Orange County Review inSIDEr, August 25, 2011 in Some vegetable stands do not sell locally watermelons! Seriously, the Chinese are inject- Plant, till, harvest, sell, buy, eat grown produce. They buy it from wholesalers, ing watermelons with some sort of growth sub- and they are not listed in the guide. Wiley stance that makes some of them explode. You says, with these sellers, just ask; they'll tell you will not find one exploding watermelon at The where the produce comes from. And keep an Garden Patch. None of the pork coming out of SIDE eye out for dead giveaways, "products out of Retreat Farm is toxic. You will not get food poi- LOCAL season," such as tomatoes in April. soning from eating Tree and Leaf's leafy greens. There are a lot of enduring reasons to buy Are we self-sufficient locally? Molly Visosky We've seen the bumper fresh, buy local. One of them is travel distance. says we have the potential to be. She started stickers. We've opened our According to the Leopold Center for Sustainable the first locally grown gourmet produce distribu- mailbox to find the Buy Agriulture at Iowa State, locally produced food torship in this area three years ago, known as Fresh, Buy Local annual travels an average of 56 miles before it reaches Fresh Link. The name says it all. She's the link guide. New local pick-your- the consumer. Non locally produced food trav- between producers in Orange, Madison, and own outlets have sprouted els 1,494 miles or 27 times further. Culpeper Counties and more than 50 gourmet well, not like weeds, but you That number might go down if we could chefs in the Washington, D.C. area. get the idea. And thanks to train ourselves to eat seasonally. Take a fresh Her job is a balancing act. "We do the physi- There are about 75 breeding karakul ewes at Retreat Farm. The letters to the editor and the garden salad, for example. Here it is, the cal distribution and sales of the product, and operation supplies several area high end restaurants with meat and depths of August. The tomato belongs in that everything is done in 24 hours." Producers efforts of the Orange produce. Although it is not 'certified' organic, the Gillans practice Downtown Alliance, the organic and sustainable techniques. salad. Maybe the cucumber does too. But the deliver to her at Bending River Farm on lettuce? It got burned up in the first of those Mondays and Thursdays. She trucks and deliv- Saturday morning Orange County Farmer's Market is heat waves two months ago. It's coming from ers their harvest to D.C. restaurants on r God knows where, maybe California. Likewise Tuesdays and Fridays. "We have to be very showing signs of life. An for the tomato; in that same salad this past good at buying and selling. We buy at the same Insider on all of this is way May; the lettuce could have been grown locally, time we sell." overdue. but the tomato came from Florida. And let's The people who buy from her, the gourmet But the first thing we've not even mention apples from New Zealand, chefs (she has one who charges a $165 per per- learned is there's no way we apricots from Spain, bananas from South son prix fixe dinner) are notoriously picky. can feature all of the deserv- America… "They are extremely critical." You can almost ing producers; there're just One of the most frequently heard complaints hear her exasperated eye-roll over the phone. too many of them. We can't at a farmer's market is that locally produced But that is also testimony to the high quality of go down every little farm food costs more than in the supermarket. such Orange County producers as Retreat lane with a hand-painted 5 reasons to buy There are a lot of reasons for this, not the least Farm, Gold Hill Blueberry Farm, The Maples, "Tomatoes 4 sale" sign. It of which is that for the most part, government and Rounton. would take us months. subsidies are geared toward agribusiness and When we talked to Molly in July, she moved Besides, if we tried to list your food locally huge monocultures, not family farms. Keeping 20,000 pounds of tomatoes, a ton of melons, them all, we'd probably miss From the www.buylocalvirginia.org web site the price of mass-produced food artificially low 400-600 pints of blueberries in one week. And one or two. Jim Darnell and his son Zach ham it up at their Caroline Street veg- makes good political sense. Labor costs are all of it had to be top-notch restaurant quality. Local food is fresher and tastes better than food etable stand. Zack gave up a career as a golf pro to become the third higher for small producers who cannot take She even has producers doing specialty prod- Instead, we picked a rep- generation of Darnells in the produce business. resentative three: The shipped long distances from other states or coun- advantage of the economies of scale. ucts, like Paul Gallis with his leeks and beets tries. Local farmers can offer produce varieties bred But at the real heart of the matter is the and hot peppers. As she terms it "This is not an Garden Patch, Retreat Farm and Tree and Leaf Farm. for taste and freshness rather than for shipping and importance that we Americans attach to fresh, exact science. You have to know the personali- long shelf life. Phil Audibert nutritious food. In terms of the portion of our ties of your growers. What is their plan… We One is a traditional vegetable Buying local food keeps your dollars circulating August 25, 2011 disposable income that we set aside for buying are big on the relationship...We want them to stand with roots going back in your community. Getting to know the farmers food, we are the world's cheapskates. be really proud of their food." to 1975 and before. Another who grow your food builds relationships based on According to the USDA, we Americans spend 9 Asked again the are-we-self-sufficient ques- has been here a dozen understanding and trust, the foundation of strong percent of our income on food. Compare that tion, Molly responds, "If we cook at home and years or so and has found its communities. to 11 percent in the United Kingdom, 17 per- didn't eat out every day, could we be sustain- special niche as a CSA, There's never been a more critical time to sup- cent in Japan, 27 percent in South Africa, and able? Yeah. And I think our farmers here could (Community Supported port your farming neighbors. With each local food 53 percent in India. Food, as a percentage of support us. But could they support the large Agriculture), a kind of fresh purchase, you ensure that more of your money By disposable income, is cheapest right here in the cities? No." She pauses a moment and adds, produce club. And, the last is spent on food goes to the farmer. US of A. What do we buy with the other 91 "We could be self-sustaining in our own bubble, Knowing where your food comes from and how a massive undertaking that it is grown or raised enables you to choose safe percent of our money? What's more important? yeah, absolutely." produces fresh veggies year Housing; sure. Clothing; okay. Transportation; We're lucky people. Here in Orange County, food from farmers who avoid or reduce their use of round and sells them in chemicals, pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, or that's a biggie. Medical; hoo boy. if the Great Recession turns into a Greater Washington, DC. All three genetically modified seed in their operations. Entertainment and useless made-in-China gee Depression, if the terrorists pull off another 9- have a different approach to Local food doesn't have to travel far. This gaws; yup, them too. 11, if the oceans rise or a madman pushes the planting, tilling, harvesting, reduces carbon dioxide emissions and packing Speaking of China, how about those food button, we have a better chance than most of Zach Lester and Georgia O'Neal are out early in the morning har- and selling locally grown materials. Buying local food also helps to make vesting before they go to weekend farmer's markets in the related scandals? The tainted milk, the poisio- surviving. Why? Because we can plant, till, har- food. farming more profitable and selling farmland for Washington, D.C. area. nous dog food, the toxic pork, the exploding vest, sell, buy and eat our food locally. development less attractive. Orange County Review inSIDEr, August 25, 2011 Orange County Review inSIDEr, August 25, 2011 The localvore movement has been around this area for quite awhile, but the Frank Gillan brand, Buy Fresh, Buy Local started here explains that just in 2007. Organized nationally by a the Retreat group called Food Routes, individual chap- Farm CSA is ters are tailored to their communities. Jim Darnell like a fresh Around these parts, the Piedmont shows off his food club, Environmental Council administers the pumpkin where patch on his members Zach Lester program. river bottom pay a of Tree and PEC's special projects director, Melissa farm. For monthly fee Leaf Farm Wiley says it started in Charlottesville and some of to come treats his was immediately "embraced with incredible these giant and help soil as if it enthusiasm." Now it has spread to the pumpkins, themselves were a living other counties in PEC's domain, including the seed cost to everything organism.