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Eat Local: The “eat local” concept is catching on. Taste, nutritional value, freshness and strengthening the economy are important factors. By Tom Geddie, County Line Magazine, June 2009 Anyone who truly wants to be a “locavore” doesn’t really have to learn a new language, but picking up a few words and phrases can help. A locavore is, simply, someone who chooses to eat locally grown and raised food when it’s available, rather than something that’s been shipped in from a warehouse elsewhere. The term comes from combining “local” and “omnivore.” The “eat local” concept is catching on for a lot of reasons, including taste and freshness, strengthening the local economy, supporting an American tradition of family farms, battling the growing expense of transporting food long distances, and other benefits. As past president of the Texas Organic Farm and Garden Association, local food movement “guru” Brad Stufflebeam said local food has a bigger impact than even organic food. It comes down to freshness and health. “Local food impacts in lot of different ways: nutrition, taste, health, the environment, the local economy, long-term investments for communities, food with a conscience,” said Brad, who operates Home Sweet Farm with his family near Brenham. “Part of the bigger impact is that local farmers are local businesses, so buying local is good for the local economy and the environment. People with small farms tend to manage land more responsibly, which enriches the community. The community has the opportunity to experience agriculture through farmers’ markets or pick-your-own places.” The “buy local” idea goes back centuries, of course, when that was what everybody did. About 50 or so years ago, the concept began to change. “With old-timers in my neck of the woods, I explain it as truck farming and their eyes light up because they remember that,” he said. “East Texas was one of the breadbaskets of Texas because of sweet potatoes and onions and melons and peaches and all of that. Then Tyler and Longview and Mineola and all of those areas were connected by railroads and began shipping produce into the Metroplex. Over the last 50 years, many small farmers slowly disappeared as they were encouraged to get big or get out. That put a lot of people out of business. “Now more people are returning to the land with this kinda romantic idea of retiring to a farm, but not realizing how much work it is. We are seeing a growing trend of small farms and ranches which we desperately need in Texas.” Local and nutritionally dense are the new buzzwords, Brad said. “Local food is picked when it’s ripe and fresh, and is sold anywhere from four to 12 hours after it’s picked. Compare that to produce that comes from other parts of the country or other countries, passing through different hands and refrigeration units and trucks. Anyone that knows what a fresh tomato tastes like compared to one bought in a grocery store, you can taste the nutrition.” When it comes to local produce, meat, and other products, word of mouth is common. Many local farmers’ markets and produce stands offer local product; many also supplement those offerings with “imports” to satisfy customer demand. The best way to know if something is local – besides picking it yourself – is to ask. At Falster Farms between Winnsboro and Quitman, Karl and Nancy Falster focus on miniature Herefords cattle, pasture-raised poultry and eggs, and non-certified organic peppers, melons, berries, tomatoes, beans, squash, cucumbers, and fresh cut flowers. The “miniature” Herefords are actually about the same size – 900 to 1,100 pounds for the bulls, 400-700 pounds for the females – as the ones imported from England before growth hormones were introduced to this and other breeds. “In all the old black-and-white movies, you see the horses are taller than the cows, and they used Herefords back in those days,” Nancy said. “The industry calls them miniature. The ‘classic’ size is a little bigger, and the ‘standard’ of today is giant – maybe 2,300 pounds for the giant bulls and 1,600 pounds for the females.” Including a couple of Jerseys and hybrids, the Falsters have 55 cattle at last count on 56 acres plus another 10-20 rented acres from time to time. “We enjoy the Hereford characteristics,” she said. “They are docile, breed easily, deliver calves easy when put out in pasture, and get fat on grass. They are also great beef cattle and can be milked.” Nancy used to own a Curves health center and Karl was a regional financial manager for GE Financial Services; earlier, he first got involved in organic farming in the 1970s and worked in landscape gardening before the GE stint. Their motto is “Raising Food Fit to Eat,” and they want to be sure people know where the food they eat comes from. “Food starts with the dirt that grows the grass that the animals eat, and the dirt we place our seeds in for us to eat. It’s from the dirt up,” Nancy said. “We have to make sure it has not been chemically abused.” Another word is “biodynamic.” “That’s Organic with a capital O. We bought a wonderful old farm that had been chemically abused by people who were doing what they thought was best, using chemical fertilizer year after year,” she said. “That won’t allow the soil to rebuild itself. The chemicals artificially stimulate, but kill off everything else. We use the products of the soil such as manure from cows and plants that grow on the land, changing the structure through decomposition and putting nutrients back into the soil.” The Falsters also conduct farm tours, and are launching cooking classes including a summer “Kids in the Kitchen” class. They are chapter leaders in the Weston A. Price Foundation that teaches – or re-teaches, as Nancy says – people about “nutritionally dense” food. “That’s probably our biggest concern with people who come here to the farm. Nationally, we eat dead food in the standard American diet (SAD),” she said. “I teach cooking classes at the farm for nutritionally dense food – taking food and increasing nutritional value by the way it’s prepared.” Although many local restaurants buy their food from commercial dealers, some mix in local produce, too. Again, the best way to know is to ask, which helps encourage owners to buy local when they can. Edom Marketplace just west of downtown Edom is an example of the places that use mostly local, fresh foods and supplement with outside purchases when necessary. In fact, the restaurant got its start as an outlet for Walker Farms, which was established in 1980 has been selling wholesale at farmers’ markets in Dallas and Houston since 1988. Opening in 2004, the marketplace has expanded into a full-service home cooking restaurant that doubles as a small grocery store and deli. The store carries a variety of fresh vegetables and fruits. “We try during the growing season to have what people are looking for – watermelons, cantaloupes, fresh squash, fresh peas, corn, tomatoes, and more,” said Laura Walker. “When ours is gone, we bring in produce from other areas.” Edom Marketplace also buys from other local farmers and, if it can’t get something in season, will pick it up at Farmer’s Market in Dallas. “You can’t have everything all the time. One week you might not have any squash coming off, so you have to buy it.” Chef Justin Boswell in Athens creates special dinners using locally grown and raised products, having catered events for Tara Winery, Image Warehouse, the East Texas Arboretum, and for small parties and special events. Recently returned to the area after culinary stints in Austin, Berkley, and Boulder, he hunts out local cheeses, eggs, breads, meats, honey, and other products that he and his father don’t grow themselves, turning them into multi-course events. “I’m more or less a private chef,” he said. “I’m trying to do something a little different and to work with local farmers as much as possible. “The last restaurant I worked in, in Austin, we worked with lots of locally produced ingredients, too. I just like cooking fresh and clean. When you get pristine ingredients, you don’t have to add a whole lot to them.” In Ben Wheeler, local residents are taking an active role in the buy-local concept. It’s a move that Brad Stufflebeam cites as a good example. Brad has already heard about what’s going on in the small Van Zandt County community. Ben Wheeler Development Company is restoring and redeveloping much of the once-thriving community. “Some of these little towns no longer exist because they used to be agricultural communities,” Brad said. “Ben Wheeler was almost one of them, but what they are doing there is so encouraging. We can get the growers to work together, and there are opportunities like that all over Texas.” Ben Wheeler plans an opening in July for the Moore’s Store music venue and restaurant with an assortment of sandwiches, shredded pot roast on sourdough rolls, and more with made-from-scratch ingredients. Following that opening will be The Forge in Ben Wheeler, a family-friendly bistro with pizzas, Texas cheeses, fruit plates, and more, and a little further down the line the hoped-for Happy Trails southern food/home cooking place on Hwy. 64. An important part of each project is a five-acre garden near downtown that will be both a co-op and a source for a 1,000-square-foot specialty grocery store downtown that features neighborhood-grown and other local produce alongside more ordinary offerings. Mike Loggins, who works with Ben Wheeler Development Company, said a typical local food movement fits within a 200-mile or so seasonal radius. “Most markets recognize there is diversity within a couple of hundred mile radius,” he said. “Shipping is greatly diminished, and freshness is enhanced.” The development company is hiring a family to operate the farm as a CSA (community-supported agriculture), and is looking for 50 or so local families to subscribe seasonally. For about $600 per season, each subscriber gets several grocery bags full of produce that’s harvested twice a week during season. Farm eggs, butter, and cheeses are extra. “This is a pre-1940 model that most old-timers aren’t even familiar with,” Mike said. “It involves growing everything you possibly can locally, such as summer okra, tomatoes, yellow squash, hard squashes, peppers of all types, and cool season crops such as beets, collard greens, mustard greens, radishes, kohlrabi, radicchios, spring greens, and more.” Mike said the farm will be a year-round “living and breathing organism with chickens, ducks, geese, and a whole beautiful full circle of a working, breathing, and living farm – not something you go dump a ton of chemicals on and grow one thing.” Also in the works once the grocery store opens is a twice-a-month farmers market for local produce, products, and entertainment. “It’s integrated into the full circle,” Mike said. “You don’t separate food from community. It’s a place for people to come and have a good time. New Orleans, for example, is a destination place that you can’t separate from its food. “The grocery store and market will create a hub for fresh goat cheese that was produced 20 minutes away on a local farm, as well as a bag of Doritos or Fritos,” Mike said. “You can get your everyday stuff plus local fresh vegetables and meats.” Mike said nothing can stop the local food movement. “Once people have tasted fresh vegetables and can get them at the same price as something that sits in a warehouse or a truck, there’s no stopping it,” he said.
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