Local Choices Educates Budding Locavores
By Joanne Lehman
In 2011, authors Lisa Amstutz and Karen Geiser hope people will resolve to eat more locally grown food. The two women joined forces to write Local Choices, as a way to share ideas and practical experience with consuming food grown close to home. Carlisle Press, Walnut Creek, released Local Choices last May. Since then, the authors savvy marketing resulted in so many sales they are now only a couple hundred books short of selling out of their first print run.
Amstutz and Geiser said that when they wrote their book they were aware of several other popular titles already on the market that promote eating food grown close to where it is consumed. In Local Choices they say that eating local is more than a trend or a fad. Rather, its a movement that will be increasingly important to those concerned about fluctuating oil and food prices. Elbowing aside TV cooking shows and elitist gourmet food stylists, the authors provide simple suggestions to help ordinary people become healthier, support a greener planet and build stronger communitiesall through the act of making local choices.
Local Choices chapters are written around topics such as where to find locally grown foods, improving kitchen skills, meal planning, getting children involved, growing your own food, surviving the off-season, and dining out. It gives ideas for travel foods, institutional food services and fundraising dinners. The book looks to a future where city gardens are commonplace and suburban lawns overflow with food, beehives and animals. The authors quote a number of locavores (the label given to confirmed eaters of local foods) including local farmers and gardeners, chefs, supermarket managers, and farmers market vendors. In several Appendix, there are recipes drawn from their contributors, charts to help identify whats in season each month, and guides for preservation and storage.
Karen Geiser, who enjoys speaking to groups about her passion for gardening, has been gathering speaking engagements this winter almost as fast as she gathers salad greens in the spring. My personal goal for 2011 is to get our books into the hands of people who havent thought of where their food comes from, says Geiser. She likes going to garden clubs and health fairs where she shows how to cook tasty meals using locally grown foods year round. She enthusiastically helps local gardeners extend the season using cold frames and high tunnels.
Both authors were biology majors and both graduated from Goshen College (Indiana). They share a love of gardening and include their children in the work of growing and preparing food. Karen and her husband Olin Geiser live with their five children on a 78-acre diversified family farm. They do market gardening and raise grass-fed beef, pastured poultry, goats and free-range eggs.
The Amstutz family lives in a farmhouse on a six-acre plot where they keep what they describe as an Old-Macdonald style barnyard. The family raises much of their own produce, meat, milk and honey. Lisa and her husband, Michael, have four children. Lisa is a freelance writer who writes regularly for Graphic Publications. She is currently working on two nonfiction childrens picture books.
Local Choices can be purchased at Keim Lumber, Charm; Lehmans Hardware, Kidron; Local Roots, Wooster; and Natures Food Market, Berlin. Ordering information is also available at the authors blog at http://localchoices.com. Check the blog for a complete list of the authors upcoming appearances and activities.
