So two years ago (wow, was it that long ago?), when I was writing for the alternative-reality game World Without Oil, I predicted that with a catastrophic oil spike and subsequent economic meltdown, Lansdale--the town I moved to and now live in--would start up a farmers' market. Though the town is situated amongst some of the best farmland in the Philadelphia exurbs, and is surrounded by local farms and dairies, it hadn't take advantage of this with a local farmers' market.
Well, two years, an oil crisis and Great Recession later, and Lansdale finally has it's own farmers' market. I've just come from there, actually, where I bought some black raspberry jam and some rather creative bread (long story). I was there last weekend as well, on the Fourth of July opening. Both weekends it's been very successful, which is encouraging, and it looks like the borough council will have it permanently approved, with a ribbon cutting on August 1st--which, in an odd bit of synchronicity, is the old Celtic harvest festival of Lughnassadh, also called Lammas in Scotland and England.
At any rate, it's an encouraging sign that communities are starting to think local, and doing something about it. The world is rapidly changing, and the old ways will not return. We still have our three-thousand mile Caesar salads (and I'm as guilty of anyone of enjoying that), but it's unsustainable in the long (and maybe even short) run, and better that we plan on this now than wait until we can do nothing about it.
