BUY LOCAL, HIRE LOCAL EAT LOCAL

To the editor:

I just finished reading a wonderful book that I had to share with everyone. It was not epiphanic in the sense that the lightbulb suddenly flashed above my head, but rather an affirmation of the culmination of thoughts that have been shaping my activities over the past few years. The book is Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. The

brief synopsis is that Kingsolver and her family decide to spend a year eating vegetables, fruits and meat that have been produced solely by their own family or in their neighborhood. The premise of the book was enough to scare me away initially. There have been so many times in the past few years that I have yearned to be able to be more self-sufficient that I didn't feel like being lectured about the fact that I still shop at the grocery store. I quickly realized, however, that this book is not an admonishment of my eating habits, but rather a delightful journey through a family experiment that proved to be not only a feasible task, but also a bountiful and fulfilling mission.

The bottom line is a highly compelling challenge to all of us: not to eat only what is produced in our own community, but to be conscious of our food constantly. Our diets have become so shaped by the amazing accessibility of virtually everything, always, that it's hard to remember what vegetables are in season. It's even harder when we begin to scrutinize where our food has come from in its journey to our stomachs. When you start to add it all up, it's a little sickening to think of the amount of miles that our food travels, how it was specifically bred to travel, how our packaged foods have so many, many ingredients, which also travel very far, and how the money that we pay for our groceries greatly benefits people who do not have any ties to our own community, and do not directly reciprocate these funds.

I know that it's a far stretch to think of eating everything from Nantucket, but it's a start to try to eat local fish, shop at the farmer's market and support local restaurants who purchase their goods from local farmers. Beyond that, it is also helpful to look for things that are produced on the Cape, in Massachussetts, New England, or at least our own country. As an added bonus to eating locally, if there is more demand for local food, there will be more opportunities for people interested in making a living as farmers, furthering the cycle of community prosperity. So, read the book, buy local, hire local and eat local. See you at the farmer's market!

- Heather Leisher Coffin