I love to cook. And even more so I love knowing where my food comes from. I’ve been exploring community supported agriculture (CSA) farms and farmers’ markets around my home and Furman to learn more. So when we had the opportunity to visit the Wallace Center today, I was excited to compare it with other CSA farms. Working on the Furman Farm the past year has allowed me to see sustainable and organic practices first hand. For the first time, I was able to literally cut a piece of lettuce from the ground, take it to my kitchen, wash it in the sink, and eat it. The taste was so gratifying, and by far better than any salad I had eaten from a store or restaurant. That is, until we visited the Wallace Center and Gathering Table Restaurant. They prepare entirely local foods from local farmers and meat producers. Furthermore, almost everything on the menu was grown there right on the property. The produce was grown right out back, and most of the meat was provided from local farmers.

I think finding local foods is so vital because you are not only eating food provided with minimal processin,g but also supporting local businesses. I fully understand the ease of simply defaulting to Walmart for any and every need, but supporting local businesses is so vitally important to the community, not to mention healthier and more sustainable. Promoting a lower carbon footprint and using less-processed food products is a concept taking off in Greenville, and I truly hope the movement continues to flourish. While I do not think our food system can wholly rely on small farmers such as these, customers need the choice to decide for themselves. I think a healthy balance can be achieved in between those two extremes of large scale, mass production agriculture and smaller, organic practices. Neither is adequate on its own, and must be supplemented by the other.