Green :: Buy Fresh, Buy Local

Buying local has many earth-friendly benefits. For one, it reduces transportation costs and environment-destroying, energy-wasting long hauls. It also keeps money in the local economy, and cuts out the middle-man, leaving us with straight-from-the-garden, fresh produce.

Hallmark has partnered with Good Natured Family Farms, an alliance of over 100 family farms within 200 miles of Kansas City, to provide locally grown fruits and vegetables for Hallmark employees to purchase in The Café. There is a large wooden cart of veggies in The Café each week (I'll take a pic soon to add to this post) that contains fresh veggies for sale: squash, heirloom tomatoes, sweet corn, cucumbers, and much more. Also, every Wednesday during the lunch hour, representatives from the farms are there to answer questions and give out free samples! My fave: the heirloom tomatoes!

For more info on buying local in KC, check out Kansas City Food Circle, a grassroots organization created to promote the development of a permanently sustainable local food system, and Kansas City Community Gardens, a not-for-profit organization that provides self-help and educational assistance to low-income people, children and community groups in the metropolitan area to grow their own food from garden plots located in backyards, vacant lots, schoolyards and at community sites.