Farmers' Markets Now Open!
The first of the farmers markets around the Adirondack Region have opened for the 2008 season! Take advantage of the wide array of products that are available fresh from the farm to you!

In Franklin County and area farmers markets are:
Malone Farmers Market , Wednesdays, Noon - 4:30 PM,
June 4- October 8th at the Malone Airport, Route 11

Chateaugay Lakes Farmers' Market, starts Saturdays, 10 am - 2 pm
June 21 through Aug. 30 on State Rt. 374 on the lawn of the Hollywood Inn.

Paul Smiths Farmers Market, Fridays, 2:00-5:00 pm
June 20 through September 6, Corner of Rte 86 and 30 at Paul Smiths College Campus

Saranac Lake Farmers' Market, Tuesdays, 11 AM - 3 PM,
June 3 through September 30 at Lake Flour Bakery, located on the corner of River & St. Bernard Sts

If you are traveling around the region this year and would like to stop at a farmers' market in the communities you are visiting go to www.adirondackharvest.com for a complete listing of farmers markets in the Adirondack Region.

Wherever you are this coming summer, enjoy the sites, sounds and of course the flavors of the communities you visit by buying and eating local.

Are You Interested in Eating Locally? Here are some websites of to Inspire You:

GardenShare is a non-profit organization working to end hunger in northern New York State, a region called the North Country.

GardenShare works to build a North Country where all of us have enough to eat and enough to share—where our food choices are healthy for us, for our communities, and for the environment.

Toward that end, GardenShare focuses on the following areas:

• Local Food. GardenShare promotes the benefits of eating locally grown food and of creating a community-based, sustainable food system.
  
• Harvest Sharing. Each spring GardenShare recruits North Country gardeners to share their garden harvests with local food pantries.
  
• Farm-to-School. GardenShare helped establish a farm-to-school project that enables North Country schools and colleges to serve locally grown food in their cafeterias.
  
• Food Security. Each year GardenShare presents its Growing Community Award to recognize local efforts to build community food security in the North Country.
  
• Kitchen Gardening. GardenShare empowers people to grow their own food in home gardens and community gardens.
  
• Public Policy. GardenShare supports legislation and public policies that address the root causes of hunger.
  

North Country residents can keep in touch with these activities through a free subscription to the quarterly GardenShare newsletter.

Locovores- Foodshed for Thought Celebrate Your Foodshed Eat Locally!

This is a group of concerned culinary adventurers who are making an effort to eat only foods grown or harvested within a 100 mile radius of San Francisco for an entire month. They recognize that the choices they make about what foods they choose to eat are important politically, environmentally, economically, and healthfully. In 2005, Locovores challenged people from the bay area (and all over the world) to eat within a 100 mile radius of their home for the month of August.

In 2007 they extended that challenge to the month of September. They encouraged folks to try canning and preserving food for the wintertime. To find out more visit their website at http://www.locavores.com/

100-Mile Diet
When the average North American sits down to eat, each ingredient has typically travelled at least 1,500 miles—call it "the SUV diet." On the first day of spring, 2005, Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon (bios) chose to confront this unsettling statistic with a simple experiment. For one year, they would buy or gather their food and drink from within 100 miles of their apartment in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Since then, James and Alisa have gotten up-close-and-personal with issues ranging from the family-farm crisis to the environmental value of organic pears shipped across the globe. They've reconsidered vegetarianism and sunk their hands into community gardening. They've eaten a lot of potatoes.

Their 100-Mile Diet struck a deeper chord than anyone could have predicted. Within weeks, reprints of their blog at thetyee.ca had appeared on sites across the internet. Then came the media, from BBC Worldwide to Utne magazine. Dozens of individuals and grassroots groups have since launched their own 100-Mile Diet adventures. The need now is clear: a locus where 100-milers can get the information they need to try their own lifestyle experiments, and to exchange ideas and develop campaigns. That locus will be here at 100MileDiet.org—turning an idea into a movement. To find out more check out their website at http://100milediet.org/

Local Harvest
A gateway listing of organic and local products near you. This is a national website that allows farmers to list their farms and provides links to their websites. You can search for farms a number of different ways. For more info visit www.localharvest.org.

Food Routes
Where does your food come from? This site is packed full of information about local food, buying local and resources to help educators, farmers and community members talk about buying local and why it is important to them. Take the challenge and pledge to spend $10/week or more on locally grown or raised products. Your impact on your local economy will be more than you can image! Explore their website to discover more http://foodroutes.org/

Harvest Eating: Four Seasons...One Lifestyle
The Harvest Eating Community Celebrates the enjoyment of seasonal, organic, local food. Learn about their benefits and where to find them, then enjoy a full video database highlighting easy-to-follow recipes designed to make you look like a star in the kitchen! Visit www.harvesteating.com to start your culinary adventure today!

Chef's A Field
Chefs connecting with farmers for the products Chefs are using in their restaurants. Hear from the 'experts' about the inspiration they get walking and working along side the farmers. And how the chefs are inspired to create some amazing menus.
http://www.sitestories.com/chefsafield/

Click on Meat Yield Calculator to go to the University of Vermont Website to download the calculator.