So disappointed in "local" produce!!

[bullyforme]

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I always try and buy produce from as local as possible. Thus, if I were in Canada, I would buy Canadian produce. This is because of the whole fuel issue (think globally, in the case of food; buying American when in a different country would be detrimental to the environment). How far did it have to travel to get to your plate? Also, produce that is grown locally will be fresher and tastier.

 

[Peaches Lee]

Yes it is shocking isn't it? I read a sign in Organic Gardening that said "We only sell what we grow". We think that is a great motto for our produce stand here at our farm.

 

[SallyF]

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One of the things we found disappointing when we first moved to Charleston in '82 was that there was no such thing as a local seafood restaurant (short of Bowen's Island, of course). Soon made friends who went shrimping and found that there is good seafood in Charleston, you just couldn't find it in a restaurant!

 

[calicokat]

We discovered this exact problem at our local farm stand. It was the Kiwi (in the middle of Indiana) that tipped us off and made DH start asking questions

 

[hencackle]

Some of the farmers markets require all their vendors' produce, meats, and crafts be homegrown or made themselves; some don't. Many of the people that set up on the side of the road are selling produce they bought elsewhere and I think they should specify that on a sign somehow. At least the ones around here that sell peaches say, "SC Peaches" on their signs.

It's hard to beat a good BLT!!!

 

[Beth G.]

I have an organic farm and raise the poultry of course. But, I also run a farmstand for a friend here in CT. We sell both local and non-local items. We also tell our customers where every piece of veg/fruit/herb/etc comes from. We first open up in June and sell our strawberries. Then when the greens and early stuff comes in we add that. We also sell USA Products from the east coast. But, we always disclose where it's from. Right now we are all CT items except 2-3 things but, we still have customers that prefer our stuff to supermarkets b/c my friend will only buy Top Notch Produce if he is selling it.

Sorry you all are having a bad growing year. We here in CT have a bit of a dry spell but, we have plenty of rivers, streams, ponds, and lakes to irrigate with.

 

[misterhandsome]

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Canadians and Americans live in really, really big countries. A Canadian in Vancouver is better off buying Washington veg than Ontario veg, and someone in Vermont is better off buying from Quebec's Eastern Townships than from Oklahoma...much, much closer. Same can be said for any of the border states and provinces. Political boundaries are not the same as geographic or food shed boundaries.

I live in Eastern Ontario, which is a garden basket this time of year, and produces great natural meats all year round. Sadly, the chain grocery stores import pretty much everything and distribute it out of central locations. Because of importing in bulk from cheap producers people have come to expect cheap food, much of which is thrown in the garbage.

For these reasons I grow my own veg in summer, freeze lots and make preserves, raise meat and egg birds, have our catch limit of fish in the freezer, and get pork and beef from local farmers. For lunch we had a delicious salad of veg from my garden, Ontario cheese, flank steak from a local producer that we smoked ourselves, and bread made from Northern Ontario wheat. Washed down with homemade red wine because we're on vacation and we had to celebrate insulating the coop ceiling somehow!

I'm not dogmatic about it, but the more we can do to limit reliance on fossil fuels the better off we all are.

 

[bullyforme]

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[dainerra]

I'd say 80% of the produce at our local farmer's market is "commercial" They go to warehouses and buy large quantities and hit all the area farmer's markets.

 

[snewman]

I would be less upset about the fact that these tomatoes came from Canada, as we are relatively close to Canada, than the fact that they were not grown in dirt, but in a hothouse. And they taste like it. I guess I can't say that the farm stand was being dishonest, because if they really wanted to pull the wool over peoples' eyes they would have removed the stickers. But they sure weren't advertising it! I do believe that painted on the side of the stand it says "Home Grown Produce". Just that "home" is, to them, a VERY ambiguous word.