There are 75 places where you could buy local honey in Michigan, 26 places to get local goat cheese and milk in Wisconsin, and 22 places to buy Grassfed Beef in Ohio, according to a mashup at Localharvest.org.
The website was created over a decade ago to serve as a directory for local food sources such as family farms, farmers markets and other small businesses. Today, these sources are recorded on maps that visitors can search by state, zip code, city, venue (such as restaurant, farm, CSA or Co-Op) or individual, local product. Each map marker is color-coded to distinguish between different sources. Green for farms, orange for farmers market, blue for restaurants and so on. Searching by any of these details reveals a list of local food sources, which includes the name of the place and summary, customer reviews, location and contact information.
When zooming into the Great Lakes region, it’s clear that there is a wide variety and abundance of options for local. And while this is certainly not the only source for finding local produce, Local Harvest also serves as one forum to find more unique local products. You can search for local medicinal herbs, wheat grass, soap, tobacco, compost, flowers, wool and even leather.