In my previous post I made the case for opting out of the industrial food chain in favor of going local. I’d like to call out the exception case to that rule where a particular good can’t be obtained locally due to geography. For example, I’m not likely to obtain any locally grown coffee in Illinois, so I consider it fair for a society to trade for that product. The western world has been trading with the east for spices for close to two thousand years and the practice seems to promote much more healthy inter-cultural reactions than some we can observe between modern governments today!

With that caveat out of the way, I’d like to list the suppliers in my new, alternative food chain:

Green Earth Institute - An organic CSA in Naperville, IL. Steve, the head farmer, was kind enough to let me join the program mid season and I’ve been picking up amazing, high quality vegetables there every Tuesday since! Starting next week, he’s partnering up with a pastured chicken farmer from Springfield, which will provide a convenient way to pick up some real meat.

Broad Branch Farm - An organic farm with excellent salad greens and tomatoes. They come to the Naperville Farmer’s Market on Saturdays. Their salad greens and sun gold cherry tomatoes have spoiled us greatly.

Wallace Farms - Our new supplier for pastured meats. We bought a 16 lb box of ground beef from Nick at their buying club stop in Aurora. The beef tastes wonderful and I plan to try more of their other offerings in the future.

Nichols Farm - A great IL farm that grows a lot of heirloom varieties of fruits and vegetables. Their Cox Orange Pippen apples are now my favorites. Unfortunately, the Nichols boys do NOT come to the Naperville Farmer’s Market and I must haul their stuff back from work in Chicago. Nichols, if you hear this, you guys have to come to Naperville!

Bauer Custom Meats - I ordered 5 chickens from these guys, which are supposed to be ready in the November timeframe. We’ll see how ordering chickens directly from the farm goes.

I still need to find a supplier for a pastured, heritage turkey before Thanksgiving. Anyone out there care to make a recommendation?