I love that you can tell the pride in a community when shop owners promote a Shop Local
mindset. While visiting Charleston, South Carolina recently Craig and I were
searching for a good place to grab lunch. As my analytical husband always does
when out if town, he had to check the trip advisor ratings before agreeing to
any meal commitment. Based on the raves he approved Long Island Place Cafe in
Isle of Palms. This American cuisine spot offered an eclectic mix of white cotton
table linens, real pumpkin and gourd table center pieces mixed with chalkboard
“men” and “women” stick figures drawn on the doors to designating the restrooms.
I had the She Crab soup and local greens Caesar salad. Craig had a bacon
cheeseburger. James Taylor’s “I’m going to Carolina” hummed in the
background. This photo is of Owner, Christiana Harsch working away on her laptop under the restaurant’s vendor’s board listing the local farms, bakeries and shops that help contribute to their cuisine.
What caught my eye though was their throwback to the local “friends”
who owned farms in the area who provided all the different ingredients to the meal.
The lettuce from my Caesar salad was grown at Sweetbay Farms in Mt Pleasant
about 10 minutes away. The fresh clams for my soup were raised by a guy named
Toby in Beach Inlet nearby and the pumpkin cheesecake was made by a lady at
Forms Bakery around the corner. I picture her as a twin of Paula Deen with a
kitchen full of happy grandchildren with monogrammed aprons helping her mix the
ingredients from scratch on a cozy Saturday morning.
As a Realtor who makes a living helping people buy local on a larger level, I
love this concept. Every thing we buy has a story and more importantly there
have likely been several people if not hundreds that helped coordinate the
meal, the houseware, the home for you. They each have a story too. I’m so proud
of Oklahoma’s local growth, color and flavor that I’m excited to spotlight
local farm-to-table restaurant and MIO products soon. Have a recommendation?
I’d live to check it out and thank you in a review. Comment below with your
ideas. If you enjoy my blog, please Subscribe in the box to the right of this blog post. That way you’ll receive email updates when new blogs are posted. One last request – I’d love to meet your friends. Feel free to Share my blog posts via email, Facebook or whatever. We’ve made it easy for you to do that with the buttons below.