We have lost touch with our food and where it comes from. In today's fast-paced, technology driven world, food and the act of eating have been pushed to the side and into waxed boxes and plastic bags. Often, we choose our food for the sake of convenience, and either ignore or neglect its nutritional value and impact it has on the world or trust that it’s all ok. What is the basis of that trust?

Unfortunately, much of our food is produced and comes to us in a way that is not sustainable. Pesticides contaminate our food and the environment, poor farming practices erode away soil, animals are force fed and crammed into small indoor spaces, food is ultra-processed into fat, sugar and chemical-rich concoctions of little nutritional value. Much of our food is trucked across the continent or farther, and from factory to factory before it arrives on the grocery store shelves.

Fortunately, there is an alternative. By eating locally, we cut out the transportation, storage, processing, and preserving of our foods. Since eating locally also means getting to know our farmers and producers, the unhealthy and environmentally toxic practices are eliminated. Local farms are generally open to their customers and encourage them to visit and sometimes even participate in farm work. Farmers want people to see the healthy way in which their food is produced.

Learn more: http://www.localharvest.org/buylocal.jsp

Why eat seasonally?

Being a committed locavore means eating seasonally. Nowadays, we spend most of our time indoors and have lost touch with the change of seasons and how the natural landscapes changes throughout the year with the life cycles of plants and animals. Seasonal eating brings us back in with the natural world, because we are eating only what is available in season, locally. Eating with the season also has a positive environmental of eliminating the impacts of transporting food across long distances. 

The Local Foods Market at Pennypack Farm is currently closed due to recent zoning and lease concerns.