Safe, local food: It's yours, at a price

The sheep doze in the sun, the chickens scratch and murmur in the soft spring grass: In this barnyard, the year could be 1850, 1900 or, thanks to George Page, 2007.

Puget Sound growers and retailers are fomenting a local food revolution, spurred by customers looking for a choice beyond a globalized, industrialized food chain.

"I look out in my front yard, and there are the goats and the chickens and the sheep, and I see exactly what they are eating," Page said. "We let the grass be grass, and the animals be animals."

The lust for cheap, fresh, convenient food in all seasons has come at a cost of confidence. Reports of tainted spinach, suspicious stuff in the dog dish and unpronounceable chemicals in hatchery salmon food have people asking just what they are really eating, and where it comes from.

Some worry about the environmental impact of food choices, use of pesticides in the field or fossil fuels in transport.

Enter Page, whose Sea Breeze Farm on Vashon Island caters to those with the money to buy confidence. His food is expensive - up to $8 a dozen for duck eggs, and about $20 for a 4-pound, pasture-raised chicken. But consider that when Page needs to supplement the chickens' diet of grass, he buys only the best feed - and tastes it to make sure it's OK. And despite his prices, Page routinely sells out at various farmers markets. Page thinks he knows why his local, pasture-raised meat and dairy products are a hit.

"I feel we are right in the throes of a food revolution," he said. "It feels almost like a religious revival. People are coming hungry for the gospel of good, local food. I joke about it because my father was a minister and he called himself Pastor Page. Well, I'm Pasture Page."

For some, money seems to be no object. "People complain about our prices occasionally, and I just smile and nod and say 'I don't care.' ... There are so many people that want it."

Click here to read the entire article by Lynda V. Mapes in the Seattle Times.

This article is featured in an excellent training resource online called "How Did thid Broccoli Get on My Plate? Framing Food as a Public Issue. Click here to view this training.