The Economic Crisis and Small Farms

I've written many times about the importance of supporting small farms and local food. I have also written about how, local food being more expensive, it can be difficult to do this. I know there's been a lot of local food hype, which is good. But I have mixed feelings about it. For one, this movement has been touted in such a way that it has become elitist and "fashionable" to eat local. I despise that idea because this alienates not only the people who would love to eat local, healthy food but cannot because our society is rigged to favor a healthier upper class and an unhealthy lower class, but it also alienates the farmers who produce the food. Lest ye forget, most farmers can only eat local because they're the ones producing the food. As for the family I have been working for, we eat local cheese and milk (because that's what we produce), but as for local veggies it's a lot spottier. In other words, what we can trade for we get locally, but everything else comes from the supermarket.

I am still going to talk about how important it is to buy local because it is important. Buying local is important because it supports small farmers, the local economy, and usually organic or sustainable practices. Farmers who grow or produce for a local market are heavily invested in the community and so will usually try to hold themselves to a higher standard than conventional farmers who are not at all transparent to their buyers. In other words, local farmers have glass walls, and if something funky is going on, the community is going to know about it.

Another advantage of the local system is that it supports community in a social sense. Humans are social, even though I know many people who think it's cool to sit in front of their tele for hours on end without exercising their social muscles. Farmers markets allow us to interact with all sorts of people, see friends, talk about everything from politics to potatoes, and ask important questions of our farmers that we should be asking of our government and agribiz as well but cannot because those organizations aren't social ones. Thus, a move from the antisocial to the social is a needed change.

I still think local is better even as the economy worsens, and I think we should try to make room in our tightening budgets for some local food, even if we have to cut back overall. I will be traveling to France in only a couple of weeks (aahhh!) and I plan to shop the heck out of the local market there. I realize it is much easier to buy local for one as opposed to a family of hungry children. Even so, it's important. Prioritize. For me this has meant I don't buy fruit--I have learned, much to my chagrin, that fruit is more expensive than most other things at the store. It is also problematic, as many fruits are not grown or harvested sustainably or with regard to the workers who cultivate it. I just go without. In spite of the ever-helpful USDA recommendations to eat such-and-such number of servings of fruit per day, I personally believe that you can get all your nutrients from veggies, whole grains,and whatever source of protein you prefer. As much as I love bananas I decided to give them up. Don't need 'em.

Another money-waster is most boxed cereals. No nutrients, waaay too much sugar, and super-expensive. Most store-bought granolas are pretty worthless too. Make some homemade granola, which can be tailored to your tastes and budget, or try muesli--a mixture of oats and dried fruit that you don't bake at all. In general, I would advise you to lose all the processed foods altogether. You don't need them, trust me. Your poor little tummy and dulled tastebuds will thank you.

I will end with a shout-out to my fellow coffee, tea, and chocolate-lovers. If you live in the states, you probably can't get local coffee or tea or chocolate. This is unfortunate. I would suggest not giving them up altogether but cutting back and purchasing fair trade, organic varieties. This is more expensive, but in my mind there is no justification for the mistreatment and underpayment of laborers on these plantations as well as the destruction of the planet. Again, less is more. It really is. Promise.

Local Food (times two)

This weekend was the Farm and Garden Tour, where farms in the Asheville area have open houses all on the same weekend. Great idea, really. Consolidate everyone's open house so that it's well publicized and people are more likely to visit. However, this makes it pretty chaotic, as you might imagine. Saturday, for example, I woke up at 4:30 to get ready for the North Asheville market, which is one of the busiest markets. I set up at around 6:30. By 11:30 I had sold every last bit of cheese except for a few containers of ricotta and some plain chevre. Keep in mind that I probably take over 200 lbs of cheese to market with me. Needless to say, I beat the all-time market sales record (and bragged about it quite a bit--we're competitive). Cullen held the record previously, and so he said it was just because I'm a girl and have sex appeal. I told him to go to hell.



Anyways, after market I had to go back to the farm to help set up for the farm tour. Since we practically sold all the cheeses we'd taken to market, we had very little soft cheese. I tubbed up some chevre, but not nearly enough, so we had to pasteurize again in the midst of explaining the cheese kitchen to people. It was hectic. I think we were finished at around 7:30, but I really have no clue. It was amazing to see how many people visited the farm. I was tremendously encouraged by it, actually. People are genuinely interested in where their food is coming from. They're asking questions, listening, and supporting local farmers. It's really a sight to behold. What encourages me even more is that I have a lot of people who buy cheese from me who I suspect can't easily afford it. They're placing quality over quantity, and the intimate experience of market-going over the sterility of the grocery store. I wish out cheese was more affordable to more people (although I am told that compared to a lot of places in the US our cheese goes cheap), but in truth, we really can't lower the prices due to the rising cost of grain products. As more farmers grow corn and soybeans for biodiesel, sources of grain and hay are becoming more scarce, and so the price of the grain that we feed our goats has risen 50% within the past few months. We raised the price of the cheese 50 cents to try to compensate a little, but as gas is more and more expensive as well, you can imagine that costs often outweigh income. We love what we do, and so we deal with it, but we're not (as most organic farmers are not) raising prices to get fat off our income. We're dealing with a system that isn't conducive to the survival of small farmers.



I read a great article recently about why organic food tends to be more expensive. One example of why is that, if a farmer wants to buy organic compost, they will most likely have to order it from far away unless they live somewhere like California, and so they will have to order a huge quantity--more than they can use alone. So they might have to go in with several other farmers and do the legwork themselves. For producers of organic meat--unless the farmer has his or her own slaughterhouse, they have to take their meat to a butcher, and for their meat to still be considered organic after processing the facility has to be completely cleaned, which entails another fee and probably the use of some serious chemicals to clean the equipment. There are few facilities exclusively dedicated to processing organic meats. Then, there's the price of gas, which is almost unavoidable unless you have equipment for making your own biodiesel and vehicles that can run on it. So, in short, it's a conundrum. I'd like to think that there will be, in the near future, a farm bill that will support small farms and local food, but prospects look grim.



That brings me to another thought about local food. Is it really possible to support an entire community with food? I live in Asheville--pop. 68,889. There are few farms in Asheville since it's a fairly urban and suburban area which is losing more and more of it's beautiful land to developers and gated communities. There are lots of farms in neighboring counties and further out away from the city, but judging from the way vendors at Asheville markets get cleaned out on Saturdays, I seriously doubt that local farmers can sustain the city. It's time we thought of something more hands-on and personal--the victory garden. Sharon over at Causaubon's Book talks about this fairly frequently, but I think I should reiterate. We can rely on others for some of our food. For example, we can't all raise enough wheat to support ourselves. But we cannot expect local food to save our souls. We have to take some initiative as individuals. Yes, support local farmers, but grow some tomatoes in your backyard. If you don't have a backyard, grow veggies in containers, buckets, old boots even. Start your own little garden, screw up, learn from your mistakes, and over time you will improve.

I heard several people talking about how they used to buy shares of a cow, and that's how they obtained their milk--local, raw, clean, and safe. We had people asking us if they could buy raw milk from us (which is illegal in our case, since we aren't licensed to sell milk at all; and technically we need all of our milk for cheesemaking anyway), and it made me think--what if the state supported this sort of local endeavor? What if the state invested in some dairy cows for interested communities and sold shares of the cows through local farmers? Great idea, no? But again, you're dealing with a nation that does not (yet) value local initiatives as much as large scale operations. But I think that with a little people power we might make a slow shift in this ideology. That's my hope. And then, you never know--the government could surprise me. I've been wrong before.

10 Commandments for Market-Goers

I've worked many a farmer's market at this point. Rainy ones, cold ones, blistering ones, perfect ones, slow ones...you name it, and I've been there, smiling or at least trying to. This list is a sort of etiquette for market shoppers based upon what I have experienced at market. Believe me, we want your support and we'll put up with a lot, but the customer is not always right. We work hard to bring you fresh, local, sustainable goods at a fair (not necessarily cheap) price, and so I think there are a few rules that the shopper should follow just for courtesy's sake.

1.) Smile. That's it, come on...it can't be that bad. We smile back. You're at a farmer's market for god's sake, not a Harris Teeter. It's okay to smile. We like you, we really do, when you smile at us. It makes being on your feet for hours in all weather more bearable.

2.) We have samples out for a reason. We want you to taste to decide which flavor, which cheese, you like the best, and then we do want you to buy from us on occasion. Tasting every flavor and then walking away without so much as a thank you is not okay. Samples do cost us money.

3.) Restrain your children. It's wonderful that you bring them to market with you. They need that experience. But they should also be taught that samples are just that--samples, not snacks.

4.) Don't get high and come to the market broke but with the munchies. It's obnoxious.

5.) We do want to talk to you. We like it when you ask questions and give us feedback. But it's a little awkward for us when you start talking, unprovoked, about your skin condition.

6.) We know times are hard, and we know that you might be paying more for farmstead goat cheese than Kraft singles, but our prices are higher than big brands for a reason. When you ask us to lower our prices, it's offensive. We have goats to feed, gas to buy, repairs to make, electricity bills to pay, and lots and lots of other small expenses that really add up. Be assured that you are paying a fair price. We're not getting fat off your cash.

7.) Be kind. We've been up since 5 a.m.

8.) Be aware of other shoppers. If we're busy, we're not ignoring you. We can only do so many things at one time.

9.) We like talking about our products--don't hesitate to ask questions, from the specific to the general.

10.) Bring your own bag (0r basket). It'll be easier for the both of us and better for the environment.

There are more, I'm sure, but this is just a start. We need each other, so let's cooperate.