I've discovered four great resources, three being very useful data searches, that can help you localize your Thanksgiving -along with the rest of the year of course! 

 

Eat Local First Local Flavor Guide

It's loaded with information about farmers' markets, local food producers & markets, a local dining map, reviews of local restaurants and more! All focused on the Denver Metro area.

Learn fun facts about restaurants and markets like how in the peak of the growing season, 75% of the produce served at Fuel is grown right here in Colorado!

Read more about the guide and see the list of locations where you can pick up a copy here.

Download a condensed printable version here.

 

Find What's Fresh & In Season in Your Region:

 

The NRDC has compiled a plethora of data on crop types, regions, and growing seasons. All of this information as been put into a searchable database so that you can look up what is in season when and where. Additionally, you can see what is available in other neighboring regions.

 

 

Sometimes, hearing others' personal stories can be quite a pleasure. You're most certainly not alone in the quest to become a locavore. Relocalizing your shopping habits, diet, etc has its tough spots, but there is quite a bit of beauty in the process as well. I hope that you enjoy this personal story as well as check out Amy Cotler's book The Locavore Way.

Why Local Energy?

• Ten cents on the local dollar of the community goes directly to pay for fuel. In the case of Colorado, much of this is imported. e.g. Coal from Wyoming.

• Only between ten and fifteen cents on the dollar spent on that fuel stays in the local community.

• Locally-produced energy is often more diversified in both fuel source as well as in location. Much strength lies in having diversity within a system. Therefore, having 50 different locations producing electricity to the grid via solar panels on their roofs is significantly more resilient than having a single coal-fired power plant.

Read more on why going local is important.

 

 

What Can I Do?

Support localization by going local! Open lines of communication with your energy provider and look for opportunities to improve energy efficiency, generate energy on-site, and offset your current usage. Currently, we've joined the Denver Energy Challenge to help individuals and businesses sign up with Windsource, a program with Xcel Energy focused on locally-generated renewable energy. Not only do you get to localize your energy, if you sign up now with the Denver Energy Challenge, Xcel Energy will also donate up to $125,000 to energy education projects at Denver public high schools. (read more about helping DPS)

 

 

 

Wed, Jan 13th, 2010

By: Lamar Clarkson

 

Over the past decade, as the public has increasingly embraced the idea that food is best grown locally and sustainably, we’ve made the opposite assumption about our cultural institutions. Witness the “Bilbao effect,” recently declared all but dead in the New York Times. Smitten with the success of the Guggenheim’s outpost in Bilbao, Spain, we’ve come to believe that any city dissatisfied with its growth and tourist traffic need only follow a simple formula: Commission a big-name architect to design a bigger, flashier museum building, then wait for the tourists and tax dollars to come pouring in. And so we set to work turning culture into a cash crop, sowing boldface names and marble bricks like soybeans and corn.

A Tasty New Documentary...
...About Returning Home to Our Food Supply

Lynn Gillespie, executive producer of Locavore: Local Diet, Healthy Planet is challenging all Americans to step up to the plate…their dinner plate that is.

Lynn produced the film with the intention of bringing awareness to the local food movement. She states that it’s our duty as Americans to support our local economies, to take part in the health and wellness of ourselves as well as the health of our future generations.

The film takes an empowering and educational stance, demonstrating how going local improves the health of all, from personal physical condition to the country's economy.

Check out this film about the growing local food scene in Northern Colorado. It was produced by another Colorado BALLE network, Be Local Northern Colorado with the Northern Colorado Food Incubator.

It's no surprise to me to see this diagram of the organic food brands that are now owned by major food companies like Kraft, Heinz and Cargill. It is, however, disappointing.



Want to find local food producers that are still locally owned and operated? Take a look at these resources: