I don’t own a farm, but I own a share in a local farm’s produce.  I don’t own a goat, but most of the cheese I eat comes from goat milk — care of the Dancing Goat creamery in Byron Center.  Today I washed my hands with soap made from local goat’s milk, and then I removed my swiss chard lasagna (baked in a casserole dish made by a local potter) from the oven with my potholder made from recycled t-shirts, made locally by Pearl Beerhorst. And I ordered a chicken. Yes, a local chicken.

Notice a trend in my day?

I’m what you the New Oxford American Dictionary calls a “locavore.” Also known as a localvore, the dictionary’s 2007 Word of the Year refers to "a person who endeavors to only eat locally produced food." Now it’s debatable whether that translates to your immediate surroundings or say, Indiana, but any way you look at it, this means a substantial change in habits and choices. 

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