Lowes Foods supports local

Lowes Foods has a kinda/sorta CSA!  Their program is seasonal and started in June, but it's not too late to participate in the three week program or week-by-week. The cost would be about 2.00 per pound for the 6 week program, about $2.16 per pound for the three week option, and $2.32 to purchase week by week. Depending on how many more costly items (like blueberries) are included, that's very comparable to the farmer's market, and includes the convenience of making one stop for groceries.

From their press release: "Lowes Foods Locally Grown Club will feature six to ten varieties of assorted produce in each box that may include zucchini, yellow squash, green peppers, blueberries, sweet potatoes, cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes, peaches and many other seasonal items. Customers will receive over twelve pounds of produce each week for the entire seven weeks, one three week period or for a single week. Customers simply sign up through Lowes Foods to Go, pay in advance for their subscription and pick up their box each Saturday in the Lowes Foods to Go pick up lane."

Lowes has partnered with a number of North Carolina farms and with Pilot Mountain Pride, which is an awesome aggregate organization of small farms in the Winston-Salem area. Formerly dependent on tobacco production, by banding together with "Pilot Mountian Pride," farmers have been able to retain employment and increase the viability of producing local food for their community. This video about their project isn't perfectly polished, but it totally inspires me about the possibilities for local food and small farmers.