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My daughter, Chelsea Coleman, owns ‘Bootstrap Farm’ with her husband,
Don Drury. They grow organic and natural veggies and sell them to the
local restaurants and at the Cherry Street farmer’s market here in Tulsa.

She was part of a panel discussion last night during Local Food Week
here in Tulsa. I was very proud of her and her contribution to the discussion.
Oh, and yes. I take credit for all that she is, of course.

A big part of the discussion was about the health and environmental benefits
of buying locally grown foods as much as possible. The processing, shipping
and storing of food coming from far away can make diseases and spoilage more
frequent among other problems.

The best reason to buy and eat locally though is to become part of your
community. Day to day not knowing your neighbors or farmers or small
business owners may not be a big deal. But over years you realize that you
have no connections to your world, your land or your town. It isn’t a good
feeling. Get out and connect, enjoy, meet, buy, frequent, get to know and
love where you are planted and see if you don’t grow better than before as well!

“Shipping is a terrible thing to do to a vegetable. Think of the jet lag!” – variation of a quote from Elizabeth Barry