This summer has seen a lot of growth and recognition in the value of eating locally in my neighboring county, Nevada County. The local APPLE chapter has just released a map of the produce available seasonally right around the Grass Valley/Nevada City area, and the local-coop, Briar Patch Community Market, has helped to distribute them, by covering the costs to send one to each of their members in this month's newsletter. If you want to find out how to get a copy, email me privately.
Yesterday's issue of the daily newspaper featured a front page color spread about a recent local dinner, co-sponsored by one of the paper's columnists, Ron Byers, who is also the sales and marketing director for the Nevada City Winery.
Tom Byg, the chef who created a masterpiece six-course meal of local foods, is an old friend who came to this region over a decade ago, leaving behind a sales career in the big city to purchase the Downieville Bakery in the town where I have worked for almost two decades. He brought fresh ideas and built up a following for his dinners, but could not keep a restaurant open year-round in this resort economy, so moved to Nevada City and ran two different restaurants over the past several years. He recently put together a business plan for a restaurant serving only fresh, organic foods from local farms, and although the farms are here, the business backers aren't yet.
Luckily for the regular members of the Nevada City Winery's monthly dinner offering, Tom's talents turned their heads and left them full, and yet searching for local food sources. You can view a great photo/audio show summarizing the Union's story here.
Birdsong lives in the Sierra Nevada foothills of California, where she blogs about her passions at A View from Sierra County.
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