Strawberries and Tomatoes: A Chronicle of My Life in the Good Food Movement


The daily need to eat, and the search for food it requires, is humanity's umbilical cord to the rest of the planet. Every action we take as we feed ourselves and our families reinforces and recreates our connection to the millions of other species on Earth.


The work I do is to make that connection explicit at a time in human history when it is tragically far from being so. I love what I do, and it's high time I write about it. This is a chronicle of the 17 years I've spend connecting people with the sources of their food, and of what I hope are many more years of that work to come.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Bring on the Loving Local Blog-a-Thon!

Oh my goodness, I actually have a few followers. Thanks to each of you for your moral support!

The important news today is that the first-ever farmers market blog-a-thon, aptly entitled Loving Local, begins this Sunday, August 22nd!

The blog-a-thon is the brainchild of Tinky Weisblat, cookbook author, activist, and soprano, who blogs and shares delicious recipes over at In Our Grandmother's Kitchens. Tinky is launching the blog-a-thon with the support of the good folks at the Mass Dept. of Ag Resources and at my very own day job (more on that below).

The blog-a-thon has been timed to coincide with Massachusetts Farmers Market Week (as officially proclaimed by Governor Deval Patrick with lots of compelling "wheras-es" and one beautiful "therefore"), which also begins this Sunday and runs through Saturday the 28th. The virtual event has been designed to celebrate the myriad of ways that our state's strong farmers market system and rich agricultural tradition positively impact life here in the Bay State. 


Our other goal is to encourage blog readers to support Mass Farmers Markets, the non-profit which has helped Massachusetts become 6th in the nation in terms of total number of farmers markets, and which has supported market vendors, market managers, and local communities as they doubled the number of markets state-wide (from under 100 to over 220) between 2004 and 2010.

We have SIXTY (60!!!) bloggers signed on so far, and I can't wait to savor the delicious morsels each of them cooks up for the week. I will, of course, be contributing my own. In fact, I have Tinky to thank for getting me off my locavore derriere to finally start a blog of my own.

If you want to sign up for the blog-a-thon and haven't yet, Tinky assures me that last-minute participants will be welcomed with open arms pixels. Give her a shout on her blog, on the Loving Local blog, or on the blog-a-thon's Facebook page. We'd love to hear from farmers market fans, full-time or part-time farmers, local food artisans, gardeners, ag policy watchers, CSA share-holders, canning experts, and YOU! Posts can be recipes, critiques, short stories, calls to action, reminiscences … whatever you feel like writing. Let the flavors of the Bay State inspire you!
 

2 comments:

  1. After the blogathon... I'd love it if you'd post more about your day job! And in the meantime, can't wait to see what you make!

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  2. Thanks for your support, Megan! I'm sure I'll post more re: the day job ... it creeps in everywhere (I've resolved the work-life balance dilemma by combining the two!).

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