Whatcom Locavore articles in the Bellingham Herald are ending on 4/1/2014, and we’ve started some new and exciting projects! Read all about what’s changing.

In recent months, I’ve been reading and talking with people about the advantages of becoming a locavore*, a person who eats food grown, farmed, or produced locally. I’m giving it a try here in Whatcom County, Washington.

Since beginning the transition toward eating as a locavore (a person who eats only locally grown food whenever possible), I’ve learned to make a lot of things myself that I used to buy ready to eat. Enjoy St. Patrick’s Day with this homemade Crockpot Corned Beef and Cabbage recipe.

The Homemade Corned Beef recipe below is part one of two created in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. “Marco Polo rules” were applied, which means the use of non-local spices was considered an acceptable exception to strict locavorism.

Time to consider signing up for a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program! Learn more, and see this year’s list of Whatcom County CSA farms, with links to their websites for full details.

[ April 5, 2014; 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. ] Woohoo! Today is the official opening of the 22nd season of the Bellingham Farmers Market! At 10am Mayor Kelli Linville will do the traditional tossing of the cabbage and the opening bell will ring to open the Market. Do you suppose anyone will have asparagus? Oh, the anticipation!

[ January 28, 2014; 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. ] Vicki Robin will be at Village Books Tuesday, Jan. 28 at 7pm to talk about her new book on locavore eating, “Blessing the Hands That Feed Us.” Hope to see you there for an interesting, thought-provoking, and probably hilarious evening with this visionary.

Holiday Dinner Menus with recipes, shopping lists, and schedules have been created to make it easy to serve local foods to your family and friends this year. Three 5-course menus are available with beef, salmon, or vegetarian entrees. Available as Kindle books or PDF files.

Weeks leading up to the holidays can be a stressful time, even when we love the people and activities we are planning. Here at Whatcom Locavore, we’d like to offer you some simple ideas to help make your holiday preparations less stressful and more enjoyable.

This recipe is inspired by fresh apple cider from BelleWood Acres. It also includes homemade nocino (walnut liqueur). Great for holidays!

I’d been looking forward to the annual BelleWood Acres Ciderfest for weeks. When I came in the door I was enveloped in the sweet, fruity smell of fresh apples and the lively sounds of the fiddle and guitar combo of the Gallus Brothers.

In this Sweet Potato Salad, I’ve used a favorite German potato salad recipe and adapted it to use sweet potatoes instead.

Unexpected food finds are one of the things that make shopping at any local farmers market fun and interesting. Most recently I was excited to find locally grown organic sweet potatoes from Broad Leaf Farm (Everson).