Another dispatch from the edge of a city
There are several farms to the north side of the city where I live. There are times when I will do my weekly grocery shopping just by visiting three specific farm stands within a five mile radius. It brings me great joy to do so. I am all about local economy and hyperlocal is ideal.
There is something more to this than consumption at the individual household level, however. Another facet of local economy is restaurant supported agriculture. Restaurants can support localization by sourcing ingredients from local farms as much as possible. Many of them may already do this, but I imagine it will take some effort to push forward on this practice.
I was disappointed to learn that one of the restaurants in town that championed farm to table as one of its pillars of service was not able to rebound from the pandemic closures. What I learned, however, is that one of the restaurants that was able to reopen also supports the local farm to table philosophy. Much to my delight, they are also located on my side of town.
In the localization reader, the authors talk about restaurant supported agriculture being a strong mechanism to support local farms and develop community resilience. I wholeheartedly agree.
So for the coming year, I will set my sights on writing on this topic more thoroughly.
As well, the rural urban edges of cities has always been an interesting sphere for me to analyze and interpret, which I often refer to as my dispatches from the edge of a city.
So I shall continue with this focus as well, and weave an interesting narrative of how we can strengthen community resilience for the long haul.
Happy holidays!
© Dawn Nelson
Courage and Climate Change 