Building Communities

Hi, my name is Mary Pendley and I am part of the team here at Hobson Group Realty. My passion is encouraging people of any age and from all walks of life to come together as a community.

First, a little background about me. I grew up as one of eight children on a small farm in Wyoming. As a child, I milked cows (by hand), slopped hogs, gathered eggs and plucked chickens. Nearly all the food we ate was grown on the farm - meat, milk, egg, vegetables.

When I married, I left the farm and have never again had the opportunity to live on a farm, although I have had a vegetable garden whenever possible. I have six children (all grown) and a whole passel of grandchildren. I have lived a lot of places including Germany and Mexico, and have been here in Charleston since 2002.

About three years ago, my daughter loaned me a book called "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver, and it literally changed my life. Barbara Kingsolver is a well-known author of novels, and this is the true story of her family's commitment to grow as much of their own food as possible and buy only things that were produced locally for one year. It is a very entertaining book, and if you read it, you will never look at supermarket food the same again. I decided to make an effort to seek out local sources of food whenever possible. I found that the most difficult part was finding the producers. I frequented farmer's markets, bought a share in a CSA, and found where I could buy meat and eggs directly from the farmer. I've made some friends and eaten some truly delicious food in the process.

How does this relate to building communities? Locally produced and direct from the farm products can sometimes be more expensive than the chain stores, although often they are not. However, your dollars support your neighbors, and that in turn allows them to do the same. Your immediate reward is healthy food that is truly fresh and delicious, and you may also make some new friends in the process.

I will be blogging periodically about where to go and how to find these direct connections, as well as on related topics. There are many different producers to be found, but I will be talking primarily about those that I have personal experiences with. If you know of good sources, please leave a comment with that information. Any comments you leave will also enter you in the current contest - it's IMAX tickets this month!