Websites for locating locally grown and produced food

Mixed greens harvested from our hoop house Wednesday!

A new year brings opportunity for a new understanding of food. If you begin to view food as the essential element in life you realize the greatest gift we have from creation is our food source.

Consider the importance of eating food grown locally. Some of the benefits are:
— not having food travel by truck or train hundreds of miles, wasting energy and fuel;
— knowing where your food comes from and how it is grown;
— and money from your food budget goes to your local growers as opposed to a major food corporation.

Do what you can do
Thinking only one person has no impact can be an excuse to ignore the issues. Even if you only make one or two changes in the way you look at food in 2011, that is what you can do.

Helpful websites
Don't know where to start or how to take it up a notch? To locate farmers’ markets, family farms and other sustainably grown food in your area go to www.localharvest.org.

Find sustainable meat, dairy and egg products at www.eatwellguide.org.

Marine says thank you for alpaca socks in letter

Below is a letter received by Sister Maureen Freeman, director of White Violet Center for Eco-Justice, on Jan. 13 in response to more than 30 pairs of alpaca socks sent by White Violet Center to a unit of Marines stationed in Afghanistan.

Sgt. Fromme is the nephew of Sister of Providence Betty Hopf. The socks and monetary donations were collected during December at White Violet Center and The Gift Shop at Providence Center. Many thanks to those who donated. The photo here shows Sister Maureen, right, and Robyn Morton, associate director, preparing the socks for mailing. Here’s the soldier’s letter:

Hello there,

My name is Sgt. Logan Fromme. I’m in charge of 12 other Marines here in Afghanistan. We have been through some rough times together, but nothing that the Lord couldn’t or can’t pull us through in future scenarios.

My great aunt Betty gave me your e-mail and told me to be on the look out for some awesome alpaca socks coming our way. I’m thankful to inform you that I have received your package and that my Marines were ecstatic when I handed them the socks.

It’s been really cold here in our area lately but no snow yet. The weather is usually dry but the rainy season is coming around the corner. Their rainy season is basically like our winter.

There are a lot of creeks that we have to cross all the time, and we always pick the least traveled route that usually takes us waist deep in the water. The water is not very clean either, the locals drink it but also use it to bathe and as a place to, well, you know, something that takes place in a bathroom…

I can’t even explain how excited they were when I gave them the socks, 2 guys even said that they were gonna throw them on before we have to stand post tonight (its kinda like a guard where you make sure that bad guys don’t get too close). Believe me those socks are going to be used many, many times again.

Well, once again, thank you for your support and thanks for the gift of warmth. God Bless

Sgt. Logan Fromme, USMC

P.S. I will send a picture of me and my guys when I get a chance to upload it to this computer.

Bees in Vigo County, Ind.

We've learned through the grapevine that plans are in place to propose an animal control ordinance for Vigo County, Ind. that would restrict beekeeping to parcels of land that are more than two acres and would limit one hive for every 10 acres of land owned unless the land is zoned agricultural.

This means that countless backyard and hobby beekeepers would no longer be able to keep their hives legally. White Violet Center for Eco-Justice is urging county officials not to include these restrictions in the ordinance for they would be a detriment to our local bee populations.

As many people are well aware, honeybee populations have been in extreme stress over the past six years or more and have been in rapid decline due to pressures from pesticides, parasites and Colony Collapse Disorder.

Honeybees are a crucial link in our food system and without them to pollinate our crops, much of our agriculture would suffer greatly or collapse altogether. Bees are essential pollinators for many crops, including a few that are of economic importance in Indiana; melons, squash, cucumbers, pumpkins, apples, and more.

Now is not the time to limit the number of backyard and hobby beekeepers. In fact, it's quite the opposite! Now we need beekeepers more than ever, to help keep bee populations from collapsing, and that means that every hive counts.

In a time when the popularity of hobby beekeeping is finally on an upswing, it would be a shame to see Vigo County set back this exciting trend. We would like to see Vigo County at the forefront of this trend, allowing it to become an example of beekeeping for neighboring counties.

We hope county officials will reconsider including these restrictions on beekeeping.