Supporting your local food system

Supporting a local food system has many different benefits. It helps the local economy and it helps the small local farming communities. Here are a couple of suggestions for helping your local community out.

Try choosing a restaurant that supports locally grown foods. Many people believe that the only way they can eat locally means they have to cook their own food, but this isn't true! There are some restaurants that get all of their ingredients locally. Another way to support the local food system is to look for local brands in stores. The Eat Well Guide (http://www.eatwellguide.org/?) is a good way to look for local grown produce in stores. On the other hand, you could go directly to a farmers market to buy food there.

Lastly, an important point to remember is that buying local food builds up the community. When you or someone else buys produce from a local farmer it establishes a time honored connection between the consumer and producer. The local farmers put a lot of time and effort into their produce and it builds a strong relationship in the community when people know that others care about what they do.