While volunteering at his local food co-op more than a decade ago, Frank W. Barrie \u201972 was puzzled by a box of imported garlic he unpacked. Labeled organic and from China, it didn\u2019t make sense to Barrie, a lifelong gardener, that something he knew could be grown nearby was instead shipped thousands of miles to Albany, N.Y.
The realization brought him a step closer to starting his blog, knowwhereyourfoodcomesfrom.com. Around that same time, the former New York assistant attorney general and New York State tax law judge joined the Colgate Living Writers Program, which motivated him to write more. \u201cIn retirement, I needed purpose in life,\u201d Barrie says, and in 2010 he officially launched the blog, with a primary goal of promoting local, sustainable agriculture.
Barrie is well-versed in the topic; when he joined the co-op in 2001, he read stacks of books about global food production. In retirement, he\u2019s finally had time to give voice to his concerns. His blog posts cover topics like the slow food movement, this year\u2019s Farm Aid Festival, and community gardens.
\u201cMy mission is to educate and advocate for the \u2018good food\u2019 movement, as opposed to the industrialized food movement. To me, good food means locally grown foods produced in a sustainable and healthy way.\u201d
Besides food news, Barrie\u2019s blog has directories of community supported agriculture farms, farm-to-table restaurants, farmers markets, food co-ops, and craft bakeries in the United States and Canada, along with some international listings. The blog also has reviews of restaurants, books, films, and even art exhibits related to food and sustainable agriculture. The restaurant pages are viewed the most, and any article about Trader Joe\u2019s brings a big spike in readership.
Mark von Topel \u201901, who attended the Culinary Institute of America, and Colgate history lecturer Ethan Bennett \u201906, have contributed restaurant reviews. And Barrie\u2019s son, Dan \u201905, and Dan\u2019s wife, Lauren Bregman \u201904, wrote about a famous but now-shuttered sustainable restaurant in Copenhagen.
There are other Colgate connections throughout the blog. The first book Barrie reviewed was Cultivating Science, Harvesting Power: Science and Industrial Agriculture in California by Associate Professor Chris Henke. Covering the multibillion-dollar farming industry, \u201cit\u2019s an academic text but very worthwhile for a lay reader,\u201d Barrie says.
\u201cI see the hierarchy for mindful consumers as this,\u201d Barrie explains: \u201cGrow your own food if possible; get a farm share if you can\u2019t grow your own; if those options are not good, shop at a farmers market from a farmer you get to know; and if that\u2019s not doable, shop at a food co-op.\u201d
Barrie practices what he preaches. He gets a weekly share of food from Roxbury Farm in Kinderhook, N.Y. He also shops at his local farmers market in Troy. \u201cI stop at the same stands each week, and I know how the farmers grow the food I\u2019m buying.\u201d He grows tomatoes, garlic, and brussels sprouts in his garden, along with raspberries, which he picks each morning to top off his oatmeal.
\u201cWhat we eat is basic to our lives on this planet,\u201d he says. \u201cThe decisions you make about the food you eat are so important.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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