Community Harvest SRQ highlights sustainable, community-conscious food production.
From the October-December 2025 issue of Critical Times. Print versions are available for free at WSLR+Fogartyville and other community gathering spaces in Sarasota and Manatee counties.
By Andrew Hudson
“Rooted in Our Local Foodshed” is the theme of Community Harvest SRQ’s 14th Eat Local Week, which includes everything from soil to table. I hope that the Nov. 1-9 “week” of workshops, walks and dinners will deepen the community’s sense of connection to the Sarasota-Manatee area. Food is such a central cultural piece, and Community Harvest SRQ is working to help people see it all tied together in the local foodshed.
Don Hall, who founded our organization (formerly Transition Sarasota) returns to town for a Nov. 2 keynote dialogue, “Falling in Love with the Foodshed,” which takes place at 7 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalists of Sarasota, 3875 Fruitville Road. It’s a chance for people to understand how the delicious experience of eating locally can connect to creating local resilience in the face of global challenges.
A foodshed was traditionally all the farms around a city that feed that municipality. These days, it is understood more as the collection of farms and other producers who supply food that is both grown and eaten in the area.
It’s easy for the foodshed to exist under the radar. We already have a vibrant foodshed here in the area, and we’re hoping that by drawing attention to it people will strengthen it and it will make our area more resilient.
Community Harvest SRQ is a locally rooted nonprofit that cultivates foodshed transformation through community-driven solutions. Now in its 15th year, it continues to draw on the wisdom of the Transition Towns movement and the work of regenerative thinkers to connect the power of local food, economy and community, building a more just and resilient future for all.
By honoring the land, uplifting meaningful partnerships, and investing in grassroots leadership, the organization works collaboratively to develop practical solutions that nourish people and possibility. It proudly serves Sarasota, Manatee, and surrounding counties.
Eat Local Week is coordinated by a steering committee that includes seven committed volunteers. We hope you will participate in as many of these local foodshed-focused events as you can.
Eat Local Week Events
- Nov. 1, 5- 9 p.m. – “Local snacks” sold at Very Merry Jerry Day at Fogartyville Community Media & Arts Center, 525 Kumquat Court
- Nov. 2, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. – 941 Gardeners plant sale
- Nov. 2, 7 p.m. – Don Hall keynote at Unitarian Universalists of Sarasota, 3975 Fruitville Road
- Nov. 3, 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. – local dinner at Ortygia Restaurant, 1418 13th St. West, Bradenton
- Nov. 4, 10:30 a.m. – ethnobotany walk at Historic Spanish Point, 401 North Tamiami Trail, Osprey
- Nov. 5, 10 a.m. – garden tour at Center Montessori School, 6024 26th St. West, Bradenton
- Nov. 5, 6 p.m. – Fermentilicious canning workshop
- Nov. 6, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. – Sustainable Communities Workshop
- Nov. 7, TBA – Bob Linde plant walk
- Nov. 8, TBA – edible native landscaping with ZZ Design
- Nov. 9, TBA – Farm to Fork dinner at Blumenberry Farms, 2151 Dog Kennel Road, Sarasota
For up-to-date information, visit communityharvestsrq.org/eatlocalweek
Andrew Hudson is the program director for Community Harvest SRQ.