20 Places to Find Local Food and Family Farms Near You

Heather Callaghan

As demand for local and raw goods continue to rise, more people are asking - where do I find local organic? Where do I find raw milk and join a herd share? Where are the farmers markets, co-ops and stands?

Search engines are actually terrible at locating these underground hubs, which makes it so frustrating to try and opt out of corporate chains, save money, and build your family's health. If you've ever gotten a bunch of 'Yelp' listings for weight loss pills while searching, you know what I'm talking about. I've helped a few people find a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) but I found it by accident. So where are they all hiding?

As it turns out, many of the farmers and markets you're looking for have teamed up with certain websites to be mapped. Use this easy list to find yours today. They won't all be on the same map, but you will be sure to find markets and family farms in your area that were previously invisible.

New Jersey town cites backyard organic farmer for growing vegetables, demands crops be left unattended to die

Giving away garden vegetables cited as a local crime

Ethan A. Huff
Natural News

Hostility towards individuals who grow food in their suburban or semi-rural backyards appears to be on the rise, this time in the New Jersey township of Chatham. Officials there have twice cited Mike Bucuk, a 24-year-old organic farmer, for the crime of growing vegetables in his backyard and giving the surplus away to his neighbors for free. The town has even ordered Mike to stop attending to his three-acre plot of crops, thanks to a concerted legal effort spawned by a disgruntled neighbor.

It all apparently started when the Bucuk's neighbor Richard Erich Hamlin lodged a complaint with the town, alleging that Mike was operating a commercial farm in his backyard in violation of local zoning ordinances. Even though Mike's "commercial farm" is really nothing more than a backyard organicgarden with a small, moveable greenhouse, the town ultimately ordered that Mike stop cultivating hiscrops until the issue is resolved one way or the other.

Is the Global Economy Going Rogue? Why We MUST Start Living More Locally…Before It’s Too Late

The elephant in the room of our political dithering and partisan complaints is a global economy that’s too big not to fail. Learn about five indicators that the elephantine economy is about to go rogue and make localization a cutting-edge survival skill.   

Ellen LaConte
Activist Post

No doubt you’ve heard the great news: Globalization is going to save the world. Sure, things are (really) bad right now, but as more nations join the global economy, their economies will become more integrated, and their interests and goals will become more aligned. As the economic playing field levels, perceived inequalities between ethnicities and belief systems will be ironed out. We’ll all work together to combat problems like global warming. And, ultimately, we’ll all be borne forward on a tide of economic prosperity until we reach the shores of a big, happy, peaceful, unified world.

It all sounds very progressive and promising. Too bad it’s just a collective pipe dream—and a very dangerous one.

While there have been some voices of dissent, they’ve been largely drowned out by the assurances of those getting rich from the global economy. The prevailing attitude seems to be that globalism is good—or will be as soon as the bugs get worked out.

What most people can’t seem to grasp, or perhaps more accurately don’t want to believe, is that globalization not only ain’t all that, it’s the exact opposite of what we should be doing. It’s a system that’s doomed and for a simple reason: It goes against the laws of Life itself. Life evolved local and regional economies that couldn’t burn and churn through Earth’s finite supplies of resources. It put global economies that could out of business. Simply put, the global economy is too big NOT to fail.

Hedge Farm! The Doomsday Food Price Scenario Turning Hedgies into Survivalists

Wikimedia Commons image

Foster Kamer
New York Observer

On the rare occasion that New Yorkers talk about farming, it's usually something along the lines of what sort of organic kale to plant in the vanity garden at the second house in the Adirondacks. But on a recent afternoon,The Observer had a conversation of a different sort about agricultural pursuits with a hedge fund manager he'd met at one of the many dark-paneled private clubs in midtown a few weeks prior. "A friend of mine is actually the largest owner of agricultural land in Uruguay," said the hedge fund manager. "He's a year older than I am. We're somewhere [around] the 15th-largest farmers in America right now."

"We," as in, his hedge fund.

It may seem a little odd that in 2011 anyone's thinking of putting money into assets that would have seemed attractive in 1911, but there's something in the air-namely, fear. The hedge fund manager and others like him envision a doomsday scenario catalyzed by a weak dollar, higher-than-you-think inflation and an uncertain political climate here and abroad.

The pattern began to emerge sometime in 2008. "The Hedge Fund Manager Who Bought a Farm," read the headline on one February 2008 Times of London piece detailing a British hedge fund manager's attempt to play off the rising prices of grains in order to usurp local farmland. A Financial Times piece two months later began: "Hedge funds and investment banks are swapping their Gucci for gumboots." It detailed BlackRock's then-relatively new $420 million Agriculture Fund, which had already swept up 2,800 acres of land.

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5 Easy Ways to Prepare for Food Inflation

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Open Source Ecology: Permaculture and Local Food Systems

Marcin Jakubowski
Food Freedom

We are proposing the integration of perennial agriculture, living gene bank, open source equipment, and agroecology – or what we call open source agroecology - towards a replicable package of providing healthy, local food for everybody. We propose community supported production as a means of linking the urban and rural landscapes in a mutual inter-independence for providing food, biofuels, lumber, and other products. Can this become a viable and mainstreamable model for providing needs from local resources? What items of local production can be included in this? If our program is insufficient, what are we missing?


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10 New Year's Re-Solutions For Non-violent Rebellion

"Be the change you wish to see in the world" - Gandhi

Activist Post

As the United States edges closer to becoming a third world country; anger, frustration, and cynicism continue to mount in the minds of the American population.  In fact, a recent Pew Research poll showed that 80% of baby boomers are pessimistic about America's future.  This pessimism seems warranted as authentic political solutions appear to be in short supply in our corporate state.

The democratic political system is now clearly run by crony cartelism.  The multinational banks have hijacked the economy and are openly looting the public. Mounting and impossible-to-pay off debt is crippling local governments. The entire spectrum of our rights continues to degrade. Crimes that would land regular citizens in jail are now openly being committed by the elite and their organizations with no justice. And perhaps most telling, the power structure is establishing a control grid to eliminate due process for the Internet and beyond to stifle any dissent.


Given the current situation, it can seem impossible to affect real change. However, the exact opposite is the case.  The only reason the system is maintained is because the majority still acquiesce to it. However, change won't come by electing new establishment politicians, because no matter how noble they may be they still must play the corrupt game. Change won't come through violent protests or offensive cyber hacktivism, as that only invites and justifies the creeping police state.  We must stop accepting and supporting the system, individually, in order to change it.

Because our representative democracy has become a fraud, and the media and courts are clearly shills for the oligarchs, our only action appears to be non-violent rebellion; one person and community at a time. We can expose the crimes and immorality of the corporate state through civil disobedience and conscientious objection. We can punish multinational companies who commit flagrant fouls on humanity and the environment by boycotting them. Additionally, we can peacefully regain our liberty by becoming less dependent on the system for our basic needs.

Here are ten solutions through non-violent activism:

1. Buy Local Food: One of the most powerful cartels that has their tentacles into government is the food cartel. Their agenda has been to control the basic resources of food (corn, wheat, soy, rice).  The best way to conquer this cartel is by eating local; produce your own food, join and contribute to local cooperatives, and engage your neighbors and community for more local food solutions.  Local co-ops are also a great place to trade locally crafted goods and even services. Obviously, do your best to avoid GMO food and eat organically when you can.  Finally, be vocal and active in your opposition to GMO foods and the cartel control of the FDA.

2. Become More Self-Sufficient:  Our modern society has made us dependent on something or someone other than ourselves for most necessities such as electricity, food, water, medicine, security, and education. This dependence puts us at the direction or disposal of the cartel state. Therefore, the only entity that has the power to grant us liberty is ourselves; and we can take back our independence through self-sufficiency. Being self-sufficient means learning skills that will help you and your family survive economic downturns or other emergencies.  These skills may also help you to be less dependent on your job as they'll make you a useful independent producer. Lead your neighborhood and community toward production and away from dependence.

3. Get Healthier: The increasing pace of life seems to offer a wealth of distractions from the importance of living a truly healthy and free life.  Our modern world offerseasy choices like fast-food in place of fresh produce; TV in place of reading, exercise, or meditation; Internet social networks in place of meaningful personal relationships, etc.  Identify the areas lacking in your own life and resolve to make the necessary changes that will increase your physical fitness, mental acuity, and your spiritual evolution.  These three areas are what truly sustain us in both good times and bad -- not smart phones, computer games, and the virtual world.

4. Buy Silver and Gold: America desperately needs a monetary revolution before the dollar experiment completely collapses. Like all revolutions this must start from a groundswell of rebellious action.  A good place to start is to convert your devaluing dollars to physical gold and silver.  This will punish the banks, especially JP Morgan and the Federal Reserve, as well as protect your assets. Furthermore, if the dollar continues to collapse, silver and gold may well become a viable currency in society once again, as it already is in some parts of Michigan. Buying junk silver is something anyone can afford to do and is highly recommended.

5. Expose the Agenda: The "agenda" is one of consolidation of wealth, power, and control in every facet imaginable. The international elite are approaching near one-world control, which they call full spectrum dominance of economies and societies.  In other words; national, local, and individual sovereignty is all but gone.  It is extremely important to engage your local community, especially community leaders and police, to reiterate their obligation to serve the local community under the Constitution, and not to follow illegal Federal demands. Above all, do not give in to the temptation of apathy as you begin to learn more about the systems of control.  These systems first count on your ignorance, then they count on laziness.  Finally, say what you stand for such as peace, liberty, and genuine justice with even more force than shouting about what you oppose.

6. Boycott: In the U.S. it has become obvious that a system has taken hold which is economically designed for one thing: consumption.  This is the value that each person has been given from birth.  So, one key way to assert your power and value in such a system is to vote with your wallet.  Every purchase you make either contributes to, or boycotts this corporatist structure.  Become aware of who the real owners are and what inhumane practices are behind the products you purchase, so that you can make intelligent choices that support your health and promote justice.  Additionally, it is important to learn the true contents of the products you buy, so that you don't fall prey to slick advertising and corporate misdirection. Join or create campaigns to educate shoppers and force better labeling of products so it is easier for others to consciously boycott them.

7. Local Politics: Forget wasting any of your energy and resources on Federal politics -- they have sold out long ago to the higher authorities that fund their multi-million dollar campaigns. Instead, get involved in small town politics and community initiatives.  The future will be built from the ground up, starting right in your own neighborhood.  Local politics is where you can affect tangible changes. Everything from removing chemicals from public water, to throwing the TSA out of your local airport, or refusing military recruitment or fusion centers in protest of the war on terror, can be accomplished at the local level.  Each minor victory will send shock waves to other small communities and the country as a whole, so be sure to document the steps you have taken to achieve victory, then share your story for others to emulate.

8. Military refusal: Do not contribute to fraudulent wars, and do not succumb to the pressure of feeling "unpatriotic."  There are countless groups of veterans who have seen through the government lies that have led to unnecessary deaths, as well as the financial destruction of the country.  There is, in fact, no more patriotic action that can be taken than to demand that our military be used properly to strengthen the country, rather than to weaken it. For some, there is absolutely no excuse for war, ever, and merely the act of showing up contributes to this affliction.  It is a profound resolution of courage to live by your convictions.  So, if opposing the fraudulent wars is your main issue, file as a conscientious objector and contribute to peace instead of war.  As Gandhi said, "There is no path to peace; peace is the path."

9. Don't Use Banks: The banks have proven to be some of the most immoral, dare we say "evil," institutions on the planet. Besides their Ponzi-style Wall Street casino and mortgage/foreclosure fraud, they also profit heavily from wars, Mexican drug gangs, and fleecing the public. Some are finding their actions so horrific that they'd prefer to default on their debts rather than give them another dime. That may be extreme given the consequences; however, we can at least vow not to take on any new bank financing of any kind -- mortgages, credit cards, or car loans, etc. Where possible, bank with local credit unions instead of the big banks that make up the cartel.  Another powerful action is to start or support a regional competing currency.  On the Federal level, we can tell our Congress reps to support Ron Paul's effort to legalize competing currencies nationwide.

10. Tax Resistance: Becoming a tax resister is a hardcore action of civil disobedience that comes with serious consequences -- unless of course you're Tim Geithner who gets to say "oops, my bad" in order to qualify as the head of collecting said taxes.  However, when the electoral process and two-party system proves to be a farce, corporations clearly win on every issue, and the will of the people is no longer represented in the media or the courts, people are left with little choice but non-violent rebellion in all its forms. Tax rebellion is often cited by conscientious objectors who oppose how the government uses taxpayer dollars to fund immoral deeds such as war, authorizing torture, building the police state, and fraudulent bank bailouts.  A second group of tax protesters refuse to file because they don't believe income taxes to be lawful under the Constitution.


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Using Local Organic Cooperatives to Defeat Globalists

Eric Blair
Activist Post

When I count from zero to five, you will become wide awake and feeling great; your vision will be clear, your consciousness will easily decode this illusory matrix, your humanity will return, and your fierce determination to be a free sovereign individual will be fully restored.

Zero...one...two...three...four...FIVE. Wakey, wakey, wide awake and feeling great! 

Okay, you're awake, back among the human tribe.  Now what? You are not alone in wondering what is the best way to fight the globalists.  There is a vastly growing human tribe that understands your frustration of feeling like a helpless fly caught in an inescapable spider web.  It can seem defeating the more we learn about the criminal nature of the ruling elite; their plans, their desire to have absolute control, and their infrastructure that's darn near complete to achieve their goals.  However, there is an incredibly easy solution and powerful weapon for defeating the elite -- it's called local food.

You see, the origin of this control system goes way back to when one tribe put food under lock and key, then subsequently gained wealth and a near monopoly on all human sustenance.  It's very simple really:  who ever controls the food controls humanity.  More recently, this sinister elite tribe also figured out that they can control humanity through money, ultimately through debt, serviced by their mind-control propaganda media machine.  However, this system of money creation and the resulting prison of debt is an elaborate illusion, while food and water, and liberty and love are real. This is precisely why we will be triumphant against the New World Order.

The local food revolutions happening all over the world are scarring the daylights out of the elite controllers.  Many small communities have formed quasi-underground organic cooperatives, where one neighbor may provide eggs, another vegetables or salsa, another homemade pasta, and another makes blankets and so on. There are many great resources on how to start and support a local co-op, but the concept is very easy.  Create a menu of what local producers can provide, then locals can place weekly orders from them, as well as add their own prepared items to the menu.  The group can support this cooperative with a blog or website for up-to-date orders and menu changes.  

These co-ops can act as trading posts in private homes where currency is not really necessary. Sure, it may be easier to peg an item's value to the dollar for easier valuations, but money doesn't necessarily have to exchange hands. Additionally, it represents a truly free market which can potentially grow to provide for all of the necessities and desires of the community's participants -- fulfilled by the participants themselves, thus creating self-sufficiency at the local level. Are you starting to see how this is a stake in the heart of the elite's control grid?

Incidentally, the globalists know how powerful this movement can become, and they are working very hard to squeeze the small backyard food producer wherever they can.  A recent example of their methods is wonderfully outlined in Mike Adams' article The government war on raw milk is an attack against food freedom, where he writes:

State and federal regulatory agencies, spurred on by the monopolistic business practices of the dairy industry, have set out to criminalize the sale of raw milk. They've raided raw milk resellers, arrested raw milk marketers and seized countless gallons of raw milk to be destroyed.

Raw milk, the bureaucrats say, is dangerous because it hasn't been sanitized yet. Raw milk is "dirty" while cooked, pasteurized or irradiated milk is "clean." And Big Brother thinks you're not supposed to eat "dirty" foods like raw milk.

Sure, you can smoke yourself into a lifetime of cancer -- that's fully approved by the government. You can slather your body with personal care products laced with cancer-causing chemicals, because that's also approved by the government. You can drink brain-busting aspartame, chow down on diabetes-promoting MSG, or swallow any number of mouthfuls of processed foods laced with a thousand different synthetic chemicals that probably cause everything from cancer to Alzheimer's. Go take a swim in the Gulf of Mexico and soak up some Corexit dispersant chemicals -- the government doesn't protect you from any of that.

There is also draconian legislation proposed that will make the small commercial farmer register and tag individual livestock, while large multinationals will need only one tag per barn load, thus defeating the little guy through economics. They plan to use "food safety" as the excuse to slow down this movement; however, the small passage above clearly states the ridiculous nature of any such safety motivations for this legislation.  We have truth on our side and we must demand food freedom.  In fact, as sovereign human beings, we should have full liberty over what we ingest regardless of the "possible" damage it may cause us.  There is plenty of what former Monsanto executive and current head of the FDA, Michael Taylor, approves for our consumption that should be openly labeled premeditated poisoning, while things like raw milk and marijuana are being prohibited.  The very word prohibition means "Screw your freedom!"

So folks, have you recently been reborn into the human race from your deep slumber as sheep and want to defeat the New World Order?  Here are your marching orders:  Find your local co-op and contribute anything you can; a product, a service like blog development, or simply volunteer your time to solicit new participants. It's an easy sell as people don't necessarily have to be fully-awake to see the benefits of such a program, especially as food shortages and increased prices become more evident. Use your energy to make the cooperative grow to be as cashless and self-sufficient as possible, while serving as much of the community as possible. And, finally, organize your co-op to lobby for food freedom on a political level.  (Obviously, if your local community doesn't have a cooperative, start one, perhaps piggy-backing off a nearby co-op).  Below is a powerful example of what a single family has been able to achieve on a tiny suburban lot.

If fully developed, free-market cooperatives could expand beyond food and products to cover services like mechanics, alternative wellness, or house painting -- and perhaps even alternative energies. Once established, there is nothing the globalists can do to stop it (especially if barter systems are used and no money actually changes hands).  The manipulators may take away the value of the dollar, or your job, and they'll surely engage in all of their other inhumane endeavors, but they will never be able to take away your community's basic human necessity if it's provided by strong local cooperatives. 

With local self-sufficiency we will defeat the globalists and Liberty, Love, and Peace will Prevail, because everything else is their manufactured illusion.  Take one red pill and call me in the morning.

If any readers are experts in cooperatives, barter systems, or self-sufficient systems and want to contribute an article or press release, please write to us here.

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Free Market Famine Redux: Who Will Feed China?

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Food Fascism in the Land of the Free

Eric Blair
Activist Post

The food industry is no longer a free market.  In fact, I'd go as far as saying it's becoming the most glaring example of corporate-government fascism in America.

Actual monopolies fully control the basic building blocks of the food that makes up the majority of the American diet -- and no one seems to care.  Simply put, those who control the corn, wheat, and soybeans control all food, since all livestock and all processed foods are dependent on those food resources.  These monopolies place their cronies in government regulatory agencies like the FDA and USDA to weed out their competition through excessive regulation.  Currently proposed legislation are textbook examples of their methods.

There once was a time when free markets existed for food.  Back when local food ruled the day, if a farmer sold milk that was bad, he would not get return customers unless he adjusted his practices to make a healthier product.  This free market was self-regulating.  In other words, in a truly free market we shouldn't need the FDA.  However, as mentioned before, we are light years from a free market.



Subsidies rain down on big agribusinesses that grow what the government tells them to grow.  Industry leaders like Cargill, Monsanto, and Tyson essentially turn farmers into indentured sharecroppers.  The food engineers at General Mills and others weave corn, wheat, and soybeans into chemical concoctions that end up in brightly colored packages -- some even come with free Chinese-made toys.  The finished product develops from a Genetically Modified base, using multiple poisons to glue it together, demonstrating that the monopolies and their regulatory lapdogs care not for our health.

But what about voting with our pocketbooks, isn't that a free market? Surely that is what we have been taught.  Yet, all 16 flavors of Cheerios -- which give the appearance of free choice -- are all made by General Mills from a genetically modified corn base.  This illusion of choice hides the monopolistic nature of food.

Enter Senate bill S. 510 Food Safety Modernization Act, already passed in the House as HR 2749.  Some have demonized the bill as ultimate food fascism where the FDA will micromanage even small farms and co-ops to the point where it will become illegal to grow, share, trade or sellhomegrown food.  While others see it as a measured way to control the health and quality of factory farms. One thing is for sure, S.510 gives more power to the corrupt FDA to regulate our food.  And there is renewed interest in the Senate to pass this bill since the recent massive egg and meat recalls due to salmonella and E. coli outbreaks.

This bill does nothing to change the actual practices of factory farming and the way the food for animals is grown and delivered.  It does give the FDA draconian powers to force inspections to be paid for by the farmers themselves.  This can be an effective tool for the big multinational agri-corporations to further squeeze out their competition and gain near complete control of food resources in America.  Furthermore, S.510 essentially hands much of the FDA's duties over to the liberty-smashing Department of Homeland Security -- which is mentioned 41 times in the bill.

All 273 pages of the bill contain legalize that can be difficult to decode, but one of the easiest ways to determine if it is good for average Americans is to view who is supporting the bill, versus who opposes the bill.  Monsanto and other agri-monopolies support the bill with full force.  Indeed, some speculate that they even wrote the bill themselves.

Sadly, this bill is gaining momentum because of the recent food recalls.  One way or another, our corrupt politicians and their corporate overlords will see to it that there is more regulation over our food.  If this bill passes, we can expect more consolidation in agriculture and more police-state raids of private health-food cooperatives.  Worse yet, this bill may just be the primer for the even more egregious bill HR.759 Food and Drug Administration Globalization Act, which fully restricts local food producers and natural health remedies.

Food freedom starts at home with the individual choices that we make.  However, exposing the corrupt regulatory system and educating the powers that be about healthier ways to produce food is also vital to maintaining our food freedom.  It's time we tell the corporate government to back off our food.

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Recent Articles By Eric Blair:
Banksters Inflate Speculative Food Bubble, UN Offers Global Governance Solution
Can Legalizing Marijuana Save California, Our Republic?
CEOs Blame Consumer Class for Joblessness: Admit Economy Grows From the Bottom Up
Capital Controls: The Final Phase in the Great Looting of America

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