So you want to eat more locally, but you’re not sure how?  Everyone has to start somewhere.  I did.  My road to eating locally was paved with books.  I was first  introduced to the idea of eating locally when I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver.  Then I read The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan.  I took off from there, and discovered a whole genre of writing I didn’t know existed.  A little humor, a little bit cookbook, a little bit memoir, a little how-to.  Great characters, action, adventure.  Food writing.  then I branched out into some serious “how-to” books.  The Encyclopedia of Country Living, Barnyard in Your Backyard, Storey’s Basic Country Skills. Then, I found the More-With-Less Cookbook it really made me stop and think about my eating habits.  When I found Simply in Season, I knew I had to do something.  This may not be an “official” way to go about it, but it’s what’s worked for me.  So, here’s five simple little things you can do to eat closer to home.

1. The easiest thing to do is to find yourself a local farmer.  Someone growing something right here.  Call your county extension agent (see the list on the resources page) and ask when & where your closest farmer’s market is.
2. Plan to grow something this year.  A tomato plant in a pot, a few herbs on your window sill, some okra in your flowerbeds.  America is one of the only countries where people think vegetable plants are too ugly to be seen.  Change your thinking, food is beautiful!  Very cosmopolitan, don’t you think?
3. Get yourself some local honey and try using it in place of sugar in a few baked goods.  I like the honey from the Elk Valley Beekeepers Association, which is available at Woodard’s in Lynchburg, or from the Pillars of Light food Co-Op in Tullahoma.  When I can’t get that, I buy honey at Swiss Pantry that comes from Taft, TN.
4. Now that you have some honey, why not try baking some bread?  Grab some yeast while you’re at Swiss Pantry for your honey, run out to Falls Mill for a bag of wheat flour, and give this easy, delicious recipe a try.
5. Finally, you need something to spread on your bread: make freezer jam.  First, check out PickYourOwn.org and go get yourself some fresh fruit.  Then pick up a bag of sugar, a package or two of Freezer Jam Pectin in the canning section of any grocery store, and you’re in business.  ~I know, I just told you to switch to honey.  Baby steps, people!~  Anyway, It really is as simple as mash the fruit, add sugar and pectin, stir, pour, freeze.  If my 7 year old can do it, so can you.

That should get you started anyway.  The only other advice I can give you is to read.  Check out some of the books I’ve listed, visit some of the sites I’ve linked to, and read, read, read.  There’s a ton of information out there, but I hope this has helped you decide where to start.  Good luck!

Here’s a great source for local food info you might not know about:

Local Table: a Guide to Food and Farming in Middle TN.

This is the greatest little magazine.  I first found it last year at the Bell Buckle Cafe, and read it cover to cover on the way home.  It is FULL of farms, farmstands, and farmers markets all right here in Middle TN.  You can find it locally, or it is available by subscription.

They also have a great website: LocalTable.net. It features different local businesses, videos, news, local events, even an Ask Farmer Jason column.

One of my favorites, is a Seasonality Chart.  This chart was a big help for me when I first really started trying to eat locally.  I printed it out, took it everywhere with me and used it as a reference to know wether the veggies I was buying were really at their peak of local availability or not.  Very cool stuff!

I will admit that their focus is generally on stuff closer to Nashville than the area I’m focusing on here for right now.  However, that said, I think it’s too good of a resource to pass up.  So, keep your eyes open for a copy of the March Issue, or do what I’m going to do: subscribe.  That way you’ll always be sure to have the latest resources right at your fingertips.