5 Buying Local New Year’s Resolutions

Thanks to our friends at the Watershed Agricultural Council -- they've made it REALLY easy to put buying local at the top of our 2013 New Year's Resolutions List. We want you to be successful this year, so we're reposting that list of five things you can do today that will continue to support our local farmers, strengthen our regional economic vitality, and benefit our communities and working landscapes. 

How? It all boils down to how you choose to spend your food dollars, where you choose to buy your food, and from who you choose to buy your food. It's really all up to you!

1. Choose 5 items to purchasing locally -- regularly. Think milk, bread, meat, eggs, cheese, wine, beer. What are your staples? Buy accordingly.
2. Identify your home farmers’ market and mark your calendar now; commit to visiting it once a week. Get to know your farmer, baker, artisan and expand your social circles. (Here's the 2012 lists for Sullivan-Ulster, Otsego and Delaware Counties.)
3. Sign up for a CSA share; your winter investment will help bridge farmers through the lean months and you’ll be guaranteed freshly picked veggies all year long. Opt in on the meat, egg and flower shares.
4. Get involved. Help strengthen our local food system by setting the example in your circles of influence. Encourage local institutions to purchase locally (government office farmers' market, school cafeteria, jail meals, chamber dinners, office parties)
5. Commit today to buying gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, holidays locally. Be it regionally crafted, grown or raised, Pure Catskills Marketplace will launch in July to help you meet that commitment. The Fresh From the Catskills Holiday Gift Guide is also a great resource.

Got more by local resolutions? Want to encourage others on how to build a strong local food system? Share your comments below or post your ideas on the Pure Catskills Facebook Page.  Happy New Year!