spiralngphoenix

I've been thinking lately (as I stare down the maw of a teeny-tiny budget that's gotten smaller recently due to this ridiculous economy we live in) about looking into the feasibility of ye olde "Buy Local" concept. It's something I tend to feel strongly about to start with, and prefer to do anyway, but lately I'm looking into whether or not it's a financial/spatial possibility.

See, the way I see it is this. Part of the problem with the economy is that we're still sitting around, waiting for the big businesses to start hiring/building/doing whatever it is they do, and they're sitting around waiting for us to start buying things again before they do any of that. The problem is that because we're not working, we're not buying, so they're not hiring/building/etc ad nauseum infinitum. Frankly, I'm tired of this concept. I'm also tired of buying things that were made outside the country simply because it's cheap. I'd much rather buy something from my local area, which will mean that they in turn will spend that money locally, building up the local area, and so on out from there. (Ideally, anyway.) Or at very least I'm supporting the farm down the street that I drive by every day, instead of some farm somewhere in Canada or Mexico. (Sorry Canada, I like you, but buying from you doesn't particularly help the guy I see out feeding the calves in the morning.)

There are some issues with actually doing this, however. Most CSA's I know of require far more money up front than I have to spend, and also tend to involve a box of food that is larger than I can adequately consume and/or store in a reasonable amount of time. I'm only feeding me, the cat, and the boy...I don't need enough food to feed a small village. Also, I don't have freezer space. So, CSA's are out. Which leads me to Farmer's Markets, which usually don't get going until around June (though some farms do sell eggs, honey, and other random bits year round. I'm looking into finding these now), and frequently don't offer things like meat, butter, cream, etc. The other issue is finding farms that have prices on their produce that I can afford.

Needless to say, this will take some investigatory work. If anyone knows of anything local to Pepperell, or has ideas feel free to speak up. :)