Buying local
It’s good for you, the environment and the economy
By Jessica Patterson
BUYING LOCALLY IS “the ultimate in being
eco-friendly, because we’re not shipping
food over long distances,” says Judy Kolk
of Kayben Farms.
Unlike produce found in
supermarkets, which often has been
shipped across the continent, locally
produced food – raised within a 100-mile or
so radius – reduces a consumer’s carbon footprint.
“When you buy something in a grocery store, in a package, the
reality of having grown it is so far removed by then that you don’t
get to see it,” Kolk says.
Kolk says people seem to really like having a connection between
the food they’re buying, serving and eating, to where it came from,
who grows it and the realities and intricacies of growing food.
Locally grown food is often tastier than imports, because it is
harvested at the peak of it’s ripeness and consumed within a
shorter time period. At Kayben’s u-pick, people will pick and eat
strawberries in the fields.
Buying locally also supports the regional economy. “We like to
do business with local people as much as possible,” Kolk says. “It’s
a really neat thing, it’s good for all of us. We support people by
hiring from our own community, and in turn, people support us by
purchasing from us.”
For smaller producers, selling product at markets can be
fundamental for their survival. “Especially for smaller local
producers, because not all of us want to become big conglomerate
producers and sell to out-of-country markets,” says Cherie Andrews
of Chinook Honey Company.
“It’s a level of trust in many ways, because you can meet the
producer and ask about their methods and things like that,”
Andrews says. “It’s reassuring, I think.”
Chinook Honey has a stall set up at the Millarville market, though
it’s a moderate sampling of their product, compared to their farm
store. “We do more of our sales from our store just south of
Okotoks. We have a lot of things available here — it’s pretty hard to
take it all to the market - plus we can educate people here.”
Sandi Gelmlich, an Okotokian whose River Rock Fudge can
be found at the Millarville market, believes being local is good
for the community. “I don’t normally sell out of my house, but if
people came by with a special need or event, it gives people an
opportunity to pick up stuff instead of having to track it down in
Calgary.”
And having food grown or made by hand is getting rarer in the
wide world of commercial and processed foods. “I think we’re
more conscious of exactly what it is we’re putting into our bodies,”
Gelmlich says. “Food that is homemade is
often more natural than the stuff bought
at the store.” And tastier too.
