You don’t have to think about Genetically Modified food if you eat food from the local farmers and local farmer’s market. Start by taking that step to find your local farmers market this spring and take action. Be good to your body, it is the only one you get this life time.
Back when I was growing up on 20+ acres in Northeast Ohio, I would never have dreamed that being a farmer would someday be cool. That day is here.
Farmville on Facebook now boasts more than 81 million “farmers”, and growing every day. This means more people are virtual farmers than real farmers.
Farmville is a place where the sun always shines, there’s no manure, no messy slaughterhouse, your perfect crops mature in a few hours to a couple of days, and if you get busy with your real life or job and forget to harvest in time, you can simply spray your crops with magical “unwither” and voila, they’re fresh and productive again.
We all know this is anything but the real world of farming.
What is real today is consumer demand to buy local. There are a record number of farmers’ markets in the state of Maryland this year and not enough farmers to go around, although more recreational farmers are popping up every day.
If you’ve ever been to the North Beach Friday Night Farmers’ Market, you can see this in action. If you haven’t, better get there early because the lines start forming at 5:30 for the market opening at 6:00 p.m. on Friday nights. Most vendors are sold out by 7:00 p.m. The market opens for its third season May 15 and continues through October 1, 2010.
There was a standing room only crowd at the recent 2010 Maryland Farmers’ Market Conference in Annapolis, hosted by the Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA), which I attended as the founder and manager of the North Beach Friday Night Farmers’ Market. Maryland Ag Secretary Buddy Hance, of Calvert County expressed his amazement at the turnout as well.
One interesting tidbit I picked up at the conference was a growing controversy over what “local” really means. “Locally grown” sounds like a no-brainer to me. When you see this claim at a farmers’ market, a grocery store, or on a restaurant menu, you think the item is grown by a local farmer, somewhere nearby. Apparently that’s not always the case.
To jump on the bandwagon of this “buy local” craze, some folks are apparently pushing the boundaries so far that the Maryland Legislature is taking up a bill this session to define what locally grown really means.
House Bill 421 http://mlis.state.md.us/2010rs/billfile/HB0421.htm would authorize Secretary Hance to adopt standards to regulate the use of the terms “locally grown” and “local” to advertise or identify an agricultural product; and prohibiting a person from advertising or identifying an agricultural product in violation of the standards.
From what we learned at the conference, some folks are claiming that products grown in New Jersey, or even farther away, are “local” to Maryland.
It’s sad when you have to have a state law defining what “locally grown” and “local” mean. What was even more surprising was when MDA officials said that they were pleased that Wegman’s, Whole Foods, and Giant have said they will not oppose the legislation. That raises the question in my mind: what would it have said about them if they did?
article by:
Diane Burr, Chair of Events for the Town of North Beach, Founder of the North Beach Friday Night Farmers’ Market http://www.northbeachevents.com
Cowgirl – in loving memory
My wonderful Shorthorn heifer Cowgirl
April 5th, 2008- Feb 20th, 2010 my family and I loved and cared for her so much she will be in our hearts forever. In my mind she will never be gone.
At the Calvert County Fair 2009, Cowgirl won Reserve Grand Champion Shorthorn Heifer with me and we won several Grand Champion Junior Showman throughout the show season of 09. I was so proud of her. I miss you Cowgirl.
I Love You, Jacqueline
Worried about E. coli in your hamburgers? Skeptical that “natural” beef isn’t as natural as it sounds at the supermarket? Trying to stretch the annual food budget?
Consider skipping the middleman and buying your beef directly from the farmer. You get to meet the person who raised the animal and ask questions about what it was fed, how it was treated, and even how it was slaughtered. And in most cases, you get to order exactly the cuts of meat you want. Bonus: Per pound, this premium meat is cheaper than most meat in the supermarket.
The 2010 kidding season has finally arrived. We are proud to announce that Pros Jewel was born on 02-21-2010. 