What was once a neat idea will become necessity.
I love a brand of coffee I've bought at a chain grocery story for years, but that ends this week. Not because I don't love it, but because there is a great local coffee roaster and its is time to shift my habits to our local economy. No one knows exactly what change is coming in our lives and economy, but everyone knows change is coming. So many small businesses have been devastated by this experience, so many lives affected. Many of these businesses may never come back if we operate the way we used to.
Local food production for example just went from a neat idea to very important. This is not only limited to vegetables but now includes much more of the food supply chain. In Fort Collins we have begun to work intentionally on a concept called a “Food Shed”. It is an idea that sprouted from a talk Andres Duany gave discussing the need for local community sustainability. We are lucky in Fort Collins to have strong support for local food, and great people are working to increase the supply side of that equation over the next few years.
Much of what we used to do will likely change, but this does not have to be bad. It can be FANTASTIC.
There will likely be a “Made in America” movement happening , but today I want to encourage you to take it one step further. Let's think about a few things we currently buy that have great local options for our needs.
Let’s take “Made in America” and think about:
Made in Fort Collins CO
Made in Athens GA
Made in Austin TX, Boise ID, Fresno CA, Barrington IL, Kalamazoo MI and on and on and on....
Just a friendly encouragement today; our local business owners need our loyalty now more than ever. Let's think about ways to support them like never before. The people in Fort Collins will be doing that, I guarantee it!
Stay safe, and let’s get this country back in the saddle.
