Check out these videos!

PBS video, "Fixing the Future" and a video by our very own, Organic Process Productions! While, you're at it, feel free to check out our Sustainable Agriculture Initiative - we're accepting applications for our Growing New Farmers Incubator Project!

Congratulations Pure Gifts!

Pure Gifts Now Open in Mount Pleasant!

Pure Gifts specializes in offering shoppers the perfect gift for every occasion. Artisan-crafted, eco-friendly products sourced primarily from local and regional designers, Pure Gifts serves the need for one-of-a-kind gifts that are both thoughtful and unique. Conveniently located in The Shoppes at Seaside Farms in Mt. Pleasant, Pure Gifts presents a variety of upscale and original items and caters well to busy, last-minute shoppers by providing customers with an online retail photo gallery, in addition to extended store hours.

Visit us for your last minute holiday shopping!

The Shoppes at Seaside Farm

1956 Long Grove Road

Monday through Saturday: 10a.m. to 7p.m.

Sunday 12p.m. to 6 p.m.

Charleston Crafts Upcoming Event!

Charleston Crafts invites you to help celebrate the first year in their new location at 161 Church Street in Downtown Charleston. The organization, which exclusively promotes the work of South Carolina artisans, has been cooperatively owned and operated by its membership since 1989. The public is invited to attend the open house reception from 6 to 9 pm on the evening of December 3rd as part of the French Quarter Gallery Association's Art Walk. The work of two exhibiting artists will be featured; pewter pieces by Steve Cordina and surface design by Robin Gillies. Light refreshments and wine will be served, and several of the artists will be on hand to welcome you to the beautiful new gallery.

Buy Local Month Begins!

LLF is kicking off Buy Local Month today! Check out the article in City Paper. Buy Local Month runs from November 15 through December 15. We are encouraging people to think about where they're spending their dollars this holiday season. Just remember, when you support a local business, you are supporting your community.

Check out our Online Directory and Live Local Deals pages to find local businesses and see what promotions and deals they're offering!

Local at Abide-A-While

Buy Local Month officially begins November 15th, but the staff at Abide-A-While Garden Center in Mt. Pleasant has jumped the gun! If your garden or home landscape needs sprucing up for the holidays, be sure to go visit this schnazzy group at 1460 Highway 17 North.

Abide-A-While Garden Center is a family owned, local business that has been helping Lowcountry residents add beauty to their homes and gardens since 1957.

Job Opening!

The "Growing New Farmers Incubator Project", our Sustainable Agriculture Initiative, needs 2 skilled teaching assistants with previous farm experience to help lead our apprenticeship program. This is a great opportunity for a new or beginning farmer to explore an emerging 'farmie' community within a great 'foodie' city with a fast growing local food movement. It's an exciting time for farming in the Lowcountry. This is a part-time position, 10-20 hours per week.

For more information, please email gnfipapplications@lowcountrylocalfirst.org.

New and Improved DIRECTORY!

Get excited!

We have been fortunate enough to work with a local Charleston graphic designer - J Fletcher Design, and have just sent the final proof of the Directory of Local Independent Businesses off to J.R. Rowell Printing this afternoon!

The release of the 3rd edition of The Directory will coincide with our "Buy Local Month!"

Stay tuned for more details!

Letter to the Editor

Thank you to Baron for contributing this great piece to the Post and Courier!

Letters to the Editor

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Tasty produce

We are absolutely amazed. Each week our local farm delivery includes organic fruits and vegetables, fresh eggs and garlic, and even handmade cheeses and preserves. Akin to hours-old seafood, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is fresh, wild and delicious.

We have no idea what will arrive from our farm each week. Beans, melons, squash and eggplants are included. Local basil leaves can be the size of your hand, and heirloom tomatoes can bring a tear to your eye.

This seasonally diverse produce is half the fun of subscribing to a local farm or CSA drop spot. Sometimes we go online to figure out exactly what things are, and how best to prepare them. Most farms include information sheets, a few recipes, and a humorous story — which is proactively educating families, and especially children.

Some people ask if we are able to prepare and consume all of our produce before it expires each week. It can be a challenge. We eat smaller portions of meat and less bread than before, and do recommend a juice machine. Instead of processed sweets, we enjoy softball-size peaches or a bizarre species of local pear for dessert. Hosting a CSA lunch or dinner with family and friends is always a good idea.

Every South Carolina household should consider the $20 to $40 required each week to have a moving box full of locally farmed produce and preserves delivered to your front door or CSA drop spot. Weekly farm patronage is not only biologically healthy to everyone, it is economically beneficial to the entire community — and $1 billion cheaper than fast food.

God bless our local farmers and fishermen for their work. The fruits of their labor are ending up on more Lowcountry minds and tables each week, thanks to their innovations in preparation, communication and delivery.

Baron C. Hanson
King Street
Charleston

Revival Coverage!

If you were unable to attend the Revival or if you haven't seen any footage yet, check out the great published by City Paper!

REVIVE our Local Economy!

TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT! Come join LLF for the much anticipated REVIVAL!

When: Tonight, Thursday September 23rd
Location: 501 King Street, Downtown Charleston
Time: 7pm (Don't be late, or you'll miss the show!)

City Pick - The Revival

Check out this week's City Picks! Join us tomorrow night for The Revival located at 501 King Street. Reviving begins at 7:00pm and is completely free (donations accepted)!

Leaders of Tomorrow

Had a great start to the week this morning! We were fortunate enough to be invited to present our work at East Cooper Montessori Charter School in I'on to a class of bright and lively 7th and 8th graders. Awesome opportunity to work with the generation who will be leading us into a new economy!

Get REVIVED!

The members of Lowcountry Local First are throwing a Revival! Located at 501 King Street next Thursday, September 23 from 7:00pm-9:30pm.

Join us for a celebration and rejuvenation of our Local Independents! Cary Ann Hearst and the Shifters will be leading the choir and Rodney Lee Rogers of Pure Theater will ignite the congregation! Isn't it time to get inspired!

There is no charge but donations will kindly be accepted! Spirits and refreshments will be on hand. Come let your voice be heard!

Charleston Restaurant Week

The Charleston area celebrates Restaurant Week Sept. 8-19 with $20 and $30 three course menus at more than 50 participating restaurants! Check out some of our participating local member restaurants here!

Reservations aren't required but are encouraged! If you go, tell us about your experience and we'll post it on our blog! Email Amy at amy@lowcountrylocalfirst.org to share about your local dining!

Wining and Dining

The past two evenings have been absolutely amazing. The BB&T Charleston Food and Wine Festival folks have outdone themselves. The Critic's Dinner was held Wednesday evening and was a smashing success! Thanks to all the local chefs who created the phenomenal food! Last night, the "Taste of the Festival" was held out at Patriot's Point. Great crowd, great food, great time. To find out how you can participate in upcoming Food & Wine events, visit the Festival's website! Happy Friday!

Fall is Upon Us

After having off for the month of August, the apprentices of the Growing New Farmers Incubator Program have begun the fall portion of their apprenticeship! Farmers around the Lowcountry are preparing for the fall harvest. Start getting excited for cabbage, broccoli, beets, beans and many other great fall crops! If you haven't already signed up for your fall CSA, visit our website for participating area farms!

Real Time Deals!

Our newest benefit to you and our members alike is our Real Time Deals application on our website! LLF Members can upload any real time promotions, discounts and deals that immediately appear on our site!

You can search by business, location, keyword... so if you're thinking about heading out for a bite to eat, need a massage or want to go shopping, check out the Real Time Deals to see who's running a special!

Charleston Wine & Food Festival...

We here at LLF could not be more thrilled to be chosen as the single Signature Charity of the BB&T Charleston Wine + Food Festival. WOW!! This is the Foodie event of the year in a very foodie town and guess what... the folks at LLF are foodies too, of the most local kind! What a great opportunity to highlight the amazing farmers, seafood producers and growers who provide the product to the incredibly talented chefs in the Charleston area!

So in case you have been living under a rock here is the a bit about the Charleston Wine + Food Festival! The mission of the Charleston Wine + Food Festival, a recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, is to enhance Charleston's culinary reputation and support important charitable endeavors by focusing national attention on the entertainment, education and gastronomical gratification opportunities presented by world class culinary professionals and wine experts.

Stay tuned to our blog, FB page and website for updates and event info!!

Call for Apprentices!!

The fall growing season is about to kick off and LLF is looking for fall Part Time Apprentices to join our Growing New Farmers Incubator Project. We specifically need help Wednesdays and Thursdays.

To find out more information and to fill out an application, please visit our website. If you have any further questions, contact Elizabeth at elizabeth@lowcountrylocalfirst.org or 843.740.5444.

B.I.G. & Local

Getting ready for the Best In Green (B.I.G.) & Local Expo tomorrow, Friday August, 6th! Come by the Gaillard Auditorium to see some of Charleston's best green and local businesses!

Beat the End of Summer Blues

The upcoming "tax free" weekend is a sign that the summer is coming to an end and for many of you, that means school is around the corner! However, I have some good news! Check out LLF Member One Respe. They offer Charleston's FIRST sliding scale payment program for Massage Therapy. They provide locally-owned, affordable, professional therapy for wellness.

From now until August 19th it's $40 for new clients and an additional $5 off for Teachers and Students! I've already purchased one for myself and hope to cash in on it this weekend! Give Abigail a call at 843.724.9807.

Cleanin' Up Our Act

LLF Member, MaidPure, has agreed to do a deep clean of the LLF headquarters! These women MUST be saints! Locally owned and operated by Dorsey and Heather Fairbairn, MaidPure aspires to "give you non-toxic sparkling clean service so you can cherish not only your home, but the environment you live in."

So if you and your loved ones are in need of some environmentally friendly cleanin', visit MaidPure or give the girls a call at 843.284.8272.

Grand Ideas

Huge shout-out to Melissa Henry of Grand Ideas. She has been a great help with gathering information for the 2010-2011 Directory of Local Independent Businesses. We love you!

Check out her day job!

Grand Ideas is Charleston’s local source for innovative, creative and unique promotional marketing ideas! A female-owned and operated business, Grand Ideas is dedicated to meeting their client’s specific objectives, goals and budgets in order to source promotional products that will “wow” their end-users. Contact Grand Ideas for your next event, corporate outing, tradeshow, conference, product launch, and fundraiser….every occasion is an opportunity to make a GRAND impression.

Happy Hour TONIGHT!

Almost another week down... and to get a jump start on the weekend, LLF is hosting its Happy Hour this evening at Fish Restaurant located at 442 King Street, downtown Charleston.

We host a Happy Hour the last Thursday of every month at a different member location. These get togethers always end up being a blast and a great way for everyone to network and socialize. We welcome all - members and non-members alike! So come out and show your support for LLF while sipping a cocktail! Tonight, Fish is offering free appetizers and $4 drink specials. Live music starts at 7:30pm.

Come get some local lovin'!

Gearin' Up for the Directory!

Super busy morning here at the office. We're gearing up for the printing of the 3rd edition of the Directory of Local Independent Businesses. We will be distributing 20,000+ Directories to the greater Charleston area this upcoming fall to kick off our "Buy Local" Month! The Directory is a great tool if you're trying to shop and source locally here in Charleston; they are available at our member businesses and at the CVB.

If you're interested in finding out more about the Directory or if you're interested in listing your business, contact me at amy@lowcountrylocalfirst.org.

Happy Hump Day!

Lunch at Closed for Business

After a meeting downtown this morning, Jamee and I decided to head over to Closed for Business for lunch. CFB is REV's (LLF member) newest restaurant - a fantastic craft beer bar that opened this past January. Jamee and I split a bowl of their Roasted Corn Soup and each had a Southern Chopped Salad full of local veggies! Yum!

CFB is located at 453 King Street. If you're in the area this evening, every Tuesday is "Kick the Keg Night," which means $4 Pints of Victory Hop Wallop, Sea Dog Blue Paw and Dogfish Head Chicory Stout.

'Tis the Season

Sign up for your fall CSA! Charleston is extremely lucky to have quite a few farms who are now running their own Community Supported Agriculture Programs. To find out more info, click here!

Food & Farming Entrepreneurship Course

Another great component to our Growing New Farmers Incubator Program is our Food & Farming Entrepreneurship Course. We have par terned with FastTracSC and Clemson to offer a business planning course for those interested in food system entrepreneurship in the Lowcountry. This was the first time this course was ever offered. The course was 9 weeks long - the graduation will be held next Thursday!

We've had some phenomenal speakers come to participate in the course. This week, the speakers were: Brady Waggoner from HOOK, Greg Garvan from Money With a Mission, Bernie Mazyck from SC Association of CDCs, and Tiffany from Aio Design. Thank you all so much!

The class will be offered again this upcoming fall. If you think you might be interested in taking the class, get into touch with Elizabeth at elizabeth@lowcountrylocalfirst.org.

Where has the summer gone?

I can't believe it's almost August - where does the time go? Summer was supposed to be "quiet" and devoted to planning here at LLF. However, it's been anything but! The Online Market is in full-swing and the apprenticeship program has taken off. We've been hard at work at the office writing grants, looking into projects and managing our ever-growing membership.

Many thanks to all of you who make this possible! We heart you!

Sustainable Agriculture Program Planning Day

The LLF team sat for 3 hours this morning planning for the next year's Sustainable Agriculture Program. We have some exciting stuff in the mix and are extremely excited!

Hydroponics

Our newest Founding Partner, George Nelson of Sweetbay Produce & Nursery, came over to the office this morning to meet with Elizabeth and me. Now here's a man with a vision! George has a 10,000 sq. ft. hydroponics facility located in Huger, SC.

George has grown arugula, basils, pak choi, romaines, multi-lettuces and butterheads with plans to expand into other various crop varieties.

Local herbs in winter? Sure! Local greens in January? You got it! I think he's onto something...

Our Apprentices

Shout out to the participants in our Growing New Farmers Incubator Project! Matt Frye, Nikki Seibert and Julie Hart are our full-time apprentices. Each work on three area farms (Rosebank Farms, Joseph Fields Farm and Our Local Foods/Thornhill Farm.)

These amazing individuals are our first cohort to go through the program and have worked extremely hard to help us work out the kinks. Each week they complete crop walks, harvest produce from the fields, sort and deliver produce to our partner chefs, manage the online market, participate in farm/entrepreneurship courses and much more!

We can't even begin to say how lucky we are to have such wonderful people. Keep up the good work!

Urban Garden Bike Tour - This Saturday!

Our fabulous Sustainable Agriculture Director, Elizabeth Beaks, has organized a Urban Agriculture Bike Tour around downtown Charleston for this upcoming Saturday, July 17th. If you're interested in checking out some of downtown's urban gardens, just show up! Details below...

WHEN: Saturday July 17th

WHERE: Meet at Gadsen Street Garden (see map of tour route)

WHAT TO BRING: Bike, money for lunch, sun attire, etc.

Agenda

• 9:00am Check in with LLF if you need to chat
• 9:30-10:00am Tour begins at Gadsen Streen Garden
• 10:30-11:00am Green Heart School Garden Tour (#2 Perry St. Mitchelle Elementary School front yard, in front of the park)
• 11:20-12:10pm Elliotborough Community Garden Tour (134 Line Street, in Elliotborough Park, at the back of the park)/Bogarden Tour (southeast corner of Rutledge and Bogard St.)
• 12:30pm Taco Boy Downtown (217 Huger Street)
• 12:40-1:00pm Josh Martin from the Coastal Conservation League will discuss Agriculture and Urban zoning
• 1:00-1:30pm Urban Farming Panel/group discussion/questions/resource sharing
• 1:30 until whenever Hang out!

If you have questions, please email Elizabeth at elizabeth@lowcountrylocalfirst.org

July Member Meeting

We're pumped for our July Member Meeting this evening! Judith Moore will be hosting the meeting at her business, The Charleston Cookie Company! She is located on James Island 1750 Signal Point Road.

Meetings are open to the public, so come out! The meetings are casual and include plenty of time for socializing. We typically make any necessary announcements which are then followed by short presentations by member businesses. Join us and get to know the locals!

We HEART our Committees!

We are extremely fortunate to have groups of wonderful people who donate their time and energies to help LLF! We have a number of different committees that are working tirelessly to help us improve what we do.

Our Membership Committee has launched its Membership Drive and is planning for a special event towards the end of the summer! Keep your eyes and ears open!

Our Directory Committee is gearing up for the 3rd annual edition of our Directory of Local Independent Businesses that will be released this upcoming fall.

Our Buy Local Committee is working on an LLF Loyalty Card to encourage local retail spending.

Big thanks to all you fantastic people!

New Member!

Slather Brand Foods is LLF's newest member! Check out Robin Rhea's Slatherin' Sauce! Yum!

Welcome!

Wild Flour and King Bean

Board Meeting this morning - and you know what that means... pastries and coffee!! Thank you to our members WildFlour Pastry and King Bean Coffee for supplying us with the goods!

Don't forget to visit the Downtown Farmer's Market tomorrow morning and thank your local farmer. Have a great weekend!

Produce Delivery Day

Thursdays are produce delivery day! LLF has partnered with 3 farms (Joseph Fields, Our Local Foods and Rosebank Farm) and seven restaurants (REV, Al Di La, Fish, FIG, The Glass Onion, McCrady's and Med Bistro) to pilot our Farm Fresh Online Market. Each week, seasonal produce from the three farms is uploaded onto the site by our fabulous apprentices. Come Tuesday, chefs will go online and place an order for the week!

The apprentices are harvesting as I type! Chefs will receive their orders tomorrow.
We are now into the 3rd month of the pilot market and (after some initial growing pains) have streamlined the system.

For more info, feel free to give us a call at 843.740.5444.

We're Baaaaaaa - ck!!

(Sheep from our 3rd Annual Chef's Potluck this past May!)

LLF is officially back on the blog scene, and since our last blog post was in December (sorry!), lots has changed!

I encourage you to check out our new and improved website! Browse around and be sure to check out our Growing New Farmers Incubator Project that we launched this spring!

Will be sure to keep much more up to date (daily, hopefully) postings! Oh.. and happy belated "Independent's" Day!