Eating Locally and Seasonally in Texas
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Eating locally and seasonally in Texas. The two practices go hand in hand and both can be as enjoyable as they are beneficial. When done properly, eating locally and seasonally can be better for the environment and better for your health.
Join us today as we take a journey into the reasons why we should all do our best to eat locally, and supporting your local farms and ranches is just the beginning!
Endless Local Food Options in Texas
Texas is full of great local food options that provide all-natural nourishment. If you don’t live in Texas, many of these same ideas will still apply wherever you live. Eating locally and seasonally brings with it a high number of benefits to you, your community, and the environment. Let’s take a look at just a few of the reasons why eating locally is the smart choice.
By eating locally you avoid supporting or consuming products put out by the industrial farming system. Industrial farming is extremely detrimental to the state of the planet and the products put out by the system can be damaging to your body. Eating locally means you know exactly where your food comes from and what it is made from. Transparency is nice to have with the things that you put into your body. Locally sourced foods will ideally be free from GMOs, monocultures, abundant antibiotics, over-applied pesticides and herbicides, and other harmful manipulators.
Eat Local, Support Local
Eating locally supports the local economy. Your food dollar circulates around your community instead of filtering through middlemen all across the country. Spending locally directly supports the farms and ranches that provide you with food. In turn, the farmers and ranchers you buy from are more likely to purchase the supplies they need to run their businesses from the community, which continues to circulate revenue and strengthen the local economy. Eating locally is better for the environment for a number of reasons, chiefly because local independent farms don’t contribute to global warming in anywhere near the same way as industrial farming. Other environmental factors exist too, however. For instance, eating locally cuts down on the carbon emissions from travel. Industrial farms truck goods back and forth across the country, burning fuel and contributing to smog. A walk to your local farmer’s market is a net-zero activity.
When talking about local food in Texas, it's not just about farms and ranches, there are also artisan food producers, local home bakers, breweries, cideries, and so much more!
Stay Connected to Your Local Community
Buying locally and seasonally is also a great way to be more connected to your community. Eating locally and seasonally is a hands-on approach to your food. This type of hands-on engagement can be a way to get better ingratiated with your neighbors, or even discover more about your community.
Eating seasonally means that you won’t be able to get every food all year long. However, it does mean that all the food you consume throughout the year will be as absolutely fresh as possible. Grocery stores can provide seasonal fruits and vegetables all year with the aid of artificial ripening and complicated supply lines fraught with genetic engineering and other unsavory business. Eating seasonal foods connects you directly to nature.
Eating locally means supporting local farmers, and supporting local farmers often means supporting sustainable farming and regenerative agriculture. These are important to support and endorse, especially in this day and age with the environment in such a precarious state.
Other Ways to Find Fresh, Seasonal, and Local Produce
Farmer’s markets and direct buying from farms and ranches aren’t the only places to source local food. A great way to invest in local agriculture is to get involved in your local CSA. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. CSAs fund farmers by allowing you, the consumer, to purchase a share of a farm. You will typically receive fresh produce straight to
your door and sometimes little perks like recipes and weekly guides. Localharvest.org will help you find your local CSA.
Being environmentally responsible and eating locally, doesn’t mean that you can’t eat out anymore. Chances are, there are a couple of local restaurants right in your area that source food locally. Eatwellguide.org and Localeats.com are two great resources for finding ecologically conscious restaurants that source their ingredients locally.
Eating locally and seasonally in Texas or wherever you live, is a smart decision. It might seem overwhelming at first glance, but can be fun and exciting once you get into it. Eating locally is healthy, natural, enjoyable, and good for the environment. Give it a try.
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