Eating local, buying local, being local

It seems the label 'local' has become a real catchphrase.  "Think globally, act locally." "Buy local."  "Support your local farmer."  These make great bumper stickers, but when we talk about supporting our local economy or seeking out great local food sources, what are the qualities we are assigning to that magic word 'local?'

For those of us in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia, our concept of local is geographically fairly small.  It would be easy to purchase most of our fresh food year round from small producers within 10 to 20 miles from home.  And we can be pretty sure that when we go to the Shepherdstown post office, or the bank, or the library, we will run into the farmers who grow those peaches we love or who raise the pigs for that amazing bacon.  We're all neighbors, and we're all participants in the local economy as well as in our local sustainable food system.

So, what is 'local'when you live in the city, or even in many suburbs?  Local food might be defined as being sourced from within a particular range, usually about 50 miles, but 100 miles is not considered a stretch. That makes sense, since for urban consumers the sources for many products, especially fresh foods, usually are found well out beyond a city's limits. City or suburban dwellers may have access to great local shopping, with neighborhood coffee shops, bakeries, bookstores, etc., yet must look to farmers markets to bring locally sourced produce and meats closer to where they live and work.

Perhaps even more compelling than offering terrific food, farmers markets offer a unique and direct relationship between the farmer and the folks who will be eating the food he's raised. Whether set up in a small town side street or a large urban parking lot, farmers markets are both a market place and a meeting place, a place where there is more than commerce going on.  Farmers markets create their own kind of 'locality,' an interesting set of connections that are established because there is no middle-man.  At your farmers market you expect to pick up your usual dozen heirloom eggs and bag of spring greens, but also you can count on checking in and chatting with, well, your farmer.  What could be more local?