Whitney says hello!

At the all organic Sunflower Cafe in Boulder, CO.

Greetings fellow foodies. This post--my inaugural at Buffalo Locavore--is designed to be an introduction to me and my interests/history with the local food movement.

To start, I was born and raised in Western New York and have called the West Side of Buffalo home for about two years. I graduated from SUNY Geneseo in 2005 and it was during my time there, at Geneseo, that I first became interested in growing food.

My friend Peter, a Geneseo-grad-turned-townie, decided to undertake an ambitious garlic growing program. Throughout the winter and early spring, garlic would hang from all corners of his apartment. He spared no details and his venture quickly changed from casual and exploratory to a bit obsessive. However, after one bite of his garlic infused pasta sauce, no one could argue that his obsession wasn't worthwhile.

Once, at a mutual friend's dinner party, I watched Peter nearly choke on his drink when the host admitted to using jarred minced garlic, claiming that "it's not really much different" from the real stuff. Whether you think that's snobby or not, it remains one of my favorite moments.

After college, I went to work at the Hawthorne Valley Farm in Harlemville, New York. About two hours North of New York City, and nestled in the soft hills of the Hudson Valley, the farm is home to a Waldorf community. In addition to the 400-acre biodynamic farm, the community supports a K-12 Waldorf school, farm store, CSA, NYC farm stands, and much more.

As an employee of the Visiting Students Program, I taught kids about the farm--from weeding vegetable gardens and mucking cow stalls to moving cattle and feeding pigs. We also baked bread, pressed apples for cider, and cooked dinner for each other.

In addition to working for the VSP, I had the opportunity to work a farmer's market at New York City's Greenmarket in Inwood. Getting up at the three o'clock hour and hitting the road by 4 a.m. was difficult, but once customers starting stopping by around 7 a.m., with dogs or babies in tow, any remaining sleepiness was pushed aside by the bustle.

To this day I get happy thinking of Judith, the herdswoman, selling to a customer the cheese her husband Abe had made. Or knowing that my friend Deborah had picked the green beans we were selling that week, and that my group of kids had helped weed the beds a few weeks earlier. The small loop of farms, the human connection to buying food directly from a grower--those things have made an impression on me.

After leaving the farm I travelled around for a while until settling back in Buffalo. I bought a home, about which I blog at Old, Old House, and have spent the past couple years keeping busy at work and play. It's only been recently that I've slowed down enough to do what I've always wanted to do: join a CSA. I'll let you know how my first summer of fresh and local veggies go, and I'll continue letting you in on my journey with food.