Eat, Drink and Think Local

My interest in local businesses started over 4 years ago. The reasons to start searching for alternatives to the mainstream big box stores were many but the largest one was the sense of community generated by keeping my money local. Buying locally allows you to really get to know the people that own the businesses. Sure the products may “cost” a little more up front but you are investing in a vibrant and resilient local society.

Like most of you, my journey started with lots of research. I was hearing mentions from people about how buying local was a good idea but wanted to read up on it myself. A few searches in Google provided seemingly unlimited sources of information. Hundreds of blog posts and books later I had the answer to “Why?” but was still looking for “How?” (Actually finding the local businesses). Lucky for me that soon changed…I found Georgia Organics (GO). If you’re not familiar with GO check them out now!

Through GO I was able to find Cane Creek Farm where I have been a CSA member for 3 years now, restaurants that serve local food, stores that sell local products, and many great events that spotlight the local food movement.

I was hooked and wanted to do more. So I reached out to Suzanne Welander, who was the Communications & Outreach Director at GO at the time. They had just setup a Facebook page and were in need of help. Being a self-proclaimed social media marketing geek I jumped at the chance. Two years ago I started building and steering their social media presence. Today they have 4,257 fans on Facebook and 2,528 followers on Twitter.

Rationally Creative was founded to formalize this type of work with GO and other local organizations like Farmer D Organics, Southface, and Sustenance Design. I have designed websites and collateral, taught social media marketing skills, built an event social media hub and promoted social media use at the 2010 GO Conference…to name just a few of the projects.

Now I’m diving even deeper into the local food movement with some new types of projects. Rationally Creative has partnered with Crop Mob Atlanta to create their website, design flyers and shirts, manage the online community, and promote events.

My other interesting new projects revolve around brewing. For the last 2 ½ years I have been brewing at home with local, organic ingredients and medicinal herbs. I’m planning to teach a few homebrewing 101 classes and will be presenting on Crafting Modern Herbal Brews at an event in June. The classes and presentation will cover everything from beer and hard cider to mead and wine. There are also some plans being worked up for me to work with a local winery to produce mead for sale using only local raw Georgia honey.

Stay tuned for news as things develop.

Photo Credit: cygnus921

Video from the first Crop Mob in Atlanta:

Crop Mob Atlanta #1 05/02/10 from Anthony-Masterson on Vimeo.