What does it mean to buy local?

Hal Walter
Let’s just start by saying I rarely join anything. I tend to march to the beat of my own drum, color outside the lines, work independently, etc.

And that’s why it’s odd to suddenly find myself on the board of the local farmer’s market.

Over the winter I was approached about being on the Westcliffe Farmer’s Market board. Board member Kristie Nackord noticed I have supported the market over the years, have an interest in local and organic foods, and that the market had inadvertently become my surrogate social life every Thursday last summer.

Would I consider being on the board?

Well, why not?

Most of us have seen the message “Think Globally. Act Locally.” It often appears on the bumper of some older model economy car driven either by a dreadlocked Gen-Xer or aging pony-tailed 60s hipster. Stereotypes aside, it’s a great message, and nobody between those generations can argue with the notion that doing good things in your immediate world makes for a better world in general.

I especially appreciate this notion as it relates to food. I was probably a locovore before the word was coined, buying food from area farmers and ranchers whenever possible and raising some of my own. I made this commitment in the “self-ish” sense, which is not to be confused with “selfish.” It turns out that doing something good for yourself can also be good for the community.

The problem with all this is when you start setting rules. Like, how do you define local? Is it something grown within a 100-mile radius as many locovores agree, or is 250 miles OK as it is in some areas? The latter is still a short distance in the United States, where food travels an average of 1,500-2,500 miles to get to your table.

Another interesting variable as applied to the Westcliffe Farmer’s Market is that relatively little food – especially fruit, vegetables and grains – is grown here. Ironically, the highest percentage of local food production is probably beef, and very little of that beef is available locally. What we really grow well here is grass, and not the kind with medicinal value.

While there is a concerted effort by many locals to produce a wider variety of agricultural food products, for now the market relies heavily on farmers from Cañon City, Avondale and the San Luis Valley to fill that void.

I had my mind wrapped tightly around all this and how it fit into our mission when Kristie rolled out her poster design that carried a message with a larger scope:

 

PUT YOUR $

WHERE YOUR ? IS

WESTCLIFFE, COLORADO

BUY LOCAL

 

My initial thought was this is a fine message. But then I began thinking it might be more appropriate for, say, the chamber of commerce. Now that we weren’t limiting the discussion to food or even our market, it seemed the rules had changed. What were the parameters?

Is buying asparagus from Mexico at Westcliffe Super Market buying local? What about craft items made by locals from materials of indeterminate origin at the Farmer’s Market? How about plastic things from China at our new Family Dollar? And if local food can come from as far as 100 miles, then does that mean durable goods from Wal-Mart in Colorado Springs qualify as local?

Now my mind was spinning.

It was generally agreed that at least there is the potential that buying anything locally – in Westcliffe and Silver Cliff – may help the Farmer’s Market. For example, buying something at Family Dollar helps pay wages there and some of that money may find its way either directly or indirectly to the market. Dollars always turn over in a community.

But the most compelling notion came from Kristie herself, and it was that none of this really matters. The message is not about evaluating, comparing or judging, she says. It’s about following your heart, which for Kristie means growing food, and supporting her community and neighbors through purchasing their offerings.

“Whether they made it, imported it, brewed it or grew it, you can’t go wrong,” she says. “I am following what feels most resonant and in alignment for me. My own personal buy-local initiative is not about saying ‘don’t buy from China’ or any other geographic region for that matter. It is simply about supporting and celebrating the beautiful community we have chosen to visit or live in.”

I thought about some of the stuff I have bought locally in recent months, ranging from food at this very market, as well as Westcliffe Super Market and Sunflower Natural Foods, to a down jacket (made in China) from the Village Shop. A bigger ticket item – I bought a set of tires for my beer can on wheels (a Subaru Forester from Japan) at Western Tire. Regularly I buy gasoline that’s surely of Middle Eastern origin at Westcliffe Petroleum and Valley Fuel. Petroleum products are also used to produce hay I buy from Phil and Paul Schneider and other haygrowers. The list goes on …

Then again, I also buy a fair amount of merchandise 50 miles down the road in Pueblo, where often the selection and price is better. It’s worth it for me, for example, to make a weekly trip to the Natural Grocers for a reliably large variety of fresh organic produce. I won’t boycott Natural Grocers just because it’s not in Westcliffe.

And there are a few items I buy online or through mail order because I simply can’t get what I want within an hour’s drive. Running shoes, outdoor gear, electronic equipment, stuff like that. It’s all from China, but getting it here employs local people at the post office, UPS and FedEx.

I might add that much of my income comes from elsewhere, so in this sense I am working globally and spending locally. If I didn’t have a computer from China I’d likely be contributing much less to the local economy.

In the final analysis we’re going with the buy-local poster, and perhaps I’m learning about going with the flow, being open to broader ideas, and that struggling with certain preconceived rules is just a worthless exercise of the mind.

A true gift already afforded by my short service on this board.

 

The Westcliffe Farmers Market opens June 16. Hal Walter writes from Westcliffe, Colorado, and you can keep up with him regularly at www.hardscrabbletimes.com.