Home Grown

In this piece, Home Grown (Living On Earth - 8:13), environmentalist Bill McKibben describes a bet he made that he could live through a whole winter eating food grown only in his native Vermont. Also see McKibben's article on this same material: "A Grand Experiment," from Gourmet Magazine (July 2005).

Musings

• Use the MicKibben "bet" as an introduction to a broader discussion of the value of locally grown and locally produced goods in your own area. Such a discussion could describe foods that rely largely, if not entirely, on locally acquired ingredients.
  
  
• Not everyone will immediately think of music as a local product, but some of it surely is. Here's a piece by Cajun singer Michael Doucet on a favorite song.
  
  
• A related issue has to do with local and usually one-of-a-kind businesses, although admittedly they may be getting harder to find in some communities. At one time, every community had some local restaurants and specialty stores. McKibben is enamored of his native area (Vermont's Champlain Valley)--listen to this NPR interview (4/11/05 - 7:46) about his book Wandering Home. Describe a special, one-of-a-kind business or other location in your world?