Slow Food, Eating witht the Seasons. Lettuce Patch Gardens: Sustainably grown artisan vegetables. Organic produce grown in Colorado Springs, CO. Local CSA.

Fresh spring lettuce, succulent fruits in summer, autumn's squash and wild rice and root vegetables in winter. Eating fresh seasonal produce not only is delicious, it is a good way to connect with the rhythms of the natural world.

	Eating with the calendar will give you the freshest, best tasting and most healthy foods. It will tend to make you eat more local produce, which is good for our economy and encourages local agriculture. If everyone in our city were to eat 20% more local foods instead of imported, 20 or so semi-trucks per day would no longer need to operate.
	When produce is trucked across country (an internationally) for out of season distribution (tomatoes in winter, for example), its nutrition declines. Many vegetables that are shipped long distances are picked early or sprayed to delay ripening. Eating locally grown food can help limit exposure to chemicals and lend support to small regional farms and growers.
	Eating seasonally means focusing on the outstanding selection of foods that are available throughout each season. It is exciting to wait for asparagus, rhubarb, beans and peas in the spring; cucumbers, berries, and corn in the summer; winter squash and apples in the fall; and root vegetables in the winter. All fruits, vegetables and herbs have a season, enjoying them at the peak of flavor is the best way to eat.
	Together, the choices we make in our life can create a world that is connected and healthy.

Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each.

~ Henry David Thoreau

Groups who are working on preserving and promoting local and endangered foods are:

Slow Food is an international organization whose aim is to protect the pleasures of the table from the homogenization of modern fast food and life.

The Slow Food movement was founded in 1986 in Italy, and has spread around the word. Through a variety of initiatives, it promotes gastronomic culture, develops taste education, conserves agricultural biodiversity and protects traditional foods at risk of extinction. It now boasts over 80,000 members in over 100 countries.

Recognizing that the enjoyment of wholesome food is essential to the pursuit of happiness, Slow Food U.S.A. is an educational organization dedicated to promoting stewardship of the land and ecologically sound food production; reviving the kitchen and the table as the centers of pleasure, culture, and community; invigorating and proliferating regional, seasonal culinary traditions; creating a collaborative, ecologically-oriented, and virtuous globalization; and living a slower and more harmonious rhythm of life.

The Chef's collaborative is a national network of more than 1,000 members of the food community who promote sustainable cuisine by celebrating the joys of local, seasonal, and artisanal cooking. Check out their website to find restaurants in your area who are members and support sustainable agriculture.

Locavores are a group of concerned culinary adventurers who are making an effort to eat only foods grown or harvested within a 100 mile radius of San Francisco for an entire month. They recognize that the choices we make about what foods we choose to eat are important politically, environmentally, economically, and healthfully. In 2005, they challenged people from the bay area (and all over the world) to eat within a 100 mile radius of their home for the month of August.

EatLocalChallenge.com is a group blog written by authors who are interested in the benefits of eating food grown and produced in their local foodshed.

Renewing America's Food Traditions (RAFT) wants to revive the production and use of endangered foods in North America. It is a coalition of seven of the most prominent non-profit food, agriculture, conservation, and educational organizations dedicated to rescuing America’s diverse foods and food traditions.

Heritage foods are foods derived from rare breeds of American livestock and crops with strong genetic authenticity and well-defined production protocols. Heritage Foods USA brings hard to find heritage foods with superior taste directly to American homes for holidays and special occasions. Because of their rarity and strict production protocols, heritage foods are currently produced only during certain periods of the year and in limited quantities. So you must pre-order to assure you get our products! America's top chefs and food writers swear by the superior tastes of heritage foods.

100-mile Diet Local eating for global change. This site encourages people to use ingredients acquired from within 100 miles of home. Like the idea? Their web site has some great ideas and inspirational stories from people who are trying it. Bon appetit!

FoodRoutes Where does your food come from? How can you help support your local farmer? Where can you find Local Food? What is Community Supported Agriculture? Read more on how to buy local. Find out about the FoodRoutes' "Buy Fresh, Buy Local" Toolbox and take the Buy Local Challenge.

Local Grain Initiative The philosophy of the local grain initiative goes much deeper than simply encouraging the small scale growing and production of grain. By using a grain experiment like this as an example in 'reclaiming', it's hope is to address issues of regional food security which are inseparably linked to issues of ecological balance, bioregional self-sufficiency, and re-defining our 'use value' notions of resources. The local grain initiative is for healthy ecosystems.

Oldways is a widely respected nonprofit food issues advocacy group praised for translating the complex details of nutrition science into the familiar language of food. Oldways programs are focused on the simple triangle of principles: nutrition (health, science), tradition (pleasure, joy, history) and sustainability (environment, organic). Oldways develops and carries out education programs and events to help consumers make wise choices about eating, drinking, and lifestyle, emphasizing the traditional pleasures of the table.