W Michigan Food Guide

An excellent resource is the West Michigan Guide to Local Food, which can be downloaded and saved on your computer as a PDF document. That link will also lead you to information regarding where you can find the newest edition.

The 2006-2007 Guide is currently online (03/08).

Guide Contents:

• Seasonal availability chart for produce
• Farmers' Markets
• Community Supported Agriculture
• Fruits and Vegetables, including U-Pick
• Processed Foods, including Meat, Dairy, Food Products
• Restaurants, Caterers
• Retail Outlets
• Other Resources
• Relevant and Colorful Advertisements
• More

Related Links:

• Food Shed
• Western Michigan Environmental Action Council
• Taste The Local Difference

An idea for someone to run with: expand the W Mich Food Guide to include ALL of Michigan.

Local Harvest (Website)

Local Harvest is an excellent website that can help you find organic farms, farmers' markets, CSAs, restaurants, co-ops, stores and other resources near you. However, the lists are not exhaustive, so I'll try to make up for some of the gaps here.

Why buy local? It reduces the fuel and time spent transporting produce and food products thousands of miles. Take it a step further and purchase organic produce, which reduces the toll that pesticides, herbecides and artificial fertilizers take on the planet and our bodies.