It's time to think twice about where our food comes from.

One day in a fit of curiosity I headed to one of the big grocery stores in New Minas, NS. Asparagus, radishes, lettuce and strawberries were in season, and I figured the store would carry these and other locally produced items.

Here's what I found. Green onions: Product of Mexico. Pears: Product of Argentina. Snow peas: Product of China. Chicken: Product of Quebec. Pork: Product of USA. Lettuce: Product of California. Strawberries: Product of California. Peppers: Product of the Netherlands. Squash: Product of Cuba. Greenhouse-grown tomatoes: Product of Ontario. The only local things I found were broccoli and onions. On I went to the other big grocery store in the area and found similar results: plenty of imported fruit, vegetables and meats, few local products.

live in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley, the agricultural heartland of the province, and I went to agricultural college. Perhaps that makes me more sensitized to supporting the people who are my friends and neighbours-the farmers who produce fruits and vegetables ranging from apples to zucchini, and poultry, pork, beef, eggs and milk. But a visit to a Saturday morning farmers' market-whether it's in Hubbards, NS, Dieppe, NB, or Kensington, PEI-tells me more and more people are beginning to care about where our food originates.

In spring 2006 the Women's Institutes (WI) of Nova Scotia wanted to find out what people knew about local foods, and circulated the Buy Local Challenge Survey; more than 2,400 surveys were completed over several months. Asked to what degree six factors influenced their food shopping habits, most respondents picked taste and nutritional value as the top factors. Whether a food was locally grown came in third-ahead of cost and even whether or not the food was organically grown. The WI survey found that participants buy local food whenever possible-assuming it's clearly labelled as such-in part because they know it's fresher, better for the environment and supportive of local producers. The same held true for choosing what to order in a restaurant: people tended to order dishes made with local products.

So just what exactly does buying local mean? The notion tends to be rooted in concentric circles; choosing foods grown in your own community, then county, then province and then region-meaning that for Atlantic Canadians, PEI beef would top Alberta Angus any day of the week. Consumers sometimes think they are powerless to change the habits of large grocery chains, and are stuck purchasing what's stocked. However, David Cudmore, president and CEO of Scotian Gold Co-operative Ltd in Coldbrook, NS, says we exercise power by what we purchase. At a public meeting last March to discuss concerns about farmers in trouble, and how to support them and feed our communities, Cudmore pointed out that money talks, and we control money. If consumers refuse to purchase imported apples when local ones are in season, he said, then stores would have to start supplying local apples. 

Jenny Osburn adamantly believes in supporting local producers, whether they're supplying meat, fish and fruit or cheese, tofu and flax. Instead of a wallpaper border edging the top of the walls in her restaurant, Union Street Café, in Berwick, NS, there's a carefully printed line of products, written in bright coloured chalk. Diners learn that, among other items, the café features Johnston's cranberries, Meadowbrook Farm meats, Foote Family Farm honey and Hamilton scallops. Local products are on the menu all year long.

"I've been inspired by outspoken supporters of locally grown and produced foods-people like [chef] Michael Smith," Jenny says. "It's not hard to convince someone who is interested in taste that fresher and closer to home is better." She adds that there are other benefits to consider, for example the relationship that develops between the supplier and restaurant staff through the shared goal of better food, but also helping the local economy and, quite simply, having a good menu. "Having a restaurant in the Annapolis Valley means being able to take advantage of an amazing variety of carefully grown and produced foods,"  she says. Ordering and revising the menu based on whatever local vendors are offering that day can be time consuming, but well worth it.

When considering local foods, people are often torn between selecting conventionally grown and organic. In these days when we're increasingly concerned about our so-called carbon footprint, we find ourselves weighing choices-buying local, conventionally grown produce versus, say, organic produce from across the continent or the world, produce that has travelled for days before it reaches our tables. Some consumers are content to purchase local food, whether free range or conventionally produced, organic or not, while others prefer local organic, and still others don't care what they purchase so long as it's cheap-and tasty.

Perhaps the most intriguing, if challenging, way to support local producers is by following something like the 100 Mile Diet, popularized by BC writers Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon in spring 2005. Appalled by the fact that most food on our plates has travelled about 1,500 miles, they challenged themselves to eat only foods  produced within 100 miles of their home for one year. Their adventures in food sourcing and cooking became a blog that turned into a movement, as well as a book; and while since the end of their year's experiment they have incorporated a few foods from outside their 100 mile radius into their diets now, they continue to eat locally as much as possible.

Only eating foods produced within 100 miles of our homes would indeed be a challenge. What about foods such as coffee, tea, chocolate and sugar? Fruits such as pineapple, bananas and oranges, which many of us consider "essentials," wouldn't be on the shopping list and in winter, unless there was a greenhouse nearby producing hothouse vegetables, we'd be eating a menu similar to our ancestors 100 years ago. It's a new, old way of thinking about food.

One compromise that works well with eating local is to buy products that are fairly traded. Fair trade is a movement that helps ensure producers in developing countries receive a decent price for their products. The town of Wolfville, NS, was the first community in Canada certified as fair trade, at an official ceremony this past April. Since Wolfville is home to the first fair trade coffee roaster's co-op in Canada, Just Us!, it was a logical progression to become a fair trade community, says Wolfville mayor Bob Stead.

However, Mayor Stead and his colleagues feel that Wolfville residents need to do their part to support local producers. Stead calls it "conscious consumerism," and says it's nearly impossible to talk about fair trade in other countries without also talking about buying local, which helps to ensure a fair price for producers at home. Ironically, just a week after the Wolfville ceremony celebrating the town's status as a fair trade community, the doors of a local poultry processing plant closed, putting close to 400 people out of work and leaving some poultry producers scrambling to find new markets for their chickens.

Educating people on the benefits of eating local can begin with educating children. Shannon Herbert, who recently became the organic agricultural co-ordinator at Falls Brook Centre, a sustainable community demonstration and training centre in Knowlesville, NB, is working with schools and farmers' markets to develop healthy, local food menus for students. "Although Falls Brook is known for being a staunch supporter of organic production, we also believe firmly that we need to support local over foods imported from thousands of miles away," she says, asserting that "local" is the new "organic."

There's a sort of happy ending to my own experience. A few days after my trip to the grocery store, I was meandering through the same store when I spied an elderly woman looking at some roasting chickens on sale. She turned over a few packages, and then spoke to an employee in the meat department.

"Were these chickens raised in Nova Scotia?" Before waiting for a reply she added, "I don't want them if they weren't!"

The message is getting out.

10 outings for day trippers

Some farms offer u-pick or roadside stands where you can get fresh produce; some producers offer tours of their operations. Here are a few to inspire a day trip-or three.

1. Bourgeois Farms, Pré-d'en-Haut, Memramcook,  NB; fermebourgeoisfarms.ca. Visit the farm's winery; fall tours of the orchards.
2. H. Erb's Herbs, Cambridge-Narrows, NB; (506) 488-3344. Howard and Marilyn Erb operate a herb farm and offer tours of their gardens; picnicking on site.
3. Falls Brook Centre, Knowlesville, NB; fallsbrookcentre.ca. This demonstration centre features organic fruit and vegetable agriculture, as well as sustainable forestry and energy projects.
4. Granite Town Farms, St. George, NB; wildblueberry.ca. Book a visit (groups of 10 or more) for a look at wild blueberry production, processing, and of course, taste testing. 
5. RiverBreeze Farm Market, Onslow, NS; riverbreeze.info. Features u-pick fruit and vegetables, a corn maze, farm market and bakery.
6. Noggins Corner Farm, Greenwich, NS: nogginsfarm.ca. Farm market includes a corn maze and other "agri-tainment" activities.
7. Windhorse Farm, New Germany, NS; windhorsefarm.org. A unique farm and forestry operation; features organic produce and sustainable forestry. Tours and overnight guests, workshops.
8. Springwater Farm, Albion Cross, PEI; springwaterfarm.ca. Enjoy a farm vacation and homecooked meals, come for a hayride or merely to purchase fresh lamb and sheepskins.
9. Matheson Century Farms, Forest Hill, PEI; mathesoncenturyfarms.com. From tree seedlings to beef to an organic market garden, the Mathesons have a range of products on offer. Bonus: U-pick sunflowers.
10. Arlington Orchards, Arlington, PEI; (902) 831-2965 More than 30 gently rolling acres of fruit trees; pick your own apples (31 varieties), pears and plums, or enjoy a hayride.
    

From gate to plate

Of course, not everyone can get to a Saturday morning market-but in some communities you can enjoy local produce delivered right to your door. In Halifax, Geordie Ouchterlony sources organic fruits, vegetables and meats from a variety of producers locally, although during winter and early spring he supplements with produce from beyond. He also carries flours and cereals, coffees and teas, and prepared foods such as bread. His company, Home Grown Organic Foods, has a website where members can log in and request their orders, delivered weekly, biweekly or monthly.

In Kennetcook, NS, SunRoot Farm has a Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) component to its business, where customers sign up in spring and pay a set fee to receive a box of fresh produce from the farm weekly, depending on what's being grown and is ready for harvest. By paying for their share in advance, customers help the farm partners pay for seeds and other supplies; they receive food that's fresh, nutritious and free of extraneous packaging, as well as being organically grown.

Mark Wilson is the driving force behind NL Organics in St. John's, NL. Members spend $478.50 spread out over several monthly payments and receive fresh organic fruit and vegatables for 15 weeks-which works out to slightly more than $30 per week.

Chef Michael Smith, the well-known author of several cookbooks and host of Food Network cooking shows, is a strong supporter of a CSA operation in his home community of Fortune, PEI. "Every Wednesday, our family receives a box of produce, picked that morning by farmer Becky Townshend of Fortune Organics," he says. "We never know what will be in the box each week-only that it will be fresh, organic produce and of much greater value than what we pay for it."

"Our dollars go right to the farmer, we're supporting local, sustainable agriculture-and of course the food tastes better because it's so fresh!"