainably grown food is also more nutritious. According to U. S. Department of Agriculture research reported this year by Mother Earth News, “The commercially grown vegetables, fruits and grains that we eat today are significantly less nutritious than these foods were 100 years ago, or even 30 years ago.”
According to the article, protein concentrations in wheat and barley dropped 30-50% from 1938 to 1990. Calcium content in broccoli dropped 66% from 1950 to 2003. Yields may have increased from “fertilization, irrigation and other environmental means” but the value of the food decreased. Even worse “nutrient declines in processed foods are much deeper and broader than the declines of fresh, whole foods.”
In my experience, food grown locally is completely different from food grown commercially. It seems that commercial food is grown to look good, have a long shelf life, and tolerate more transport. In France and Switzerland, emphasis is on shopping frequently for the freshest local food: fruits, vegetables, grains and meats. Many restaurants feature seasonal food, and emphasize the taste of food grown or raised locally. The changing recipes add variety throughout the year.
There's something very nice about eating locally – consuming what the ground supports for you here and now.
GreeningRozzie board member Kim Patch belongs to a CSA that has been offering locally grown vegetables year-round for the past two years. Some vegetables are stored in the ground and harvested from under the snow, others are stored in greenhouses.
"Some of the winter vegetables taste different - the carrots get sweeter," said Patch. “We also get things like garlic, onions, parsnips, squash, cabbage and kohlrabi year-round,” she said. "A couple hundred years ago eating more locally and knowing what local carrots tasted like in the winter was more commonplace. I like going back to those traditions."
Eating locally is better for the environment, and better for us. It's nice being closer to the real world, said Patch. "You're more connected to the place where you live and the weather and how it connects to your food." It also builds community. "We're in a pickup group with neighbors," said Patch
GreeningRozzie has plans to increase the sense of community through local food potluck parties. We're thinking it would be nice to share thoughts on local food, healthier food and more economical food by having a series of potluck parties where we'll bring food made with local ingredients.
One goal is to figure out how to be more economical in acquiring organic and whole foods like grains. We may, for example, buy a 50 lb sack of organic whole grain and split it up as part of a potluck party. Kate Hebel, UMass Extension volunteer, believes that “potlucks can help diversify your diet by introducing you to new foods and help foster community spirit.”
Barbara Kingsover wrote “Animal Vegetable Mineral” about eating local for a year. Her family had a farm and access to farmers markets. They gave everyone in the family one exception to the local food rule – her husband chose coffee, her daughter chocolate, another daughter dried fruit, and she chose spices. Each also had to find the best source for the exceptions. This story shows that you can source a large percentage of what you eat locally with a little ingenuity.
GreeningRozzie also has an idea for a "tool share." We can share tools relating to all kinds of home activities including gardening and canning. We’d like to see GreeningRozzie help people do as much local food as possible because it's good for people (especially kids) good for the environment, and good for local farmers.
At our next community meeting on Wednesday, July 20, we'll explore what we as a community can do, including planning local food potluck parties where we share ideas, sources, food, and recipes, and explore bulk buying of organic and whole foods and tool sharing. Join us at the Roslindale Community Center at 6:30 to hear local experts on these topics and to contribute your own ideas.
Come to the meeting to help the GreeningRozzie effort to:
Promote and provide information for better family food
Promote purchase of food produced locally
Help everyone grow their own food in yards, porches and balconies and in school, residence and community gardens
Advocate for better city, state and national food policy.
How to get involved:
GreeningRozzie's Monthly Community Meetings, Wednesdays, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Roslindale Community Center
July 20 – Local food potlucks, bulk purchases and tool sharing – Kim Patch
Aug. 17 – Green products: How to have a healthy home – Janet Levatin
GreeningRozzie's information tables at Roslindale Farmers Market, Saturdays, 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m., Adams Park
July 23 - Trees and tree care - Pam Sinotte
Aug. 6 - Green Streets in Roslindale, Liz Carver and New England Climate Action Summer Bike Team
Aug. 13 - Kids health and fitness - Sam Warren
Aug. 27 - Green products - Janet Levatin
Volunteers needed
Media and PR. Volunteers to send announcements about GreeningRozzie events to newspapers, organizations, schools, websites, and other contacts.
Community resources. Volunteers to collect information about resources in Roslindale that support green efforts
Sign up at www.GreeningRozzie.org. For more information, write to Ken@GreeningRozzie.org.
This article first appeared in the Roslindale Transcript.
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