What's Happening...
Fresh on the Menu is a program launched in partnership with the SC Department of Agriculture. A restaurant participating in Fresh on the Menu has committed to sourcing at least 25% of their menu from South Carolina growers and producers. This can include produce, meats, seafood, dairy and grains. Make sure you look for the logo when dining and ASK for LOCAL when eating!
Click Here to see a current listing of Fresh on the Menu restaurants. To find out how your farm or restaurant can get involved contact Alan.
Community Supported Agriculture - CSA
For a information on what a CSA is and where to find one here in the Lowcountry please click here!
We also want to extend a special thanks to our funders!
- The Coastal Conservation League
- The Spaulding-Paolozzi Foundation
- The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation
- The South Carolina Department of Agriculture
- The Ceres Foundation, Inc
Coming Soon!
Lowcountry Local First's Farm Fresh Food Guide - Thanks to the generous support of the Spaulding-Paolozzi Foundation, LLF will be releasing our local food directory this spring. Stay Tuned!
The Holidays in the Lowcountry
Harvest festivals and holiday celebrations have occurred for centuries around the world. Each is imbued with cultural traditions and customs that reflect their place of origin and the bounty of their local agricultural production. As people have migrated, a wonderful mixing of these traditions has occurred to create a rich tapestry of celebrations around the globe. Today, however, when people gather to celebrate the Holidays, many are distantly removed from the food sources and traditions of their parents and grandparents. We've lost the connection these celebrations had to local seasons and foods and, consequently, some of their richness and meaning.
Can we reconnect our holiday traditions with our agricultural traditions to create a more meaningful celebration? Should we? The answer to both is yes!
Top 10 Reasons to Eat Local this Holiday Season!
1. Support your local farmers – shop the farmers markets this holiday season and look and ASK for local produce at the grocers. Most conventional food travels an average of 1,500 miles before it hits the plate!
2. Local is FRESHER and TASTIER – there is an abundance of great local produce in the Fall: collards, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, winter squash, spinach, beets and of course pumpkin just to name a few!
3. Eating Locally is Better for the Environment – lower your carbon foot print by eating locally. An Iowa State University study found that people who switched to buying 10% of their produce from local sources produced 5-17 times less CO2 overall than if they'd bought non-local produce.
4. Support the Local Economy – keep money circulating in our community
5. Supports Sustainable Land Use – supporting local farms keeps our land productive as farms and not houses!
6. Eating Seasonally is Better for your Health!
7. Free Range and Pastured Meat tastes better – See our in print and online Directory of Local Business to find some great local meat producers
8. It’s our heritage and how our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents ate!
9. Makes for great dinner conversation!
10. A chance to stop and be Thankful for the EARTH that our food comes from, the RAIN and the SUN that help it grow, and the FARMER who plants the seeds and nurtures the crop.
Check out the websites of Edible Lowcountry, ECO, or Sustainable Table for great recipes using local ingredients!
To find more information and resources on Sustainable Agriculture and our Partner Organizations throughout the southeast please click here!
