In addition to Whole Foods, there are several other small grocery chains that buy from local sources - Sun Harvest, Sunflower Markets, Sprouts, and there are more I'm sure. Also, I see our "regular" grocery store carry some local items from time to time. It's always better to buy direct from the farmer at the Farmer's Market though. Whole Foods pays a pittance compared to what the farmer can make selling the same item to you directly. I have a friend who sells to the Flagship Whole Foods here in Austin and she says the only reason she sells to them is so she gets her name out there, in hopes that people will come to her market days at her farm. She makes next to nothing from Whole Foods. I think the best way to see more local produce (and other products) in our stores is to ASK, ASK and ASK for it some more! Walk up to the Produce guy and say "What do you have that is locally grown?" If we all do this often enough, eventually they'll get the idea. This also applies to restaurants. I do it all the time (although I get some weird looks sometimes). I think I'm fortunate that we have quite a few eateries in the Austin area that buy local for some/all of their ingredients. There are some that even have their own gardens, either on-site or not. Wouldn't it be nice if they all did? I would rather buy a non-organic piece of produce from the Farmers Market than an organic piece that had been shipped 1500 miles to my community. It's fresher, more nutritious, and tastes oh, so much better. It's been grown for flavor, not for shipping. Lori
--- On Thu, 2/26/09, Diana Liu <[email protected]> wrote: From: Diana Liu <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Community_garden] Selling organic produce To: "Elizabeth Leipold" <[email protected]>, [email protected], "Mike McGrath" <[email protected]> Date: Thursday, February 26, 2009, 10:54 AM All of these labellings are confusing to me. As a consumer, I like to support our local farmers, community gardens (some areas have regs that CG can't make profit from the produce) and local food growers and distributors. Therefore, I get most of my fruit and veggies from Farmer's Market. They just taste so much better and so fresh. I've bought veggies and fruits that are labeled USDA certified organic, but they are grown in South America, Asia and other countries hundreds and thousands of miles away. Honestly, even though they are labeled organic, they just don't taste the same as the ones that I get from our local farmer's market. I am wondering, other than farmer's market, are there examples where grocery stores or supermarkets get their produce from local producers? I know there is Whole Food. However, their prices are much higher than the Farmer's Market. Well, they do have to make a profit, since they have employees, and a permanent store. I guess. However, so do the producers. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love. - Lao Tzu “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” - Winston Churchill ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20090226/6f8b7c40/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org
