Since debuting Savor the Season in June, we’ve expanded our coverage as we’ve become more familiar with the local food community. The autumn edition explores some real issues facing food producers, distributors and sellers. We covered some of those topics from the panel discussion at the Sept. 15 Adirondack Harvest Festival in Westport. The lack of a reliable labor force for farms seems to be a big issue, and that’s worth investigating more in the future.

As we look at different aspects of agriculture in Essex County, we realize that we’ve boxed ourselves into a border, and that may not be the best approach if we rigidly stick to coverage only within the county. The reason we’re “exploring agriculture in Essex County” is that the News covers the towns of North Elba, Wilmington, Jay and Keene, and they are all located within Essex County. While that makes sense, given our distribution, it may actually be a disservice to our readers, who are more mobile than ever, traveling to neighboring communities to explore local agricultural resources.

Within the Adirondack North Country Region, we have subregions, such as the Champlain Valley and St. Lawrence Valley, yet agriculture in northern New York doesn’t really have any borders set in stone by the government. Essex County is within the Champlain Valley. It is also in the High Peaks and Tri-Lakes regions with some of the tallest mountains in the state. The topography is diverse, and we’ve found commercial agriculture in most of these communities.

Yet just over the Essex County border – in all directions – the local food scene is growing. Our county’s farmers, food producers and sellers have relationships within this bigger community. That’s why local isn’t defined by borders. Sometimes, it’s defined within a radius, whether it’s 50, 100 or 200 miles. Local food for Essex County consumers can easily be from Franklin, Clinton, Warren, Hamilton, Lewis, Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties, even Vermont and Canada. It’s literally up or down the road.

We hope you enjoy this special issue and look forward to exploring more agriculture from the region for the next season on Friday, Dec. 21.

Now it’s time to eat.