Steve's introduction

Hello!

I'm Steve, a graduate of U.Va. and temporary resident of Charlottesville with a strong interest in, among other things, sustainable food production and food systems. I contacted the Piedmont Environmental Council a few months ago because I really like the work done by the Buy Fresh, Buy Local project and wanted to lend a hand. After meeting with Melissa Wiley, we decided it would be a good idea for me to visit area farms, speak with the owners, and write about my experience. This will obviously help me learn about my interests, but it will also make the names and farms you read about in the Buy Fresh, Buy Local guides even more of a personal feel. I hope to give you summaries about my visits that will encourage you to do a variety of things including, but definitely not limited to, buying CSA shares, patronizing restaurants that use local products, and visiting local farmers markets. I will be leaving Charlottesville at the end of the summer, but I hope to visit a bunch of farms before then and, with some luck, this blog may even continue after I leave town.

With that said, I just have a few notes about how this blog will be organized.
-Every farm that is profiled will come from the Buy Fresh, Buy Local guide published annually by the Piedmont Environmental Council. That can be found at the BFBL website.
-Due to a full-time job and some other obligations, I have relatively limited time to do these visits. I will not be able to see a significant majority of the farms in the guide. I will try to survey a variety of places, but make no promises.
-I use the term "farm" a lot in my introduction. This is merely a convenience on my part because I really want to include restaurants, grocers, cheese-makers, and really anyone in this general area who contributes to the local food supply.
-As you may have noticed, I included the tag "Steve" on this post. I plan to do so on all of my posts. As I stated above, I will not be in town for much longer and this project is that I believe should continue well past then. I would love for your help! If you want to contribute - this summer or beyond - email me at ehsteve7@gmail.com.

That's a pretty thorough run-down of how this blog will be run, but I'll update you if and when any of this changes. I hope you enjoy what I write, but I hope you enjoy your locally-produced food even more. Happy eating!