Quote Originally Posted by Crankin View Post
We have had black bears running through people's yards in the summer, though not a huge amount. There were some seen on the trails in Estabrook Woods a few summers ago, which necessitated some of the local schools to change their training routes for the x country running teams.
It would be really hard for me to eat totally local in the winter, in terms of fruits and veggies. I eat a ton of fruit, out of season fruit, and I am not going to stop. I always have said it benefits my health and i would rather pay the prices than pay for medical bills. However, I know the carbon footprint aspect of it isn't good, but... as soon as the many local farms start selling their stuff, I only buy from them, and I guess that lasts about 5 months of the year. Been going to a winter farmer's market, but there isn't actually much there, in terms of veggies, except kale and potatoes. The other foods are unhealthy!
You might be surprised...here is a list of 20 local foods in Maine that the state can supposedly produce for its residents to have year round: http://www.mofga.org/Publications/Ma...0/Default.aspx. It's a pretty decent variety, and doesn't include the many other things that are readily available for part of the year. I'm sure a lot of the same would be true for MA. The only thing is that in the winter there would not be nearly the amount of fresh products available as in the summer--lots of frozen/canned.