I dropped by The Sweet Potato last Friday and had a chance to chat a bit with Tracy from LocalFoodPlus. LFP has expanded! They have gone national and are now certifying farmers in Québec, British Columbia and Manitoba, in addition to Ontario. Nice!
To help promote LFP and support local farmers and suppliers, not to mention eat some tasty, fresh, local food, take the LFP pledge to shift $10 of your food budget to certified local sustainable food.
Better yet, go visit the folks from LFP yourself and sign up at these locations:
• Bonne Vie – Dec. 9th, 1:00 pm-6:00 pm
• Wholesome Market – Dec. 17th, 4:00 pm-7:00 pm and Dec. 18th, 11:00 am-4:00 pm
• Fiesta Farms – Every Saturday and Sunday in Dec., 11:00 am-4:00pm
If you’re lucky, they might even give you a handy button to decorate your winter coat.
Cool green fun fact!
As of the time I’m writing this, 2634 people have taken the LFP pledge,? reducing greenhousegases by 263 cars, and creating 26 new jobs!
Michael Pollan answers questions from readers in an interview with Time Magazine.
Keep your eye out for the LocalFoodPlus logo.
LocalFoodPlus is a Canadian non-profit that certifies local sustainable food producers. The LFP stickers and in-store promotional labels help you identify which items are both local and sustainable—meaning they come from the local farmers who use few or no nasty chemicals, treat their animal well, conserve soil and water, and protect wildlife.
Really, these are the good guys. And you want to support them.
LFP got started back in 2006 when they launched a program with U of T that made the university the first on the continent to formally commit to purchasing only locally produced food for their St. George campus cafeterias and residences.
Today they’ve come a long way and have an impressive win-win-win program that helps the farmer, the retailer and the consumer benefit from the growing demand for local & sustainable food.
And while LFP helps shoppers like us identify the super star local food items on store shelves and at markets (hooray for stickers!), the program also helps farmers see the advantage of adopting sustainable production practices, provides 3rd party certification to back up their claim, helps farmers connect with new markets and vendors, and provides promotional marketing through their website and newsletter, as well as in-store differentiation.
Love these guys. Check them out yourself for more info.
A few years old but great insights from this Ted Talk.
Paririe Boy tomatoes, the best in the land.
This inspiring couple have been livin’ the LocalFoody dream by working hard and delivering the fruit of their labour to select establishments in Toronto, including Multiple Organics, The Atlantic, Grace, Bohmer, Enoteca Social, Marben and CowBell.
Check out their adventures on Grant’s blog at theveglesstravelled.
Keep ’em coming, Grant!
I must admit I’ve never had much of a green thumb. However, the ideas of self-sufficiency, local, and urban food production have inspired me to take action – in this case by digging up a little vegetable garden in the back corner of my yard. It’s just a start but I feel good about it, both physically and spiritually.
