August is NH Eat Local Month, and we’ve got 31 days to celebrate! All month long, we can find new ways to support New Hampshire farmers and local agriculture.
3. Grow your own. It’s not too late to plant things like greens, carrots, etc. for the fall, in fact, it’s perfect timing! Limited Space? – grow herbs on your window sills or a sunny spot all year round.
4. Share your love of local food. Bring a friend to market, brag about your delicious dinner on facebook/your blog/twitter/in a text. Spread the word and support local agriculture in NH!
5. Pick your own. Peaches, blueberries, and even early season apples as well as vegetables are available to pick yourself. It can be a great way to get a lot of produce for less money, and a fun family or friend outing in a beautiful location.
6. Try local meats. NH is home to lots of farms growing everything from chicken and turkey to beef, pork, lamb, goat, elk, venison, and bison! NH Department of Ag, and Eat Wild.
7. Eat out! Ask about local food options at a local restaurants and stores.
8. Make it sweet, eat more maple syrup and honey.
9. Visit a farm.
10. Yes You Can!
11. Try a new food or a new recipe. Be brave! Try kohlrabi or goat or fill-in-the-blank.
12. Learn a new skill. Across the state, there are workshops on everything from canning to raising chickens and a whole lot more. Check out Cooperative Extension, Seacoast Permaculture Meetup, Central Permaculture Meetup, Monadnock Region Permaculture Meetup, and D Acres just for starters. Or, share a skill and teach a friend or neighbor to cook.
13. Find inspiration, check out NH’s local food bloggers.
14. Make it a party. Invite friends and family for an all local bbq or potluck, or a few close friends for a can-apalooza!
15. Take a picture, it’ll last longer.
16. Eat nothing but locally grown foods for a day, or a week, or the whole month!
17. Cheeeeeese please!
18. Freeze it: Freeze fresh herbs in ice cube trays so you can use them for soups and stocks. Make pesto with fresh basil, garlic and pine nuts and freeze! Keep berries fresh and ready to use in smoothies, pies and toppings all year long. All you need is a baking sheet and plastic freezer bags or jars. Lay berries on sheet and place in freezer, once frozen, scoop berrries into freezer bag or jar.
19. Forage: For novices try finding nearby wild blackberry bushes, alpine blueberries,or greens like dandelions. With help from an expert, forage for mushrooms and medicinal herbs.
20. Dry, smoke it, cure it, make some charcuterie!
21. Spend $10 a week on local food.
22. Make that summer seafood truly local!
23. Feed your head and feast with your eyes.
24. Join a csa/csf/farm patron program. Share the fun & expense – split a CSF/CSA with a neighboring friend or family.
25. Glean and donate to a local food pantry.
26. Hold a garden/canning/seed swap, trade what you have lots of for what others are producing.
27. Volunteer your time to a local food organization, food pantry, or school garden.
28. Visit or join a community garden.
29. Make it a family affair – bring your kids to the farmers market, invite them to help prep in the kitchen, have them help harvest in the garden.
30. Drink it in! Local wine, beer, and distilleries.
31. Say “thank you” to a farmer and let them how much you enjoy the fruits of their labor.
Enjoy eating locally all August long!
Contributors to this post include Erin Allgood, Sarah Jacobson, Debra Kam, Tracy Osborne Miller, Kate Mitchell, Sara Zoe Patterson, Jen Risley, Jessica Sheldon, and Lenore Paquette Smith.