uvlocalvores : field notes

Great news to report! Jim Geer, of Great River Farm in Windsor VT, has delivered a supply of his organic whole wheat bread flour, organic pastry flour and organic corn meal to the Upper Valley Food Co-op which will be selling it in the bulk department. I am so happy to have an on-going local supply and grateful to Jim for making this happen. Those who have used his “Zorro” bread flour have spoken about how easily it rises and what an excellent bread it makes. This is a giant step for Upper Valley Localvores! -Pat

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Hello to all Upper Valley localvores,

I came upon an excellent article by Wendell Berry in the archives of Orion magazine, “The Idea of a Local Economy”:

[M]ost people in our country… have given proxies to the corporations to produce and provide all of their food, clothing and shelter. Moreover, they are rapidly giving proxies to corporations or governments to provide entertainment, education, child care, care of the sick and the elderly, and many other kinds of “service” that once were carried on informally and inexpensively by individuals or households or communities. Our major economic practice, in short, is to delegate the practice to others. . . The “environmental crisis,” in fact, can be solved only if people individually and in their communities, recover responsibility for their thoughtlessly given proxies. If people begin the effort to take back into their own power a significant portion of their economic responsibility, then their inevitable first discovery is that the “environmental crisis” is no such thing; it is not a crisis of our environs or surroundings; it is a crisis of our lives as individuals, as family members, as community members, and as citizens. We have an “environmental crisis” because we have consented to an economy in which by eating, drinking, working, resting, traveling and enjoying ourselves we are destroying the natural, the god-given world.

Our passive consumerism has given power to transnational corporations to run our lives… at great cost to the environment and to society.

A light went on in my head and highlighted for me all the “active” entertainment that is available locally: contra dances, community choruses, church suppers and potlucks, bridge clubs, music-making groups, sports teams, hiking and bird-watching groups, Scrabble games, poker nights, book clubs, play-reading groups… all of which have so much more potential for feeding our hearts and souls than a night of watching commercials and CSI or Law and Order!

For me, this puts a new spin on Valley Food and Farm’s fundraiser “Feast in the Field” which is happening on September 9th. Not only is this a fundraiser for VF&F but it is also an opportunity for Upper Valley folks to come together, enjoy local food, local musicians and local conversation. What would you think of putting together at least one table of Localvores for this event? Cindy Heath, Jenna Dixon and I are already planning to be there. Anyone else want to join us?

-Pat

Feast in the Field
At Cedar Circle Farm in East Thetford, Vermont
Saturday, September 9, 2006 from 6 to 9pm

A LOCALLY GROWN FEAST
AND DANCING UNDER THE STARS
$35 PER PERSON
KID’S DINNER AND ACTIVITIES $10/CHILD
Valley Food & Farm
Local Farms - Healthy Communities

more information:
sharyna@valley.net or call 802-291-9100 x103 www.vitalcommunities.org

Buy tickets at: Norwich Bookstore, Three Tomatoes Trattoria, Vital Communities, Cedar Circle Farm

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