If the trucks stopped rolling, how long could locally-produced food sustain your community? A farmer friend of Whidbey Islander (WA) Vicki Robin calculated “Two weeks in August [peak harvest time].”
Vicki went on a one-year 10-mile diet, building relationships with her neighboring producers of meat, milk, eggs, and produce. This led her to learn about large-scale food systems which have largely replaced the local food economy. “I woke up as an eater,” she said. “I found that we have lost our food culture…We have lost small- or mid-scale regional food economy.” For example, regulations benefitting industrial agriculture can create insurmountable challenges for local producers. She asks, “how do we rebuild our local food systems, so farmers can be prosperous, our soils can be in good shape, so that we don’t lose our capacity to feed ourselves?” After writing Blessing the Hands that Feed Us: Lessons from a 10-Mile Diet, Vicki began facilitating “Local” Food Labs to help communities celebrate their food assets, look for what’s missing, and then brainstorm ways to work together to fill the gaps — “to rebuild the fertility of the local food economy.” Episode 320. [vickirobin.com]
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