Leslie Haslam has been a member of Willow Pond Community Farm, a community supported agriculture (CSA) in Brentwood, NH for four years. She lives in nearby Exeter and works at the Exeter Adult Education Center.  This is the first article I’ll feature  on the art can science of eating local featuring moms who are making the move to eat more local food.

Leslie the Locavore

Leslie had been buying fresh vegetables for her family at the local farmers’ markets for years. But her life started to change when she joined the Willow Pond Community Farm. She began to appreciate the seasonality of food even beyond what was in her weekly shares. She started taking advantage of the “PYO” (pick your own) crops. And eventually she did a work share at the farm to really get her hands dirty and gain an appreciation for what it takes to grow food.

She says her shift to a “locavore lifestyle” came through a combination of having consistent access to fresh produce and becoming open to eating new things—or trying things that she had seen other people eat but thought she didn’t like. Kale and Swiss chard were high on that list. Her memories of those greens were of her grandfather boiling them to death. “I thought it was disgusting.” Now that she knows how to cook them, she says, she loves kale and chard.

When Willow Pond started offering meat from local farmers, Leslie bought it for special occasions. But after reading Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma, Leslie stopped buying meat for her family from grocery stores. “I got a better understanding of our food chain in this country, and now I want to know where all of my food comes from.”

Two other books helped Leslie embrace her new life as a locavore: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver, and Deep Economy, by Bill McKibben.

Leslie has a huge respect for the farmers she buys from. “They really believe in what they produce—it’s not just a job.” For these farmers, she says, it’s their life. They’re out there every day, regardless of the weather.

“The harvest is what we look forward to, but we don’t see the labor that goes into that harvest every step of the way. It’s about the soil and what you’re putting into it and the weeding and watering and staking . . . It’s been an education for me. I love it because I get to be part of the process. I’m a participant and not just a consumer.”

Leslie says she loves going to Willow Pond and wondering, “What will we get from the farm today?”

Come back in a few days to find out  Leslie’s tips for preserving food. Would love to hear your tips for eating local.  Shoot me an email if you want to share your story at tracey@traceymillerwellness.com.