From Farm to Fork -- Local Food Guide Published Online and in Print

Promoting the locavore concept of eating food grown locally, this statewide project in online and print format has gotten some help from the Environmental Defense Center.

The guide is available online at www.buylocalca.org. Printed copies are available at certified farmers markets around the region and at select restaurants, retailers, and farm stands including: Environmental Defense Center, Fund for Santa Barbara, Isla Vista Food Co-op, The Orfalea Foundation, Fairview Gardens, Santa Barbara County Farm Bureau, and Sojourner Restaurant.

The online guide itself is a good start but some of the search tools could use a bit of work. I typed in a local zip code and got different info than when I did the search by area. Both search results gave me minimal information on where local farms were and where I could buy local food. Still, it's a great idea and I wish them well.

Are you ready for a 100-mile diet though? Many economists point out that transport is only part of the total impact of food production and consumption. In the Wikipedia article listed above, it fairly points out:

...any environmental assessment of food that consumers buy needs to take into account how the food has been produced and what energy is used in its production. For example, it is likely to be more environmentally friendly for tomatoes to be grown in Spain and transported to the UK than for the same tomatoes to be grown in greenhouses in the UK requiring electricity to light and heat them.

Another part says:

According to a study by engineers Christopher Weber and H. Scott Matthews of Carnegie Mellon University, of all the greenhouse gases emitted by the food industry, only 4% comes from transporting the food from producers to retailers. The study also concluded that adopting a vegetarian diet, even if the vegetarian food is transported over very long distances, does far more to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, than does eating a locally grown diet.

Is this kind of like buying a Prius with a $5,000 battery? Not really as it depends on who you buy your food from. Overall, it is a good idea to buy locally from responsible growers but I can't imagine keeping it local for every meal. The again, maybe it's time to go vegan.

Lesson to Lassen's: Don't Alienate Your Base

Thanks to a regular reader who sent me a link to the Californians Against Hate website. They have published a list of donors to the Yes on 8 efforts that, of course, includes our very own Select Staffing. This we knew.

Surprising to me though was the fact that Lassens Health Food gave $25,000 to the Yes on 8 campaign. When your business' main demographic are Land Rover Hope Ranchers, Granola Soccer Moms and NASCAR environmentalists -- why on earth would you go so public with large monied support for such a conservative cause? At least Apple, which gave something like $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign, is aware of who their peeps are.

Another small surprise in the list of donors at a database of donors at SF Gate is that Council Member Dale Francisco gave $100 to the No Yes on 8 campaign. $1 short of the limit for publication -- I'll chalk his rathe public, small donation to inexperience. Still, it wasn't just Republicans that got him into office.