CISA

As you head out to western MA, you'll see more and more cars with the Be a Local Hero, Buy Locally Grown bumper sticker on their cars. This campaign is run by Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA). Tracie from CISA posted a comment on my blog, and I'm happy that the blog's gotten around like that. CISA is a western MA organization that links local farms to local communities.

I admit that I haven't visited their site for a long time. I lived in Amherst and Belchertown until the economy made me flee to the Boston area. I still miss my trees, Antonio's pizza, and Bueno Y Sano burritos. But the site has grown into a wonderful resource for all of Massachusetts. You can click on their Local Food Guide, select a region from the map in the upper right of the screen, and it displays where to get local food products. It also tells you what is in season for the area and when and where local farmers' markets are.

Also, check out their Store. They have a Local Delectables cookbook available, which was written by a Hampshire grad and is sorted into recipes by season. They also have resources for starting a local food campaign and promoting agritourism on your farm. I also like their Eat the View notecards. Yum.