Two young girls in California are fighting for their right to operate not a frontyard lemonade stand, but a produce stand selling fruits and vegetables from their family’s garden.
What’s wrong with kids making a few bucks by hawking locally grown tomatoes, melons and zucchini on a Saturday morning? It — gasp — violates zoning laws and public safety, according to Gregg Manning, mayor of the East Bay area town of Clayton.
Who could possibly find anything bad to say about eating locally? After all, what’s the downside to dining on wild blackberries, dandelion greens, home-grown tomatoes and fresh-caught alligator snapping turtles?
Wait, what was that last one again?
Well, here in this corner of Northwest Florida I call home (and they don’t call it the “Redneck Riviera” for nothing), that’s a discussion that’s been raging this week. Seems a family from Jay, an inland (i.e., far from the touristy beaches) community, recently caught a 100-pound alligator snapping turtle … and decided to eat it.
A lot has been written recently about eating "locally." It’s an interesting concept; eating food that doesn’t have to travel too far, thereby saving energy. But once again, the Man has set himself up to feel good about something that actually harms our fragile globorb. These “locavores” eat foods from within 100 miles of where they live, as if a truck driving 100 miles doesn’t spew tons of carbon into our atmosphere.
I’m [...]
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