By way of the New York Times, I came across the articles of Michael Pollan. Lo my surprise when he wrote an article about buying local, 4 days after my entry Buy Local. His writes articles for the NYT and other publications. These, as well as his personal website are a real treasure trove of information about organic farming and buying your food locally. I love finds like this on the web; it feels like hitting a home run.

His article for Mother Jones (the May/June 2006 issue), really an excerpt from his book An Omnivore's Dilemma, covers his journey to Joel Salatin's local farm in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. It illustrates beautifully the various actors in this slow revolution, demonstrating the symbiotic relationship between this new kind of farmer and their supporters/consumers. Inspiring. 

I also found many more links to assist in buying local and organic. I'm listing them below. I haven't found the time just yet to go visit a farm, but the good news is that there are three farms reasonably nearby: Simply Grazin' Organic Farms in Skillman, Cherry Grove Farm in Lawrenceville and Honey Brook Organic Farm in Pennington.I'll be sure to visit one or more very soon. Will keep you posted.

SITES:

Center for Informed Food Choices ( informedeating.org ) advocates a diet based on whole, unprocessed, local, organically grown plant foods; its Web site contains a useful F.A.Q. page about food politics and eating well, as well as an archive of relevant articles.

Eat Well ( eatwellguide.com ) is an online directory of sustainably raised meat, poultry, dairy and eggs. Enter your ZIP Code to find healthful, humane and eco-friendly products from farms, stores and restaurants in your area.

Eat Wild ( eatwild.com ) lists local suppliers for grass-fed meat and dairy products.

Food Routes ( foodroutes.org ) is a national nonprofit dedicated to “reintroducing Americans to their food — the seeds it grows from, the farmers who produce it and the routes that carry it from the fields to our tables.”

Heritage Foods USA ( heritagefoodsusa.com ) sells mail-order ‘traceable' products from small farms — maple syrup, pole-caught tuna, grass-fed Kobe beef — whose labels provide every detail about how they were produced.

Just Food ( justfood.org ) works to develop a just and sustainable food system in the New York City region through projects including City Farms (a New York community garden program) and community supported agriculture (which connects regional farmers with produce-hungry city dwellers).

Local Harvest ( localharvest.org ) offers a definitive and reliable nationwide directory of C.S.A.'s, farmers' markets, family farms and other local food sources.

Locavores ( locavores.com ), based in San Francisco, encourages people to eat only foods produced within a 100-mile radius of home. Their Food Web page offers an abundance of additional resources, including books, articles and Web sites.

Organic Consumers Association ( organicconsumers.org ), a research and action center for the organic and fair-trade food movement, maintains a comprehensive Web archive of articles about genetically engineered foods, cloning, food safety, organics and globalization.

Seafood Watch ( mbayaq.org/cr/seafoodwatch.asp ) — a program of the Monterey Bay Aquarium designed to raise consumer awareness about the importance of buying seafood from sustainable sources — offers a downloadable, pocket-sized, region-by-region guide to eco-friendly seafood.

Slow Food USA ( slowfoodusa.org ) is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to ecologically sound land stewardship and food production and to living a “slower and more harmonious” life.

Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture ( stonebarnscenter.org ) is a hands-on educational center and restaurant that aims to demonstrate, teach and promote sustainable, community-based food production on a working farm 30 miles from Manhattan.

Sustainable Table ( sustainabletable.org ) offers an introduction to the sustainable food movement and the issues surrounding it, plus resources for further investigation (the links for ‘Introduction to Sustainability' and ‘The Issues' are good places to start).

The U.S.D.A. Agricultural Marketing Service ( ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets ) includes a state-by-state listing of farmers' markets across the United States.