In Our Fall 2016 Issue

Letter From the Publisher

Before I began publishing Edible Nutmeg, I was fortunate to be able to spend a number of years working for a small, organic vegetable farm here in Connecticut. The hardest days I’ve had as a publisher pale in comparison to the hardest days I had as a farmer. It was an experience that included very early mornings and many sore backs but also a great sense of fulfillment and camaraderie. It was an education, too, that led me to reflect upon my own and my community’s relationship with food.

In this time of political divisiveness, farming is often on my mind. Here in Connecticut, I know people along every point of this year’s political spectrum, and I wonder, how did we become so divided among ourselves? When presented with this question and my own uncertainty, farming is my panacea, because when we boil down our needs and hopes for our state and our nation, I think we can agree upon one fairly fundamental thing: we all want to live in strong, self-sufficient, and resilient communities. Few aspects of community are more core to that mission than local, sustainable farming, which provides our community members with jobs, creates locally produced, real goods that are of value to community members, and establishes a foundation upon which residents can invest and take pride in supporting. We all take satisfaction in serving to friends the tomato or squash we grew in our yard. We should take no less in serving food that was grown on the other side of town.

Fall has traditionally been a time of celebration in farming communities, during which we see the very best of a season’s worth of labor come to fruition at our farm stands, at our farmers markets, and, ultimately, on our tables. I hope that this fall helps us to remember how much we have in common, rather than in difference. No matter our political affiliation, we all desire and require a cohesive and successful community, and local farming and food production is central to the long-term success and self-sufficiency of a community.

Every four years, we are given the opportunity to vote with a ballot, but every day, we are given the opportunity to vote with our dollar. I hope you’ll join me this fall in casting a vote for Connecticut’s small farmers by buying locally produced food, and through this, casting a vote for a stronger, more vibrant, and connected community.

-Dana Jackson, Editor & Publisher