W elcome to Local Table!
Everywhere is 'local' to someone. Whether you live in Nashville or New
York City, it has become increasingly important to put something
locally produced on your dinner table. Local Table is dedicated to
celebrating the people who bring us homegrown food from Tennessee
farms. Our goal is to support a community that celebrates every meal
and is thoughtful about where we live and how we eat. When we eat
locally raised food, we can literally ensure the continuation of the
family farm, protect our rural green spaces and support a food system
that brings a steady supply of fresh, healthy foods to our towns and
cities.
Farm Guide |
A Guide To Food And Farming
WE HAVE MADE IT EASIER FOR YOU TO FIND HEALTHIER, AND TASTIER
FOOD FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY. Surveys show Americans would like to eat
healthier - they just don't know how to get started. We offer easy and
varied choices. You can even combine a leisure day trip in our
beautiful countryside with a gourmet destination.
|More|
|
Featured Story |
Every spring the store fills with pints of fresh picked strawberries,
award-winning jams, cakes and breads...
Valley Home Farm
 NANCY EDWARDS, ALONG WITH BROTHER BOBBY POTTS, WHO LIVES ACROSS THE ROAD
WITH HIS FAMILY, HAVE BEEN ABLE TO HOLD ONTO AN AGRARIAN WAY OF LIFE
BY INCORPORATING THE FINICKY STRAWBERRY INTO THEIR FARM
OFFERINGS." They are expensive to plant and easy to lose," says Nancy
of the annual Sweet Charlies and Chandler variety berries that cover
three rotating acres of the family's 350 acre Bedford County farm.
|More|
|
C S A's |
Community Supported Farms
 COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE (CSA) IS A
WAY FOR EATERS AND FARMERS TO WORK TOGETHER. While the
farmer is tending the Earth, consumers share the costs
of supporting the farm and share the risk of variable
harvests (and also share the over-abundance of a
particularly fruitful year). CSA memberships or
subscriptions underwrite the harvest for the entire
season in advance. Each farm handles this relationship
in their own fashion and are different in length of
season, crops grown, level of social activities and
price they set for their shares.
|More|
|
New Pages |
Cook's Notebook
Reflections on food and
life, with Ali Berlow
Ali is the founding
Executive Director of Island Grown Initiative, a
non-profit dedicated to supporting the small family
farm and to raising consumer awareness about the
importance of locally grown food. |More|
|
Ask Farmer Jason
Farmer Jason is the children's music alter
ego of alternative country pioneer Jason Ringenberg of
the now legendary Jason and the Scorchers. Ringenberg
grew up on an Illinois hog farm, and practices
sustainable gardening/farming on his hobby farm between
Nashville and Memphis. |More|
|
We hope you can use this website, along with the magazine, as a
resource to the agricultural bounties of Middle Tennessee. We'll keep
our event section up to date with any festivals, fairs, conferences
and other gatherings we feel may be of interest to those interested in
food and farming. We'll also be adding blogs from our editors where
they'll be speaking to you about issues of interest, talk food or
gardening. Please feel free to keep in touch with us to pass along
news you feel may be of interest to others, recipes, or comments to
make Local Table a better place to meet.
Thanks for joining us at Local Table.
I want to add a special BIG thank you to Sue Havlish who has helped
midwife this publication since it's inception almost four years ago.
We make no guarantee as to the quality of any produce or product from
a farm or to anyone's growing practices. We're only providing a guide
to local farms and invite you to find your favorites.
Local Table is solely owned and operated by Local
Table LLC and is not affiliated with any group,
organization or government agency. Federal trademark is
pending.
 |
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything
better." Albert Einstein
Interesting Facts · Tennessee's agriculture accounts for 11.7% of the
state's economy and generates $38.8 billion in output. About 214,000
Tennesseans are employed by the agriculture industry, with 126,000
working (both full and part-time) as farmers. Source: USDA, National
Agricultural Statistics Service Tennessee Field Office, 2005
Agritourism · combines aspects of Tennessee agriculture and
tourism. Examples of such activities and business include agriculture
related festivals and fairs, Century Farms, Corn mazes, Farmer's
Markets, On-farm tours, On-farm retail markets, On-farm festivals,
Pick-Your-Own farms and Wineries.
Slow Food · is the name of an organization and movement to counteract
fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions,
and to counter-act people's dwindling interest in the food they
eat. Simply put to get people cooking again with local, whole
foods. *Source: Slow Food International, www.slowfood.com
The New Oxford Dictionary's 2007 Word of the Year is locavore - coined
two years ago by a group of four women in San Francisco who proposed
that local residents should try to eat only food grown or produced
within a 100-mile radius. The "locavore" movement encourages consumers
to buy from farmers' markets or even to grow or pick their own food,
arguing that fresh, local products are more nutritious and taste
better.
|
