Make Mine Local
A lot of my biggest “duh” moments involve food. Maybe that’s because a lot of my moments in general involve food.
Because of the shock of the new, I remember where I was when I first heard the term “food security.” (Portland, Maine.) I know just how long it has been since I first saw the words “food miles” in an article on the web. (16 months.)
While I have always sought out and adored wonderful food, until recently that meant wishing Kroger carried a better grade of almond paste. Now, thanks to the food miles “duh,” I am interested in how close to home I can find the foods I like best and use most often. I want great-tasting food and I want my food money to go into the pockets of close neighbors.
Beyond what I can find at our farmers markets, though, I do not know where to find a lot of foods I would enjoy. Does anyone in central Kentucky make homemade cottage cheese? I wonder whether any farms near Lexington grow Kentucky wheat and mill it at historic Weisenberger Mill. I puzzle over whether anyone nearby makes homemade tofu from local soybeans. Could some local food scientist at this moment be bottling cold-pressed black walnut oil?
One day recently I walked into Third Street Stuff for a little respite in the form of iced coffee. While I waited to place my order I noticed a sign near the cash register explaining that some prices had gone up because “we like to buy local,” and asking people to speak up if the higher prices caused a problem.
The sign’s sweetness touched my “me too” button. I found myself wondering what I could do to make more of a difference for people who are growing, producing, and marketing local food.
I thought about tactics or models I admire.
• Some communities support long-running “Buy Local” campaigns. Boulder, Colorado may have been one of the first. New “Buy Local” efforts are underway in places from Southeast Massachusetts to Portland, Oregon. (As well as Portland, Maine.)
• In Kentucky, fine people have spent years lobbying and advocating for local, healthy foods in our schools, prisons, and state parks.
• Venture capitalists, organic farmers, food processors, and chefs had to invent new ways to work together before The Farmers Diner succeeded in Quechee, Vermont.
• The mayor of Wolfville, Nova Scotia stepped waaaaaaay out when he persuaded the city to declare itself a “fair trade town,” committing to buying from local producers at fair prices.
I shook my head at all these approaches, though, even while admiring them. For my limited energies, each one sounded like too much work, too many meetings, and too much time. I wanted something smaller, more immediate, something interested people could do together without having to raise money or form an advisory board.
The air in Third Street Stuff seems full of creative powers. Even before I took my first caffeine-rich sip, I had a new idea.
I decided to frame up an online community encyclopedia devoted to central Kentucky foods and other local products. A few hours later I started building www.makeminelocal.com, a simple, easy-to-edit, collaborative website that features local foods and local products.
I invite you to put yourself on the creative team and help build the site. The home page guides you to register. Creating a free account does not cause anything bad — aka spam — to happen to you. I promise.
Once you have a username and password, start typing. If you grow, make, or find a good local product, post the news at makeminelocal.com. Add photos if you like. It is a “wiki” site, so putting information on it is easy. As with the most famous wiki website, Wikipedia, you do not need any special knowledge about codes or technology to contribute to the site.
If you want to work on the site but you want to watch someone else work first, come to “office hours” on Tuesdays from 10:00 – 11:30 at Stella’s Kentucky Deli, 143 Jefferson. I will be there through July 3, and I expect other wiki-wizards will be on hand during the remaining Tuesdays in July when I will be out of town. I look forward to working with you.
