Summer brings fresh, tasty local food in abundance. In my book, there is nothing like it. Our family loves to work in our own garden as well as at a local orchard and Community Supported Agriculture venture that supplement our backyard harvests.

When I was pregnant with my first child I remember eating pounds and more pounds of blueberries. So I’m thrilled to offer blueberry-rich recipes from members of the Doylestown Food Coop in the July 2013 issue.

To share our local food wealth with families in need I hope you will join us on August 9 at the Bucks Knocks Out Hunger event. United Way of Bucks County and countless others are stepping up to provide nutritious meals to those in need. The goal is to pack 64,000 meals in 3.5 hours. If a total of $36,000 is raised, Rolling Harvest Food Rescue will be brought in to work with area farmers to get fresh, local produce to food pantries within the Bucks County Opportunity Council network. I’m excited to partake in such meaningful volunteer work.

In Melinda Hemmelgarn’s feature article, “Six Ways to Eat Safe,” she leads with the importance of eating local and knowing where our food comes from. Even pets deserve the healthiest food we can provide to keep them going strong. Dr. Michael Fox alerts us to the hidden and harmful ingredients in commercial pet foods, making us delighted to steer you to locally produced pet foods made with care, in “Pet Food Perils”.

A happy summer also means an abundance of outdoor playtime. In our Healthy Kids department, Madeline Levine reminds us why we all love to just play, at any age, in “Letting Kids Just Be Kids.” I’m game!

To feeling good, living simply and laughing more, Audrey

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDP_H6Rf4zw&w=560&h=315]

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