Soule: What Does 'Eat Local' Mean to You?

August is "New Hampshire Eat Local Month," (not to be confused with "Eat Locals"). It's a 31-day occasion worth observing. When you purchase local food the benefits ripple through the community, helping the farms and businesses that support them.

When you buy raw milk, yogurt, or cheese from Huckin's Farm (New Hampton), you'll enjoy easily digestible dairy high in protein and butterfat. You'll have delicious, beneficial A2 dairy products, and owner Maddy Huckins will have the resources to buy non-GMO feed for her Jersey and Guernsey cows. Buy maple syrup or candy from Windswept Farm in Loudon as an alternative to highly-processed sugar and corn syrup, and you'll give owners Larry and Melissa Moore a reason to tap their trees. Buy meat from Miles Smith Farm, and you will help us pay Howard Pearl and Bob McWhinney for hay, Dr. Peck for doctoring our herd, and Hilltop Feeds (Loudon) for providing chicken feed. You'll also support Brookside Pizza in Loudon, where we get delicious pizza, and Glenn's Auto Service in Belmont, where we fix our trucks. Money spent here stays here, circulating and recirculating.

Buying local food keeps New Hampshire fields mowed, cows fed, and sap processed. It's a community thing. Buying from your local farmer helps the entire community and preserves the rural character of our state. What happens when a farm isn't financially viable? Development.

Local farms also provide food security when food produced from "away" disappears.

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Carole Soule is co-owner of Miles Smith Farm, where she raises and sells pastured pork, lamb, eggs and grassfed beef. She can be reached at cas@milessmithfarm.com.