As you are out shopping locally this season you will need to get some nourishment to get you through the day. Why not try
Monica's Waterfront Bakery and Cafe in Old Town Silverdale! They support local and/or organic suppliers when ever possible to create their yummy menu. My absolute favorite is the crab and asparagus quiche. Check out their website for hours and daily menu.
And
follow them on Facebook to get daily menus and announcements. I borrowed the article below from their page about more reasons to shop local.......
Here are the "Top Ten reasons to Think Local - Buy Local - Be Local" by
Sustainable Connections up in Whatcom County:
1) Buy Local -- Support yourself: Several studies have shown that when
you buy from an independent, locally owned business, rather than a
nationally owned businesses, significantly more of your money is used to
make purchases from other local businesses, service providers and farms
-- continuing to strengthen the economic base of the community. These
include case studies showing that locally-owned businesses generate a
premium in enhanced economic impact to the community and our tax base.
2) Support community groups: Non-profit organizations receive an
average 250% more support from smaller business owners than they do from
large businesses... I know that we are asked for donations daily, if
not multiple times a day, and our charitable giving policy is a donation
matching program that allows us to say yes to nearly everyone who asks.
That is huge!
3) Keep our community unique: Where we shop, where
we eat and have fun -- all of it makes our community home. Our
one-of-a-kind businesses are an integral part of the distinctive
character of this place. Our tourism businesses also benefit. “When
people go on vacation they generally seek out destinations that offer
them the sense of being someplace, not just anyplace.” ~ Richard Moe,
President, National Historic Preservation Trust. This means us, too,
with 'Staycations' always becoming more popular.
4) Reduce
environmental impact: Locally owned businesses can make more local
purchases requiring less transportation and generally set up shop in
town or city centers as opposed to developing on the fringe. This
generally means contributing less to sprawl, congestion, habitat loss
and pollution... many of you know that we offset our carbon emissions
through our
Carbonfund.org
partnership, and we practice what we preach by sourcing from locally
owned suppliers and producers for most of our needs. We recycle, re-use
and have reduced waste through conservation and good practices across
the board.
5) Create more good jobs: Small local businesses are
the largest employer nationally and in our community, provide the most
jobs to residents. The more successful we are the more people we can
employ directly and contractually.
6) Get better service: Local
businesses often hire people with a better understanding of the products
they are selling and take more time to get to know customers. ... and I
want to add that whether or not this is true for the businesses you
frequent, it is almost always true that locally owned businesses are
usually intimate enough that you can go to the owner with any problem
and have it addressed immediately. We certainly value all feedback and
respond to everything we find on the internet, though we appreciate
those who come to us directly, either in person, through email or on the
phone, and really give us a chance to fix it when we mess up. We are
human after all, and we make mistakes. However we don't always realize
those mistakes until someone lets us know about them, and we always want
to learn from them and improve. Every 'complaint' is actually the gift
of an opportunity to make it right and learn from it! And that attitude
helps us build relationships with those in our community.
7)
Invest in community: Local businesses are owned by people who live in
this community, are less likely to leave, and are more invested in the
community’s future. We belong to many local organizations, co-ops,
volunteer, donate, and serve on several committees and boards.
8)
Put your taxes to good use: Local businesses in town centers require
comparatively little infrastructure investment and make more efficient
use of public services as compared to nationally owned stores entering
the community.
9) Buy what you want, not what someone wants you
to buy: A marketplace of tens of thousands of small businesses is the
best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long-term. A
multitude of small businesses, each selecting products based not on a
national sales plan but on their own interests and the needs of their
local customers, guarantees a much broader range of product choices.
This means the more you encourage small businesses the more small
businesses will be able to grow and thrive in our community.
10)
Encourage local prosperity: A growing body of economic research shows
that in an increasingly homogenized world, entrepreneurs and skilled
workers are more likely to invest and settle in communities that
preserve their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character.
Think local first + Buy local when you can = Being a local!
