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The Power of Produce!

Carpe DC Food Tours Washington DC

So I know it’s been a while since the last post… which for us is actually a good thing since it means we’ve been busy seeing your beautiful faces out on our tours! (insert audience applause here)

But that being the case, we wanted to bring the blog back with a BANG!
And I can think of no better way than focusing on

Glen’s Garden Market

 

This amazing grocery store is committed to making climate change progress ‘one bite at a time.’

Now that one bite thing might sound small at first, but when you stop in to check it out, and get smacked in the face with smells of mouthwatering fresh local produce (like a farmer’s market just crawled up your nose- in the best way) you see it’s no small feat.

It’s the first ever all local grocery store that sources all their food from the Chesapeake Bay Watershed area, which includes states from NY down to VA.

Not only that, every decision they make is motivated by the environment, that includes their employee showers to encourage riding bikes to work, the no waste mandate,  the recycled paper bar tops and even operating on wind power. (and that’s just to name a few)

Glen’s was founded by Danielle Vogel in 2013.  Now you might be asking yourself… what makes someone get into the environmental grocery store biz anyway?  Well…

Danielle comes from a line of grocers, literally, a she’s 4th generation grocer, however she didn’t start out there.   Danielle started her career on the Hill, working primarily on climate change.  She’s represented the US in court fighting for environmental law as well as helped draft climate change legislation.

And once carbon emissions were eliminated by 100% she said…. Well, Now what?  (JOKING)

Actually, despite years of work, by her and countless others, the window for dramatic climate change policy kept getting smaller.  But instead of getting frustrated and throwing in the towel, she choose incremental change over Congressional gridlock.

Now considering that since groceries run in her DNA, you might be thinking this startup might have been easier for her than most, DON’T. When I asked her about that, she explained that if anything it gave her a false sense of security and she basically had to learn using the ol’ trial by fire method.

She also told me there was a sharp learning curve, both for her and her customers, since she was essentially teaching them to eat seasonally (which many of us aren’t used to- hello- banana season isn’t all year round!)

And as if all this weren’t enough- Danielle told me she is most proud of how she’s been able to help local food businesses grow, 33 of them to be exact, in the last 24 months of being open. She explained that her goal is to

“Knock the nonsense off the shelf”

By growing these local brands, she is “displacing demand of industrially made food, by growing the presence of mindfully made food brands.”
We could all take a page (or 6) from Danielle’s book.  This activist grocer didn’t take no for an answer when the halls of congress grew silent- she pushed on and found a new way to

Be the change that She wanted to see in the world.

which will not only one of my new tattoos  (you can find that on igram) but is also a philosophy we can all afford to adopt.  (and arguably can’t afford not to)
But before this becomes the next soapbox blog- I can give you one last thing we should all be thanking Danielle for… $4 local beers All Day Every Day. 

So in honor of DC Beer week– as well as the opening of our 14th Street Happy Hour Tour– AND of course $4 Beers,
Let’s all raise a glass to those who are making it happen (yes, Danielle, that is definitely you!)

Cheers!