Local Fork Baltimore Blog

Welcome to the Local Fork Baltimore Blog!

 

I'm Emily.  I got interested in local eating about a year and a half ago, after reading a few books that convinced me that something was wrong with the current system.  I began making an effort (and it is an effort, when you're used to the convenience of a grocery store that's less than a mile away) to research and consume local, sustainable foods.  It wasn't easy; the farmer's market nearest my house is open for three hours a week, smack in the middle of the Wednesday workday.  But I kept at it, a little at a time.

 

When I discovered Local Fork (then limited to New York City) I wrote to the team to say how well I liked the site, and how much I wished they'd start one in my area.  To my great surprise, they wrote back and said, "Okay!  When?"  Since then, we've been working to gather as much information as possible in order to help Baltimore consumers and producers connect.  "Locavore" was the Oxford Word of the Year for 2007, so we know you're out there.

 

Today I just wanted to tell you a brief story about why I love this job.  I have a master list of farmers and producers that sell at different local markets in Maryland.  I'm very slowly working my way down the list, calling a few numbers each week to see if I can find out more about them in order to put them in our Guide.  There are hundreds of businesses, and that fills me simultaneously with excitement and dread.  Almost all the time, I leave messages that are never returned; farmers are busy, and many of them have an inherent dislike and / or mistrust of the Internet.  (Can you blame them?)

 

But yesterday, after four voicemails in a row, I reached Scott from Caprikorn Farms.  He's been breeding only the most productive goats from his herd for more than 15 generations, selling to goat farmers around the nation, and he recently began making goat cheeses from the milk produced by his does.  I was surprised to learn that his cheddar was made from raw milk, which is illegal to sell in Maryland.  He was quick to explain that if the cheese were aged for a specified period, any bacteria present would be killed off and it was quite safe for consumption.

 

"Hey, " I said, "You don't have to defend raw milk to me.  I buy mine from a farm in Pennsylvania.  They have to label it 'Pet Milk' to get around legal restrictions, but I drink it anyway, and there's nothing better!"

 

We got into a conversation about this; he agreed that fresh (raw) milk was healthier, but he supported the judicious use of inspectors to ensure the milk would not be contaminated.  I was most struck by the precariousness of his position as a small farmer: though there have been virtually no deaths in the last 100 years from tainted raw milk, he said, "It would only take one.  One farmer who goes away for the weekend and leaves his daughter to do the milking, and one goat dropping falls in, and she doesn't know to throw it all out, and people get sick, and our market would dry up overnight."

 

I thought of the recent salmonella scares, and I wondered how many farmers had lost business because of indiscretions on the part of their more irresponsible colleagues.  The fact that sensational media coverage can substitute for informed consumer decisions is very, very sad.  But the consumers can't be informed unless the information is out there.  That's where we come in.

 

Local Fork is a community effort.  If everyone puts in their two cents, we'll be rich in opportunities.  So I'd like to begin by asking you to tell us where you get local food: which farmers markets have the most choices, which roadside stands are open in November, which producers you know you can trust.  We're especially interested in the unusual and the off-season, as those are the hardest things for locavores to find, but we'll take it all!  Comment below, or send me a note at emily (at) localfork (dot) com.

 

Eat local!  Have fun!