How to Add More Organic Local Foods In Your Life: 10 Tips

Yesterday, I showed you  how local organic food makes a difference in my life, my wallet, and in the health of the planet. The day before, I shared the five-course locavore feast I made, where the only nonlocal main ingredient I used was rice. Today, we wrap up this series with 10 specific ways you can get more local and organic food into your life—even if you live in a big-city apartment: Grow Your Own:

• Grow herbs and dwarf tomatoes on a sunny windowsill
• Set up a vertical garden—if you have about three square feet of space, you can buy a plastic tower for hydroponic gardening, and it’s amazing how much food you can get from this
• Get a plot at a local community garden (or organize your neighbors to convert a vacant lot from an eyesore into a bountiful community-building enterprise)
• Grow potted or raised-bed food plants on your balcony, terrace, or fire escape (as long as you don’t block the exit pathways)—and investigate whether your roof is suitable for a garden
• Find a friend in the neighborhood who has a yard, and who will let you garden there for a portion of the harvest
• Make friends with a gardener who will give you some of the harvest in exchange for your labor

Buy From Farmers:

• Join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) membership farm that delivers to your city
• Patronize farmers markets and roadside farmstands
• Patronize farm-to-table restaurants that source from local farmers
• Vacation at homestay farms or farm-to-table B&Bs

All this is possible even in the largest cities. Watch the movie, “No Impact Man” (or read the book) to see how one Manhattan family switched to 100% locavore eating. (Link goes to my blog about the movie.) Enjoy!