Durham, a Tobacco Town, Turns to Local Food.

[elleng]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/dining/21carolina.html?src=me&ref=homepage

'the city’s public herb garden.' !!!!

Mr. Brinkley, the farmer, says that his family’s farm, and many others, might not have made it through the loss of the tobacco cash crop without the lucky coincidence of the rise in the local food movement. Now, chefs compete over his lady peas, pink-eyed peas and butternut squash — a relatively exotic vegetable here, he said, where the sweet potato was once the king of the winter table.

Then again, “We’re also working hours I never would have dreamed of,” he said, adding that raising such diverse crops and marketing them has more than doubled his workload. He makes weekly appearances at the Durham farmer’s market. Mr. Brown, of Piedmont, said that the farmers there are treated like rock stars, that dogs and babies abound and that hipsters mingle with hippies.

As Mr. Brinkley said, “It’s a lot different from dropping off your tobacco at the station and picking up your check.”

[grasswire]

1. farm to table -- that's where it's at, baby!

the Oregonian yesterday had a big article about how the most highly educated people are now turning to "radical urban homemaking" as a lifestyle. One income, no car, growing animals and produce on a city lot, preserving and tinkering just like ancestors did in the early 1900s. Those featured had elitist advanced degrees and had left corporate jobs to stay home.

It's an interesting time.

[japple]

2. Thanks for posting this, ellen. Good article. Hope this trend

makes its way to my town.

[supernova]

3. Thanks for posting; we are blessed

with an abundance of good food here. I wish everybody would be able to experience it.

I've been to every place mentioned except Crook's Corner, but it is on my list! :D Rue Cler is a place I could eat at every night if my bank account and waistline would allow it. :rofl:

She didn't even mention the farmers' markets, . or Weaver Street Coop.

*sigh*

[elleng]

5. Maybe the best part of the story, imo,

is that much of this began with availability of former tobacco-growing land!

[pengillian101]

4. Great story! n/t

[Warpy]

6. Durham always had potential

but what I remember most about it is the reek of the tobacco warehouses after the harvest every year. It was incredibly gag inducing and I don't know how anybody can smoke that stuff.

I spent many happy hours reading my way through the Duke library and getting through maybe a tenth of it.