Local/Sustainable Food - A Resource Guide in Progress

Start with Kentucky Proud, the state's official guide to local/regional produce, meat & food products. The website's a bit old & hard to navigate but it's a good beginning.

Perhaps our favorite farm is Elmwood Stock Farm in Georgetown, where we get our weekly CSA basket. If you shop the Lexington farmer's market, you'll come to realize they have the greatest variety & quality of produce around.

Speaking of farmer's markets, here's the Lexington Farmer's Market's weekly schedule:

• Tuesdays & Thursdays @ S. Broadway & Maxwell Streets 7am - 4pm/sold out
• Wednesdays in front of Whole Foods in Lexington Green 4-7pm
• Saturdays @ Cheapside Park 7am-3pm
• Sundays in front of Slone's Market on Southland Dr 10am-2pm

I have two suggestions to improve the LFM:

• Sell their logo-emblazened canvas bags cheaper & have farmers charge for plastic bags. Many people bring reusable bags to shop but I think the practice needs a little carrot/stick motivation to keep the environmentally unfriendly bags out of the process.

• LFM needs to be a locally-grown only market. I can't stand seeing vendors selling Georgia peaches & Florida strawberries. It defeats the purpose of a farmer's market when you're selling the same stuff as Kroger (at higher prices I might add). Everything sold should be grown within a 150 mile radius.

Restaurants that get some of their ingredients locally:

Alfalfa
AP Roots
Azur
Billy's Bar-B-Q
Doodle's
Dudley's
Garden Cafe at Flag Fork Herb Farm
Holly Hill Inn
Portofino
Ramsey's
Sahara
Stella's


Other local producers of food goods:

Weisenberger Mill - I've gotten their cornmeal before @ a festival