Eliot Coleman: A Buy Local Week Feature
Eliot Coleman on Eating Local
Presented by Sustainable Connections,
the Bellingham Farmers Market,
Village Books &
the Community Food Co-op
Featured Speaker of Buy Local Week
When: Friday, December 7, 7-8:30pm
Where: American Museum of Radio & Electricity, 1312 Bay St.
Tickets: $5 advance, available at Village Books and the Community Food Co-op, or $6-10 sliding scale at the door
Farmers & Food Buyers, click HERE for more information on workshops and trade meeting earlier in the day.
Eliot Coleman for an evening of exploring the history and current position of the local food movement, and the compelling reasons behind it.
The mandate to “buy local” and “eat local” has gained tremendous ground in Whatcom County. We have a booming farmers market and a strong community of local, direct-sales farms of the sustainability bent. We have a growing population of “eat local” advocates, and many more who are just stepping up to the local table. We are well primed for the perspective and message of Eliot Coleman, renowned architect of the organic food movement, local farm advocate, author and successful four-season farmer.
Eliot firmly believes that “good, fresh food, grown locally by committed growers is the very best to be found,” and he has quite the foundation for that belief.
Eliot has nearly 40 years of experience in all aspects of organic farming, including field vegetables, greenhouse vegetables, rotational grazing of cattle and sheep, and range poultry. He is the author of The New Organic Grower (Chelsea Green, 1989, revised, expanded second edition, 1995), Four Season Harvest (Chelsea Green, 1992, revised, expanded second edition, 1999) and the Winter Harvest Manual, as well as many contributions to other books and publications.
During his careers as a commercial market gardener, the director of agricultural research projects, and as a teacher and lecturer on organic gardening he has studied, practiced and perfected his craft. He served for two years as the Executive Director of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements and was an advisor to the US Department of Agriculture during their landmark 1979-80 study, Report and Recommendations on Organic Farming. He has conducted study tours of organic farms, market gardens, orchards, and vineyards in Europe and has successfully combined European ideas with his own to develop and popularize a complete system of tools and equipment for organic vegetable growers.
Small farmers worldwide turn to Eliot Coleman for his expertise on production and marketing. Everyday eaters have a lot to learn from him too.
“New ideas, especially those that directly challenge an established orthodoxy, follow a familiar path. First, the orthodoxy says the new idea is rubbish. Then the orthodoxy attempts to minimize the new idea's growing appeal. Finally, when the new idea proves unstoppable, the orthodoxy tries to claim the idea as its own. This is precisely the path organic food production has followed.” –Eliot Coleman
