Local Food Resources Guide

Last fall, the Common Ground Food Coop approached the library about collaborating on a bibliography featuring library materials and local resources on the theme of local food [1]. This, we thought immediately, was a very good idea.

The Coop had a fantastic collection of information on state and local organizations, and we had a good collection of books and videos.  We just needed to pare things down a bit to fit on an 11 x 17 sheet of paper and some nice local foodsy pics.  You know makes a local foods bibliography look good?  Photos of the Urbana Market at the Square taken by Lisa Braltz Kelly [2].

So, what's in the bibliography?  As I mentioned on WCFN's Page Turners segment on Tuesday morning, the guide is broken up into a few sections [3].  The first section includes books on the issues--why we care whether food is produced locally or from industrial food production.  These books approach the issues (including issues of health, environment, employment, and local economies, for example) from both broad and narrow scopes, and range from personal stories to more scholarly sorts of works.  There's even a book in this part of the list that disagrees with locavores, in case you're curious why anyone would argue with such level headed reasoning (stubborn devotion to theoretical free market economics).

The second section includes books for those of you who want to be more proactive in supporting local foods.  These books get very local, like the beginner gardening books to help you grow food in your back yard or your apartment patio.  This level of local just scales up from there--you can raise chickens or cattle, keep bees, make your own yogurt, start your own farm, and sell your produce at the farmers' market.

Want to leave the dirty work to the farmers' already working Central Illinois?  That's fine.  You might be interested in the books on community supported agriculture (CSA), budget-conscious local eating, or preserving or cooking food you got at the farmers' market.

The last part of the bibliography is the best because it provides information and links to a selection of state and local organizations through whom you can get involved in the local foods movement, learn to grow and raise your own food, rent land and actually grow your own food, and buy locally produced food.

You can get your own copy of the Local Food Resources guide at The Urbana Free Library or the Common Ground Food Coop.  You can also find the guide on the library's website [4].  Happy learning/growing/eating!

Freshly harvested local links:

1. The Common Ground Food Coop's site has location info, hours, and information on their highly popular classes and events.

2. Urbana Market at the Square's Flickr stream

3. You can see the video of me talking with Anne Dill (Part 1 | Part 2) on PageTurners at Illinoishomepage.net.

4. Check out the online Local Food Resources guide

My New Year's Resolution Just Got Easier

Beer Kettles by Flickr user Setaou_

I'm sharing my resolution here to be a better vegan because that means I'll have to do it or face public ridicule.

That's not true.  I mean, the part about why I'm sharing my resolution to be a better vegan.  That is my actual resolution, and I apologize for any confusion.  I ought to resolve to write clearer sentences or stop making stuff up, but maybe I can do that in 2012, when the Maya-predicted catastrophe occurs and gives me an out for not accomplishing my resolution.  "Sorry I still fib," I'll say, "but I was distracted by California falling off into the ocean."  You'll understand.

The real reason I'm sharing my resolution is because I've found a great online resource for vegans, and as the creator of the library's fancy guide to vegan resources [1], I feel responsible for sharing this website with you all.

Barnivore [2] provides information on alcohol.  Specifically, it tells whether a brewery, winery, or distillery crafts vegan liquors.

This is where people usually stop me to ask what on earth could make a beer, wine, or other spirit non-vegan.  Per Barnivore:

When making the product, dairy, honey, and other things (including, in one case, a whole chicken dropped in the tank) are ingredients in the final recipe.
When filtering the drinks prior to bottling, companies can use things like isinglass (from fish bladder,) gelatin, egg whites, and sea shells, among other things. These products grab onto the impurities and make it easier to catch them in the filters, though there are many animal-free alternatives in use.

No, I don't know which beverage is the one that drops a whole chicken in the tank.  Some of you goofy omnivores are let down that it's not a pound of bacon--I know how you are with your bacon obsessions.

Barnivore's easy to use--either click on type of alcohol to browse a list of all entries, or search for the brand you're curious about.  They also link to several iPhone apps [3], which would be very handy to use to access their information while at a bar.

If you search for and do not find a beverage you're looking for, Barnivore provides a stock template that you can use to email to the company.  Being all grassrootsy, they ask that you forward the reply to them so they can update their information.  And this, by the way, is so very easy.  I just searched Barnivore for Roscoe's Hop House Amber Ale, a really tasty brew that I found at Meijer of all places.  Roscoe's isn't listed, so I Googled them [4], got their email address, edited Barnivore's email template, and sent off the note in less time than I've taken on typing this paragraph.

Barnivore will be getting quite a few hits from my IP address this year as I strive to be a better vegan by having more information before placing my drink order at Crane Alley.  It looks like they've still got that Rogue Double Chocolate Stout [5], which I've just learned is safe for vegan consumption [6].

This year will be delicious.

Your link order, sir/madam:
1. Our Vegan Resources Guide (which looks cooler in print--swing by and grab a copy)
2. Barnivore
3. iPhone apps that use Barnivore's info
4. Finding Roscoe's Hop House info
5.  I didn't know Crane Alley's Beer List was online
6. Barnivore's entry on Rogue
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