news story / By Bob Doran

Living La Vida Local

Chalking out the sometimes fuzzy line between ‘corporate’ and ‘independent’

(July 9, 2009)  At least for a week, I’m living the local life. At the request of Scott Menzies, one of the coordinators of the Humboldt County Independent Business Alliance (HumIBA), I took the “Go Local” pledge for Independents Week, the first week in July. Basically what it amounts to is promising to do most of my shopping at locally owned and operated businesses.

That’s something I already do, at least to some degree. Not that I steer clear of all chains and big boxes: I’d just come back from a Costco run when Scott called. (I figured the $4.99 rotisserie chicken in my fridge would last through several meals.)

Casa Lindra salsa on display at Arcata Chamber of Commerce mixer. Photo by Bob Doran

GALLERY >

I didn’t need groceries on Wednesday, but I did a bit of shopping in Arcata: bought myself a box set of DVDs at The Works and picked up a summer read for my wife at Northtown Books. In both cases I was dealing with clerks who are friends, and spending my money at businesses owned by people I’ve know for years. I know exactly how independent they are, and that they depend on locals like me to stay in business.

On Thursday a friend who works at the Arcata Co-op came by around dinner time. The Co-op was hosting the monthly Arcata Chamber of Commerce mixer. There was a spread of local food. Would I like to go? I agreed, seeing it as an opportunity to expand my knowledge of all things local. The mixer portion of the program seemed to be over by the time we arrived — speeches were underway — but there was still some good local food: Humboldt-grown grass-fed beef on toothpicks, wedges of award-winning Cypress Grove chevre, bowls of chips (Bien Padre? they didn’t say) and my favorite salsa, Casa Lindra.

I got to talking with the store manager, Sue Coulter, and asked what the word “local” means to her. “It’s supporting local businesses,” she replied. “Here at the Co-op we use local farmers and local sources as much as we can.”

She went on to tell me about a book the store keeps called Trust Your Sources, detailing the provenance of “truly local” products sold at the Co-op. The “book” (actually a big binder kept on a counter near the bakery) grew out of one employee’s experience participating is one of those extreme locavore challenges that involves a strictly local diet. Megan Blodgett (now an ex-Co-op worker) spent 30 days in 2007 eating only food grown in Humboldt County. (She also blogged about the experience at mymonthoflocalfood.blogspot.com.)

I mentioned Casa Lindra as an example of a local product, but was surprised to learn that the salsa is not in the “book.’ Why not? Coulter wasn’t sure. She thought maybe because the tomatoes come from out of the area.

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