While flipping through the news this morning I came across a story about Tuttle Farm. The oldest farm in the United States continually in operation, it is currently on it's 11th generation of family owners. That's 376 years of history!
Sadly, due in part to the economic downturn, the family has decided to sell their farm. (Read their statement here.) The most dismal and true line of their statement, for me, was this, "Over the past several years, customers have gone from using shopping carts to using shopping baskets to using just their hands to gather what they can afford to purchase."
Growing up on the east coast, we always bought produces, harvested that morning from local farms, at small, family-owned and operated stands, and I find it frightening that these little places may vanish. It is hard right now to justify spending a little more, when our primary urge is to cut back, but of all the things to splurge on, fresh, local food is one of them.
Tuttle's Red Barn changing hands is a wake-up call to all of us. Please, when you can, support local farms, restaurants and wine makers. We say the words or tweet the words, and it has become trendy to use the word "local," but let's make it a daily action.
