My first decision was whether this post should go under the health or activism category. My inclination was activism as I felt that you can definitely shop to be more healthy without shopping locally. The benefits of shopping locally go way beyond just health. I then checked in with our oldest son Sean, our family activist/anarchist, he agreed that shopping locally was an activist statement, so activism it is, Sean approved (smile).
Our initial reasons for looking to shop locally centered around wanting to support local businesses. We were at the time (and still are) in the midst of COVID-19 and clearly the pandemic has had a devasting impact on many businesses large and small. We decided early on we would do whatever small part we could to support our local businesses. Participating in take-out Wednesday, we ordered primarily from non-chain local restaurants. We started buying only craft beer, so far from Town Brewery - https://townbrewery.ca/ and Brock Street Brewery - https://brockstreetbrewing.com/. Both deliver anywhere in Ontario so try them out! Brock Street also has a restaurant on-site, 12welve Bistro - https://www.12welvebistro.ca/ so they have been on our take-out list.
Living in Whitby there are still a number of farms in the area that have stalls or stores in summer. Normally, (pre-pandemic) there are weekly farmer markets located around town but we were looking to start our local grocery shopping in March before the farmer's stalls and stores were open in Whitby. We found two great places that are open year-round that have different strengths and focus areas but both have been a great addition to our weekly shopping routine.
Willowtree Farm - https://willowtreefarm.ca/ - An amazing place this is a working farm in Port Perry, Ontario. They grow an extensive list of fruits and vegetables as well as raising beef cattle and sheep. Any fruits, vegetables, or meat (chicken and pork) that they do not have on their farm they partner with local farms that they have known for years and that support the same local high standards that Willowtree meets. They have a beautiful year-round store that, in addition to all their farm products, has an extensive stock of baked goods, complete meat counter, fresh fish (they have pickerel which we love!), frozen meats, prepared foods, cheese, snack foods, the list goes on and on (visit the website to see more). Many of their products are vegan and gluten-free. They even have pet food. They also have a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Program, more on this later in the post.
Hy-Hope Farm - https://www.hyhopefarm.ca/. Hy-Hope is an amazing story of a constantly changing business. Read more on their website, but this started as a working farm, expanded with a bakery, and then added a golf course. It has been incredibly successful and is busy whenever we go there. Open all year round, in the winter the store and bakery are open along with winter activities like tobogganing. We started going to Hy-Hope years ago with the kids to play golf. Back then it was literally a cow pasture with 6 holes but they have developed the property into 18 holes with fairways and greens. We always loved the butter tarts and pies from their bakery but more recently as part of our local shopping routine, we have been buying vegetables (they often have great baby kale) along with a loaf of their freshly baked bread.
At the end of our weekly visits to Willowtree and Hy-Hope farms, we have a good portion of our weekly shopping done and only need to visit a grocery store for dry goods, bananas (I have them most mornings with oatmeal) and a few other items. One thing to consider when shopping at the grocery store is still try and shop local (Ontario grown products) or at minimum look for products that are produced in Canada. This will reduce the food miles and support part of the Canadian economy.
I think the benefits to local shopping are numerous and hopefully at least a few on the list will cause you to consider local shopping as an option.
Support Local Business - as I said this was our initial reason for shopping local. I don't really have any big objection to shopping at larger grocery stores (although it pisses me off that the Weston group of companies totally got away with the price-fixing of bread and the fact they are reducing the COVID-19 wage supplement even though the pandemic rages on and Loblaws’ profits are up quarter to quarter). I think we have to consider, do we want only large national chains to be available for food shopping. If you think we should have more choice, both in terms of stores and the products available in stores then we have to shop at these local places so they can be financially successful, prosper and grow. If you really want to jump into this, participate in the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. At Willowtree Farm this is available for summer and winter and involves prepaying for fresh locally grown fruits and vegetables for 20 weeks. You can purchase a full or half share depending on the size of your family and you can pick up your share weekly or have it delivered. They pick your produce the day before your delivery date and you get a different selection of fruits and vegetables every week. Teresa and I plan to participate in this with Willowtree Farm in the winter.
Local Food is Fresher and Better for You - many local farms are organic and most do not use any chemicals or pesticides in their growing process. The planting, growing, and harvesting process is completely different on a local farm versus a large commercial farm business. Food safety is normally a higher priority. This is not to slam all large commercial farms, but most data points to better food safety locally. Probably most importantly the food is fresher. As you probably know, if your produce is coming from California, Mexico or South America the fruit or vegetable is picked well before it is ripe to ensure the product does not over ripen or rot in transit. From local farms produce is picked when it is ripe and you have the opportunity to buy it (and eat it) immediately. At Willowtree Farm their weekly delivery of CSA shares are always picked just the day before you pick them up or they are delivered to your home. Research shows that fruit and vegetables that are picked and then eaten when they are ripe have 50% more nutrients than produce picked not yet ripe and shipped.
Shopping Local is Better for the Environment- you may have read about the concept of food miles. This is the number of miles that your food travels to get to your pick up point (store). From southern California to Toronto would be approximately 2500 food miles, 3100 food miles from Mexico. Given Teresa and I drive to Willowtree Farm, 25 km from our house in our hybrid car (Teresa will tell you I drive slow enough that most of the drive is on the hybrid battery motor consuming no gas) the food miles for our local shopping are pretty low. The difference in carbon footprint, impact on the environment is significant. All the food grown in southern California and Mexico consumed in Canada is shipped mostly via truck, consuming fossil fuels and emitting air pollution. By the way as I think of it the food (drink) miles applies to local craft breweries, another reason (flavour is the primary one) to drink local craft beer.
Better Food Safety - in addition to the planting, growing, and harvesting process on a local farm being safer and with no pesticides, local sourcing significantly improves your chances of food safety. You can only imagine when your food is traveling 2500+ miles the increased likelihood of issues (and that is without the added complexity of COVID-19). Food being picked before it is ripe, transfers and handling, spills, exposure to chemicals, dirt, pollution (let's stop here).
There are lots of other benefits of buying locally, not the least of which might be that you just feel better about the food you are eating and where you are buying it. You might even start eating more and different fruits and vegetables which would be awesome. I have attached some links and reference information if you want to read more.
We have really enjoyed both shopping at the two farms and the produce we have purchased (in addition to the baby kale, the asparagus was delicious! Teresa has made scones with fresh ruhbarb ... mmm ...). Give it a try, you may also enjoy and feel good about it. If you have comments or questions let me know at thethirdperiod.ca@gmail.com.
Reference links:
Top Benefits of buying Locally Grown Food - https://arrowquip.com/blog/animal-science/top-benefits-buying-locally-grown-food
Benefits of Buying Local Food - https://www.unlockfood.ca/en/Articles/Food-Production/Benefits-of-Buying-Local-Food.aspx
Why Buy Local Food - https://foodrevolution.org/blog/why-buy-local-food/
The Benefits of Buying Local Food - https://www.mcgill.ca/foodservices/sustainability/green/local
How can buying local food benefit the environment - https://uwaterloo.ca/food-services/blog/post/how-can-buying-locally-benefit-environment
Sustain Ontario - https://sustainontario.com/custom/uploads/2010/05/local-food-resources-20101.pdf
CSA Farms - http://csafarms.ca
Canadian Organic Growers - https://www.cog.ca/home/find-organics/ontario-csa-directory/
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