Buying Local: Keep it up!

Homer,  NY

I've written many times about buying local.  I've listed benefits of buying local (see this), and I've suggested items to buy and places to go to support local producers and growers. The good news is, it seems that people are trying to shop local.  This article, "Independent Businesses Report Strong Holiday Sales", provided results from a survey of 1,768 Independent Businesses that found that holiday sales were up 6.7 % on average for independent retailers (overall sales were up only 4.1 %).  In addition,  independent retailers surveyed reported that public awareness of the benefits of supporting locally owned businesses had increased in the last year, and communities with active "Buy Local" campaigns operated by a local business organization had higher local sales.  Here the Cortland Downtown Partnership has a Buy Local campaign and the Cortland County Chamber of Commerce ran a Holiday "Buy Local" assistance program this past season.

A friend posted a link to "Why Shop Local?" on their FaceBook page, and I thought it was worth repeating:

Cortland, NY

"When you buy from a small local business you are not paying for a third vacation home for some CEO.  You are paying for dance lessons; you are buying a little-league uniform.  You are putting food on a family's table and sending a student to college.  You are helping the American Dream come true for somebody in our community.  Somebody you probably know.  Shop local!"

Let's keep up the good work!

Have a Sustainable Holiday!

Courtesy of Jeannine Gettis

Remember to think "local" and "sustainable" this holiday season.

By buying local:
More of your money stays in our community
You support the development of local jobs
You reduce environmental impact
You are rewarded with better service!
You invest in our community (encourages new local businesses!)
You help build local economic resilience

Don't forget about locally made products like soaps and green cleaning supplies from Lime Hollow Naturals and lotions and shampoo from Cold Brook Farm. Great gift ideas of locally grown food or locally made products are also available in the area at shops like Oh My Goodness Health Food Store in Homer.  Or, how about some gift certificates to local services (like Hearts Content Healing and Pure and Simple Yoga)?

For more ways to help support your local businesses this season, check out the Cortland Historic Downtown Partnership newsletter for special events and ideas.

New Cortland County Sustainability Track

It has been a while since I've made time to post here, but lots of "green" things have been happening in our community. One of these is the the addition of a Sustainability Track to the Cortland Counts process which is an "Assessment of the Health and Well Being in Cortland County".

The Cortland Counts process includes setting community priorities in 4 areas (or tracks): Economic, Health, Youth, and Housing. In January, the Community Assessment Team (CAT) hosted a Community Forum that shared the results of “2009 Cortland Counts” which checks progress on the community priorities. At that Forum, a presentation on sustainability, particularly as it relates to a resilient and healthy community was presented by Brice Smith and a new fifth track on sustainability was established.

For more info on the Cortland Counts process please see this website: http://www.sevenvalleyshealth.org/projects/cc.htm

Brice Smith, chair of the Physics Department at SUNY Cortland and I are co-chairing the track and we will be hosting a series of meetings that will help establish sustainability related priorities for Cortland County that will be assessed yearly for progress. This includes (but is not limited to) local sustainable food production, sustainable community energy, reducing community energy consumption, improving economic opportunities with the development of local sustainable products (products providing environmental, social and economic benefits while protecting public health, welfare, and environment).

The first meeting was on Tuesday, February 2, 2010 where we had great conversations about different issues surrounding sustainability and began brainstorming on ideas for actions, goals and objectives. Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, February 25th at 10:00 AM in Room 203 in the Beard Building (Main Street SUNY Cortland) which is located directly across from the Community Restaurant. Following this meeting - we'll meet regularly the FIRST Tuesday of each month at 6:30 pm in Room 203 in the Beard Building (Main Street SUNY Cortland).

Hope to see you there!

Eat Local, Buy Local, Be Local

This afternoon I had the pleasure of attending my first Cortland Women Working Together (WWT) luncheon. The theme of this month’s luncheon was “Eat Local, Buy Local, Be Local”. The luncheon was held at Linani’s in Homer where they took care to use many local foods in their preparation of our meal. Lisa Lickona, co-founder of the East End Farmers Market located in Cortland, was the guest speaker. Lisa focused her talk around some of the many reasons she has become a local foods advocate. The ideas Lisa shared in her thought provoking presentation initiated many discussions and encouraged several individuals to stay and chat afterwards.

One of the ideas that came to light was the idea of local women sharing their knowledge about growing, purchasing, and preserving local food. Several questions (some shared below) were asked by different attendees during these discussions. I have had (and are still asking) many of these same questions. Some, I have addressed in previous blog entries and other resources that I have provided on this blog. However I, too, would enjoy hearing additional responses to these and other questions. I haven't been gardening in Cortland County for very long. I am still learning quite a bit about what grows well in my very wet clay soil on top of a windy hill. I am continually experimenting to find out what varieties of vegetables to grow, how many to grow (oh - I guess 12 zucchini plants might have been a few too many) and what soil additives (like compost, and SAND - LOTS OF SAND) I need to add to help things grow well (like straight rather than crooked carrots). The questions I share below are meant to encourage further discussion and to elicit responses, comments, and additional questions posted here on this blog. This way we can all learn together.

To get us started, some questions include:

- What varieties of vegetables that grow well in different parts of Cortland County?
- How do I know what soil conditions I have?
- What planting zone am I?
- Where should I buy seeds?
- What kind of plant seeds should I buy?
- How many seeds do you plant to feed your own family?
- Where are the local farmers markets and farm stands located?
- How can I find and sign on with a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)?

Then once we gather the local produce other questions arise such as:

- How do I cook new types of vegetables?
- How can I preserve my produce?
- How do I can, freeze, dry, and pickle produce?
- Do I need a root cellar to store vegetables long term?
- Where can I go to learn these skills?
- What books and resources are there to help me?


Luckily for our community, there are plenty of women in Cortland County who have expertise in these areas. For example, Heather Birdsall, of the Cortland County Cooperative Extension shared at the luncheon that they have a staff member who has gone through extensive training on proper techniques of food preservation and their office will be providing workshops.

As i said before, I’d like to also offer up this blog as a mechanism for sharing success stories, failures (like the late blight that took so many of our tomatoes this year), ideas, expertise, and a device for offering up encouragement to each other as we each work to better our community. Along the right side of the blog I have been listing local food sources as I locate them. I would encourage anyone to write that has additional resources and local food sources. Also please post things in the comment section of this and any other entry and feel free to - ask questions, post answers, and add comments.

Cortland’s own "Local only" farmers market opens tomorrow June 13!

Yes – The day has finally come. The East End Farmers Market, Cortland’s new “local only” farmers market is set to open, tomorrow, June 13th . The market will run from 8:00-1:00 every Saturday through October 24 and is located at Dexter Park on the corner of Franklin and Elm Streets. Lisa Lickona and Tammie Whitson have done a superb job pulling this together.

There are a number of venders that will be at the market offering everything from fresh coffee and baked goods, soaps and potted plants, pasture-raised chicken and salad greens, maple syrup and flowers, and much more. For a complete list of venders and an update of what to expect each Saturday at the market, please refer to East End Farmers Market website

This week, in addition to all the venders, three special events are planned. This includes seasonal cooking demonstrations from Susan Prier of Cornell Cooperative Extension, chair massages from Holistic Hands Therapeutic Massage and Aroma Therapy, and for musical entertainment, “Amy and Allen" will performer fiddle and guitar music at 10:30.

AND, just in case you need some reminders why you should go to the farmers market – remember purchasing and eating local foods:

• Helps the local economy,
• Provides you with tastier and fresher food,
• Provides you and your family with healthier food,
• Helps the environment by cutting down on transportation emissions which contribute to global climate change,
• Helps preserve area greenspace and farmland,
• Helps build stronger community relationships, AND
• Promotes local food safety – you know WHO grew your food and can ask HOW they grew your food!

Sustainable Cortland: We're on Our Way!

There is a strong feeling of positive momentum in Cortland County. Great local people are working on improving the quality, quantity, and accessibility of local foods and are working with area children to develop school gardens. Others are looking at improving the access and convenience of the county public transportation system and working on a renewable energy plan. While still others are trying to improve the local economy and quality of life in the area with green projects such as the river trail. All these are exciting, and also fall into line with a movement that was started about 3 years ago in the UK called Transition Towns.

The Transition Initiative is “Tackling Climate Change and Peak Oil. Bringing the Head, Heart and Hands of Communities together to make the transition to life beyond oil.” The movement is spreading worldwide and quickly in the US. Already, Transition Towns US has developed an online social networking system for each state. Several Cortland area individuals have already joined to begin communicating with each other and those elsewhere in New York.

It is my hope that using this network and support system that Cortland and the surrounding area can become an official Transition Town. The process we will need to go through is outlined on the Transition Town websites based on what has worked well in several towns in England. I will be finding out if it will be possible to bring a Transition Town trainer to the Cortland area to get us started. If anyone is interested, please either contact me directly, or go ahead and join the Transition Town Network for NY and connect with me there by joining the Sustainable Cortland group.

Regardless if we become an official “Transition Town” or not, it appears that we are moving toward a comprehensive sustainable vision and framework for Cortland County. And that is something I plan to continue to help move forward.